Avoid lock-in. Zope supports web standards. By using non-proprietary standards, you avoid being held hostage by a single vendor. Many times, vendors of complex systems try to force you to use their products exclusively by requiring your commitment to proprietary development systems and other nonstandard product features. By adhering strictly to established web standards, Zope allows you to sidestep this threat, reducing your risk.

Interoperate in style. Zope allows interoperability. Zope easily fits in with existing and future information frameworks. By basing your site on non-proprietary standards such as those promoted by Zope, your site can interoperate with other tools and data sources. For example, Zope's WebDAV support gives Zope seamless integration with Microsoft® Office 2000® and the Apache webserver system. Zope's FTP support allows you to use tools as diverse as Macromedia Dreamweaver® or Emacs to edit your web pages.

Zope's support for standards. Some of the standards which Zope supports include HTML 4, CSS, HTTP 1.1, FastCGI, FTP, WebDAV, DOM, XML, XML-RPC, SQL, RSS, and LDAP.