Contents
Key takeawaysWhat it costsThe three providersWhat is not coveredWhen to leave and returnAudits after leavingWhat we have seenWhat SAP will sayContract termsWhat to do nextFAQThird party providers charge 11 to 12 percent of net license value against 22 percent for SAP Enterprise Support, roughly half the rate. The provider choice turns on custom code coverage, your S/4HANA roadmap and the paperwork you keep for audits.
- The rate is roughly half. SAP charges 22 percent for Enterprise Support and 19 for Standard, with a compounding uplift, while providers quote about half the Enterprise rate on the same baseline.
- Coverage decides the provider. All three cover break fix to L3, custom code and security patches, but custom code depth and tax country coverage separate them.
- No provider offers new releases. No provider gives you new SAP releases or the S/4HANA roadmap, so third party support fits a stable system between upgrades.
- Plan the return on day one. Most windows run 3 to 7 years, with the return to SAP planned 12 to 18 months before the next major upgrade.
- Returning is cheaper since July 2026. SAP now waives the reinstatement fee and caps back maintenance at the lower of half the lapsed fees or six months of fees.
- Keep the paperwork. SAP audit attention rose in most exits we ran, and the license grants, invoices and system records are what protect you.
How much does SAP third party support cost compared with SAP support?
Third party support for SAP costs 11 to 12 percent of net license value a year. SAP Enterprise Support costs 22 percent of the same value and Standard Support 19 percent, and most enterprise agreements add a 5 to 7 percent uplift that compounds every year.
Both quotes start from the same number. The providers price against the net license value in your SAP support order document, so read that document before you ask anyone for a price. It shows the entitlement scope, the SLA tier, the uplift clause and the baseline that both sides will multiply.
| Option | Annual rate | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| SAP Enterprise Support | 22 percent of net license value | An S/4HANA migration that is funded and scheduled |
| SAP Standard Support | 19 percent | Legacy ECC running on extended maintenance |
| SAP large enterprise program | By quote | The top fifty SAP accounts |
| Third party support | About half the Enterprise rate | A stable system between major upgrades |
A five year example in numbers
Say your company holds $10,000,000 of net license value on Enterprise Support, with a 5 percent annual uplift. A third party provider quotes 12 percent, and you get that price held flat for the term in writing.
| Year | SAP Enterprise Support, 5 percent uplift | Third party at 12 percent, held flat | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,200,000 | $1,200,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | $2,310,000 | $1,200,000 | $1,110,000 |
| 3 | $2,425,500 | $1,200,000 | $1,225,500 |
| 4 | $2,546,775 | $1,200,000 | $1,346,775 |
| 5 | $2,674,114 | $1,200,000 | $1,474,114 |
| Total | $12,156,389 | $6,000,000 | $6,156,389 |
The first year saves 45 percent. By year five the gap is 55 percent of the SAP fee, because the uplift keeps compounding on one side and the flat price holds on the other. At an 11 percent quote, year one alone saves half.
Building the Honest Baseline
Which companies provide third party support for SAP?
The three established providers of SAP third party support are Rimini Street, Spinnaker Support and Support Revolution. They quote similar rates, so the choice comes down to what each one covers and where.
- Rimini Street. The largest provider by SAP revenue. Its site lists tax, legal and regulatory updates for more than 150 countries, territories and administrative regions.
- Spinnaker Support. The engineering led provider, with tax and legal coverage in more than 40 countries.
- Support Revolution. The UK based European specialist, covering more than 30 countries, with the strongest European tax coverage of the three.
| Coverage | SAP Enterprise | Rimini Street | Spinnaker | Support Revolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Break fix, L1 to L3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tax, legal, regulatory updates | All countries | 150+ countries and regions | 40+ countries | 30+ countries |
| Custom code support | Standard interfaces only | Full | Full | Full |
| Security patches | SAP Note channel | Independent creation | Independent creation | Independent creation |
| New releases and S/4HANA roadmap | Included | Out of scope | Out of scope | Out of scope |
Why custom code coverage usually decides the provider
SAP supports its standard interfaces and stops there. A mature ECC system tends to fail in the custom code around it: the Z programs, user exits and integrations built up over many years. All three providers support that code in full, but they differ in which objects they document during onboarding and what they exclude.
How to compare three proposals side by side
Ask all three for proposals at the same time and score them on one grid with six columns. Weight custom code heavily; in our evaluations it separated the proposals more often than price did.
- Price. The rate, the baseline it applies to, and whether it holds for the term.
- Coverage scope. Every product, module and database on your support order, listed by name.
- Tax and legal countries. Checked against the countries you actually run payroll and statutory reporting in.
- Response SLA. Response and resolution times for each priority level.
- Custom code depth. Which objects are covered and how the provider learns them during onboarding.
- Geographic presence. Engineers in your time zones and languages.
SAP RISE Negotiation Guide
Pricing benchmarks and contract terms for SAP customers planning their return from third party support.
Get the white paper →What do you give up with SAP third party support?
No provider gives you new SAP product releases or access to the S/4HANA roadmap. Your current release line stays fixed for the whole window, and security fixes come from each provider's own engineering instead of SAP Notes.
For a stable system past its last major upgrade, the gap is real but rarely material. A company still deciding on S/4HANA should settle the roadmap before signing anything.
Mainstream maintenance for SAP Business Suite 7 ends at the end of 2027, and our comparison of extended maintenance and third party support covers that decision in detail.
Archive what you are entitled to before the end date
Your access to SAP's support channels ends with the support contract. Before the termination date, download the support packages, SAP Notes and installation media for every product you own, and store them with a record of what each file is.
When should you move to third party support, and when should you return?
Move after your last major upgrade and plan the return 12 to 18 months before the next one, because an S/4HANA migration needs vendor support in place before the project starts. The typical window runs 3 to 7 years, and it pays for itself when it matches the upgrade roadmap you can show on paper.
- Enter after the last major upgrade. Losing new releases matters little once the system has landed the release it will run for the next few years.
- Negotiate the return terms twice. Settle what you can with SAP when you leave, and again when you come back.
- Use the window. Half the support spend stays with you for its length, and you go into the next SAP commercial event as a customer SAP wants back.
What coming back to SAP cost, and what it costs now
In the evaluations we ran in 2024 and 2025, returning to SAP meant a back maintenance fee of 18 to 24 months of support. More often than not, the amount was open to negotiation.
SAP changed this on July 10, 2026, after the European Commission accepted its commitments on on premises maintenance. SAP now waives the reinstatement fee and caps back maintenance at the lower of 50 percent of the fees for the time off support or six months of fees. The commitments apply to SAP customers worldwide and run for 10 years.
Take the same company off SAP support for three years, with back maintenance priced at the year one fee of $2,200,000 a year. The three years saved $3,335,500. Under the terms we saw in 2024 and 2025, 18 to 24 months of back maintenance would cost $3,300,000 to $4,400,000, which wipes out nearly all of that saving or more.
Under the July 2026 cap, 50 percent of three years of fees is at least $3,300,000, so the six month limit applies instead. The return costs $1,100,000 and leaves $2,235,500 of net saving.
Our analysis of the EU commitments goes through each clause.
Splitting your systems between SAP and a provider
The same commitments let you divide your systems into separate Commercial Installations and choose SAP support, a third party provider or no support for each one. Each installation needs its own installation number and at least one production system with a matching non production system.
SAP handles a split request within six months, and the split takes effect on the next January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1, so file it well before the quarter you want. A split does not restart the initial term, and neither does buying more licenses.
- Keep SAP support on the installation you are migrating to S/4HANA.
- Move a stable installation, such as a regional ECC system, to a third party provider.
- Drop support entirely on an installation kept only for read access to historical data.
Does SAP audit customers who leave support?
SAP keeps its audit rights under the license agreement after support ends, and its attention increased in most of the exits we ran. The account team loses its quarterly check ins and the system telemetry, while its sales incentives stay the same. Your protection is the paperwork you keep.
- The license grant. The original order, the metric definitions and the named user list.
- The support record. The entitlement record, the last paid support invoice, the termination notice and the certified deployment count.
- A system inventory. Production, QA, development, sandbox and DR, with each system tied to an entitlement.
- Quarterly internal reviews. Named users, engines and indirect access, measured with the same tools SAP would use.
- A change log. Each new module, integration and use case, recorded when it happens instead of reconstructed at audit time.
Keep running USMM and LAW each quarter; our guide to USMM, LAW and SLAW explains what each measures. Indirect access drives most SAP audit exposure, and our digital access guide covers it. The audit process itself is in the SAP audit defense framework.
What have we seen in SAP third party support evaluations?
Across roughly 25 to 35 SAP support evaluations between 2024 and 2025, the support line was the most overlooked saving in the SAP accounts we reviewed. The 45 to 50 percent saving held against Enterprise Support on the same net license value.
- Custom code decided the provider. In roughly half the evaluations it outweighed the price difference between proposals.
- The return fee was negotiable. The 18 to 24 month charge moved in 6 of 10 cases, most when an S/4HANA roadmap commitment was part of the deal.
The companies that got the most from the window knew their next major upgrade date and could place the exit and return around it. Those that did not know it were better off settling the roadmap first, because the audit exposure and the return fee both depend on the plan you can evidence.
Third party support is a roadmap decision with a price attached. Place it between upgrades, and plan the return date on the day you leave.
Why we plan every exit with a return date
Providers often present third party support as a permanent exit, and many buyers plan it that way. We advise against it.
Most companies still on ECC will need SAP again for S/4HANA or a new product. A return with no date gets arranged in a hurry, once the migration is already scheduled and SAP knows it. Put the return date in the business case and review it yearly.
What will SAP say when you raise third party support?
Expect a small set of arguments from the account team once you ask for a termination date. Each has a factual reply.
- "You will lose access to S/4HANA innovation." Show the roadmap: the window closes 12 to 18 months before the migration, and the return cost is capped.
- "Third party support leaves you exposed on security." Ask the provider to walk SAP's own team through its patch process, and note that SAP does not support your custom code today.
- "Customers who leave get audited." Audit rights exist either way. Your retention file is ready before notice goes out.
- "Third party providers misuse SAP intellectual property." Ask the provider how it keeps SAP materials out of its fixes and for an IP indemnity in its contract. SAP's own commitments now let customers put each installation with a third party provider.
- "We can improve the renewal if you stay." Ask for it in writing and compare it against the provider quote on the same baseline. A tier step down or an uplift cap may be worth more than a one year discount.
Our third party support report covers the wider economics across vendors, including return costs and how a credible exit option changes a renewal.
Which contract terms should you get before you sign?
Sign the provider contract before you serve notice on SAP, and make its start date match the day SAP support ends so no system goes a day uncovered.
- A price hold for the term. The quoted rate, fixed or capped each year, so the saving does not erode.
- A named scope schedule. Every product, module, database and custom object, so nothing falls between the two contracts.
- A country list. The tax and legal jurisdictions the provider will update, matched to your payroll and reporting countries.
- SLAs with credits. Response and resolution times by priority, with service credits when they are missed.
- An IP indemnity. The provider defends you and pays the cost if SAP claims its support work used SAP materials it had no right to use.
- An exit clause that matches your return date. The right to end the provider contract when you go back to SAP, without paying out the remaining term.
- SAP paperwork in writing. A dated termination notice, SAP's acknowledgment of it, and the Commercial Installation split if you use one.
What to do next
- Read the support order document. Record the entitlement scope, SLA tier, uplift clause and net license value that both quotes will use.
- Request three proposals together. Score them on the six column grid, with custom code depth weighted heavily.
- Place the window on the roadmap. Enter after the last major upgrade and plan the return 12 to 18 months before the next.
- Build the retention file before notice. License grants, entitlement records, certified counts and the documented system inventory.
- Price the return. Model back maintenance under SAP's July 2026 cap and negotiate any remaining terms up front.
- Get support. The SAP practice runs the evaluation with you, from the order document to the signed provider contract.
Frequently asked questions
How much does SAP third party support save?
Typically 45 to 50 percent of the annual support bill. SAP Enterprise Support costs 22 percent of net license value with a 5 to 7 percent yearly uplift, while providers quote about half that on the same baseline. If the provider holds its price flat, the gap widens every year the SAP uplift would have applied.
Who provides third party support for SAP?
Rimini Street, the largest by SAP revenue, Spinnaker Support, an engineering led provider, and Support Revolution, a UK based European specialist. They differ most on tax and legal country coverage, from more than 150 countries and regions at Rimini Street to more than 30 at Support Revolution.
What does SAP third party support not cover?
New SAP product releases and access to the S/4HANA roadmap, with every provider. Security fixes are written by the provider rather than delivered as SAP Notes. You also lose SAP's support portal access, so archive what you are entitled to before support ends.
Can you return to SAP support after leaving?
Yes. Before July 2026 the back maintenance fee typically ran 18 to 24 months of support, negotiable in 6 of 10 cases we saw. Under SAP's current commitments the reinstatement fee is waived and back maintenance is capped at the lower of 50 percent of the lapsed fees or six months of fees.
Does SAP audit customers who leave support?
SAP's audit rights come from the license agreement, so they continue after support ends, and in most exits we ran SAP paid closer attention. Start the retention file before you serve notice, and keep running internal reviews every quarter so the numbers are current when a letter arrives.
How do you choose between the SAP third party providers?
Request three proposals at once and compare price, scope, tax country coverage, SLA, custom code depth and geographic presence. Custom code depth decided roughly half our evaluations, and for multinationals the tax and legal country list against your payroll countries often settles the rest.
Is third party support for SAP allowed?
Yes. Once the initial term has passed, ending SAP support and hiring another provider is the customer's choice. SAP's commitments effective July 10, 2026 go further and let you put each Commercial Installation with SAP, a third party provider or no support. Avoid using SAP materials you are no longer entitled to after support ends.