SAP ECC 6.0 End of Support: Dates, Timeline and Options

SAP ECC 6.0 (part of SAP Business Suite 7) reaches the end of mainstream maintenance on 31 December 2027. SAP offers optional extended maintenance through the end of 2030 at a 2% surcharge; after that, only reduced "customer-specific maintenance" remains. Most customers should plan to migrate to SAP S/4HANA, buy extended maintenance as a bridge, or move to third-party support.

Updated July 2026. This guide sets out the confirmed SAP ECC 6.0 support dates and the three practical paths open to current SAP ERP users, with the costs and trade-offs of each.

What "End of Support" Actually Means

"End of support" — or end of mainstream maintenance — is the point at which SAP stops providing standard support for SAP ECC 6.0. After the deadline passes for your release, SAP no longer ships new patches, support packages, legal and regulatory updates, or standard help-desk fixes under your base maintenance agreement.

The software does not stop working on the end date. Your system keeps running exactly as before. What changes is the safety net: no vendor-issued security fixes, no statutory payroll or tax updates, and rising compliance and audit risk the longer you stay put. That is why the 2027 date matters even though nothing "breaks" overnight.

The SAP ECC 6.0 Support Timeline

SAP first confirmed these dates in 2020 and has repeatedly stated they are firm and will not move. The exact deadline depends on which enhancement package (EhP) you run.

Two points are worth underlining. First, if you run EhP 0–5, your mainstream maintenance already ended on 31 December 2025 and no extended maintenance is available — you are effectively out of standard support today. Second, "customer-specific maintenance" after 2030 is a downgrade, not a continuation: it costs the same as standard support but delivers no new corrections, no legal updates, and no guaranteed response times.

Your Options After SAP ECC Support Ends

There are three realistic routes, plus a fourth for companies willing to replatform entirely.

1. Migrate to SAP S/4HANA

Migrating to SAP S/4HANA is the path SAP wants every ECC customer to take, and for most organisations it is the strategically correct one. S/4HANA is supported to 2040 and is the only route to SAP's ongoing innovation, in-memory performance, and cloud roadmap.

SAP has packaged the move under RISE with SAP, a subscription bundle that combines the S/4HANA Cloud licence, infrastructure, and migration tooling. The transition is a genuine transformation project — expect data cleansing, custom-code remediation, and process redesign — so plan 12–24 months and start well before 2027.

2. Buy SAP Extended Maintenance (2028–2030)

If you cannot complete a migration by the end of 2027, extended maintenance buys three more years — through 31 December 2030 — for a 2% surcharge on top of your existing maintenance base. It keeps full support and legal updates flowing while you finish your S/4HANA project. Treat it as a bridge, not a destination: it ends in 2030, and after that you fall back to customer-specific maintenance.

3. Move to Third-Party Support

Independent providers such as Rimini Street offer third-party support for SAP ECC 6.0 that typically undercuts SAP's own maintenance fees by around 50%, and they will support the system well beyond 2027 and 2030. This can be a sensible move if you are confident you want to run ECC for several more years and do not need SAP's newest patches.

The trade-off: third-party support does not deliver new SAP product enhancements or the S/4HANA roadmap. It is best used as a cost-saving stop-gap for a stable system, or to fund a later migration on your own timeline — not as a permanent reason to avoid modernising. For how this option compares with vendor maintenance, partner AMS, and keeping support in-house, see our guide to ERP support services.

4. Replatform to a Different ERP

The end-of-support deadline is also a natural moment to ask whether SAP is still the right fit. Some organisations use it to evaluate alternatives — from Oracle Fusion Cloud and Microsoft Dynamics 365 to Workday and Infor. For smaller entities or two-tier strategies, even SAP Business One can be a downsizing option. See our full breakdown of SAP S/4HANA alternatives and competitors before committing.

How to Decide

The right path depends on three questions: how much custom code and integration you carry, how firm your migration budget is, and whether SAP remains your long-term platform.

• Migrating anyway and can hit 2027? Go straight to S/4HANA — don't pay for extended maintenance you won't need.
• Migrating but will overrun 2027? Budget for extended maintenance as a bridge to 2030.
• Stable system, tight budget, no urgency to innovate? Third-party support cuts costs while you decide.
• Rethinking SAP entirely? Run a structured selection now, because a full replatform takes longer than an S/4HANA conversion.

Cost Signals

Extended maintenance adds 2 percentage points to your maintenance base per year for 2028–2030 — a modest premium relative to the cost of a rushed migration. Third-party support commonly halves annual maintenance spend but forfeits SAP innovation. An S/4HANA migration is the largest line item: licensing (or a RISE subscription), plus implementation and data-migration services that usually dwarf the software cost. The one option with a hidden long-term cost is doing nothing — customer-specific maintenance after 2030 charges full price for a stripped-back service. For the underlying numbers on each path, see what staying on ECC or migrating to S/4HANA actually costs.

Planning your move off SAP ECC 6.0? Build your ERP requirements with our free wizard Compare SAP S/4HANA and alternatives side by side Read the full SAP S/4HANA Cloud guide

Frequently Asked Questions

When does SAP ECC 6.0 support end?

Mainstream maintenance for SAP ECC 6.0 with enhancement packages 6–8 (SAP Business Suite 7) ends on 31 December 2027. Older releases running enhancement packages 0–5 already lost mainstream maintenance on 31 December 2025.

Can I get extended support for SAP ECC past 2027?

Yes. SAP offers optional extended maintenance from January 2028 through 31 December 2030 for a surcharge of 2 percentage points on your maintenance base. After 2030 you move to customer-specific maintenance, which provides no new fixes or legal updates.

What is third-party support for SAP ECC 6.0?

Third-party support is maintenance provided by an independent vendor — such as Rimini Street — instead of SAP. It typically costs around half of SAP's fees and continues past 2027 and 2030, but it does not include new SAP product enhancements or the S/4HANA roadmap.

What happens if I do nothing after 2027?

Your ECC system keeps running, but without vendor patches, security fixes, or legal and regulatory updates. That raises compliance, audit, and cyber-security risk over time, so a "do nothing" stance is only viable as a very short-term position.

Is SAP ECC 6.0 the same as SAP R/3?

SAP ECC (ERP Central Component) 6.0 is the successor to SAP R/3 and forms the core of SAP Business Suite 7. R/3 systems are older still and long out of mainstream support, so R/3 customers face the same 2027 deadline pressure — and usually a larger modernisation gap — as ECC 6.0 users.