What Are the Different Versions of SAP S/4HANA?

With SAP HANA and the associated opportunities in business processes and the possibilities to significantly simplify the data model, SAP launched SAP S/4HANA as a new product on February 3, 2015.

It was the beginning of a new product family. In the following year, 2016, SAP launched the SAP S/4HANA Cloud operating model. SAP S/4HANA is available in three operating models—on-premise, public cloud, and private cloud—each with a different solution scope.

When migrating, the decision to use one of the SAP S/4HANA operating models is not only a technical one (cloud or on-premise) but also one based on which functional scope is required.

In this blog post, we’ll present the SAP S/4HANA operating models themselves in detail.

SAP S/4HANA

In the on-premise edition of SAP S/4HANA, the company has the most options for implementing business processes but is responsible for the landscape and implementation. This version supports processes in 64 countries or regions, in 39 languages, and in 31 industries. The SAP S/4HANA areas include the following: asset management, human resources, purchasing, supply chain, finance, production, R&D/ engineering, and services.

Learn how SAP S/4HANA differs from other ERP solutions here.

You are independently responsible for the purchase of the hardware and for the installation and administration of the software. In on-premise SAP S/4HANA, you can define the landscape for the implementation yourself. The classic approach here is a development (DEV) system with a client for various extensions, a quality assurance (QA) system, and a production (PRD) system. You can quickly set up a test system (also referred to as a trial) using the SAP Cloud Appliance Library. The company is responsible for defining and creating clients. SAP Activate provides a detailed implementation method for new implementations or system conversions and migrations with selective data.

More Information about the Areas of SAP S/4HANA: For details on the areas of SAP S/4HANA, see the SAP S/4HANA Help Portal at http://s-prs.co/v581610 and a series of reference books from SAP PRESS, as follows:

• SAP S/4HANA: An Introduction
• SAP S/4HANA Finance: An Introduction
• Controlling with SAP S/4HANA: Business User Guide
• Group Reporting with SAP S/4HANA
• Materials Management with SAP S/4HANA: Business Processes and Configuration

Maintenance tasks also include the import of corrections and updates (upgrades). Companies can decide for themselves when and if they want to use them at all. You can find the runtime of SAP maintenance in PAM (see also SAP Note 1648480).

Review the maintenance schedules and milestones often since SAP adjusts these times regularly.

System updates (upgrades) will be provided by SAP every two years in the future. You’ll find the respective new version as a new entry in the PAM.

During the two-year upgrade cycle, SAP delivers Feature Pack Stacks (FPS) during the year. These are updates, but they are only updates and not upgrades.

To ease the transition to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, SAP provides a number of compatibility packs. These enable the continued use of classic functionalities, which enables the delayed implementation of a simplified, intelligent version of the business process.

Many applications and add-ons from SAP and partners are only available in the on-premise operating model. These add-ons let you customize the solution scope for local and industry-specific requirements without developing extensions yourself. SAP has a wide international network of partners offering local and global add-ons. Some of these partner add-ons are certified by SAP. You can find them in the SAP Certified Solutions Directory, where you can search by product, country, and certification. That platform also provides an overview of the extensions as well as details about the certification.

In the on-premise edition of SAP S/4HANA, however, the company can also use noncertified add-ons, so you can also develop your own extensions.

SAP offers add-ons for numerous lines of business (LoBs) and industries. You’ll find these in the portfolio descriptions for the respective LoB. SAP also offers solution extensions in many LoBs and industries. You can find more information on SAP’s website at this link.

You can start the processes with preconfigurations from SAP and from its partners. SAP and its partners offer solution packages for many business areas, industries, and countries or regions. Updating the packages isn’t possible after the first use. SAP Activate offers an implementation road map for on-premise SAP S/4HANA, which can be used in SAP Cloud ALM.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition

In SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, the software is operated and maintained by SAP. It’s a public cloud solution. The systems are regularly updated (upgraded) by SAP on a six-month basis (when this blog post was written). Corrections are imported by SAP as hotfix collections once every two weeks. You can find the link to the update data in the service level agreement (SLA) for SAP Cloud Services under Item 3: Changes to Windows (see here). Search for “SAP S/4HANA Cloud Edition” on this page under SAP Cloud Services. If you’re already familiar with these time slots, note that any changes to the assigned time slots can also be found here.

The release sequence is indicated in each case with the year and month number, for example, 2311 stands for November 2023. Updates will update functionalities and preconfigurations. The figure below shows the update schedule at the time this blog post was written (summer 2026).

With SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, a standard three-system landscape is provided: a DEV system, a test system, and a PRD system. In addition, a starter system, a demo system, and a sandbox system can be purchased. Business processes are configured via SAP Central Business Configuration. You can’t create any further tenants yourself. For this reason, implementations of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition are always new implementations. SAP S/4HANA Cloud enables access via SAP Fiori SAP Fiori and SAP GUI.

More Information about SAP for Me: Detailed information about SAP for Me and access to a demo landscape can be found here: https://me.sap.com.

An extension with partner apps or modifications of the SAP code as in the on-premise version isn’t possible here. As for the other operating models, SAP Activate provides a road map for implementation, which can be used in SAP Cloud ALM. For the implementation of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, you use SAP Central Business Configuration.

The implementation of the business processes is based on solution packages—also called scenarios (SAP Best Practices)—that include preconfigurations. Customizations can be made by means of configurations and extensions. Key-user extensibility, developer extensibility, and side-by-side extensibility are available for extensions. Modifications of the existing code, on the other hand, aren’t permitted.

You can access your SAP S/4HANA Cloud systems and tenants from any network with internet access using a browser and a unique, customer-specific URL. Multiple types of end devices are supported.

Sophisticated security procedures such as the Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption procedure secure the communications. In addition to this technical procedure, the following security and quality principles apply to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition:

• Business data is stored in data centers according to the highest security standards. These standards include local data regulations such as the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD).
• Users requiring access to business data have to authenticate themselves, and their identity needs to be verified by user and access management.
• Companies always remain the owners of their respective company data.

Additional Information: For more information about SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, visit www.sap.com/erp.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition is one of the two cloud operating models in the SAP S/4HANA family. There are technical- and business-related differences with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition. In terms of scope, the private edition is comparable to the on-premise version of SAP S/4HANA.

Like the on-premise version, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition supports processes in 64 countries or regions in 39 languages across 31 industries. The areas include the following: asset management, human resources, sourcing and procurement, supply chain, finance, manufacturing, R&D/engineering, and services.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition is operated by SAP. You can specify when updates and upgrades are performed, subject to certain restrictions. An upgrade will be made available on a two-year cycle, as with the on-premise version, including feature packs during this time. However, you must perform an upgrade after five years at the latest to remain in SAP standard maintenance. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition enables access via SAP Fiori and SAP GUI, allowing for a step-by-step transition to the role-based concept of SAP Fiori.

With SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, you can define the implementation landscape, which is especially important as SAP allows all three options of implementation: new implementation, system conversion, and migration with selective data. For an implementation, it’s recommended to have several clients on the development and QA systems, so all processes and extensions can be tested sufficiently. You can also use an SAP Activate road map with the SAP Cloud ALM option for this operating model. This operating model also enables the use of compatibility packages.

You can start with preconfigured processes from SAP and its partners, which offer solution packages for many LoBs, industries, countries, and regions.

Learn about the implementation timeline of an SAP S/4HANA project in this post.

Editor’s note: This post has been adapted from a section of the book Migrating to SAP S/4HANA: Operating Models, Migration Scenarios, Tools, and Implementation by Frank Densborn, Frank Finkbohner, Martina Höft, Petra Klöß, Kim Mathäß, and Boris Rubarth. Frank Densborn has been an expert in data migration at SAP since 2004 and is the author of numerous SAP PRESS titles in German and English. Frank Finkbohner worked for SAP since 1999, including 13 years in SAP consulting, where he supported customers in numerous projects, including data migration and the development and extension of ABAP applications. Martina works in product management for SAP S/4HANA in the area of data migration and data transformation with a focus on the SAP S/4HANA migration cockpit. Dr. Klöß is a senior director in SAP Central Business Configuration, managing customer success for SAP Central Business Configuration for the Americas and greater China. Kim has worked at SAP since 2006 and is currently senior development manager in SAP S/4HANA Globalization. Dr. Rubarth worked at SAP from 1999 until the end of 2024, most recently as product manager in the Software Logistics division.