End of Support for SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA

SAP’s maintenance and support strategy is a central planning factor for any organization running SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA. Understanding what end of mainstream maintenance actually means and what happens afterward is critical for risk management, compliance, and long-term IT roadmaps. This blog summarizes SAP’s official maintenance concepts and timelines based exclusively on information published by SAP.

What Is the End of Mainstream Maintenance?

The end of mainstream maintenance is a major decision point in the lifecycle of an SAP release. Importantly, it does not mean the end of SAP support.

During mainstream maintenance, SAP provides the full scope of maintenance and support for a given release. When this phase ends, the system automatically transitions into a subsequent phase called customer-specific maintenance, provided that the customer maintains a valid support contract.

From SAP’s official definition:

• Support continues after mainstream maintenance ends.
• No additional contract or separate fee is required for customer-specific maintenance.
• SAP continues to support systems running on releases that are no longer in mainstream maintenance.

Between mainstream maintenance and customer-specific maintenance, for some products, there is extended maintenance too. Let us explain these terms below before clarifying which version of SAP ECC and S/4HANA qualify for which type of maintenance.

2. Maintenance Phases Explained

SAP defines three maintenance phases, each with a clearly differentiated scope of services.

Mainstream Maintenance

Mainstream maintenance offers the full scope of SAP maintenance and support, including:

• Delivery of legal changes
• Support packages
• Problem resolution
• Global SAP support infrastructure
• Mission-critical support
• Service level agreements (SLAs)

Extended Maintenance

Extended maintenance is an optional phase available for selected SAP Business Suite 7 applications and add-ons.

• Scope of support is largely similar to mainstream maintenance.
• Technical limitations may apply.
• Certain innovations may require an upgrade to newer releases or enhancement packages.

Customer-Specific Maintenance

Customer-specific maintenance applies automatically once mainstream (or extended) maintenance ends. This phase comes with explicit restrictions:

• No delivery of legal changes.
• No new support packages.
• No guarantee of technological updates (e.g., no new kernel versions for new database or OS versions).
• Problem resolution is limited to known issues.

3. What are the reasons to avoid Customer-Specific Maintenance?

• Absence of SAP support: This is the most immediate and critical consequence. SAP will no longer provide technical support, fixes (including for bugs), or security updates. In the event of a critical issue or security vulnerability, the company will be left on its own to find a solution, which can be very costly and time-consuming.
• Increased security risks: Without regular security updates, the system becomes an easy target for cyberattacks. Unpatched vulnerabilities can be exploited to access sensitive data, disrupt operations, or cause financial and reputational damage.
• Compliance issues: Many industries are subject to strict data security and compliance regulations (for example, GDPR). Using an unsupported system can lead to non-compliance with these obligations, which may result in heavy fines and legal sanctions.
• Difficulty maintaining the system: Technical evolutions of operating systems, databases, and third-party applications can render the system incompatible. Without SAP updates, integration with other software and the company’s IT infrastructure may become increasingly difficult, or even impossible.
• Lack of innovation: The system will no longer evolve. Users will not have access to new functionalities, process improvements, and innovations that SAP continues to develop for SAP S/4HANA. This can hinder the company’s competitiveness and growth.
• Unexpected costs: Hidden costs can quickly accumulate. Consultant fees to solve unsupported issues, internal workforce efforts to compensate for gaps, and the financial consequences of outages and data breaches can far exceed the cost of migrating to a more recent version.

4. Maintenance Timelines for SAP ECC

SAP has published clear timelines for SAP ERP (ECC), covering both on-premise deployments and private cloud options.

SAP ERP (On-Premise)

• SAP ERP 6.0 (EHP 0–5): Follows a transition from mainstream maintenance into customer-specific maintenance at the end of 2025.
• SAP ERP 6.0 (EHP 6–8): Mainstream maintenance ends on December 31, 2027, with an optional extended maintenance phase available until 2030.

SAP ERP, Private Edition

SAP ERP, private edition, is positioned as a bridge option for customers moving to cloud infrastructure:

• Contracts for SAP ERP, private edition end no later than December 31, 2030.
• It technically requires Enhancement Package 7 or 8 on the SAP HANA database.

5. Maintenance Timelines for SAP S/4HANA

Beginning with the SAP S/4HANA 2023 release, SAP introduced a significant strategy shift to provide greater stability.

• 7-Year Support Window: Starting with release 2023, the mainstream maintenance window has increased from 5 years to 7 years.
• Biennial Release Cycle: New major releases now occur every two years.
• Long-Term Commitment: SAP has officially committed to maintaining at least one release of SAP S/4HANA until December 31, 2040.

The end of mainstream maintenance is not an abrupt loss of support, but it is a clear signal from SAP that a release is reaching the end of its strategic lifecycle. For SAP ECC customers, these timelines underline the urgency of defining a long-term transition toward SAP S/4HANA.

6. Conclusion

The end of mainstream maintenance is not an abrupt loss of support, but it is a clear signal from SAP that a release is reaching the end of its strategic lifecycle. While customer-specific and extended maintenance provide temporary safety nets, they come with increasing limitations and risks.

For SAP ECC customers, the published maintenance timelines underline the urgency of defining a long-term strategy—most notably a transition toward SAP S/4HANA, preferably as public or private editions. Understanding SAP’s official maintenance phases and timelines is the foundation for making informed, risk-aware decisions about that journey. What is the right target system? Read our blog about the SAP Business Suite. Should you have questions about more advanced topics such as compatibility scope or Safekeeper service, feel free to contact us.