What happens when SAP GTS 11.0 runs out of mainstream maintenance on the 31st of December 2025?
To answer the question above, we need to take a look at the Release and Maintenance Strategy of SAP.
Mainstream maintenance is offered for all SAP software products and begins with the Release-To-Customer (RTC) date and continues throughout the unrestricted delivery phase. Usually, the end of mainstream maintenance for an SAP software product is later than (or equal to) the end of mainstream maintenance of the predecessor product and after the General Availability (GA) of the successor product.
The expiry dates of mainstream maintenance (and extended maintenance, if provided) are published in the SAP Service Marketplace under http://service.sap.com/releasestrategy.
And in the Product Availability Matrix under http://service.sap.com/pam.
When mainstream maintenance has ended, SAP may provide extended maintenance for selected products for an additional maintenance fee. Extended maintenance has the same scope of service as mainstream maintenance. Extended maintenance requires an additional payment and a specific maintenance addendum based on a valid maintenance contract.
Extended Maintenance is not offered for SAP Global Trade Services 11.0 (or any earlier versions of SAP GTS).
After the validity period of the supplementary agreement has expired, or in the case of SAP GTS, when the end of mainstream maintenance occurs, the release automatically enters customer-specific maintenance.
Customer-specific maintenance applies to all SAP applications and does not have an expiry date. The customer pays the same maintenance fee as mainstream maintenance during customer-specific maintenance. The customer-specific maintenance does not have to be ordered explicitly.
Customers receive similar maintenance services in customer-specific maintenance as in mainstream maintenance; however, there are some restrictions in the scope of service because the release is no longer adjusted to new requirements.
Customers licensed for SAP GTS 11.0 move to customer-specific maintenance on 1st January 2026.
Customers receive similar maintenance services in customer-specific maintenance as in mainstream maintenance; however, there are some restrictions in the scope of service because the release is no longer adjusted to new requirements.
Customers continue to receive the following services of SAP Standard Support during customer-specific maintenance:
During customer-specific maintenance, the following restrictions in the scope of service of SAP support apply:
Processing of problems is customer-specific. This means that for known issues, the solution of problems is still covered by maintenance. However, the customer may have to pay to solve new problems yet to be known to SAP. This applies to customer-specific enhancements in particular.
SAP cannot guarantee that every problem will be solved within customer-specific maintenance. For example, SAP cannot provide corrections in cases such as those specified below:
One of the reasons for restrictions is that SAP removes the internal system landscapes for a release at the start of the customer-specific maintenance of that release. As a result, it may only be possible to analyze the error directly in the customer system. For the analysis, the customer has to make remote access available.
It may only be possible to correct yet unknown errors as individual corrections in the customer system. In the customer system, SAP acts as a developer of the customer and has no further rights. Therefore, SAP cannot provide corrections for software components whose source code is not available to the customer. SAP cannot provide corrections for as yet unknown errors with third-party products that the manufacturer no longer supports.
When a release is in customer-specific maintenance, the Support Package Stacks available during normal maintenance are no longer visible in the Software Download Centre. You can still access the available Support Packages using the Software Download Centre Archive.
SAP cannot support software from third-party providers (for example, operating systems, databases, or components) which is no longer maintained by the manufacturer. Therefore, you may have to upgrade to more current versions of this software. These more current versions may not be supported for releases that are in customer-specific maintenance. In this case, it is your responsibility to decide whether you want to carry out an upgrade or continue using the old, no longer supported version of the software. In particular, during customer-specific maintenance, it may cause problems if your system has an obsolete Support Package level. You may encounter problems that have been solved with a more recent Support Package. In addition, it may be more difficult or even impossible to create individual corrections.
Unless users of SAP GTS 11.0 convert to SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA before the end of 2025, their GTS version will move to customer-specific maintenance. This will definitively keep the lights on but add significant additional risk, particularly in regard to legal changes. In addition, they lose out on the improvements and innovations already provided by SAP GTS, edition for SAP HANA.
Please have a look at our blog: 12 Good Reasons to Move to SAP GTS, edition for SAP HANA.
For guidance on how to move to the most recent version:
The Transition from SAP GTS 11.0 to SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA.
52505 - Support after end of mainstream maintenance or extended maintenance.
SAP´s Maintenance Strategy
To answer the question above, we need to take a look at the Release and Maintenance Strategy of SAP.
Mainstream maintenance is offered for all SAP software products and begins with the Release-To-Customer (RTC) date and continues throughout the unrestricted delivery phase. Usually, the end of mainstream maintenance for an SAP software product is later than (or equal to) the end of mainstream maintenance of the predecessor product and after the General Availability (GA) of the successor product.
The expiry dates of mainstream maintenance (and extended maintenance, if provided) are published in the SAP Service Marketplace under http://service.sap.com/releasestrategy.
And in the Product Availability Matrix under http://service.sap.com/pam.
When mainstream maintenance has ended, SAP may provide extended maintenance for selected products for an additional maintenance fee. Extended maintenance has the same scope of service as mainstream maintenance. Extended maintenance requires an additional payment and a specific maintenance addendum based on a valid maintenance contract.
Extended Maintenance is not offered for SAP Global Trade Services 11.0 (or any earlier versions of SAP GTS).
After the validity period of the supplementary agreement has expired, or in the case of SAP GTS, when the end of mainstream maintenance occurs, the release automatically enters customer-specific maintenance.
Customer-specific maintenance applies to all SAP applications and does not have an expiry date. The customer pays the same maintenance fee as mainstream maintenance during customer-specific maintenance. The customer-specific maintenance does not have to be ordered explicitly.
Customers receive similar maintenance services in customer-specific maintenance as in mainstream maintenance; however, there are some restrictions in the scope of service because the release is no longer adjusted to new requirements.
SAP GTS 11.0 Will Enter Customer-Specific Maintenance
Customers licensed for SAP GTS 11.0 move to customer-specific maintenance on 1st January 2026.
Customers receive similar maintenance services in customer-specific maintenance as in mainstream maintenance; however, there are some restrictions in the scope of service because the release is no longer adjusted to new requirements.
Customers continue to receive the following services of SAP Standard Support during customer-specific maintenance:
- New releases of licensed software (for SAP GTS conversion rights to SAP GTS, edition for SAP HANA)
- Problem processing (for problems known to SAP)
- Tools for the management and automation of testing
- Tools for monitoring the system and the essential business processes
- Proactive Remote Services
- Implementation tools and methods
- Access to SAP Best Practices
- CCC support
- Available ABAP source code
- Tools and Methods for Software Change Management
During customer-specific maintenance, the following restrictions in the scope of service of SAP support apply:
- No delivery of legal changes
- No delivery of Support Packages
- No guarantee for technological upgrades, for example:
No new kernel versions for the support of new database versions and operating system versions. - In some cases no direct upgrade to a current release. In this case, the upgrade to a current release must be performed in several steps.
- We do not usually provide new or additional upgrade paths for a start release in customer-specific maintenance. Upgrade paths provided during mainstream maintenance or during the period in which we provide extended maintenance continue to be available during customer-specific maintenance. You can use available upgrade paths whether or not you make use of the extended maintenance.
- No support for new interfaces.
Processing of problems is customer-specific. This means that for known issues, the solution of problems is still covered by maintenance. However, the customer may have to pay to solve new problems yet to be known to SAP. This applies to customer-specific enhancements in particular.
Additional Considerations
SAP cannot guarantee that every problem will be solved within customer-specific maintenance. For example, SAP cannot provide corrections in cases such as those specified below:
- Problems that are caused by third-party software. This is the case, especially if the software is no longer supported by the third party.
- Problems that are caused by software components whose source code is not available to the customer.
One of the reasons for restrictions is that SAP removes the internal system landscapes for a release at the start of the customer-specific maintenance of that release. As a result, it may only be possible to analyze the error directly in the customer system. For the analysis, the customer has to make remote access available.
It may only be possible to correct yet unknown errors as individual corrections in the customer system. In the customer system, SAP acts as a developer of the customer and has no further rights. Therefore, SAP cannot provide corrections for software components whose source code is not available to the customer. SAP cannot provide corrections for as yet unknown errors with third-party products that the manufacturer no longer supports.
When a release is in customer-specific maintenance, the Support Package Stacks available during normal maintenance are no longer visible in the Software Download Centre. You can still access the available Support Packages using the Software Download Centre Archive.
SAP cannot support software from third-party providers (for example, operating systems, databases, or components) which is no longer maintained by the manufacturer. Therefore, you may have to upgrade to more current versions of this software. These more current versions may not be supported for releases that are in customer-specific maintenance. In this case, it is your responsibility to decide whether you want to carry out an upgrade or continue using the old, no longer supported version of the software. In particular, during customer-specific maintenance, it may cause problems if your system has an obsolete Support Package level. You may encounter problems that have been solved with a more recent Support Package. In addition, it may be more difficult or even impossible to create individual corrections.
Conclusions
Unless users of SAP GTS 11.0 convert to SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA before the end of 2025, their GTS version will move to customer-specific maintenance. This will definitively keep the lights on but add significant additional risk, particularly in regard to legal changes. In addition, they lose out on the improvements and innovations already provided by SAP GTS, edition for SAP HANA.
Please have a look at our blog: 12 Good Reasons to Move to SAP GTS, edition for SAP HANA.
For guidance on how to move to the most recent version:
The Transition from SAP GTS 11.0 to SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA.
Links:
52505 - Support after end of mainstream maintenance or extended maintenance.
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