O11 to ODC: Why Rebuilding Into the Same Lock-In Makes No Sense
OutSystems is sunsetting O11 and pushing customers to ODC. If you have to rebuild anyway, why rebuild into the same vendor dependency? There is a better path.
OutSystems just told you to rebuild everything
If you're running OutSystems 11, you've received the message — either explicitly from your account manager or implicitly through the product roadmap. O11 is reaching end of life. The future, according to OutSystems, is ODC: OutSystems Developer Cloud.
There's one problem. ODC isn't an upgrade. It's a rebuild.
Your O11 applications don't "migrate" to ODC. There's no magic button, no automated converter, no smooth transition path. ODC is a fundamentally different platform with a different architecture, different deployment model, and different limitations. Moving from O11 to ODC means rebuilding your applications from scratch — on the same vendor's platform, under the same licensing terms, with the same lock-in.
And that's the question nobody at OutSystems wants you to ask: if I have to rebuild everything anyway, why would I rebuild into the same dependency?
What ODC actually changes (and what it doesn't)
Let's be specific about what ODC is and isn't.
What ODC changes:
- Cloud-native architecture (containerized, Kubernetes-based)
- New deployment model (OutSystems manages the infrastructure)
- Simplified application structure (no more eSpaces and modules in the traditional sense)
- New pricing model (consumption-based, not AO-based)
- Modern CI/CD integration (better than O11, though still within OutSystems tooling)
- You still don't own your source code
- You still can't deploy outside OutSystems infrastructure
- You still can't use standard development tools (Git, VS Code, your IDE of choice)
- You still depend entirely on OutSystems for hosting, updates, and platform continuity
- You still face the same talent pool problem — ODC developers are even rarer than O11 developers
- You still can't take your applications with you if you leave
The rebuild math that OutSystems hopes you won't do
Let's talk about what a rebuild actually costs.
Moving from O11 to ODC is not a weekend project. OutSystems themselves acknowledge that applications need to be "refactored" or "redesigned" for ODC. In practice, for any application of meaningful complexity, this means:
Rebuilding screen logic. ODC's front-end model differs from O11's traditional web and reactive web patterns. Screens need to be rebuilt.
Refactoring data models. ODC handles entities differently. Relationships, indexes, and data access patterns all need review and adjustment.
Replacing Forge components. Many Forge components that work on O11 don't have ODC equivalents. You'll need to find alternatives or build custom solutions.
Rewriting integrations. REST/SOAP consumers, external database connections, and custom C# extensions all need to be reimplemented for ODC's architecture.
Retesting everything. New platform means new bugs. Every workflow, every edge case, every business rule needs to be validated again.
For a mid-size company with 5-10 OutSystems applications, this is easily a 6-12 month effort with a dedicated team. For enterprise environments with 20+ applications, you're looking at a multi-year program.
Now here's the calculation OutSystems doesn't want on your whiteboard:
| Rebuild to ODC | Migrate to modern code | |
|---|---|---|
| Development effort | 6-18 months | 6-18 months |
| Outcome | Same vendor, same lock-in, new platform risk | Code you own, zero licensing, standard tools |
| Annual licensing after | EUR 150K-500K+ (new pricing model) | EUR 0 |
| Talent pool | Smaller (ODC is new, few experts) | Massive (React/Next.js, millions of developers) |
| Future flexibility | Still dependent on OutSystems roadmap | Deploy anywhere, modify anything |
"But ODC is better technology"
This is the argument OutSystems leads with, and it deserves a fair response.
Yes, ODC is better technology than O11 in several ways. The cloud-native architecture is genuinely modern. The deployment pipeline is smoother. The platform performance should improve. OutSystems learned from O11's limitations and built something technically superior.
But "better OutSystems" is still OutSystems. The technology improvement doesn't address the business problem.
Consider this analogy: you're renting an apartment. The landlord raises your rent every year, controls when you can renovate, and won't let you see the building's blueprints. Now the landlord says "we're demolishing this building, but we've built a nicer one next door. Same lease terms."
The new apartment might genuinely be nicer. But you're still renting. You still don't own anything. And the landlord still controls your costs.
At some point, it makes more sense to buy.
The ODC talent problem nobody talks about
OutSystems already has a well-documented talent shortage. O11 developers are hard to find, expensive to hire, and at risk of career stagnation as the platform shrinks.
ODC makes this problem worse, not better.
ODC is a new platform. The pool of experienced ODC developers is tiny — essentially limited to early adopters and OutSystems's own training cohorts. Even experienced O11 developers need significant retraining to work effectively in ODC.
So you're facing a choice:
Option A: Retrain your O11 team on ODC. This takes months, during which their productivity drops. And after retraining, their skills are still locked to a single vendor's platform.
Option B: Retrain your team on React and modern web development. This also takes time, but the skills they learn are universally applicable. They become more employable, more motivated, and you gain access to the largest developer talent pool in the world.
If you're investing in retraining regardless, invest in skills that have a market.
What happens when you rebuild to code you own
Let's be concrete about the alternative.
When you migrate from OutSystems to a modern stack — React or Next.js frontend, Node.js or similar backend, PostgreSQL database — here's what changes:
Your code lives in Git. Every change is tracked, every decision documented, every version recoverable. Your developers can use the tools they prefer — VS Code, IntelliJ, whatever works. Code reviews, pull requests, automated testing, CI/CD — the entire modern development workflow becomes available.
Your infrastructure is yours to choose. Deploy on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or your own servers. Switch providers if pricing changes. Scale individual services independently. You're not locked to anyone's infrastructure decisions.
Your licensing costs go to zero. React is MIT-licensed. Next.js is MIT-licensed. PostgreSQL is open source. Node.js is open source. Your ongoing costs are infrastructure (cloud hosting) and people — both of which you control.
Your talent pool is global. There are millions of React developers worldwide. Junior, mid, senior, specialist — whatever you need, you can hire. Competitive salaries, not OutSystems-premium salaries.
Your business logic is readable. Not trapped in a visual model that only Service Studio can open. Written in TypeScript or JavaScript, reviewable by any developer, testable with standard frameworks, documentable with standard tools.
This isn't a fantasy. This is how most software companies already work. OutSystems was useful when custom development was slow and expensive. That trade-off has shifted — modern frameworks, open-source tooling, and AI-assisted development have closed the speed gap. What remains is the lock-in gap.
"But we've invested years in OutSystems"
The sunk cost argument is the hardest to overcome, and the most important to challenge.
Yes, you've invested years and millions in your OutSystems environment. That investment bought you working applications that serve your business. That value doesn't disappear because you migrate — the business logic, the domain knowledge, the operational experience all carry over.
What doesn't carry over is the platform dependency. And that's the part you want to leave behind.
Think of it this way: the value of your OutSystems investment is in the business problems it solved, not in the platform it runs on. A migration preserves the solutions while changing the foundation.
Staying on OutSystems to justify past investment is like continuing to rent an increasingly expensive apartment because you've already paid so much rent. The rent you've paid is gone regardless. The question is what you do next.
The window is now
Here's why this decision is time-sensitive.
OutSystems has announced the O11 transition timeline. The longer you wait, the more pressure you'll face to commit to ODC. Once you start an ODC rebuild, the switching cost resets — you're now invested in ODC, and leaving becomes expensive again.
If you're going to make a move, the O11 end-of-life is actually the ideal moment. You already know you need to rebuild. Your team already expects change. Your budget already accounts for a transition. The only question is where you rebuild to.
This is the one moment where the effort of staying and the effort of leaving are roughly equal. That won't be true once you're three months into an ODC migration.
What the first step looks like
You don't need to commit to a full migration to find out if it makes sense. Start with an assessment.
We analyze your OutSystems applications — every entity, every business rule, every integration, every workflow — and produce a complete picture of what you have. From that, we can tell you:
- How complex your applications actually are (not how complex they feel)
- What a migration timeline looks like for your specific environment
- What the first year of cost savings would be versus ODC
- Which applications to migrate first for maximum impact
If ODC genuinely makes more sense for your situation, we'll tell you that too. But in our experience, once companies see the side-by-side comparison — same rebuild effort, zero licensing forever — the decision makes itself.
Get a free assessment → — Find out what your O11-to-modern-code migration would actually look like.