SAP HANA Cloud is SAP's fully managed, cloud-native in-memory database — available on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, provisioned through SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). SAP has positioned HANA Cloud as the successor to on-premise HANA 2.0 SPS, and SAP account teams are actively using HANA 2.0 support lifecycle timelines to accelerate customer conversations toward HANA Cloud adoption. What those conversations consistently omit: SAP HANA Cloud is not an upgrade from on-premise HANA 2.0. It is a new SaaS subscription with a different data model, different administration tools, different integration architecture, and a per-memory-tier pricing model that typically costs 2–4× more than on-premise HANA 2.0 SULS over a three-year period.
Third-party support on SAP HANA 2.0 SPS on-premise is the structural alternative SAP does not want in the conversation. TPS delivers 60–65% savings versus SAP Standard NetWeaver Support (SnS) charges, keeps HANA 2.0 running under full supported cover regardless of SAP's support lifecycle decisions, and eliminates the £1.5M–£8M migration cost that a HANA Cloud transition typically requires in a mid-to-large SAP landscape.
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SAP HANA Cloud uses a different storage model (data tiering to object storage vs. on-premise HANA's in-memory/disk architecture), different administration tools (SAP HANA Cloud Central vs. HANA Studio/cockpit), and a per-GB memory pricing structure with consumption-based compute. Migrating from HANA 2.0 on-premise to HANA Cloud requires data migration tooling, integration re-architecture, BTP connectivity setup, and full regression testing — not a version upgrade procedure.
SAP HANA Cloud Pricing — The Real Cost of SAP's Migration Push
SAP HANA Cloud is priced on a memory allocation basis (GiB of HANA Cloud memory per month) plus optional compute tiers for workload isolation. SAP's published list prices for HANA Cloud in Western Europe and North America run at approximately £350–£520/GiB of HANA Cloud memory per month, depending on tier and commitment term. A mid-size SAP ECC environment with a 1TB (1,024 GiB) active data footprint in HANA Cloud would cost approximately £358K–£532K per year in HANA Cloud memory charges alone — before BTP platform fees, SAP Integration Suite charges for connecting to non-SAP systems, and the implementation cost of the migration project itself.
The same 1TB on-premise HANA 2.0 environment on a modern 3-socket server with 3TB RAM typically carries SAP SnS fees of £180K–£240K annually (based on original HANA appliance or TDI licence cost at 22% SnS). Third-party support on that environment costs approximately £64K–£84K annually. The SAP HANA Cloud migration cost — including data migration, BTP setup, integration re-architecture, and parallel running — typically runs £800K–£3.2M for a mid-size SAP landscape. The cumulative TPS saving over three years in this scenario: £348K–£468K, with zero migration disruption risk.
SAP HANA Version Matrix — TPS Eligibility
| SAP HANA Version | SAP SnS Status (2026) | TPS Available |
|---|---|---|
| SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07 (latest) | Active — SAP Mainstream Maintenance | ✓ Yes — immediate TPS available |
| SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 06 | Active — extended under customer pressure | ✓ Yes |
| SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 05 | End of Maintenance Dec 2023 | ✓ Yes — high TPS demand cohort |
| SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 04 | End of Maintenance Dec 2022 | ✓ Yes |
| SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 03 | End of Maintenance Dec 2021 | ✓ Yes |
| SAP HANA 1.0 (all SPS) | End of Mainstream Jan 2020 | ✓ Yes |
| SAP HANA Cloud | Active SaaS — not TPS-eligible | N/A (SAP-managed SaaS) |
The Full HANA Cloud Migration Cost — What SAP Doesn't Model for You
SAP's HANA Cloud cost modelling typically presents the memory subscription cost in isolation, against the on-premise HANA SnS fee. This is a deliberately incomplete comparison. The full cost of migrating from on-premise HANA 2.0 to HANA Cloud includes:
- Data migration project: HANA Cloud uses SAP HANA Cloud Migration Tool and Database Migration Service (DMS) on BTP. A full migration of an active production HANA system — including test cycles, delta loads, and cutover weekend — typically requires 3–6 months of specialist SAP HANA DBA and BTP integration effort. SI fees: £200K–£1.2M depending on data volume and complexity
- Integration re-architecture: On-premise HANA 2.0 typically uses HANA XSA/XSC applications, HANA Smart Data Integration (SDI) for real-time replication, and HANA Studio for administration. All three require re-architecture for HANA Cloud: XSA→CAP (Cloud Application Programming model), SDI→SAP Integration Suite (additional BTP subscription), and HANA Studio→HANA Cloud Central. SI fees for integration re-architecture: £150K–£800K
- SAP BTP platform baseline: HANA Cloud requires BTP subscription for provisioning. The BTP platform baseline adds £40K–£120K annually beyond HANA Cloud memory charges, depending on BTP services consumed
- Custom code and reporting rework: HANA-specific SQL functions and procedures (particularly those using HANA column store features, HANA PAL machine learning library, or HANA spatial engine on TDI hardware) require review and testing in HANA Cloud. Code rework estimated at £80K–£400K for a typical mid-size SAP estate
- Parallel running and cutover management: Running both on-premise HANA and HANA Cloud during migration validation: 3–6 months of double cost
TPS Coverage for SAP HANA 2.0 On-Premise
GoVendorFree's SAP HANA TPS covers the full on-premise HANA 2.0 stack. Coverage includes all SAP HANA SPS releases and all deployment models — dedicated appliance, Tailored Datacenter Integration (TDI), HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC), and VMware-virtualised HANA. Key coverage areas:
- HANA Database Core: Column store engine, row store, OLTP/OLAP mixed workloads, HANA persistence layer (data volumes, log volumes, redo log), and HANA in-memory failure recovery
- HANA System Replication (HSR): HSR configuration, full sync / synchronous / asynchronous replication modes, HSR takeover procedures, multi-tier HSR for DR, and HANA Active/Active read-enabled replication
- HANA Scale-Out: Scale-out cluster management, host auto-failover, HANA nameserver and indexserver management, SAP HANA XS Engine (XSA) on scale-out systems
- HANA Studio and Cockpit: HANA Studio 2.x, HANA Cockpit 2.0, HANA Database Explorer — all on-premise administration tools maintained under TPS
- Smart Data Integration (SDI) and Smart Data Access (SDA): HANA data provisioning agents, real-time replication from Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2 source systems
- SAP HANA Extended Application Services Advanced (XSA): XSA runtime, XSA application lifecycle management, and custom XSA applications deployed on on-premise HANA
- HANA PAL and AFL: Predictive Analytics Library and Application Function Library performance and stability support
- Security: HANA authentication (Kerberos, SAML, X.509), HANA TDE, HANA audit log, and CVE advisory for HANA 2.0 vulnerabilities not patched by SAP under Sustaining Engineering
Primary Cohort: Manufacturing and Financial Services
The SAP HANA Cloud alternative TPS opportunity is concentrated in two primary sectors. Manufacturing organisations that deployed on-premise HANA 2.0 as the platform for SAP ECC with integrated BW reporting, HANA-based MII (Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence), and PLM/DMS document management — typically on TDI hardware with 500GB–2TB of active HANA data. These organisations have zero appetite for a HANA Cloud migration that would disrupt production scheduling, quality management, and MES integration during a capital investment cycle. GoVendorFree manufacturing TPS engagements consistently show TPS saving of £180K–£640K annually on combined SAP application and HANA database support.
Financial services firms running SAP Bank Analyser, Treasury and Risk Management (TRM), or Financial Risk Management (FRM) on HANA present the second major cohort. These systems require low-latency in-memory processing for regulatory reporting (IFRS 17, FRTB, Basel IV), and the data residency and audit trail requirements of PRA/ECB regulation make HANA Cloud migration a multi-year regulatory change programme rather than a technical project. TPS on on-premise HANA provides the regulatory stability these institutions require while delivering material cost reduction.
SAP Indirect Access and HANA Cloud — A Migration Risk Amplifier
Enterprises migrating to HANA Cloud through SAP BTP connectivity face a specific indirect access audit risk that does not exist in on-premise deployments. SAP's indirect access policy (Digital Access model, introduced with S/4HANA licensing in 2018) classifies digital documents created or processed via non-SAP systems connected through BTP APIs as HANA Cloud indirect access events — potentially triggering new Named User licence requirements. SAP account teams have used HANA Cloud migration conversations to retroactively assert Digital Access licence claims on existing integrations. Our SAP Audit Defence Playbook covers the specific contractual defences against Digital Access claims in HANA Cloud migration contexts.