Best Alternative to SAP

What it costs to migrate off SAP ECC

There is no reliable public average for an SAP migration. There are published prices, documented premiums and consistent survey findings, and together they make a usable budget.

By The editors · Updated · 3 min read

A finance director and a project manager review a thick printed budget with sticky tabs and a calculator at a desk.
Most migration budgets are won or lost on the lines that are hardest to price.
Contents
  1. Costs you can know
  2. A worked licence example
  3. Costs you have to estimate
  4. Where an operations layer changes the budget
  5. A five-year cost model
  6. Questions buyers ask
  7. Sources

SAP migrations are expensive to get wrong. ISG's research on 200 large companies, reported in February 2026, found nearly 60% of SAP migration projects delayed and over budget⁠1. A budget that holds starts with the costs that can be known and adds honest contingency for the ones that cannot.

Costs you can know

Staying while you move. Extended maintenance for ECC from 2028 to 2030 costs two percentage points more than the existing maintenance basis⁠2. For SAP's private edition transition option, customers signing in 2026 face a 20% uplift when switching in 2031, and the max success plan fee is charged on top⁠3.

Licences for the target.

AlternativePublished price
Dynamics 365 Finance$210 per user a month; Premium $300, paid yearly⁠4
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management$210 per user a month; Premium $300, paid yearly⁠5
Business CentralEssentials $80, Premium $110, Team Members $8 per user a month⁠6
OdooStandard €19.90, Custom €35.90 per user a month billed yearly, first-year discount⁠7
AcumaticaUnlimited users; priced mainly by applications; no dollar figures⁠8
NetSuite, Infor LN, Epicor KineticNot published in the sources we read
OpenLazarus (operations layer)Plans $100 or $300 a month; hosting from $150; engineering support from $4,500 a month⁠910

A worked licence example

For 100 users who need both finance and supply chain access, Dynamics 365 at list price is $210 per user a month for each application. If every user needed both base applications, that would be $504,000 a year⁠45; in practice not every user needs both applications, so treat this as an upper bound to test a quote against. The same 100 users on Business Central Premium would cost $132,000 a year at list price⁠6. These figures exclude implementation.

Costs you have to estimate

  • Re-engineering. ISG found 49% of SAP migrations do little or none⁠1; budget for it explicitly rather than discovering it in testing.
  • Custom code and interfaces. Customisations were the second-largest migration barrier for ASUG members⁠11.
  • Data migration. Open items, master data and the history auditors and analysts need.
  • Internal time. Key users spend months in design and testing.
  • Running both. Months of parallel operation, including ECC maintenance.

Where an operations layer changes the budget

An operations layer does not remove the ERP licence, because the ledger and costing stay in the ERP⁠12. What it can change is timing: correspondence-heavy work such as order entry, purchasing and supplier follow-up can move first, against the existing ECC system, which spreads the change over a longer period. Its cost is published, with engineering support the dominant line for a mid-sized company⁠10.

A five-year cost model

Put every option in the same table

  • ECC maintenance until cut-over, including any extended maintenance premium.
  • Target licences for five years at list price, then at the quoted price.
  • Implementation, data migration and re-engineering, each as its own line.
  • Internal hours, valued at loaded cost.
  • Contingency sized to the overrun evidence, not to optimism.

Compare S/4HANA and the alternatives on this basis, as set out in S/4HANA vs the alternatives, and choose on total cost and fit rather than on licence price alone.

Questions buyers ask

How much does an SAP migration cost?

No reliable public average exists, and published figures vary widely. The consistent finding is overrun. ISG research on 200 large companies found nearly 60% of SAP migration projects delayed and over budget. Budget from your own scope, with a contingency and the cost of staying on extended maintenance during the project.

Is it cheaper to stay on SAP ECC until 2030?

In the short term, often yes, because extended maintenance carries a premium of two percentage points on the existing maintenance basis. It buys time rather than avoiding the migration, and the project still has to be funded before 2031.

What do SAP alternatives cost per user?

Microsoft publishes Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management at $210 per user a month each, or $300 for Premium, and Business Central at $80 or $110. Odoo publishes from €19.90 per user a month billed yearly. Acumatica prices by applications with unlimited users. NetSuite, Infor and Epicor did not publish prices in the sources we read.

Sources

  1. Most SAP migrations bust budgets and deadlines, study finds. The Register, 5 Feb 2026. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  2. SAP S/4HANA: commitment to innovation and maintenance until 2040. SAP News Center, 4 Feb 2020. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  3. Navigating your RISE with SAP journey: updates for SAP ERP, private edition, transition option. SAP News Center, 4 Aug 2025. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  4. Finance management software pricing. Microsoft. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  5. Supply Chain Management pricing. Microsoft. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  6. Business Central pricing. Microsoft. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  7. Pricing. Odoo. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  8. Acumatica pricing. Acumatica. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  9. Questions about OpenLazarus. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  10. Pricing. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  11. Two-fifths of SAP Americas users yet to ditch legacy ERP. The Register, 5 Nov 2025. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.
  12. Manufacturing. OpenLazarus. Accessed 8 Nov 2026.

Updated 8 Nov 2026: First published.

Further reading