Read "ECC support ends in 2027" as "the system stops on 1 January 2028" and both the schedule and the budget end up in the wrong place. After reading this note you will be able to say, from SAP's own statements, which dates apply to an on-premise ECC system and what changes on them, and you will know where to read your system's release before you match it against those dates. Here, ECC means an on-premise ERP system running on SAP ERP 6.0.
The basis is SAP's public documentation, checked on 25 October 2026: the press release of 4 February 2020, the 'Maintenance 2040' page on the SAP Support Portal, SAP News posts from February and August 2025 and from 7 October 2026, and the Conversion Guide and Getting Started guide for SAP S/4HANA 2025 (document version 3.0). SAP Notes that need a login are named by number only, and contract terms, which differ by company, are not covered.
The dates SAP set on 4 February 2020
In its press release of 4 February 2020, SAP committed to maintenance for SAP S/4HANA until the end of 2040 and announced mainstream maintenance for the core applications of SAP Business Suite 7 until the end of 2027, followed by optional extended maintenance until the end of 2030. The footnote names the core applications: SAP ERP 6.0, SAP CRM 7.0, SAP SCM 7.0, SAP SRM 7.0 and SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA (often called Suite on HANA). The two added years of mainstream maintenance came with no contractual change and no additional fees.
The Support Portal page adds that until 2040 there will always be at least one SAP S/4HANA release in maintenance, and that mainstream maintenance to the end of 2027 includes the latest three enhancement packages (EHPs). It does not say which three EHPs those are or what dates apply to older ones; it points to SAP Notes 2881788 and 1648480 (login required). This note does not cover dates per EHP either. The dates themselves stand: in a post of 7 October 2026, SAP CTO Philipp Herzig wrote again that 31 December 2027 and 31 December 2030 have not changed.
So before reading the dates, write down your system's release. The public preview of SAP Knowledge Base Article 2560351 says installed software component versions and product versions can be found in system status. In SAP GUI that is the System > Status screen. In the example below, (1) is the product version and EHP, (2) the database, and (3) the release and SP level of SAP_APPL; they come back in the third and fourth sections.
What changes on 1 January 2028 is the support level
The 2020 press release describes two paths after the end of 2027. The first is extended maintenance, for customers who need support during longer conversion phases to SAP S/4HANA. It comes with a premium of two percentage points on the existing maintenance basis, for all support offerings, from the start of 2028 to the end of 2030. SAP wrote two percentage points, not two percent: read it as the rate charged on the maintenance basis going up by two points, and check the actual rate in your own contract.
The second path is what happens when nothing is chosen. Customers who do not decide for extended maintenance by the end of 2027 but carry on with SAP Business Suite 7 are automatically transferred to customer-specific maintenance, which includes problem solving for known issues at unchanged fees. The Support Portal page says customers whose extended maintenance has ended receive customer-specific maintenance too. None of these documents says the software stops in 2028, and the 2026 post says that after the end of 2030, on-premise SAP Business Suite 7 systems will run under customer-specific maintenance.
That does not make it a comfortable path. In February 2025 SAP said running these systems beyond 2030 will become increasingly challenging and risk prone. According to the 2026 post, SAP's reselling and support agreements for third-party databases and its support arrangements for Java (SAP NetWeaver AS Java 7.5) expire together at the end of 2030. Under customer-specific maintenance after that, SAP cannot comprehensively support issues involving third-party databases or Java, including kernel patches and kernel security patches for third-party database environments. SAP says customers should not regard customer-specific maintenance for such environments as a long-term operating model for business-critical systems.
SAP NOTES
What comes after the end of 2027
Maintenance dates for SAP Business Suite 7 core applications (SAP ERP 6.0 and others)
Mainstream maintenance
~ 2027-12-31- SAP ERP 6.0, CRM 7.0, SCM 7.0, SRM 7.0, Suite on HANA
- Two more years added in 2020, no contract change or extra fee
Optional extended maintenance
2028-01-01 ~ 2030-12-31- Premium of two percentage points on the existing maintenance basis
- The customer has to choose it by the end of 2027
Customer-specific maintenance (from 2028 or 2031)
- Automatic if extended maintenance is not chosen by the end of 2027
- Problem solving for known issues at unchanged fees
- From 2031 systems that had extended maintenance land here too
SAP ERP, private edition, transition option
2031-01-01 ~ 2033-12-31- Cloud subscription for ECC moved to SAP ERP, private edition on SAP HANA before the end of 2030
- SAP: not a maintenance prolongation
- SAP update of 2026-10-13: up to the end of 2035 with further prerequisites
SAP S/4HANA
~ 2040-12-31- Maintenance commitment to the end of 2040
- At least one release in maintenance until then
Based on SAP's press release of 2020-02-04, the Maintenance 2040 page on the SAP Support Portal and SAP News posts from 2025 and 2026 (checked 2026-10-25). Dates per release or EHP and individual contract terms are not covered.
The transition option from 2031 is not a maintenance extension
The idea that the end of 2030 is not the end comes from 'SAP ERP, private edition, transition option', which SAP pre-announced on 4 February 2025. It is a cloud subscription centred on SAP ECC that combines patches for security, legal and software issues with transition services. It can be bought from 2028 and is used from 2031 to 2033. Systems have to be moved to SAP ERP, private edition before the end of 2030, and SAP HANA is the only supported database. The fee is higher than a comparable ERP cloud subscription before 2031.
SAP states that this is not a maintenance prolongation of SAP ERP and that there are no changes for customers running on-premise SAP ERP after 2030. The post of 4 August 2025 added a minimum system size of 2 TB and the requirement to take the max success plan, and an update note dated 13 October 2026 at the top of that post says subscriptions may run until 31 December 2035 with further prerequisites. The Support Portal page and SAP Note 3591251 that hold the details need a login and were not read.
There is also the path of staying on premise and moving only the database to SAP HANA. The 2026 post says this does not extend mainstream or extended maintenance, the system still enters customer-specific maintenance, and SAP does not recommend it as the long-term strategy.
SAP NOTES
Three common misreadings, checked against SAP's words
Card title: the misreading. Lines below: what SAP's text says
Misreading 1: ECC stops in January 2028
- What ends is mainstream maintenance
- It continues as extended or customer-specific maintenance
- After 2030 on-premise systems run under customer-specific maintenance (2026)
Misreading 2: Extended maintenance to 2030 is automatic
- Extended maintenance is an option at a premium of two percentage points
- Without a choice by the end of 2027, customers move to customer-specific maintenance
Misreading 3: The transition option extends maintenance
- SAP: not a maintenance prolongation
- No changes for on-premise SAP ERP after 2030
- A subscription for systems moved to private edition on SAP HANA before the end of 2030
Shortened from SAP's press release of 2020-02-04, the SAP News post of 2025-02-04 (updated 2025-03-07) and the SAP News post of 2026-10-07.
Where conversion planning starts
The Getting Started guide for SAP S/4HANA 2025 names three ways to move from SAP Business Suite: system conversion, selective data transition and new implementation. For a one-step system conversion, the start release must be SAP ERP 6.0 with enhancement packages 0 to 8, with restrictions for some support package levels described in SAP Note 3549655. That is why you write down values (1) and (3) from the screen example. The system has to be a Unicode system, and a dual-stack system (AS ABAP and AS Java in one system) has to be split first.
The Conversion Guide (document version 3.0, 2026-10-07) orders the preparation like this. First, the mandatory Maintenance Planner checks whether add-ons, business functions and industry solutions are supported for the conversion and creates the stack.xml file that SUM uses; creating the stack.xml requires an SAP S/4HANA licence. Next comes the Simplification Item-Check (SI-Check), also mandatory, which the guide recommends running early for its planning information. The custom code checks are not mandatory but highly recommended, combined with housekeeping that removes unused code and followed by tests in SAP S/4HANA. For the required feature package stack equivalencies, the guide points to SAP Note 3493301 (login required).
Look at the database at this stage too. The 2026 post says a system conversion from SAP Business Suite 7 on a third-party database to SAP S/4HANA or SAP Cloud ERP is available only until the end of 2030; after that, only new implementations are possible. If value (2) in the example is not SAP HANA, the end of 2030 is the deadline for a system conversion.
31 December 2027 is not the day the system stops. It is the contract date by which you decide whether to take extended maintenance at a premium of two percentage points. Today, open System > Status and write down, on one line, the product version (EHP), the release and SP level of SAP_APPL, and the database. That line is where the extended maintenance decision and the check against SAP Note 3549655 start.
Add your perspective.
Share a question, another approach, or something you have tried.
Checking sign-in…
Loading comments…