Lesson 4 of 5
Three ways to run S/4HANA
10 min
SAP S/4HANA comes in three main deployment options. They share most concepts, but they differ in who runs the system, how often it changes, and how much you may configure and extend. Those differences decide which rules apply to your system, and they change how testing is planned. Throughout the Academy, we flag where Public Edition behaves differently.
The three options
On-premise. The company licenses SAP S/4HANA and runs it in its own data center or with a hosting partner of its choice. It controls the hardware, the technical operations and the timing of upgrades. It has full access to configuration and to custom development.
Cloud Private Edition. The same S/4HANA software as on-premise, run as a dedicated, single-tenant system in the cloud with SAP responsible for infrastructure and technical operations, usually under the RISE with SAP offering. In 2025, SAP began marketing it as SAP Cloud ERP Private; contracts and documentation still use the older name. Configuration and extension freedom are close to on-premise, and upgrades are planned with SAP.
Cloud Public Edition. A multi-tenant software-as-a-service ERP that SAP operates and upgrades for all customers on a fixed schedule. SAP now markets it under the SAP Cloud ERP name. Configuration is limited to SAP-provided options, and extensions must use released, upgrade-stable interfaces. It is built around SAP Best Practices processes.
| Topic | On-premise | Cloud Private Edition | Cloud Public Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who operates it | Customer or chosen hoster | SAP (infrastructure and technical operations) | SAP, fully |
| Tenancy | Dedicated | Dedicated (single tenant) | Shared software, multi-tenant |
| Release names | Year, e.g. 2025 | Year, e.g. 2025 | Year and month, e.g. 2608 |
| Upgrade cadence | New release every two years; customer decides when to move | Same releases; timing planned with SAP | Two major upgrades a year (February and August) plus regular hotfix collections, on SAP’s schedule |
| Configuration | Full Customizing (IMG) | Full Customizing (IMG) | SAP-provided self-service options and SAP Central Business Configuration |
| Custom code | Allowed; clean core strongly recommended | Allowed; clean core strongly recommended | Only released APIs and extension points |
| SAP GUI for business users | Yes | Yes | No; Fiori apps only |
Release cadence in practice
For on-premise and Private Edition, SAP moved to a two-year release cycle starting with SAP S/4HANA 2023: a new release every other year (2023, 2025, and so on), with feature packs in between and seven years of mainstream maintenance per release. A company might upgrade every few years and plan a large regression test for each upgrade.
Public Edition works differently. Releases are named by year and month: 2602 is February 2026 and 2608 is August 2026. Every customer is upgraded by SAP twice a year, and hotfix collections arrive in between. You do not choose whether to upgrade; you choose how well prepared you are.
- Every 2 yearsOn-premise / Private Edition release2023, then 2025. Each release gets feature pack stacks and seven years of mainstream maintenance.
- FebruaryPublic Edition major upgradeRelease yy02 rolls out to all customers on SAP’s schedule.
- AugustPublic Edition major upgradeRelease yy08 rolls out; regression testing must be ready again.
- Between upgradesHotfix collectionsRegular, smaller corrections delivered in maintenance windows.
What stays the same everywhere
It is easy to over-state the differences. The business concepts are the same in every edition: company codes, plants, sales organizations, sales orders, deliveries, purchase orders, journal entries and the document flow between them. A sales order at a Public Edition customer and a sales order at Contoso are the same kind of business object, posted to the same Universal Journal design. What differs is how the system is operated, how much it can be changed, and which user interfaces are offered. That is why most of this Academy applies to all three, with Public Edition differences called out where they matter.
Which one is Contoso on?
In this Academy, Contoso runs SAP S/4HANA 2025 in Cloud Private Edition. That means SAP GUI and Fiori are both available, full configuration is possible, and upgrades are planned events. When a topic works differently in Public Edition, the lesson says so in a sentence.
What it means for testing
- On-premise and Private Edition: you control timing, so you can test thoroughly before each upgrade. The risk is a large, infrequent upgrade with years of custom changes to retest.
- Public Edition: upgrades come twice a year whether you are ready or not. You need a lean, repeatable regression set ready to run in the test system before each upgrade reaches production. SAP provides a built-in test automation tool in Public Edition for this purpose.
- All editions: your own configuration, extensions and interfaces are the parts SAP cannot test for you.
What would you do?
A colleague moves from a Public Edition customer to Contoso. She says: "We never planned upgrades. SAP just did them." What is the most accurate response for Contoso’s Private Edition system?
- On-premise: customer operated, full control. Private Edition: same software, SAP operated, single tenant.
- Public Edition: multi-tenant SaaS, SAP upgrades everyone twice a year, configuration and extensions limited.
- On-premise and Private Edition releases come every two years (2023, 2025); Public Edition uses yymm names (2602, 2608).
- SAP GUI is available to business users on-premise and in Private Edition, not in Public Edition.
- Contoso runs SAP S/4HANA 2025 in Cloud Private Edition.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. Which edition is multi-tenant SaaS upgraded by SAP twice a year?
2. What does the Public Edition release name 2608 mean?
3. Which statement about Cloud Private Edition is correct?
4. How often do new on-premise and Private Edition releases arrive under SAP’s current strategy?