Licensing: base AI, premium AI and AI Units

Every AI conversation at Contoso ends with "and what does it cost?" SAP's model has two tiers and one currency. Base AI comes with the cloud subscription at no extra cost. Premium AI is paid, and it is paid for with AI Units. This lesson explains the mechanics so you can read a quote, size a pilot and avoid surprises. Prices and rules change: confirm the current terms with your SAP account executive before you commit.

Base and premium

SAP's SuccessFactors documentation puts it simply: base AI covers "AI capabilities that are available for free" in the application. Many Joule navigational and informational skills and many embedded features are base. Premium AI includes the advanced capabilities: Joule Agents, many Joule Assistants and specialized features. SAP's documentation states that "agents are Premium AI capabilities" and are "charged based on agent actions". The Joule help portal lets you filter all Joule use cases by a Commercial Model column set to Base or Premium.

AI Units, step by step

SAP defines an AI Unit as "a virtual currency that allows customers to consume Premium AI capabilities." Each premium capability consumes AI Units according to its own value metric: per agent action, per AI request, per document page, per user and so on. In SAP's own words from a June 2026 SAP Community post, AI Units are purchased annually, can be drawn from a central pool across SAP solutions, and expire after 12 months if not used.

Metrics differ by capability

The AI Estimator in the SAP Discovery Center shows each capability's metric. When this course was reviewed (17 October 2026), it listed, for example, the Accounts Receivable agents at 0.02 AI Units per agent action, SAP Joule for Developers, ABAP AI capabilities at 0.007 AI Units per AI request, and Joule Premium packages (for example Joule Premium for Financial Management) per AI user per month with volume tiers. The estimator's list conversion showed one AI Unit at about USD 8.06. These are list figures from a public estimator and your contract may differ; the point for this course is the shape: agents bill by action, developer AI by request, packages by user.

The Joule for Developers change after September 2026

SAP Joule for Developers launched with a free promotional period. SAP announced in its SAP Community post of 23 September 2026 that the promotion ended on 30 September 2026 and set out what happens to each capability:

• ABAP AI capabilities became commercially available on 1 October 2026 outside the promotion. Customers buy AI Units and activate the capability in SAP for Me; SAP's post calls this its per-user-per-month (PUPM) commercial license, while the Discovery Center estimator meters it per AI request. Ask your account team which metric your contract uses. The ABAP Development Tools themselves stay free.
• SAP Build Process Automation generative AI features and Joule Studio, classic edition generative AI features stay available until 31 December 2026. After that, both products keep working without generative AI support at design time; existing artifacts are not affected.
• AI chat in SAP Build Code in SAP Business Application Studio continues beyond 31 December 2026 under fair-use limits, and can be configured to use your own model provider, such as SAP AI Core.
• SAP says the SAP Joule for Developers brand will be associated only with ABAP AI capabilities as it moves into 2027.

For on-premise SAP S/4HANA 2021 to 2025, SAP's June 2026 post says availability of ABAP AI is "subject to the special RISE with SAP contract conditions announced at SAP Sapphire". SAP ECC is not covered. Contoso runs SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2025, which is in scope.