If you buy cloud services in the EU, you have probably heard that cloud exit fees end on 12 January 2027. For the one-off move of a service's data to another provider, that is broadly right. The traffic that crosses between providers while you run both, and the traffic to your own users, are governed by other rules, and on a long migration they can be the larger part of the bill.

The short version for a finance lead: from 12 January, a provider cannot charge you for switching a service to another provider or on-premises, although minimum-term penalties in your contract still apply and some custom-built services are excluded. Until then it can charge only its own direct costs of the switch. Data sent between providers while you use both can still be charged at cost after January, with no end date. What you pay to serve your own users does not change.

Some of what follows depends on your own contract and circumstances, and the post points out where.…