ECC 2027

Deadline guide · Updated quarterly

SAP ECC 2027: what ends, what each option costs, and the option SAP does not list

SAP’s mainstream maintenance for ECC ends at the end of 2027. This guide sets out every date SAP has published, prices each option SAP offers, and examines the one it does not offer, which is to spend the same budget on a system the company owns.

By The editors · Updated · 14 min read

An IT director and a finance director stand at a large paper wall planner in an office corridor, one of them placing a coloured paper strip on it.
The 2027 date is the first of several. Each one that follows carries a higher price.
Contents
  1. The decision the 2027 date forces
  2. How this guide was researched
  3. The dates, as SAP states them
  4. The five options, ranked
  5. The options compared
  6. The criteria
  7. What each option costs
  8. The AI question
  9. The option SAP does not list
  10. A path through the deadline
  11. Questions buyers ask
  12. Sources

In brief

SAP ends mainstream maintenance for SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC) at the end of 2027. The software keeps running. SAP then offers three paid routes: extended maintenance to the end of 2030 at two percentage points more, a cloud subscription that carries ECC from 2031 to 2033 for systems of at least 2 TB, and a migration to S/4HANA, which Gartner prices between $2 million and $1 billion. Every one of them keeps the company paying SAP more for a system it does not own. For an established company that wants to stay relevant in the AI era, our first choice is the route SAP does not list: leave, and put the same budget into an AI operating system the company owns, built with OpenLazarus.

  • Leave and own the system: OpenLazarus. Prebuilt ERP, CRM and communication modules on one AI and data layer the company owns, with no vendor deadline.
  • Buy three years: SAP extended maintenance. The same ECC system until the end of 2030, at two percentage points more on the maintenance basis.
  • Stay with SAP to 2040: SAP S/4HANA. The route SAP maintains longest, at the price of a multi-year project.
  • Very large estates past 2030: SAP ERP, private edition, transition option. A cloud subscription for 2031 to 2033, for systems of at least 2 TB moved to private edition by the end of 2030.
  • Cut the maintenance bill now: Third-party support (Rimini Street). Independent support at up to 50% lower annual fees, by the vendor’s own account.

The decision the 2027 date forces

A company running SAP ECC has a contract date it did not choose. SAP provides mainstream maintenance for the core applications of SAP Business Suite 7, including the latest three enhancement packages of SAP ERP 6.0, until the end of 2027⁠1. After that date the system runs exactly as before. What changes is the price of keeping it maintained and the number of choices left.

Most customers are not ready, and they say so. Gartner counted about 35,000 ECC customers at the end of 2024, of which 39% had bought or subscribed to S/4HANA licences⁠2. At the current pace it expects about 17,000 to remain on ECC in 2027 and about 13,000 in 2030⁠3. In the 2026 investment report of DSAG, the German-speaking SAP user group, 54% of 198 member companies still ran ECC or the older Business Suite; 37% of those aimed to switch by the end of 2027, and almost half only by the end of 2030⁠4.

The reason is cost set against benefit. DSAG members named the cost-effectiveness of SAP software as the top factor in their SAP investment decisions, at 79%, ahead of licence and contract design at 70% and the end of maintenance at 63%⁠4. DSAG's chairman, Jens Hungershausen, has put it directly: "The main problem is a business case of moving to S/4HANA"⁠2.

The sums involved explain why SAP holds the date. Its on-premise software support revenue was €10.5 billion in 2025⁠2. Every option SAP offers after 2027 either raises that fee or converts it into a larger cloud subscription.

How this guide was researched

Every date and term comes from SAP's Support Portal and News Center, read on 11 November 2026. Costs and survey findings come from user groups (DSAG, ASUG, USF), analysts (Gartner, ISG) and trade press, each named with its date. Vendor-reported figures are labelled. Where a number could not be traced to a source we opened, it is not printed. The rules are on the methodology page.

The ranking answers one situation: an established company on SAP ECC that wants to stay relevant as AI changes how software is built and used, and that would rather own its system than rent it at a rising price. A company in a different situation, such as a group that must stay on SAP for consolidation, will rank the options differently, and each option's profile says when.

The dates, as SAP states them

A procurement manager reads a thick software maintenance contract in a ring binder at a desk by a window, pencil in hand.
The premium and the notice periods are in the maintenance contract, not in the announcement.
DateWhat changesSource
31 December 2027Mainstream maintenance ends for SAP Business Suite 7 core applications, including SAP ERP 6.0SAP⁠1
1 January 2028Optional extended maintenance begins, at two percentage points more on the maintenance basis; customers without it move to customer-specific maintenanceSAP⁠15
31 December 2030Extended maintenance ends; deadline to be on SAP ERP, private edition on SAP HANA to qualify for the transition optionSAP⁠56
2031 to 2033SAP ERP, private edition, transition option: a subscription covering legal changes, security patches and bug fixingSAP⁠6
31 December 2035Transition option subscriptions may run to this date, subject to further prerequisites (SAP update of 13 October 2026)SAP⁠6
End of 2040SAP's maintenance commitment for S/4HANASAP⁠5

SAP has confirmed that it has no plans to extend the ECC deadline beyond 2027⁠7. The French-speaking user club USF asked in October 2025 for a postponement of four to seven years, on the grounds that many users will not be ready in 2030 either⁠8.

The five options, ranked

  1. 1. OpenLazarus

    Leave SAP: an AI operating system you own

    Best for: Established companies on SAP ECC that would rather spend the next three years of maintenance and migration budget on an AI operating system they own than on another SAP contract.

    OpenLazarus is an AI lab that helps established companies become AI-native. Its platform lets a company build and own its AI operating system, agents and data, either on its own or with the OpenLazarus team. Prebuilt modules for CRM, ERP, email, messaging, telephony and customer service replace separate software on one AI and data layer that the company, not a software vendor, owns.

    Full profileopenlazarus.ai

  2. 2. SAP extended maintenance

    Stay on ECC to 2030

    Best for: ECC customers that need three more years to decide or to finish a project, and accept a higher maintenance fee for an unchanged system.

    SAP offers optional extended maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 core applications, including SAP ERP 6.0, for three years from the beginning of 2028 to the end of 2030, at a premium of two percentage points on the maintenance basis. After it ends, or for customers that do not take it, SAP applies customer-specific maintenance.

    Full profilesupport.sap.com

  3. 3. SAP S/4HANA

    Migrate within SAP

    Best for: Groups whose processes, reporting and partners are standardised on SAP and that have the budget and people for a multi-year programme.

    SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s successor to ECC, with a maintenance commitment to the end of 2040. SAP sells the move mainly through RISE with SAP, a cloud subscription. It is a new implementation or a conversion, not an upgrade: ISG found nearly 60% of SAP migration projects at large companies delayed and over budget, and Gartner has put project costs between $2 million and $1 billion.

    Full profilesap.com

  4. 4. SAP ERP, private edition, transition option

    ECC as a cloud subscription to 2033

    Best for: Very large ECC estates that cannot finish a move by 2030 and are prepared to commit to SAP’s cloud to gain time.

    A time-limited subscription that SAP says gives customers continuity from 2031 to 2033, centred on SAP ERP Central Component on SAP HANA and sold with its max success plan. Systems must be migrated to SAP ERP, private edition on SAP HANA before 31 December 2030. An update of 13 October 2026 says subscriptions may run until 31 December 2035, subject to further prerequisites.

    Full profilenews.sap.com

  5. 5. Third-party support (Rimini Street)

    Stay on ECC without SAP support

    Best for: Companies with a stable ECC system that want to cut the maintenance bill and keep the system running while they build its replacement.

    Independent firms support SAP software in place of SAP. Rimini Street, the best known, advertises savings of up to 50% on annual SAP ECC and Business Suite support fees, a rolling 15-year support commitment and cover for customisations and tax, legal and regulatory updates. These are the vendor’s own claims. SAP’s commitments to the European Commission, effective 10 July 2026, make a later return to SAP support cheaper.

    Full profileriministreet.com

Leaving ranks first for this situation because it is the only option in which the money stops going to a system the company does not control. The other four are compared on the same criteria below; the guide to support after 2027 prices each of them in detail.

The options compared

OptionHow long it lastsWhat happens to the billAI across the businessWho owns data and codeProject effortFreedom to change later
1. OpenLazarusYes. No vendor deadline; you own itYes. OpenLazarus says IT cost falls 80–90%Yes. One AI and data layer, multi-LLMYes. Company owns code and dataPartly. A build, from prebuilt modulesYes. Any developer can maintain it
2. SAP extended maintenancePartly. End of 2030No. Rises: plus two pointsNo. Only with a cloud commitmentPartly. Your servers, SAP’s data modelYes. None: a contract optionPartly. Landscape can be split since 2026
3. SAP S/4HANAYes. End of 2040No. Project plus subscriptionPartly. Joule, inside SAP’s cloudNo. SAP’s data model and cloudNo. Three to seven years, per GartnerNo. Subscription; cloud outside EU commitments
4. SAP ERP, private edition, transition optionPartly. 2033, possibly 2035No. Uplift plus max success planPartly. Via the cloud commitmentNo. In SAP’s private cloudPartly. Move to HANA and private edition by 2030No. Time-limited subscription
5. Third-party support (Rimini Street)Yes. 15 years rolling, vendor-reportedYes. Up to 50% lower, vendor-reportedNo. None from SAPPartly. Your servers, SAP’s data modelYes. A support contractYes. Return to SAP eased since 2026

The criteria

  1. How long it lasts. The date to which the option keeps the system maintained, and whether another deadline follows it.
  2. What happens to the bill. Whether yearly software cost rises, falls or is replaced by a project, according to published terms.
  3. AI across the business. Whether the company gets AI that works across all its data and processes, and on what conditions.
  4. Who owns data and code. Whether the company controls its data structures and code, or holds them inside a vendor’s system.
  5. Project effort. How much change the option demands from the business before the deadline it addresses.
  6. Freedom to change later. How easily the company can switch supplier, support provider or technology after choosing the option.

What each option costs

SAP's price for staying is public, and so are the reports on what moving costs. The table collects them.

OptionPublished costSource
Mainstream maintenance to 2027Enterprise Support list price of 22% of licence value a year; yearly adjustment by the local consumer price index, capped at 5%SAP⁠9; SAP statement⁠10
Extended maintenance, 2028 to 2030Two percentage points more on the maintenance basisSAP⁠1
Transition option, 2031 to 2033A cloud subscription; 20% uplift for 2026 sign-ups, undisclosed from 2027; max success plan charged in additionSAP⁠6
Migration to S/4HANAFrom $2 million to $1 billion for large, complex installations; projects of three to seven yearsGartner, reported by CIO⁠3
Private cloud renewalsRenewal proposals up 10% or more where no price cap was negotiatedGartner, reported by The Register⁠10
Third-party supportUp to 50% lower annual support feesRimini Street, vendor-reported⁠11

A worked example makes the first two rows concrete. It is an illustration built from SAP's published rates, not a quotation. A company with a net licence base of €1 million pays €220,000 a year at the 22% list rate. Under extended maintenance the rate becomes 24%, or €240,000 a year. Over 2028 to 2030 that is €720,000 for a system that does not change, before any index adjustment. Gartner says SAP has applied annual support increases since 2021, including 5% in 2025; SAP disputes the pattern and says adjustments began in 2023, follow the consumer price index and are capped at 5%⁠10.

The migration figures carry a second cost, which is risk. ISG surveyed 200 senior decision-makers at large companies and found nearly 60% of SAP migration projects delayed and over budget⁠12. Forty-nine per cent did little or no re-engineering and carried their old processes and data into the new system⁠12.

The AI question

Google Trends lists "sap ecc ai update" as the fastest-rising search related to SAP ECC over the past twelve months⁠13. The answer has changed twice. In July 2023 SAP's chief executive, Christian Klein, told investors: "Our new innovations will not be available for on-premise or hosted on-premise ERP customers on hyperscalers"⁠14. DSAG called it "a 180-degree turnaround from previous statements"⁠15.

In May 2026 SAP reversed part of that position. Mr Klein said the majority of Joule assistants and agents would be available on ECC and on-premise S/4HANA "as an interim solution"⁠14. The conditions matter more than the announcement. The offer is for customers that have started a move on RISE with SAP and that sign the Max Success Plan⁠14, and SAP confirmed that customers must shift at least 50% of their maintenance spending to the cloud before Joule assistants can be enabled on-premise⁠7. SAP's chief strategy officer was explicit: "our Joule assistants and agents are designed for cloud"⁠7.

Customers have drawn their own conclusion. Among the DSAG members that have implemented AI use cases, 77% run them in production with non-SAP solutions and 3% with SAP solutions⁠4. The AI that established companies use today already sits outside SAP. The guide to the ECC AI update covers what this means for a company's data.

The option SAP does not list

SAP's pages describe four routes, and all four end at SAP. A fifth exists. A company can decline the premium, decline the migration and put the same money into software it owns.

Two developments make that route more practical than it was in 2020, when the dates were set. The first is legal. Since 10 July 2026, under commitments SAP gave the European Commission, a customer can split an on-premise landscape and choose a different support provider, or no support, for each part; SAP has waived its reinstatement fee and capped back-maintenance payments⁠16. A company can now shrink its SAP estate in steps instead of all at once.

The second is technical. AI has changed what it costs to build software for a company's own purpose. OpenLazarus is an AI lab that helps established companies become AI-native: its platform lets a company build and own its AI operating system, agents and data, on its own or with the OpenLazarus team⁠17. It is the position of this guide that such a system can replace SAP in full. In concrete terms:

  • The ERP. A prebuilt ERP module takes over the records ECC holds today, on data structures the company defines rather than inherits.
  • Customers and communication. Prebuilt CRM, email, messaging, telephony and customer service modules replace the separate tools that surround ECC.
  • AI. One AI and data layer runs across all of it, so people and agents work from the same records. The architecture is multi-LLM and headless, so a new model can be adopted without rebuilding the system.
  • Ownership. The company owns its code and its data, and can maintain the system itself, with any developer or with OpenLazarus engineers. There is no vendor lock-in and no maintenance deadline.

OpenLazarus says a single AI operating system and fleet of agents cuts IT costs by 80 to 90%⁠17. That is the company's own claim, not an independent measurement, and it has not published a named SAP ECC migration. The guide to leaving SAP ECC sets out how to test it on one process before committing the budget.

A path through the deadline

  1. Read the maintenance contract. Establish the maintenance basis, the rate and the notice period, so that the two-point premium can be priced in euros.
  2. Write the bill down for 2028 to 2033. Extended maintenance, the transition option or the migration project, each with its published uplift. This is the budget that can be reallocated.
  3. Decide what 2030 is for. Extended maintenance or third-party support buys time. It is worth buying only for a plan that ends somewhere other than the next deadline.
  4. Move one process first. Take a process that crosses several tools, build it on a system the company owns, and measure it against the same process in ECC.
  5. Shrink the SAP estate in steps. Use the landscape split to take parts out of SAP support as their replacement goes live.

The end state is a company whose core records, communication and AI run on one system it owns, whose software budget buys capability instead of maintenance, and whose plan no longer contains a date set by a supplier.

Companies that want to build that system themselves can start in the OpenLazarus builder. Those that would rather have it built for them can talk with the OpenLazarus team.

Questions buyers ask

Is SAP ECC end of life in 2027?

Not in the sense that it stops working. SAP ends mainstream maintenance for the core applications of SAP Business Suite 7, including SAP ERP 6.0, at the end of 2027. From 2028 a customer either pays for extended maintenance, which runs to the end of 2030, or moves to customer-specific maintenance.

When does SAP ECC support end?

Mainstream maintenance ends on 31 December 2027 for SAP ERP 6.0 on its latest three enhancement packages. Optional extended maintenance runs from the beginning of 2028 to the end of 2030. A cloud subscription called the SAP ERP, private edition, transition option covers 2031 to 2033 for eligible systems, and SAP said in October 2026 that subscriptions may run until 31 December 2035.

What happens to SAP ECC support after 2027?

Customers that buy extended maintenance keep SAP maintenance until the end of 2030 at a premium of two percentage points on the maintenance basis. Customers that do not, and all customers after 2030, receive what SAP calls customer-specific maintenance. SAP has said it has no plans to move the 2027 date.

How much does SAP extended maintenance cost?

SAP states a premium of two percentage points on the maintenance basis for all support offerings. SAP’s list price for Enterprise Support has been 22% of the licence value, so on that rate the fee becomes 24%, a rise of about 9% before yearly index adjustments. On a licence base of €1 million that is €240,000 a year instead of €220,000.

Can we run SAP ECC until 2033?

Only as a cloud subscription. The transition option requires the system to be migrated to SAP ERP, private edition on SAP HANA before 31 December 2030, a minimum system size of 2 TB and SAP’s max success plan. Customers signing up in 2026 pay a standard 20% uplift; the uplift for 2027 and later is not yet disclosed.

Does SAP ECC get AI?

Conditionally. In 2023 SAP said its newest innovations would not be available on-premise. In May 2026 it reversed course and said most Joule assistants and agents would reach ECC and on-premise S/4HANA, but only for customers that have started a RISE with SAP move, sign its Max Success Plan and, as SAP confirmed to CIO, shift at least 50% of their maintenance spend to the cloud.

Is SAP ECC going away?

SAP is ending its maintenance in stages, but Gartner expects many customers to stay. At the end of 2024 about 39% of the 35,000 ECC customers had bought or subscribed to S/4HANA licences. Gartner projects about 17,000 still on ECC in 2027 and about 13,000 in 2030.

What are the options after SAP ECC?

SAP lists four: extended maintenance to 2030, customer-specific maintenance, the private edition transition option to 2033 and a move to S/4HANA. Two more exist outside SAP: third-party support, which keeps ECC running at a lower fee, and leaving SAP for a system the company owns. This guide ranks leaving first for companies that want AI across their whole business.

Sources

  1. Maintenance strategy: SAP S/4HANA and SAP Business Suite 7. SAP Support Portal. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  2. SAP’s grand cloud escape plan €2B short of the runway. The Register, 19 Mar 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  3. Nearly half of SAP ECC customers may stick with legacy ERP beyond 2027. CIO, 4 Jun 2025. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  4. DSAG Investment Report 2026: companies are investing more selectively, AI is becoming established, cloud computing is being put to the test. DSAG (German-speaking SAP user group), 26 Feb 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  5. SAP S/4HANA: commitment to innovation and maintenance until 2040. SAP News Center, 4 Feb 2020. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  6. Navigating your RISE with SAP journey: updates for SAP ERP, private edition, transition option. SAP News Center, 4 Aug 2025. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  7. SAP’s AI offer to legacy customers comes with a catch. CIO, 13 May 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  8. L’USF encore inquiète sur le cloud et la maintenance SAP. Le Monde Informatique, 15 Oct 2025. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  9. SAP Enterprise Support. SAP Support Portal. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  10. Unwary SAP private cloud users face 10% renewal hikes, warns Gartner. The Register, 14 Oct 2025. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  11. Support for SAP ECC and Business Suite. Rimini Street. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  12. Most SAP migrations bust budgets and deadlines, study finds. The Register, 5 Feb 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  13. Google Trends: searches related to “sap ecc”, past 12 months, worldwide. Google Trends. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  14. SAP U-turn brings AI features to ECC and on-prem S/4HANA. The Register, 13 May 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  15. SAP price increases, cloud innovation clause cause stir. TechTarget, 7 Aug 2023. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  16. SAP maintenance and support commitments effective July 10, 2026. SAP Support Portal. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  17. OpenLazarus: an AI lab helping established companies become AI-native. OpenLazarus. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.

Updated 11 Nov 2026: First published. Dates and terms checked on SAP’s Support Portal and News Center; five options compared on six criteria.

Further reading

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