The RISE with SAP support model 2026 enterprise guidance reflects a commercial environment that has shifted materially since the programme launched. SAP's pricing strategy, the introduction of AI-based licensing (Joule, Business AI, AI Units), changes to BTP service plans, and the commercial pressure created by the SAP ECC end-of-maintenance deadline have all changed what enterprises face when they negotiate, renew, or renegotiate RISE contracts in 2026.
This guide is for enterprises in three situations: those currently in RISE contract negotiations; those approaching a RISE renewal window in 2026 or 2027; and those who signed RISE contracts in 2022โ2024 and need to understand how their existing terms compare to the current market. For the foundational analysis of the RISE with SAP support model, see the complete enterprise guide. For pre-signature questions, see our key questions to ask SAP.
SAP's Joule AI assistant is now being positioned as a core component of the RISE with SAP experience. In its current form, Joule provides AI-assisted guidance within S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition workflows โ and SAP's roadmap indicates significantly deeper integration across finance, procurement, HR, and supply chain functions through 2026 and 2027. The commercial question for enterprises is not whether Joule is valuable. It is whether the AI capabilities SAP is bundling into RISE justify the pricing structure SAP is proposing for them.
SAP introduced the AI Units consumption model in 2024 as the primary commercialisation vehicle for Business AI capabilities including Joule agents, embedded AI in SAP S/4HANA, and AI features across the broader SAP cloud portfolio. Under this model, AI capabilities consume "AI Units" at rates that SAP defines โ and these rates are not fixed in current RISE contracts. Enterprises that signed RISE agreements before the AI Units model was introduced have existing contracts that do not explicitly govern AI consumption. SAP is now approaching these customers with AI unit supplements and add-on agreements that effectively price AI usage on top of the existing RISE subscription.
The 2026 guidance here is specific: before agreeing to any AI-related add-on or supplement to your RISE contract, require SAP to provide a complete consumption model showing how many AI Units your anticipated Joule and Business AI usage will consume per month, at what rate, and at what total annual cost. Then benchmark this against what comparable enterprises have negotiated. The initial proposals SAP presents for AI capabilities in RISE are almost always significantly higher than the achievable market rate. See our dedicated analysis of SAP AI Units explained and SAP Joule AI licensing for the full picture.
SAP's AI Unit supplements to RISE contracts often include the same 12-month expiry provisions as BTP credits. Enterprises that accept AI Unit allocations with annual expiry and no rollover provisions will face the same wastage dynamics as BTP credits โ paying for AI capacity they cannot consume within the allocation period. Negotiate AI Unit rollover provisions and extended validity as an explicit requirement in any AI add-on to your RISE contract. For more detail, see our analysis of SAP AI Units expiry traps.
SAP ECC mainstream maintenance ends in 2027. This is a real technical event with real operational implications for the 85% of SAP's installed base still running ECC. SAP's commercial team knows it, and they are using the deadline pressure as a primary driver of RISE adoption and expansion conversations in 2026. The tactic is familiar: create urgency, present RISE as the only viable path, and negotiate from a position of manufactured scarcity.
The reality is more nuanced. SAP has extended maintenance options available โ both through SAP itself (Extended Maintenance through 2030 and potentially 2033 for some customers) and through independent third-party maintenance providers. These alternatives do not eliminate the eventual need to migrate, but they remove the artificial urgency that SAP's commercial team is exploiting. Enterprises that approach 2026 RISE negotiations having explicitly evaluated these alternatives โ and documented that evaluation โ consistently achieve better commercial terms than those that accept the ECC deadline framing.
For the full analysis of ECC alternatives and migration options, see our guide on SAP ECC 2027 action plan and SAP extended maintenance options.
Our RISE with SAP advisory service provides the independent intelligence you need to negotiate in 2026 โ AI unit pricing benchmarks, renewal leverage analysis, ECC alternative evaluation, and BTP credit restructuring. We work exclusively on the buyer side.
Book a Free 2026 RISE Review โSAP made significant changes to BTP service plans between 2024 and 2025. Several services that were previously available under consumption-based pricing have moved to subscription models, or have had their credit consumption rates adjusted upward. Enterprises that signed RISE contracts before these changes โ and locked in BTP credit allocations based on then-current consumption models โ may find that their credit pool is now insufficient to cover the same workloads it was originally designed to support.
The specific services most affected by repricing include SAP Integration Suite (particularly API management and event mesh capabilities), SAP Build (process automation and low-code workloads), and SAP Datasphere (data fabric services). In each case, the credit consumption rates for equivalent workloads increased, meaning a fixed credit allocation now delivers less actual capability than the same allocation delivered at signing.
The 2026 action item for affected enterprises: request from SAP a current credit consumption schedule for every BTP service in your RISE subscription, and compare it against the consumption schedule that informed your original credit allocation. Where you identify a shortfall, this creates a legitimate basis for renegotiating your credit allocation โ ideally without an equivalent increase in subscription cost. Our BTP credits cost optimisation guide covers the full approach.
Enterprises that signed RISE contracts in 2022 or 2023 as early adopters are now approaching their first major renewal. This cohort signed under different market conditions โ SAP was more aggressive on discount to drive RISE adoption, support terms were often more favourable, and the AI dimension was not yet commercially relevant. The 2026 renewal environment is different in three important ways.
First, SAP's RISE adoption targets have been largely met for the initial target cohort. This reduces, though does not eliminate, the adoption-incentive discounting that early adopters received. Renewal pricing may be presented as "in line with market" when it is, in practice, less favourable than the original deal.
Second, SAP is now attempting to expand the commercial footprint of every RISE renewal โ adding Joule, Business AI, and expanded BTP allocations to the renewal conversation. These additions are presented as enhancements to your RISE experience; they are also revenue expansion vehicles for SAP. Each should be evaluated independently against its specific cost-value ratio before being incorporated into a renewed agreement.
Third, the competitive landscape has evolved. GROW with SAP is now a genuine alternative for certain enterprise segments. Hyperscaler-direct S/4HANA deployments โ running S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition on directly-procured hyperscaler infrastructure rather than through RISE โ have become more commercially viable. These alternatives give buyers genuine leverage that did not exist in the 2022โ2023 RISE adoption window.
The 18-month preparation window for RISE renewal is not aspirational โ it reflects the time required to commission an independent ELP analysis, evaluate competitive alternatives, develop a credible negotiating position, and engage SAP commercially with your own data and objectives. If your RISE contract renews in 2027, your preparation should have started in 2025. If it renews in 2026, begin immediately. Our RISE renewal advisory provides the framework and intelligence to prepare and execute effectively.
SAP has made structural changes to its Enterprise Support delivery model over the past 18 months that affect what RISE customers receive for their 22% support fee. The most significant changes relate to the Premium Engagement model โ a restructured version of the former "MAX Attention" and "Active Attention" programmes โ and the integration of Preferred Success as a standard RISE support offering for certain customer tiers.
For existing RISE customers, these changes create an obligation to review what support services you are currently receiving and compare them against your contractual entitlements. SAP's support delivery model has evolved; your support contract may not have evolved with it. In some cases, enterprises are entitled to support services under the new model that they are not receiving โ simply because neither party has updated the delivery approach to reflect the new framework.
Additionally, SAP's introduction of AI-assisted support tools โ machine learning-based incident routing, AI-generated solution proposals, and automated testing tools within the Cloud ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) environment โ means that the nature of "support" under RISE is changing. These tools can reduce resolution times but also reduce the human expertise directly applied to your incidents. Enterprises should review their support contracts to ensure that AI-assisted support tools supplement, rather than replace, committed human expert engagement for complex issues.
SAP's "Clean Core" strategy โ the requirement that S/4HANA Cloud deployments remain aligned to SAP's standard processes with minimal custom code in the core โ has significant support cost implications that many enterprises have not yet fully assessed. Under RISE, SAP's standard support terms are designed for clean core compliant deployments. Enterprises with significant custom code or complex modifications โ legacy from their on-premise ECC days โ may find that their RISE support terms are less favourable than standard because SAP treats non-clean-core complexity as outside the standard support scope.
The 2026 guidance here is threefold. First, understand your current clean core compliance score and its trajectory. Second, understand how SAP defines clean core compliance for support purposes in your specific RISE contract โ the definition in practice may be narrower than SAP's marketing materials suggest. Third, negotiate explicit clean core compliance monitoring provisions that give you advance warning of compliance drift and clear remediation paths that do not expose you to unexpected support scope exclusions. Our guide on SAP clean core audit risk covers the compliance dimensions in detail.
The 2026 RISE environment requires current intelligence that most internal teams do not have. Our RISE with SAP advisory team provides benchmark pricing, negotiation strategy, and contractual analysis for enterprises in every stage of the RISE lifecycle โ signature, in-contract, and renewal. Book a free consultation to understand where you stand.
Get Your RISE Contract Assessed โFor enterprises at every stage of the RISE lifecycle, the following actions are relevant in 2026:
If you are in active RISE negotiation: Ensure your negotiation covers AI unit terms, BTP credit rollover provisions, clean core compliance definitions, escalation paths, and exit provisions. Do not allow these items to be deferred to "standard schedule" language. Engage an independent advisor before signature. The commercial terms you accept now will govern your total cost for 5+ years.
If you are in the first or second year of a RISE contract signed in 2023โ2024: Review your BTP credit consumption against your original allocation model, assess whether SAP's BTP repricing has affected your credit value, and evaluate whether your support delivery model has been updated to reflect SAP's new Enterprise Support framework. Commission a mid-contract ELP review to identify any licence base optimisation opportunities.
If you are approaching a RISE renewal in 2026 or 2027: Begin preparation now, regardless of how far away the renewal date appears. Commission an independent ELP analysis, evaluate competitive alternatives, and develop a negotiating position based on your actual usage data, not SAP's renewal proposal. Engage our RISE renewal advisory service to understand what is achievable and what is not in the current market.
For cost optimisation tactics applicable across all of these scenarios, see our guide to RISE with SAP support model cost optimisation tactics. For negotiation strategies, see RISE with SAP support model negotiation strategies.
The headline RISE subscription pricing has remained broadly stable, but the bundled value has changed materially. AI capabilities (Joule, Business AI) that SAP presented as included are now increasingly priced separately via AI Units. BTP service plan changes have reduced the effective value of credit allocations for some workloads. And the adoption incentive discounts that early RISE signers received are less available in renewal conversations. The net effect is that the 2026 RISE market is less favourable to buyers than the 2022โ2023 adoption window, which makes independent advisory more important, not less.
It depends entirely on the specific contract language. RISE contracts signed before 2024 generally do not explicitly include Joule or Business AI capabilities โ they reference "S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition" and associated BTP services. SAP's position varies: some customers have been told Joule is included in their existing subscription; others have been presented with AI add-on proposals. Before accepting either characterisation, have your contract reviewed by an independent SAP licensing expert who can assess what your specific agreement actually covers.
Strategic delay can be effective if it is genuine โ SAP needs to believe the delay reflects real alternative consideration rather than a tactic. If your ECC environment can sustain extended operation under third-party maintenance, and you have a credible alternative evaluation underway, a 6โ12 month delay in RISE renewal can meaningfully improve your commercial outcome. If SAP believes the delay is a bluff, it will not move your terms. The answer depends on your specific circumstances, which is why independent assessment matters.
You compare them against what SAP has agreed with comparable enterprises โ which requires access to benchmark data that only comes from active engagement in multiple RISE negotiations. This is one of the core value propositions of independent advisory: the ability to tell you specifically where your contract is below market, above market, or at market, based on current real-world benchmarks rather than SAP's self-referencing claims about "standard terms."
Mid-contract amendments are possible but require a genuine commercial trigger. Typical triggers include: significant licence base changes (acquisitions, divestitures), evidence of SLA underperformance, SAP's unilateral changes to support delivery (which may trigger renegotiation rights under your contract), or SAP's attempt to add AI capabilities that change the cost of your effective support model. Without a trigger, SAP has little incentive to reopen commercial terms mid-contract. Our contract negotiation service can assess whether your situation creates a viable mid-contract renegotiation basis.
๐ฌ SAP Licensing Intelligence
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Former SAP executives, contract managers, and licence auditors โ now working exclusively for enterprise buyers. Independent SAP licensing advisory โ not affiliated with SAP SE. Learn about our team โ
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