SAP ECC end of support 2027: what it means

In February 2020 SAP announced that mainstream maintenance for the core applications of SAP Business Suite 7, which includes SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC), would end on 31 December 2027. This applies to ECC with enhancement packages (EHP) 6 to 8. For releases with EHP 0 to 5, mainstream maintenance already ended on 31 December 2025, and SAP does not offer extended maintenance for them. There are fourteen months to go until the end of 2027.

What ends on 31 December 2027?

Mainstream maintenance ends. That does not mean the system stops working. A company can take one of two routes:

	Extended maintenance 2028–2030	Customer-specific maintenance (from 2028; for EHP 0 to 5 from 2026)
How to get it	sign up by the end of 2027	automatic if the company signs up for nothing
Price	uplift of 2 percentage points on the current fee	current fee
Legal changes and support packages	much as before, with possible technical restrictions	no
Which releases	only ECC with EHP 6 to 8	all

Sources: SAP News, February 2020, SAP presentation for ASUG, The Register, statement from SAP

The row that decides it is the one on legal changes. Under customer-specific maintenance SAP no longer delivers updates for new regulations or new support packages. When tax or reporting rules change, the company has to get them into the system on its own or with a partner.

How long can a company stay on ECC?

Extended maintenance ends on 31 December 2030. After that SAP offers what it calls the transition option: a subscription to SAP ERP, private edition, which means running the system in SAP's cloud, for 2031 to 2033. Classic maintenance is not extended. SAP's conditions:

the system must be moved to SAP ERP, private edition on the SAP HANA database by the end of 2030,
it must be at least 2 TB in size,
the "max success" plan is mandatory for 2031 to 2033,
a company that orders SAP ERP, private edition in 2026 will pay 20% more when it transitions in 2031; the fee for the "max success" plan is charged on top.

The subscription covers legal changes, security patches and bug fixes. On 13 October 2026 SAP added that, under further conditions, the subscription can run until 31 December 2035. For these conditions SAP points to the support portal and SAP Note 3591251; the announcement itself does not list them.

Source: SAP News, August 2025 with the October 2026 update

What changes under the support rules in force since July 2026?

New support rules have applied since 10 July 2026. SAP accepted them after proceedings at the European Commission, and they apply worldwide for ten years. A company can split its systems into several parts and choose for each part support from SAP, from another provider, or none at all. SAP has dropped the reinstatement fee; the back payment for the period without support is capped at half the fees for that period or six months of payments, whichever is lower.

For companies that have not yet decided, this means more options. Part of the system can run with support from another provider while the rest moves to S/4HANA.

Source: SAP Support, On-premise maintenance and support

How many companies have already moved?

The most detailed data comes from the German-speaking SAP user group DSAG. Its survey from the turn of 2025 and 2026 drew answers from 198 member companies, 95% of them from Germany, Austria and Switzerland:

ERP system in use	2024	2026
S/4HANA on premise	44%	56%
SAP ECC and older Business Suite	68%	54%
S/4HANA in private cloud	11%	17%

Compared with the 2024 survey, the order has flipped: more companies run S/4HANA on premise than ECC. Companies can run both systems at the same time, which is why the totals exceed 100%.

Of the companies still investing in ECC, 37% plan to move by the end of 2027. Almost half expect to move only by the end of 2030, which means paying for extended maintenance. DSAG's Chairman of the Board, Jens Hungershausen, gave a shortage of specialists, overlapping transformation projects and limited budgets as the reasons for the delay.

Source: DSAG Investment Report 2026

What should a company on ECC clarify now?

Which release it runs. Extended maintenance to 2030 is only available for EHP 6 to 8.
Who will deliver legal changes after 2027 if the company does not sign up for extended maintenance.
Whether it can complete the move by the end of 2030, or whether it is counting on the transition option and its conditions.
Who will carry out the conversion. According to DSAG, a lack of people is delaying migrations, so capacity is best planned well ahead.

Summary

Mainstream maintenance for SAP ECC with EHP 6 to 8 ends on 31 December 2027; for EHP 0 to 5 it ended in 2025. The system keeps running, but without extended maintenance the legal updates stop.
Extended maintenance to 2030 costs 2 percentage points extra and only covers EHP 6 to 8.
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland more companies now use S/4HANA than ECC, but almost half of those still investing in ECC expect to move only by 2030.

How to choose between project delivery and extra capacity for your team is covered in the article IT project delivery or hourly capacity?

AZ EXPERTUM places SAP consultants and ABAP developers for conversions and for day-to-day operations. If you are planning a move to S/4HANA, tell us which modules and what timeline. The fields we recruit in are listed on the Expertise page.

As of 1 November 2026. Support terms are set by contracts with SAP; this article is general information.