How we compare the options after SAP ECC

Contents

1. The ranking frame
2. The criteria
3. Evidence we accept
4. Use of SAP's name
5. Keeping it current

An order of options means something only for a stated situation. This page sets out ours, the criteria and the rules we follow.

The ranking frame

The ranking answers one situation: an established company on SAP ECC that wants to stay relevant in the AI era and would rather own its system than rent it at a rising price.

Within that frame, leaving SAP for an AI operating system the company owns ranks first, and OpenLazarus is the option we feature for it. The position of this guide is that such a system can replace SAP in full. The remaining options are ordered by how well they serve the same company: extended maintenance because it buys time at a known price, S/4HANA because it is maintained longest, the transition option because few systems qualify, and third-party support because it lowers cost without changing the system.

A company in another situation should order them differently. A group bound to SAP by its parent's reporting will put S/4HANA first. Each profile says when another option is the better choice.

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.

Evidence we accept

1. SAP's own pages for dates, terms, prerequisites and list prices.
2. User groups: DSAG, ASUG and USF surveys and statements, with sample sizes where published.
3. Analysts and trade press: Gartner and ISG findings as reported by named outlets, with the date.
4. Each provider's own pages for what it offers, labelled as vendor-reported.

Figures we could not trace to a source we opened are not printed. Worked examples are marked as illustrations and use only published rates.

Use of SAP's name

SAP and its product names are used only to identify the products discussed. We use no SAP logos, and nothing on this site implies affiliation with SAP SE.

Keeping it current

We re-check SAP's dates and every option at least once a quarter. Each source shows the date we accessed it.

Further reading

• Guide · LeavingLeaving SAP ECC: how to move the 2027 budget into a system you ownSAP’s options all assume the customer stays. This guide works through the alternative for an established company. It covers what the money already committed to ECC adds up to, what the same money builds, and how to leave in steps without a cut-over weekend.
• Guide · AISAP ECC and AI: what the ECC AI update is, and what it requiresECC customers are asking whether their system will get AI before maintenance ends. SAP’s answer changed in 2026, and it comes with a commercial condition. What SAP has said, what users report, and why the structure of the system matters more than the assistant on top of it.
• Guide · CostsSAP ECC support after 2027: extended maintenance, 2030 and 2033, pricedAfter 31 December 2027 an ECC system can stay maintained in four ways, three of them sold by SAP. What each one costs according to published terms, and what the bill looks like when the years are added up.

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