SAP is giving on-premises SAP S/4HANA customers a final five-month grace period to retire Compatibility Packs, pushing most usage-rights expirations from December 31, 2025, to the end of May 2026. This short extension is framed as a last opportunity for customers still running classic SAP ERP functions inside S/4HANA to complete transitions to replacement cloud solutions.
Why Is a Final Extension Needed?
SAP confirms that Compatibility Packs were always intended as temporary usage rights that allow selected classical SAP ERP functionalities to run within SAP S/4HANA, helping customers preserve business continuity during migration. For most packs, usage rights were due to end on December 31, 2025, a date SAP notes has been extensively communicated to customers, partners, and user groups, and documented in SAP Note 2269324.
Because a number of customers still need more time to manage the transition, SAP is introducing a final transition period, extending usage rights until the end of May 2026. The company positions this as an effort to give customers greater choice and flexibility, while making clear it is a last-step extension rather than an open-ended delay.
SAP also says it will offer tailored programs for customers moving to the SAP cloud solutions that replace the affected Compatibility Pack functionalities. Affected customers are explicitly encouraged to contact their SAP representatives to plan the move away from Compatibility Packs and into the target cloud products.
What This Means for ERP Insiders
End-of-life signals for Compatibility Packs are now on a hard, near-term timeline. The final five-month extension shifts the operational question from “if” to “exactly when and how” to exit these temporary bridges, forcing roadmap owners and architects to lock in plans for replacing classic ERP functions still running inside S/4HANA on premise.
Transition support will be routed through SAP’s cloud portfolio. With SAP promising tailored programs for customers moving to cloud replacements, product and partner teams should expect more migrations to standard SAP cloud solutions as the primary path off Compatibility Packs, tightening alignment between on-premises S/4HANA cores and SAP’s cloud roadmap.
S/4HANA landscapes relying on classic ERP functions face compressed remediation windows. For delivery partners and transformation program leaders, the May 2026 cutoff raises the urgency of identifying remaining Compatibility Pack dependencies, sequencing remediation, and managing risk around process continuity as customers detach from legacy functionality embedded in SAP S/4HANA.
