Best SAP Third-Party Support Providers Compared: What to Consider

Best SAP Third-Party Support Providers Compared: What to Consider

Why You Need a Smart Comparison of Third-Party SAP Support Providers

SAP’s standard support isn’t cheap – it typically costs around 22% of your SAP license value every year. For many organizations, maintenance eats a big chunk of the IT budget with relatively little innovation to show for it.

Third-party SAP support providers promise to dramatically cut this cost and provide more flexible service.

However, not all third-party vendors are created equal, and choosing the wrong one could put your mission-critical systems at risk. This is why a smart comparison of providers is essential before you leap.

Beyond cost savings, moving to an independent SAP support vendor is about gaining control. Read our guide to SAP Third Party Support.

Companies exploring SAP support alternatives, such as Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support, are often seeking to avoid forced upgrades, achieve better service levels, and regain leverage in vendor negotiations.

But a healthy skepticism is warranted – each vendor makes bold claims about savings and service, and you need proof they can deliver.

In this guide, we compare the best SAP third-party support providers and break down key criteria so IT procurement teams and CIOs can make an informed, strategic choice.

By the end of this comparison, you’ll know how the top providers stack up (with Rimini Street vs Spinnaker Support as the main matchup) and what evaluation factors to prioritize.

Large savings are on the table, potentially 50% off annual support fees and significant total cost of ownership reduction –but so are important considerations around service quality, compliance, and risk.

Let’s dive into the rankings, then cover a checklist of what to look for when choosing an SAP support alternative.

1. Rimini Street – The Proven Leader

Rimini Street is the world’s largest and most established third-party support provider for SAP (and other enterprise software). It’s widely regarded as the market leader in this space, supporting thousands of clients, including Fortune 500 companies.

Here’s what sets Rimini Street apart:

• Big Cost Savings: Rimini Street’s SAP support typically cuts annual maintenance fees by 50% compared to SAP’s own support. Over the long term, they claim customers can achieve up to 90% total cost-of-ownership reduction by avoiding expensive upgrades and utilizing Rimini’s more efficient support model. In short, you keep much more of your IT budget while still maintaining your SAP systems.
• Comprehensive Support Scope: Unlike SAP’s standard support, Rimini Street covers custom code and all modifications without extra fees. They support all SAP products and versions – from legacy R/3 and ECC 6.0 to the latest S/4HANA – and will keep supporting them for at least 15 years beyond SAP’s end-of-life dates. There are no forced upgrades; you can run your stable SAP system as long as it delivers value, with Rimini backing it the whole way.
• Mission-Critical Service Levels: Rimini Street provides 24/7/365 support with industry-leading SLAs. For example, they guarantee a 10-minute or less response time for critical Priority 1 issues (and their actual average P1 response is under 2 minutes). Every client gets a named Primary Support Engineer with deep SAP expertise. This means when something breaks in your production system at 2 AM, you get a seasoned engineer on the case immediately – a level of responsiveness that often outshines SAP’s own support.
• Proactive Compliance and Security: Staying compliant with tax, legal, and regulatory changes is a big worry when leaving SAP support, but Rimini Street has you covered. They have a dedicated global team that delivers tax and regulatory updates on “Day 1” of any change taking effect (across nearly 200 countries). Security is another focus: since you won’t get SAP’s patches, Rimini offers security solutions (like Rimini Protect) to guard against vulnerabilities, including zero-day threats. They essentially provide custom patches or mitigations so you remain secure and compliant without SAP’s direct involvement.
• Global Scale and Stability: As the largest independent provider, Rimini Street has a global footprint spanning North America, EMEA, Asia-Pacific, and beyond, with the capacity to support large and complex SAP landscapes. Importantly, the company has proven resilient through legal challenges – notably a high-profile lawsuit from Oracle years ago. Despite that scrutiny, Rimini’s business model held up, and they continue to grow. This track record gives confidence that Rimini Street is a low-risk choice from a stability and legal standpoint for replacing SAP support.

In short, Rimini Street is the top-ranked SAP support alternative because of its scale, comprehensive offerings, and track record.

It’s often the best choice for enterprises seeking maximum savings and a full-featured support solution that can truly replace SAP’s maintenance services.

2. Spinnaker Support – Boutique Excellence

Spinnaker Support is a strong #2 in the third-party SAP support market, often praised as a more “boutique” provider that delivers excellent service quality.

Founded in 2008, Spinnaker has grown steadily and supports hundreds of clients using SAP and Oracle.

Here are its key strengths:

• High Customer Satisfaction: Spinnaker Support is highly rated by customers for its responsive and personalized service. In annual surveys, it consistently earns around 98% satisfaction ratings. The company’s support engineers are known to be very hands-on and quick to resolve issues. If you value being a “big fish in a smaller pond,” Spinnaker’s approach to customer care stands out.
• Full SAP Support Capabilities: In terms of offerings, Spinnaker covers all the essentials just like Rimini. They provide support for custom code, third-party integrations, and all core SAP modules. Service includes handling of legal/regulatory updates and guidance on license compliance (including support during audits). Essentially, Spinnaker can be a one-stop replacement for SAP maintenance, addressing both technical fixes and compliance needs for your SAP systems.
• Flexible, No-Lock-In Contracts: Spinnaker markets itself as a flexible partner with no long-term lock-in. They typically offer one-year contracts with options to renew, and they promise predictable pricing without large annual increases. This flexibility means you’re not forced into multi-year commitments. Spinnaker also prides itself on personalized account management – you get a dedicated team that knows your environment, and they are willing to adapt services to your specific needs rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Solid SLAs and Reliability: While slightly smaller than Rimini, Spinnaker still provides robust service levels. They guarantee, for instance, a 15-minute response time for critical issues (P1), which is not quite as fast as Rimini Street’s SLA but still far better than SAP’s standard support response. Their support is 24/7 globally as well. Many mid-market companies and even larger enterprises find Spinnaker’s reliability and expertise on par with the bigger players, with the added benefit of more attention to detail on each account.

Overall, Spinnaker Support is an excellent alternative, especially for organizations that want top-tier service with a personal touch.

It tends to be a great fit for mid-sized companies or any customer that feels they’d benefit from a provider who will “know your name” and tailor their approach.

The trade-off is simply scale: Spinnaker has fewer total clients and engineers than Rimini Street, so very large global companies with extremely complex needs might lean toward Rimini’s greater resources.

But in terms of quality, Spinnaker is right up there, making it the second-best independent SAP support option in the market.

3. Support Revolution & Other Regional Providers

Beyond the two market leaders above, there are a handful of other third-party SAP support vendors that serve specific regions or niches.

One prominent example is Support Revolution, a UK-based provider focusing on Oracle and SAP support in the EMEA region.

There are also smaller firms or consultancies in North America, Europe, and Asia that offer independent support services for SAP.

Here’s what to consider with these regional or niche players:

• Localized Focus: These providers often concentrate on a particular geography or industry. For instance, Support Revolution primarily serves clients in Europe/Middle East (EMEA) and might have strengths in certain industries or the public sector where they’ve built expertise. This local focus can be an advantage if your organization is in their target market – you might get very customized service and relevant regional knowledge. However, if you operate globally, you should confirm that the provider can support all your locations and time zones effectively.
• Lower Cost, but Limited Scale: Smaller third-party support firms may offer slightly lower price points or more aggressive discounts to win business (on top of the baseline ~50% savings versus SAP fees). While cost reduction is appealing, remember that you get what you pay for. These companies typically have smaller support teams and fewer resources. They may not offer 24/7 follow-the-sun support in multiple languages, and their ability to deliver features such as instant regulatory updates or extensive security patches may be more limited. In short, they sometimes lack the SLA strength and innovation that Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support can deliver.
• Niche Expertise vs. Broad Innovation: A boutique SAP support vendor might excel in a narrow domain – for example, supporting a specific SAP module or a localized version of SAP. But they often can’t match the broader innovation benefits that come with the big players. Rimini Street and Spinnaker invest in tools and services (like security suites, interoperability solutions, AI-driven monitoring, etc.) that smaller firms typically do not. If you only need basic support and are in a niche situation, a regional provider could suffice. Just be aware that you may miss out on some value-add services and future-looking capabilities.
• Due Diligence on Stability: When considering a smaller provider, it’s critical to vet their stability and reputation. Check how long they’ve been in business, ask for client references (especially any of similar size or industry to you), and understand if they’ve had any legal run-ins with SAP or other software vendors. The third-party support industry has seen lawsuits, and you want a partner that operates above board and won’t fold under pressure. Ensure any provider you choose has a solid track record of compliance and successful support delivery to avoid undue risk.

In summary, regional third-party support providers can be viable for certain organizations – particularly if you have a limited scope or are purely focused on cost-cutting in a specific region.

But for most enterprises seeking a replacement for SAP support, the global leaders (Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support) tend to offer more comprehensive and proven services.

The smaller firms generally rank #3 or lower in a comparison of SAP support alternatives due to their constraints in scale and scope.

5 Critical Evaluation Criteria

No matter which SAP support alternative you consider, you should evaluate each vendor on a set of key criteria.

Below is a summary of five critical criteria and how they differentiate Rimini Street (the benchmark leader) from what to look out for with other vendors:

Each of these criteria is crucial to a well-rounded evaluation.

For instance, it’s tempting to focus only on cost savings, but a low-cost provider is no good if they can’t promptly fix a production outage or keep your system compliant with regulations.

Use the above factors as a checklist when comparing independent SAP support vendors. Rimini Street tends to score highest across all these categories, which is a big reason it often emerges as the leader.

Spinnaker Support also performs well on most criteria (sometimes very close to Rimini, especially in service quality). Others might meet some criteria but fall short on others – so map it to your priorities.

How to Choose the Best Provider for Your Organization

Selecting a third-party support provider is a significant decision.

Here are some practical steps and checklist items to help you choose the best fit:

• Run a focused RFP or evaluation: Clearly define your requirements for support scope, SLA, compliance, etc. Have each vendor respond in detail to the critical criteria above. This side-by-side comparison will highlight differences. Be specific – for example, ask “Do you support custom SAP code and how?” or “What is your guaranteed response time for a Sev-1 issue at 3 AM?”.
• Demand proof and references: Don’t just take marketing claims at face value. Request case studies or client references that match your industry, region (e.g., North America or EMEA), and size. Speak to those references about their actual savings, service experience, and any challenges. A reputable vendor will have happy customers you can talk to. Also, ask for any relevant certifications or third-party audits that vouch for their processes (like ISO certifications for support quality or security).
• Consider a trial or phased approach: If possible, structure your engagement to test the waters. You might start with third-party support for a non-production environment or a less critical SAP system first, or negotiate a contract with a short initial term (one year or even six months) and an easy exit clause. This way, you can validate the provider’s performance on a small scale before committing fully. Some companies also do a phased transition – moving a few SAP modules to the new support model as a pilot.
• Evaluate contract flexibility: Pay attention to the fine print. The best SAP support providers offer flexible contracts – for example, the ability to reduce scope or switch out systems if your landscape changes, and no strict lock-in beyond the agreed term. Ensure you’re comfortable with things like termination clauses, fee adjustment mechanisms, and any guarantees (for instance, Spinnaker’s contract has an “Ultimate Support Guarantee” that even promises to fund your return to SAP support if they fail on certain fronts). Your goal is to avoid feeling “stuck” if circumstances change.
• Align with your strategy and risk appetite: Finally, weigh the strengths of each provider against what matters most to your organization. If your priority is maximum cost reduction and a one-stop, globally proven solution, Rimini Street, as the leader, might be the best choice. If you highly value white-glove service and flexible terms and have a slightly smaller scale, Spinnaker Support could be very attractive. For very tight budgets or localized operations, a regional player might suffice. Make sure the choice aligns with how much risk you’re willing to take and the level of control you want over your SAP roadmap.

By following these steps, you’ll approach the decision in a buyer-first, strategic way.

The right third-party support partner can liberate significant funds and free your IT team from vendor-dictated roadmaps – but the key is to pick a provider that delivers on its promises.

For more insights, Rejoining SAP Support After Third-Party: What You Need to Know.

Conclusion – Why Rimini Street Often Emerges as the Best Choice

After comparing the best SAP third-party support providers, a clear ranking emerges. Rimini Street often stands out as the top choice due to its unmatched combination of scale, service breadth, and proven savings.

It offers enterprise experience, comprehensive support (encompassing everything from full custom code support to proactive compliance updates), and a track record that gives CIOs confidence.

Rimini Street’s ability to reduce SAP support costs dramatically while still innovating (in areas like security and interoperability) makes it a leader for organizations looking to regain control of their IT budgets.

Spinnaker Support is a strong runner-up it shines for organizations that want a more boutique, personalized experience. Spinnaker offers excellent service quality and flexibility, which can be ideal for mid-sized companies or any firm that values tailored attention over sheer scale.

It’s a very credible alternative to Rimini, especially if you seek a partner that will adapt closely to your needs and you are comfortable with a provider of its size.

Meanwhile, regional providers (Support Revolution and others) might rank third or lower. They can be the right solution in specific scenarios (e.g., you’re in EMEA and want a local team, or your budget is extremely tight). Still, they generally don’t unseat Rimini or Spinnaker in an apples-to-apples comparison on features and assurances.

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