All dates below come from SAP’s own announcements on the SAP News Center. SAP’s detailed maintenance pages and SAP Notes sit behind the SAP Support Portal, which we could not check, so release-level details (for example per enhancement package) are limited to what SAP states publicly.
The dates SAP has announced
- December 31, 2027 — end of mainstream maintenance for the core applications of SAP Business Suite 7, which include SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC). SAP announced this in February 2020 and confirmed in October 2026 that the dates have not changed. SAP’s 2024 posts say this date applies to the latest three enhancement packages (EHP 6, 7 and 8).
- December 31, 2030 — end of optional extended maintenance. Extended maintenance runs from the start of 2028 to the end of 2030 and costs a premium of two percentage points on the existing maintenance basis. It is opt-in.
- Older enhancement packages: SAP wrote in January 2024 that mainstream maintenance for SAP ERP 6.0 ends in 2025, 2027 or 2030 depending on the enhancement package, and that systems without an enhancement package or on EHP 1-5 can move their mainstream end to 2027 by upgrading to EHP 6-8. SAP’s public posts do not give the exact 2025 date.
What happens after 2027 and 2030
- Customers who do not choose extended maintenance by the end of 2027 move automatically to customer-specific maintenance, which SAP describes as problem solving for known issues at unchanged fees.
- After December 31, 2030 all on-premise SAP Business Suite 7 systems run under customer-specific maintenance. SAP said in October 2026 that its reselling and support agreements for third-party databases and for Java used with SAP NetWeaver AS Java 7.5 end at the same time; after that SAP cannot comprehensively support database- or Java-related issues, including kernel patches for third-party database environments, even under customer-specific maintenance. A system conversion from a third-party database to SAP S/4HANA or SAP Cloud ERP is only available before the end of 2030.
- SAP ERP, private edition, transition option is a separate, time-bound subscription for 2031-2033 aimed at the largest and most complex customers. Systems must be moved to SAP ERP, private edition on SAP HANA before December 31, 2030, it is priced as an uplift on the private edition subscription, it does not support Java-dependent capabilities, and SAP states it is not a maintenance prolongation for on-premise SAP ERP.
SAP S/4HANA, the successor SAP points to
SAP commits that until 2040 there will always be at least one SAP S/4HANA release in maintenance. From release 2023, SAP moved to a two-year release cycle with seven years of mainstream maintenance per release. Exact end dates per release are on the SAP Support Portal and are not yet in our data.
What to confirm with SAP or your partner
- The enhancement package of each ECC system and the mainstream end SAP applies to it (SAP Note 1648480).
- Whether extended maintenance to 2030 is worth the premium for your timeline.
- Which systems run on a third-party database or depend on SAP NetWeaver Java, because the 2030 limits hit those hardest.
- The support dates of the database and operating system underneath ECC, which can end earlier than ECC itself.
Planning options
- Move to SAP S/4HANA or SAP Cloud ERP. Conversion (“brownfield”), re-implementation (“greenfield”) or a selective approach are the usual routes; each has very different cost and risk profiles. A conversion from a third-party database has to happen before the end of 2030.
- Move to a different ERP. For smaller ECC estates this can be cheaper than an S/4HANA programme.
- Stay on ECC under customer-specific maintenance or with third-party support. Possible, but customer-specific maintenance covers only problem solving for known issues, third-party providers cannot ship SAP’s own corrections, and SAP itself warns that customer-specific maintenance is not a sustainable long-term model for systems on third-party databases or Java.