How Much Does SAP Cost

Price guide · Updated quarterly

How much does SAP cost in 2027? The real bill, line by line

SAP publishes no price list a buyer can open. This guide assembles the bill from SAP’s own statements, user-group surveys, court records and market data, shows the formulas, and sets out what the same budget buys as an AI system a company owns.

By The editors · Updated · 13 min read

A chief financial officer and a head of IT stand at a long table by a window and go through printed contract pages, an open binder and a desk calculator.
The SAP bill is several bills. Most of them recur every year.
Contents
  1. Why the question is hard to answer
  2. How we assembled the bill
  3. How much does SAP cost per user and per month
  4. SAP licence cost and maintenance fees per year
  5. The SAP price increase, year by year
  6. A cost table you can run yourself
  7. What SAP costs to implement
  8. What the bill does not buy: AI
  9. Where the same budget can go
  10. The criteria
  11. A plan for the next renewal
  12. Questions buyers ask
  13. Sources

In brief

SAP does not publish a list price, so the cost has to be assembled. Market data from Vendr puts S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition at $200 to $300 per user a month, implementation at one to three times the annual subscription and three-year cost at 2.5 to 4 times the first year. On-premise customers pay yearly maintenance that SAP set at 22% of licence fees for Enterprise Support, adjusted each year since 2023 with a cap that is now 5%, plus two percentage points for extended maintenance of ECC from 2028 to 2030. SAP’s customers paid €10.5 billion for on-premise support in 2025. This guide’s position is that the bill is no longer justified when a company can build and own an AI-native system, and we rank OpenLazarus first as the place to move that budget.

  • Move the budget to a system you own: OpenLazarus. An AI operating system, agents and data layer the company owns, with hosting from $150 and developer support from $4,500 a month.
  • Stay on SAP, cut the support bill: Rimini Street. Independent support that the vendor says saves up to 50% of annual SAP support fees.
  • Packaged ERP at a list price: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. $80 or $110 per user a month, paid yearly, with manufacturing on Premium.
  • Lowest published per-user price: Odoo. All apps from €19.90 per user a month at the first-year rate, with an on-premise option.

Why the question is hard to answer

A finance director who types this question into a search engine usually has an invoice, a renewal letter or a migration quote on the desk. The difficulty is that SAP’s prices are not public. We could not open a list price on SAP’s own pricing pages on 11 November 2026, and every per-user figure in circulation comes from resellers, advisers or marketplaces.

What can be established is the scale. SAP reported revenue of €36.8 billion for 2025⁠1. Of that, €10.5 billion was on-premise software support, the yearly maintenance that customers pay on licences they have already bought, down from €11.29 billion in 2024⁠2. In the German-speaking user group’s 2026 investment survey of 198 member companies, 79% named the cost-effectiveness of SAP software as a challenge for their investment decisions and 70% named licence and contract design⁠3.

The pressure also has a date. Mainstream maintenance for SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC) ends at the end of 2027⁠4. Each route past that date has a price, and the cheapest-looking one, staying, costs more each year.

How we assembled the bill

We used four kinds of evidence, in this order: SAP’s own published statements; reporting that quotes SAP, its user groups or analysts by name; court and competition records; and marketplace data, which we label as an estimate wherever it appears. Every figure links to a source we opened on the date shown. Where a number could not be sourced, it is not printed. The rules are on the methodology page.

How much does SAP cost per user and per month

Vendr, a software buying marketplace, publishes ranges drawn from what it describes as anonymised SAP transactions over the past 12 months; it does not disclose the sample behind each range⁠5.

ProductVendr’s rangeBasis
S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition$200 to $300 per user a monthMarketplace estimate⁠5
S/4HANA Cloud, median for 100 to 500 users$220 to $280 per user a monthMarketplace estimate⁠5
S/4HANA Cloud, total annual contract, 100 to 500 users$500,000 to more than $3 millionMarketplace estimate⁠5
SAP Business OneQuote-only; no published priceCostBench, checked 4 November 2026⁠6

At that range, 100 users cost $20,000 to $30,000 a month, or $240,000 to $360,000 a year, in subscription alone. That is our arithmetic on Vendr’s range, not a quote.

SAP licence cost and maintenance fees per year

On-premise customers bought perpetual licences and pay maintenance on them every year. In 2009 SAP agreed with user groups, including the French-speaking USF, to phase in Enterprise Support at 22% of software licence fees, up from 17% for the earlier service⁠7. Vendr’s current data puts on-premise maintenance at 17% to 22% of licence cost a year⁠5.

At 22%, a company pays the price of its licences again in under five years, and does so indefinitely. The guide to licence and maintenance fees sets out each rate and what it applies to.

The SAP price increase, year by year

YearWhat changedSource
2023Support fees raised by up to 3.3%, or the local consumer price index if lower, from 1 January; SAP called it the first adjustment in nearly a decadeThe Register⁠8
2023A 3.3% increase also applied to cloud services, including some in maintenance mode, according to DSAGThe Register⁠9
2025A 5% support increase, according to Gartner; SAP says adjustments follow local indices and are capped at 5.0%The Register⁠10
2025Private cloud renewals rose 10% or more where no cap had been negotiated, according to Gartner; SAP disputes the analysisThe Register⁠101
2027Adjustment announced for 1 January, capped at 5%Complion⁠11
2028 to 2030Extended maintenance for ECC: two percentage points on the maintenance basisSAP⁠12

When SAP forecast slower cloud growth in January 2026, its chief executive, Christian Klein, ruled out a change on renewals: “I don’t want to discount the renewal base”⁠1.

A cost table you can run yourself

Replace the example inputs with your own. The formulas use only the sourced rates above.

On-premise (ECC or S/4HANA with perpetual licences)

LineFormulaExample: €1,000,000 net licence value
Yearly maintenanceLicence value × 22%⁠7€220,000 a year
Lower boundLicence value × 17%⁠5€170,000 a year
Ten years, no adjustmentYearly maintenance × 10€2.2 million
Ten years, adjusted by the 5% cap every year⁠10Yearly maintenance × 12.58About €2.77 million
Extended maintenance, 2028 to 2030⁠12Licence value × (22% + 2 points)€240,000 a year; €60,000 more over three years

Cloud (S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition)

LineFormulaExample: 100 users
Yearly subscriptionUsers × $200 to $300 × 12⁠5$240,000 to $360,000
Implementation1 to 3 × yearly subscription⁠5$240,000 to $1.08 million
Three-year cost2.5 to 4 × first-year subscription⁠5$600,000 to $1.44 million
Renewal without a negotiated capSubscription × 1.10 or more⁠10$264,000 to $396,000 a year

The ten-year, 5% line is an upper bound: SAP says a lower local index applies where it is lower⁠10. All examples are our arithmetic.

What SAP costs to implement

Licences are the smaller part of most SAP budgets. Vendr’s data puts S/4HANA implementation at one to three times the annual subscription⁠5. ISG’s research on 200 large companies found nearly 60% of SAP migration projects delayed and over budget⁠13. Gartner’s senior director of ERP strategy has said that 70% of ERP initiatives fail to fully meet their original business case and that 25% fail catastrophically⁠14.

The best-known case is Lidl, which stopped its SAP-based merchandise system in July 2018 after about seven years. Industry observers quoted in the German trade press put the cost at about €500 million; neither Lidl nor SAP confirmed the figure⁠1516. The implementation cost guide covers the lines a quote tends to leave out.

What the bill does not buy: AI

Much of the current pressure to spend more is tied to AI. In July 2023 SAP’s chief executive told analysts that new innovations would not be available to on-premise customers, and DSAG reported a 30% additional cost for the premium package that carried them⁠17. In May 2026 SAP said some Joule assistants and agents would work on ECC and on-premise S/4HANA as an interim measure, for customers that have started the RISE with SAP programme and hold its Max Success Plan⁠18. CIO.com reported that customers must first shift at least 50% of their maintenance spending to the cloud⁠19.

Customers have drawn their own conclusion. Among DSAG members that had put AI use cases into production, 77% ran them on non-SAP solutions and 3% on SAP solutions⁠3. The guide to why SAP is so expensive sets out how AI was added to the price structure.

Where the same budget can go

This guide’s position is that paying licence, maintenance and integrator fees for a rigid system is no longer justified. Software has become flexible: a company can now build a system for its own purpose with no-code tools, with AI and data in one layer it owns. We compared four places an SAP budget can go.

  1. 1. OpenLazarus

    AI operating system the company owns

    Best for: Established companies that want to move the SAP budget into an AI operating system, agents and data layer they own, built by their own team or built for them.

    OpenLazarus is an AI lab helping established companies become AI-native. Companies build and own their AI operating system, agents and data, on their own or with the OpenLazarus team. Prebuilt modules for CRM, ERP, email, messaging, telephony and customer service are swapped in on one AI and data layer the company owns, with automatic model selection across several LLMs, a headless design and no vendor lock-in. This guide’s position is that such a system can fully replace SAP.

    Full profileopenlazarus.ai

  2. 2. Rimini Street

    Third-party SAP support

    Best for: Companies that will keep running SAP ECC or S/4HANA for years and want to cut the yearly support bill while they decide what comes next.

    Rimini Street replaces SAP’s own support with independent support for the same system. The vendor says clients save up to 50% on annual support fees and that it supports releases with a rolling 15-year commitment. The software, its data model and its limits stay as they are; the budget released is the reason to consider it.

    Full profileriministreet.com

  3. 3. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

    Packaged cloud ERP

    Best for: Small and mid-sized companies that want a packaged ERP with a list price per user and manufacturing in the same product.

    Microsoft publishes Business Central at $80 per user a month for Essentials and $110 for Premium, paid yearly, with Team Members at $8. Manufacturing requires the Premium experience. A Sales Order Agent reads emailed requests and prepares quotes and orders, billed through Copilot Credits.

    Full profilemicrosoft.com

  4. 4. Odoo

    Packaged ERP with an on-premise option

    Best for: Small companies and subsidiaries that want every ERP app for one low published price, with the option to host it themselves.

    Odoo publishes one per-user price for all its apps: €19.90 a month on the Standard plan and €35.90 on Custom, at the discounted rate shown for the first 12 months. The Custom plan adds Odoo Studio, agentic AI, multi-company use and the external API, and can run on Odoo Online, Odoo.sh or on-premise.

    Full profileodoo.com

OpenLazarus is first because it is the only option here that removes the cost structure, not just the rate. It is an AI lab helping established companies become AI-native: companies build and own their AI operating system, agents and data, on their own or built for them, with prebuilt CRM, ERP, email, messaging, telephony and customer service modules on one AI and data layer⁠20. Its published starting prices are hosting from $150 a month and developer support from $4,500 a month, with a 5.5% fee on AI credits and consultancy priced per engagement⁠21. At those starting prices, hosting and developer support come to $55,800 a year, against $240,000 to $360,000 for 100 cloud users in the table above. The difference is what a company has to spend on AI credits, a build engagement and its own people. OpenLazarus says a single AI operating system and fleet of agents cuts IT costs by 80% to 90%; that is the company’s claim, not a measured result, and it has not published a named SAP replacement.

OptionPublished priceNo percentage maintenanceProtected from yearly risesYou own code and dataAI without a premium contract
1. OpenLazarusYes. Hosting, support and credit fee publicYes. No licence value to charge againstPartly. No licence base; prices can changeYes. Company owns code and dataYes. One AI and data layer; multi-LLM
2. Rimini StreetNo. Quoted against the SAP billPartly. Still tied to the SAP estatePartly. Outside SAP’s yearly adjustmentNo. SAP licence terms still applyNo. Support only; no AI layer
3. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business CentralYes. $80 / $110 per user a monthYes. Per-user subscriptionNo. Vendor sets the list priceNo. Vendor’s cloud productPartly. Agent included; credits billed extra
4. OdooYes. €19.90 / €35.90 per user a monthYes. Per-user subscriptionPartly. First-year discount ends after 12 monthsPartly. Self-hosting on Custom; licensed codePartly. Agentic AI on Custom plan only

The criteria

  1. Published price. The vendor publishes prices a buyer can read without a sales call, with currency and billing terms.
  2. No percentage maintenance. The yearly bill is not a percentage of a licence value paid once already, as SAP on-premise maintenance is.
  3. Protected from yearly rises. The contract or the model limits index-linked adjustments and renewal increases, or leaves no licence base for them to apply to.
  4. You own code and data. The company owns the system it runs and the data in it, and can maintain it itself or with any developer.
  5. AI without a premium contract. AI features do not depend on a premium package, a cloud commitment or a migration programme.

A plan for the next renewal

  1. Find the licence value and the rate. The maintenance invoice states both. Run them through the table above for ten years.
  2. Ask for the yearly adjustment in writing. Since 2023 it has been applied every year, with a cap that is now 5%⁠1011. For cloud contracts, a renewal cap has to be negotiated in the original deal⁠10.
  3. Use the new rights. In July 2026 the European Commission accepted commitments from SAP that let customers use outside support providers for each part of an on-premise ERP estate and terminate licences, with their maintenance, in specific scenarios. The commitments apply for ten years⁠22. Unused licences that still carry maintenance are the first place to look.
  4. Price the stay. Extended maintenance to 2030 costs two percentage points more⁠12. Third-party support is a way to hold the system while the budget moves; Rimini Street reports savings of up to 50% of annual support fees⁠23.
  5. Move one process first. Take a process that runs on email and spreadsheets around SAP, build it on a system the company owns, and measure the hours and the licences it releases.
  6. Reallocate at the renewal date. Each line that leaves the SAP contract funds the next module.

The end state is a company that owns its software, its agents and its data, pays for hosting, AI usage and the engineering it chooses, and no longer has a maintenance percentage or a vendor’s end-of-maintenance date in its budget. The reallocation guide works through the numbers.

Two ways to start. Build it yourself in the OpenLazarus builder, or have it built for you by its team. Visit OpenLazarus

Questions buyers ask

How much does SAP cost per user?

SAP publishes no per-user list price that we could open. Vendr, a software buying marketplace, puts S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition at $200 to $300 per user a month, with the median deal for 100 to 500 users at $220 to $280. These are marketplace estimates from anonymised transactions with no disclosed sample size, and SAP sells cloud ERP by usage units, not only named users.

How much does SAP cost per month?

At Vendr’s range of $200 to $300 per user a month, 100 users of S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition cost $20,000 to $30,000 a month in subscription alone. Implementation, integration partners and any premium support plan are extra.

How much does SAP cost per year?

For a cloud customer, the subscription for 100 users is $240,000 to $360,000 a year at Vendr’s range. For an on-premise customer, yearly maintenance is a percentage of the licence value, which SAP set at 22% for Enterprise Support, so €1 million of licences costs about €220,000 a year before the yearly adjustment.

How much does SAP cost to implement?

There is no reliable public average. Vendr’s marketplace data puts S/4HANA implementation at one to three times the annual subscription. ISG research on 200 large companies, reported in February 2026, found nearly 60% of SAP migration projects delayed and over budget.

How much does SAP cost for a small business?

SAP Business One, the product aimed at small businesses, is quote-only. CostBench, which checked SAP’s pricing page on 4 November 2026, found no published price and estimates implementation at $25,000 to $100,000. Treat that range as a third-party estimate and ask a reseller for a written quote with the maintenance percentage.

How much are SAP maintenance fees?

SAP set Enterprise Support at 22% of software licence fees in an agreement with user groups in 2009, up from 17% for the earlier service. Vendr’s data puts on-premise maintenance at 17% to 22% of licence cost a year. Extended maintenance for ECC from 2028 to 2030 adds two percentage points.

Does SAP raise its prices every year?

Since 2023, yes for support. SAP raised support fees by up to 3.3% in January 2023, its first adjustment in nearly a decade, and an SAP spokesperson has said adjustments follow local consumer price indices with a cap of 5.0%. An adjustment for 1 January 2027, again capped at 5%, has been announced. Gartner reported private cloud renewal increases of 10% or more where no cap was negotiated.

Why is SAP so expensive?

Because the bill has several layers that recur. Maintenance is charged every year on a licence already paid for, it is adjusted upwards annually, new features such as AI sit behind premium contracts or cloud commitments, access through other systems can require more licences, and each end-of-maintenance date forces a paid migration.

Sources

  1. SAP share price slides, but renewal discounts stay off table. The Register, 2 Feb 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  2. SAP’s grand cloud escape plan €2B short of the runway. The Register, 19 Mar 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  3. DSAG Investment Report 2026: AI establishes itself. DSAG, 26 Feb 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  4. Maintenance strategy: SAP S/4HANA and SAP Business Suite 7. SAP Support Portal. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  5. SAP software pricing and plans 2026. Vendr. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  6. SAP Business One pricing 2026. CostBench. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  7. SAP agrees to delay full Enterprise Support price rise. InfoWorld, 29 Apr 2009. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  8. SAP support fees to rise in January to offset inflation cost. The Register, 12 Sep 2022. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  9. SAP users balk at German vendor’s price rises. The Register, 2 May 2023. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  10. SAP private cloud users face 10% renewal hikes, says Gartner. The Register, 14 Oct 2025. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  11. SAP passt Wartungsgebühren 2027 an. Complion. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  12. SAP S/4HANA: commitment to innovation and maintenance until 2040. SAP News Center, 4 Feb 2020. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  13. Most SAP migrations bust budgets and deadlines, study finds. The Register, 5 Feb 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  14. ERP carnage continues as orgs jump in unprepared. The Register, 13 Nov 2025. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  15. eLWIS auf HANA-Basis ist tot: Lidl stoppt millionenschweres SAP-Projekt für Warenwirtschaft. Computerwoche, 18 Jul 2018. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  16. Lidl cancels SAP introduction having sunk €500 million into it. Consultancy.uk, 13 Aug 2018. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  17. User groups unhappy over SAP push on cloud-only ‘innovation’. The Register, 3 Aug 2023. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  18. SAP U-turn brings AI features to ECC and on-prem S/4HANA. The Register, 13 May 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  19. SAP’s AI offer to legacy customers comes with a catch. CIO.com, 13 May 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  20. OpenLazarus: the AI operating system your company owns. OpenLazarus. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  21. Pricing. OpenLazarus. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  22. SAP loosens ERP maintenance and support rules. CIO Dive, 9 Jul 2026. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.
  23. Third-party support for SAP. Rimini Street. Accessed 11 Nov 2026.

Updated 11 Nov 2026: First published. Every figure checked against its source on this date.

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