Upgrade or else, SAP warns as end of S/4HANA Compatibility Pack licensing nears

SAP S/4HANA customers who rely on functionality in Compatibility Packs have just a few months to transition to native capabilities as the termination of licenses for the decade-old packs looms.

SAP released the Compatibility Packs in 2015 as a bridge to ease the pain for customers migrating to S/4 HANA from the legacy SAP ECC (ERP Central Component). They enabled customers to retain capabilities from ECC when the modules would have taken time to migrate to S/4HANA, or where their functionality was not in the initial S/4HANA releases.

The company has imposed a hard deadline of December 31, 2025, for most customers to stop using the packs, and will treat their use after that as “commercial non-compliance — a breach of contract.”

The majority of the packs are now redundant, though, said SAP’s SVP of ERP Product Marketing Maura Hameroff. “With our [S/4HANA] release of 2023, we delivered all of the scenarios. … We removed all of the technical blockers that were slowing customers down,” she said.

With those blocks removed, SAP made it clear in a 2022 blog post updated in February 2025 that both the right to use Compatibility Packs, and all support for them, will expire at the same time, regardless of the S/4HANA’s system’s maintenance status.

“Compatibility Scope use rights expire automatically December 31, 2025, for all SAP S/4HANA versions independent from their release date,” it said. “So irrespective of the SAP S/4HANA version, customers no longer have a contractual rightto use Compatibility Scope functionality after that point in time even if the affected SAP S/4HANA system release is still in mainstream maintenance. Furthermore, support stops for Compatibility Scope items with the expiration of the usage rights.”

Escalating threats

If legal threats won’t make customers complete the modernization of their systems, SAP could resort to stronger tactics: It said it “reserves the right” to make Compatibility Pack functionality technically unavailable in future S/4HANA releases. “For the time being,” it said, “customers need to make sure by organizational or other measures that compatibility package functionality will not be used after expiry of use rights.”

However, there are some exceptions to the deadline.

SAP says that three Compatibility Packs — Customer Service (CS), Transportation (LE-TRA), and Production Planning for Process Industries (PP-PI) — will have extended use rights through 2030. Scott Bickley, research fellow at Info-Tech Research Group, said this is due to the complexity and diversity of both the products themselves and the underlying client business process complexity.

“SAP RISE customers can breathe a sigh of relief, as their use rights for SAP Compatibility Packs have been granted through 2030 as well,” Bickley added.

But for everyone else, he said, the clock is ticking, and time is running out: “Some estimates assess that up to 70% of S/4 HANA customers are using at least one [pack].”

SAP’s Hameroff declined to discuss those estimates, saying, “We don’t share numbers. [But] we are confident we are not leaving any customer behind.”

She did acknowledge that moving to SAP cloud offerings, the company’s preferred solution, may not be appropriate for some customers, but pointed out, “We have several options to help those customers, all the way through a hybrid of on premises and cloud, to different types of cloud that fit their industry and regulation.”

Gartner VP Analyst Mike Tucciarone urged companies to take action to avoid falling out of compliance and facing potential legal issues. “Instead of relying solely on SAP account teams for guidance, they can utilize resources like SAP’s 2269324 – Compatibility Scope Matrix for SAP S/4HANA to explore available options,” he said.

Even the RISE with SAP/SAP Cloud ERP Private package lifeline has its gotchas, he pointed out. “This is not a simple extension for a fee. SAP has stated customers need to sign a RISE with SAP deal and ‘be on the way to move’ to use Compatibility Packs beyond 2025.”

Not just about the technology

Just being on S/4HANA doesn’t mean enterprises are free of Compatibility Pack dependencies, sad Robert Kramer, VP and principal analyst, Enterprise Data, ERP & SCM, at Moor Insights & Strategy.

“Many migrations have brought these components along, sometimes without anyone realizing it. To get a clear picture, it’s a good idea to use SAP’s tools like Readiness Check, Simplification Item Check, and Custom Code Analyzer to see exactly where Compatibility Packs are still in use in your environment.”

Enterprises may have more to worry about than just the technical aspects. Both Kramer and Bickley highlighted the fact that, to eliminate the packs, organizations may also need to reengineer processes.

Companies that wait too long to do this may not be able to find experienced consultants to help them, Kramer warned. “Addressing Compatibility Pack usage isn’t just about making technical changes. It often means reworking business processes, testing new setups, training users, and sometimes adopting new S/4HANA modules,” he said.

For Bickley, one of the biggest issues is doing what’s necessary before the looming December 2025 deadline: “Challenges are plentiful and non-trivial, no matter which path is pursued,” he said. “It is safe to assume most enterprises still using [packs] do so due to their complex legacy processes that may also be heavily customized.”

Hameroff agreed. “[Modernizing business processes] is something that we hear from customers is something that they also needed to do as technology evolved,” she said. “And it’s not just about compatibility. It’s to really take advantage of modern architected business processes.”

A major project

Kramer advised enterprises to expect no mercy from SAP, and to treat remediating the license situation as a major project. “SAP isn’t planning to extend the 2025 deadline for most customers,” he said. “Make a plan, get the right people involved, secure the necessary budget, and start working on it now.”

Bickley warned of the dangers of non-compliance. “For those caught flatfooted on this issue, it should be noted that failure to retire the SAP Compatibility Packs by the expiry date will likely place the organization in a state of non-compliance with SAP licensing,” he said. “These enterprises should not expect SAP to provide an extension or grace on these dates. Instead, expect a full-court sales press to move them to an S/4 HANA Business Suite upgrade or face a formal, enhanced audit.”