SAP PI/PO and SAP Integration Suite are bought under different commercial models, and their product lifecycles follow different rules. The only source for an exact price is the contract signed with SAP; here we have collected the rules SAP publishes openly and what they mean for the quotation process.
SAP PI/PO licensing
SAP PI/PO is licensed on premise; a maintenance fee is paid on top of the licence fee. According to a 2019 SAP Community post by Alexander Bundschuh of SAP, the rules are:
- There is a single price list item for SAP PO, and it replaced the earlier SAP PI, SAP NWBPM and SAP BRM items. Previously sold SAP PI licences (volume or CPU based) and SAP NWBPM and SAP BRM licences were moved to the legacy price list.
- When counting cores, every physical core that runs at least part of the software counts; in a virtual environment the same rule applies to virtual cores. Cores assigned temporarily for peak load count as well.
- Since April 2014 the B2B add-on has been part of the SAP PO licence and is not sold separately. An organisation holding an SAP PO licence may run one of the SAP PI, AEX or SAP PO installations.
- The secure connectivity add-on, which contains the SFTP adapter and the PGP module, is included in every SAP PI and SAP PO licence.
SAP PI/PO product lifecycle
Maintenance for SAP PI and SAP PO 7.5 follows SAP NetWeaver 7.5. Mainstream maintenance ends at the end of 2027; extended maintenance to the end of 2030 comes at the same price and terms as SAP Business Suite 7. Maintenance for the B2B and secure connectivity add-ons follows the same schedule.
There is no separate schedule per installation type: the dual usage type of SAP PI, AEX and SAP PO follow the same dates. According to the migration guidance in the SAP Architecture Center, support ends after 2030.
A system out of maintenance receives no new fixes or security patches; new protocol and security requirements then have to be met in-house. Operating the servers, operating system and database has always been the customer's job.
SAP Integration Suite licensing
SAP Integration Suite is bought on SAP BTP under one of two commercial models: subscription or consumption-based. The consumption model uses a CPEA or Pay-As-You-Go agreement.
SAP's documentation names the editions Basic, Standard, Premium and Enhanced, and some capabilities depend on the edition:
- JMS queues are not supported in the Basic edition; in the other editions they need no additional licence.
- Integration Advisor is available in the Standard and Premium editions.
- AI features (generating iFlow drafts, error resolution suggestions, script optimisation, MIG and MAG proposals) are available only in the Premium and Enhanced editions.
- Availability of the AS2 adapter, Migration Assessment and the migration tooling depends on the service plan; the scope is listed in SAP Note 2903776.
SAP CPI (new name: SAP Integration Suite, Cloud Integration) counts the messages it processes. The Message Usage dashboard shows messages exchanged only between SAP systems, which are not charged, separately from chargeable messages.
If Edge Integration Cell is chosen, the customer provides the Kubernetes cluster and the database; the SAP HANA database licence is not included. SAP also offers a free service plan for trying the product.
SAP Integration Suite product lifecycle
SAP operates the cloud tenant and updates it with regular software increments; the customer does not plan release upgrades. Changes in the runtime can still create work on the customer side. The move to the Groovy 4 script runtime is an example: some import statements can cause compilation errors, and SAP provides an Upgrade Readiness Check for this.
SAP Learning's migration course names the SAP NetWeaver 7.5 maintenance schedule as the main reason to move from SAP PO to SAP Integration Suite, and lists API Management, event-driven architecture, out-of-the-box SaaS connectors and B2B trading partner management as SAP Integration Suite capabilities.
Summary comparison
| Topic | SAP PI/PO | SAP Integration Suite |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | On premise, AS Java | Cloud tenant on SAP BTP; optional Edge Integration Cell |
| Licence | Core-based SAP PO licence plus maintenance fee (2019 statement) | Subscription or consumption-based model; edition-dependent capabilities |
| Metric | Number of cores | Messages processed in SAP CPI (Cloud Integration); unmodified SAP-to-SAP content is not billed |
| Lifecycle | Mainstream maintenance to end 2027, extended maintenance to end 2030 | SAP's regular software increments |
| Infrastructure | Servers, database and upgrades with the customer | SAP operates the cloud tenant; the cluster is the customer's with Edge Integration Cell |
Questions to ask before a quote
Message volume
How many messages a month, and how many of them will flow through SAP's unmodified SAP-to-SAP content?
Scenarios that stay on premise
Do flows that must not go over the internet require Edge Integration Cell?
B2B and EDI
If Integration Advisor, Trading Partner Management and AS2 are needed, which edition covers them?
Parallel operation
How long will SAP PI/PO run alongside SAP Integration Suite after 2027?
We describe our services for SAP PI/PO on the SAP PI/PO consulting page and the cloud side on the SAP Integration Suite consulting and SAP BTP pages.
Frequently asked questions
From SAP PO to CPI: migration steps to SAP Integration Suite