Oracle Third Party Support: When the 50 Percent Cut Is the Right Call
Third party support runs at roughly half of Oracle Premier Support, holds flat while Oracle reprices at 6 percent a year, and stays lawful after the July 2025 Oracle and Rimini settlement.
Prepared by Redress Compliance · June 2026 · Representative Oracle estate scenario (benchmark scenario, not a quote)
Executive summary
Oracle Premier Support is 22 percent of your net license fee every year, repriced upward at a median near 6 percent. On a $4.2M support line that compounds to $23.7M over five years. The support bill, not the license, is where Oracle quietly grows your spend.
Independent providers like Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support charge about 50 percent of the equivalent Oracle fee and hold it flat, with a 15 year support commitment on your current release. On the same estate that is $10.5M over five years, a $13.2M difference.
The decision is not only financial. You keep your perpetual licenses and your running environment, but you give up new Oracle versions and Oracle issued patches while you stay on third party support. For a stable, mature estate that trade is often easy. For one mid upgrade it is not.
The July 7, 2025 settlement ended the 15 year Oracle versus Rimini litigation with no admission of liability, and third party support remains lawful. The one live constraint: Rimini is winding down Oracle PeopleSoft support, so PeopleSoft owners need a separate plan. Even if you never switch, a costed third party quote is the strongest renewal lever you have.
What does 50 percent off Oracle support actually mean?
It means you pay about half of what Oracle charges, and the half you pay does not climb. Oracle Premier Support is set at 22 percent of the net license fee at the time of purchase, then repriced upward each renewal. Independent support providers price at roughly 50 percent of that Oracle fee and hold it flat for the contract term.
The gap is not static. Oracle support repricing runs at a median near 6 percent a year, above the 4 percent cap most buyers assume they have and many never negotiated. Third party support that starts at half the Oracle fee widens its lead every year Oracle reprices.
| Year | Oracle Premier Support (6% uplift) | Third party support (flat) | Annual saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $4,200,000 | $2,100,000 | $2,100,000 |
| Year 2 | $4,452,000 | $2,100,000 | $2,352,000 |
| Year 3 | $4,719,120 | $2,100,000 | $2,619,120 |
| Year 4 | $5,002,267 | $2,100,000 | $2,902,267 |
| Year 5 | $5,302,403 | $2,100,000 | $3,202,403 |
| 5 year total | $23,675,790 | $10,500,000 | $13,175,790 |
What do you keep, what do you lose, and what do you replace?
You keep more than buyers expect and lose less than Oracle account teams imply. Your perpetual licenses are yours. You bought a perpetual right to run the software, and dropping Oracle support does not revoke it. What you give up is the flow of new versions and Oracle issued patches while you are off support.
| Area | You keep | You lose | You replace it with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software rights | Perpetual licenses you already own, running unchanged | Rights to new Oracle releases while off support | 15 year provider commitment on your current release |
| Patches | Every patch already installed | Access to new Oracle patches and security fixes | Provider built fixes and virtual patching at the network and OS layer |
| Compliance updates | Nothing from Oracle once you leave | Oracle tax, legal, and regulatory updates | Provider tax, legal, and regulatory updates, included in the fee |
| Support channel | Your own admins and DBAs | My Oracle Support portal and the Oracle TAM | A named engineer with a 15 minute P1 response target |
The replacement column is where providers earn the fee. Rimini Street and Spinnaker both fold tax, legal, and regulatory updates into the price, and both build their own security fixes rather than relying on Oracle patches. For a frozen, stable release that is a clean substitution. For a database mid migration to 23ai or an E Business Suite estate planning a Fusion move, the lost upgrade rights matter and the math shifts.
How do Rimini Street, Spinnaker, and the others differ?
There are two scaled Oracle providers and a longer tail. Rimini Street created the market in 2005 and is the largest, with roughly 3,000 customers and public company governance on NASDAQ. Spinnaker Support is the credible number two and the only provider with deep coverage across both Oracle and SAP. Origina is real but IBM focused, not an Oracle database option.
| Provider | Scale and governance | Oracle coverage | Pricing vs Oracle | Constraint to weigh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rimini Street | Largest, ~3,000 clients, NASDAQ listed, created TPS in 2005 | Database, E Business Suite, JD Edwards, Hyperion, Siebel, middleware | ~50% of Premier | Winding down Oracle PeopleSoft support under the 2025 settlement |
| Spinnaker Support | Number two, Oracle and SAP in one provider | Database, E Business Suite, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, Siebel, Hyperion, WebLogic, SOA Suite | ~50% of Premier, ~60% average TCO saving claimed | Smaller installed base than Rimini |
| Support Revolution | UK based, growing Oracle footprint | Oracle Database, applications, middleware | ~50% of Premier, up to 90% TCO claimed | Smaller Oracle reference base; verify scope for your products |
| Origina | IBM specialist | Primarily IBM software, not Oracle Database | n/a for Oracle | Use for IBM, not the Oracle estate |
Match the provider to the product, not the logo. For PeopleSoft, the 2025 settlement makes Spinnaker the safer long term choice because Rimini is exiting that product line. For a pure Database and E Business Suite estate, both leaders cover you and the decision turns on references, the named engineer, and the security fix model.
After Oracle versus Rimini, is third party support still safe?
Yes, with one product specific caveat. The decade and a half of litigation between Oracle and Rimini Street ended in a July 2025 settlement with no admission of liability. Third party support as a category was never ruled unlawful. The cases turned on how Rimini delivered support, not on your right to buy it.
Rimini I and Rimini II litigation
Oracle pursued Rimini over how it hosted and processed Oracle software for support. The disputes were about delivery method and DMCA compliance, not the legality of independent support.
Modified permanent injunction
A modified injunction required Rimini to follow the DMCA and refrain from four specific marketing statements, none of which are part of its current marketing. The Rimini I and Rimini II injunctions both remain in effect.
Settlement ends the war
After June 2025 mediation, a settlement became effective. Neither party admitted liability or wrongdoing, and both agreed not to bring further claims over the conduct at issue.
PeopleSoft wind down
Rimini is winding down Oracle PeopleSoft support, roughly $30M of annual revenue at announcement. PeopleSoft owners on Rimini need a transition plan to another provider or back to Oracle.
What it means in practice is simple. Buying third party support for Oracle Database, E Business Suite, JD Edwards, or middleware carries no novel legal risk after the settlement, provided the provider runs a clean, DMCA compliant delivery model. Keep your own license certification tidy, because leaving support does not lower Oracle audit interest. If anything, it raises it.
How do you use third party support as renewal leverage, even without switching?
This is the move most buyers miss. The common reseller and account team line is that third party support is for legacy systems you are about to retire. We disagree. The strongest use of a third party quote is as a credible, costed alternative on a renewal you have every intention of keeping with Oracle.
When you bring a real Rimini or Spinnaker number to an Oracle renewal, the conversation changes. Oracle would rather discount Premier Support than lose the line to a competitor and watch the reference spread. Buyers who put a costed quote on the table routinely pull Oracle renewals down by 20 to 30 percent without ever leaving.
| Contract mechanic | How Oracle uses it | The buyer side counter |
|---|---|---|
| Matching service levels | You cannot drop support on part of a license set; Oracle reprices the remainder toward list | Model the whole set before you act, and use the full set as the quoted alternative |
| Reinstatement penalty | Returning to Oracle support costs 150 percent of the last fee plus back support fees | Decide once, with a costed exit and re entry model, not in a panic at audit |
| Uncapped uplift | Renewals reprice near 6 percent when no cap was negotiated at purchase | Trade the credible third party quote for a written multi year cap |
Timing multiplies the leverage. Oracle quarter and fiscal year end, the end of May, is when account teams need the deal closed. A costed third party alternative landed in that window is worth more than the same quote in the first quarter. The quote does the work even if you never sign it.
A representative Oracle estate: the five year picture
Consider Atlas Manufacturing Group, a representative estate sized for this paper. It runs Oracle Database Enterprise Edition with options and an E Business Suite footprint, carrying a $4.2M annual Oracle support bill. The release is stable, with no upgrade planned inside five years. This is the textbook third party support candidate.
Held on Oracle Premier Support at a 6 percent uplift, that line reaches $23.7M over five years. Moved to a provider at half the fee, flat, it is $10.5M, a $13.2M maintenance difference. Add the forced upgrade project Atlas avoids by staying on its supported release, roughly $6.0M, and a smaller premium incident saving, and the five year total cost of ownership falls about 66 percent.
The contrarian read on Atlas: even if its board prefers to stay with Oracle, the right first step is still to get the costed provider quote. That single document is the lever that turns a 6 percent uplift renewal into a capped, discounted one. Switching is optional. Quoting is not.
Recommendation
Get a costed third party support quote before your next Oracle renewal, then decide from a position of leverage rather than under audit pressure. The analysis above shows the saving is real and the legal path is clear; the open question is product fit and timing, and both are knowable in weeks.
- Model the whole license set first. Map matching service levels, the reinstatement penalty, and your upgrade roadmap so the decision is made once, with the full five year picture in front of you.
- Use the quote as a renewal lever even if you stay. Land a credible Rimini or Spinnaker number at Oracle fiscal year end and convert a 6 percent uplift into a written multi year cap and a real discount.
Redress Compliance is buyer side only. We build the costed comparison, run the provider diligence, and sit on your side of the table through the renewal or the switch. We are glad to tie a meaningful part of the fee to delivered value.
