{"id":9816,"date":"2014-11-04T13:46:17","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T13:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/source-code-escrow\/"},"modified":"2014-11-04T13:46:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T13:46:17","slug":"source-code-escrow","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow","title":{"rendered":"Source Code Escrow"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_source_code_escrow_mean\">What Does Source Code Escrow Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p> Source code escrow is a type of &quot;middleman agreement&quot; between software providers and customers to ensure that software applications and platforms are maintained regardless of any changes that may happen to the vendor. It involves the vendor sharing the source code with an escrow agent.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_source_code_escrow\">Techopedia Explains Source Code Escrow<\/span><\/h2>\n<p> The need for source code escrow arose because customers wanted ironclad guarantees that software services would be maintained, but vendors did not want to hand over copies of the software source code to the customers for obvious reasons, including proprietary development and intellectual property considerations. The use of a source code escrow system is a handy compromise and addresses the vendor\u2019s need to make sure that the source code is not going out to the public. <\/p>\n<p>From the customers&#8217; perspective, source code escrow is a kind of safeguard for their investment in a software program, the same way that a performance bond or other surety bond is a provision for investment in special projects. Source code escrow protects both parties and helps with overall change management, for example, making provisions in case the vendor goes bankrupt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Source Code Escrow Mean? Source code escrow is a type of &quot;middleman agreement&quot; between software providers and customers to ensure that software applications and platforms are maintained regardless of any changes that may happen to the vendor. It involves the vendor sharing the source code with an escrow agent. Techopedia Explains Source Code [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[231,229],"class_list":["post-9816","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-it-business-alignment","definitioncat-infrastructure-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.8 (Yoast SEO v23.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Source Code Escrow? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Source Code Escrow and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Source Code Escrow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Source Code Escrow and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Source Code Escrow\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-11-04T13:46:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-11-04T13:46:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow\"},\"wordCount\":198,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/22222\/source-code-escrow\",\"name\":\"What is Source Code Escrow? 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