SAP Cloud ERP Packaging: Price Hikes Without Transparency

In April, SAP quietly rewrote a major part of its commercial playbook, and customers are now feeling the impact.

SAP retired its Premium and Premium Plus commercial packages for RISE and introduced SAP Cloud ERP Private in their place. The story SAP tells is one of “faster transformation.” However, the reality is more complicated: this is a commercial reset that changes how customers pay, what they get, and how much control they keep.

Seven months later, confusion still persists in the market. Even SAP’s own account teams are struggling to explain what’s included, how customers are classified, and which version applies to whom, all while pushing for aggressive Q4 deal signatures.

And this isn’t an isolated issue, the same lack of transparency is showing up across SAP’s AI pricing, where customers are expected to pay premiums without visibility into the economics or value.  And just like AI, customers are getting this new packaging whether they ask for it or not.

For CIOs and procurement leaders, this lack of clarity creates a risky dynamic: if you don’t have a clear entitlement breakdown and pricing matrix in hand, you’re negotiating blindly.

What Actually Changed with the Introduction of SAP Cloud ERP Private

This isn’t a simple rebranding exercise. SAP’s overhaul of its RISE packaging fundamentally changes the commercial model and its implications for enterprise customers.

Here’s what’s really different and why it matters:

Artificial intelligence has been unbundled.

Generative AI capabilities that were once included in RISE are now sold separately, forcing organizations to purchase them à la carte. This shift not only raises immediate costs but also introduces long-term budget uncertainty as AI use cases expand. And without transparency into pricing, usage, or value, buying AI becomes anything but straightforward. What was once bundled value has now become a recurring cost line item.

Four new Cloud ERP “flavors.”

SAP has introduced four distinct versions of its Cloud ERP – Private, Limited, Base, and Tailored (PTO). Each comes with different entitlements, and those entitlements vary by volume tier, directly impacting both cost and value. The differences between the flavors carry significant implications for scalability, contract flexibility, and future growth. Notably, the Tailored (PTO) flavor lacks bundled solutions entirely, leaving customers more reliant on add-ons and SAP services to achieve the same level of functionality.

A reengineered pricing architecture.

SAP has expanded its FUE pricing model from nine to fourteen tiers, promoting the change as a way to reduce shelfware. In practice, however, SAP has tightened tier thresholds, making it easier for customers to land in higher-cost classifications. Coupled with observed list fee increases of up to four times on key SKUs, the result is a structure that inflates costs while reducing flexibility and a model that benefits SAP far more than its customers.

Extra support with hidden costs.

SAP has also introduced so-called “expert guided support enhancements” under its new model. In reality, these enhancements add extra service hours that often come with hidden costs and poorly defined deliverables. Customers end up paying more for services that are difficult to measure and even harder to validate in terms of business impact.

Why CIOs Should Care About the Switch to SAP Cloud ERP Private

These changes reach far beyond contract terms: they directly affect budgets, leverage, and transformation outcomes. The following are some of the effects CIOs should be mindful of:

Budget control is eroding.

SAP’s move to narrower FUE tiers and à la carte AI pricing has disrupted what used to be predictable spend. Total cost of ownership (TCO) now fluctuates with usage, AI adoption, and even SAP’s product roadmap decisions. What once felt like a stable investment has become a variable expense that requires constant recalibration as business needs evolve.

Commercial leverage is shifting back to SAP.

SAP now holds greater control over key variables, including flavor classification, pricing tiers, and entitlements. For CIOs and procurement leaders, this means less negotiation flexibility and a higher likelihood of being locked into SAP-defined constructs rather than business-defined outcomes.

The cost of staying “clean core” is rising.

SAP continues to promote modernization and standardization as paths to agility and innovation. Yet the services required to achieve those goals, namely extensibility, optimization, and integration, now come at a premium. Maintaining a “clean core” may improve efficiency in the long term, but it’s also becoming a new profit engine for SAP.

Transparency is fading when it’s needed most.

Perhaps most concerning, SAP is asking customers for trust without providing full visibility. Entitlements are vague, value linkages are undefined, and pricing logic is increasingly opaque. CIOs and CPOs are being asked to sign off on multimillion-dollar investments in a model that remains unclear.

The Unanswered Questions Around SAP Cloud ERP Private

Before advancing any new SAP Cloud ERP Private deal, CIOs and CPOs must establish one rule: no contract signatures without clarity. The details matter, and without them, it’s impossible to accurately assess value, risk, or the total cost of ownership.

Start with the fundamentals. Entitlements are the foundation of your investment. You need to know exactly what’s in your bundle and how much of each component you’re receiving. Don’t settle for general statements. Demand a line-item inventory that details your scope of use.

Next, understand your FUE mapping. Ask how your organization was classified, what triggers a change in tier, and what mechanisms exist for reclassification or protection. Without transparency in this area, customers risk losing visibility and control over escalating costs.

The same scrutiny applies to flavor choice. Can you select your Cloud ERP flavor, whether Private, Limited, Base, or Tailored (PTO), or is SAP making that determination? Have they disclosed the differences in entitlements across those flavors? If not, you’re operating in the dark.

Be clear on overlap flexibility for any existing SAP investments. If components you already own are bundled into the new model, how will they be credited or offset? Without explicit language, you could end up paying twice for the same functionality.

Legacy RISE customers should also press for answers on migration and continuity. How do early adopters fit into SAP’s new Cloud ERP framework, and what protections exist for those who invested early in RISE?

Finally, demand proof of value linkage and service definition. Do higher list fees actually correspond to measurable business value? And what, specifically, do the “guided support” enhancements deliver? Outcomes should be defined, measurable, and contractually binding, not aspirational.

Without full transparency and written responses to these questions, SAP cannot credibly justify its price increases, and you can’t confidently approve them.

Executive Moves

The most effective CIOs and procurement leaders aren’t waiting for SAP to clarify its new model. They’re using this moment to reassert control and strengthen their negotiation position.

Start by making the entitlement matrix a formal part of the contract. Every inclusion and quantity must be clearly documented. If SAP can’t provide this, there should be no signature.

Next, anchor pricing to measurable outcomes. Require SAP to connect any list fee increases to demonstrable business value or performance improvements. Without this linkage, customers risk paying for optics, not outcomes.

Protect your financial position by locking in credits for overlapping or redundant functionality and establishing guardrails around FUE growth. Cost protection mechanisms are no longer optional. They’re essential in a model designed to expand spend over time.

Contain AI pricing risk before it scales. As SAP’s AI roadmap evolves, negotiate price holds, discount floors, and clear entitlements to avoid paying escalating premiums for future features.

Finally, enforce parity across commercial models. If SAP steers you toward a PTO framework, ensure you’re receiving equivalent value or financial credits.

These steps do more than mitigate cost: they build accountability and predictability into a landscape where they are increasingly hard to find. In a market driven by SAP’s quarterly revenue goals, proactive leadership is the only real safeguard for enterprise value.

Bottom Line for the Board

While some analysts have dismissed these changes as a simple renaming exercise, a closer look reveals a clear alignment with SAP CEO Christian Klein’s strategy to drive recurring revenue growth through higher pricing.

The new Cloud ERP packaging may accelerate SAP’s financial goals, but it does so at the expense of customer clarity. For CIOs and procurement leaders, the takeaway is clear: SAP must provide transparency behind its packaging changes and tie pricing directly to measurable value.

And if SAP’s opaque AI pricing model is any indication, this lack of transparency isn’t a one-off, it’s becoming a pattern. Customers are being asked to invest in new capabilities and offerings without the visibility required to justify spend or manage long-term value.

Anything less is an invitation to overpay for uncertainty.

Before you sign anything, get the facts. SAP’s new Cloud ERP packaging introduces major financial risks. We’ll help you identify exposure, quantify impact, and negotiate from a position of strength. Reach out to our SAP experts today.