SAP Commerce on-premise reaches end of life on July 31, 2026. Why this deadline is not just a technical date - it is a strategic opportunity to fundamentally rethink how your commerce operations work with Emporix ACE.
TL;DR
On July 31, 2026, mainstream maintenance ends for SAP Commerce on-premise (formerly SAP Hybris).
For the more than 3,000 companies worldwide running their digital commerce infrastructure on this platform, the clock is ticking. And it is ticking faster than most realize.
The SAP Hybris end of life is more than a technical date on a calendar. It is a strategic inflection point. Organizations that act now have the opportunity to do more than modernize their commerce platform. They can fundamentally change how commerce operates - shifting from constant building and patching to intelligent, continuous operation.
What the SAP Commerce End of Life Actually Means
SAP has confirmed that version 2205 - the final on-premise release of SAP Commerce reaches end of mainstream maintenance (EoMM) on July 31, 2026. After that date, there will be no security updates, no bug fixes, no technical patches. What remains is so-called “customer-specific maintenance”, without guaranteed response times, without SLAs, without functional updates.
In practice, that means companies continuing to run SAP Hybris past this date are operating unsupported software. The risks range from growing security vulnerabilities to rising maintenance costs to compliance violations - particularly in regulated industries like manufacturing and wholesale, where this is simply not an option.
Why Waiting Is the Biggest Risk
Many organizations are still hesitating. The platform runs, the processes are established, the teams know the system. But that sense of stability is deceptive. Behind the apparent calm, technical debt is accumulating: every custom modification, every code extension, every feature built outside the standard increases complexity, and with it, the cost of every future change.
Enterprise migrations typically take twelve to eighteen months - longer for complex scenarios. Organizations that start planning only in early 2026 risk having to operate on unsupported software. The total cost of ownership for a legacy Hybris system after end of life rises significantly - without generating any corresponding value in return.
The real question is not whether you need to migrate. The question is whether you treat the migration as a strategic opportunity or as a forced emergency plan.
The Real Problem: Building Instead of Operating
The SAP Hybris end of life exposes a structural problem that extends far beyond vendor support. Monolithic commerce platforms - whether SAP Hybris or other legacy systems - were built for a world where commerce was a project: implemented once, then maintained, occasionally extended.
That world no longer exists. B2B buyers today expect hybrid purchasing experiences, real-time availability, and contextual self-service portals. At the same time, the pressure on operational efficiency is mounting: processes need to become faster, more automated, and more adaptable - not in months, but in days.
Migrating away from SAP Hybris by simply swapping the platform does not solve the underlying problem. Composable commerce promised many organizations greater flexibility. But flexibility without orchestration often leads to what we call “Composable Regret” - processes that stall between tools, teams, and handoffs.
From Migration to Transformation: Operating Commerce as a System
The paradigm shift that the SAP Hybris end of life can trigger goes beyond switching platforms. It demands a fundamentally different mindset: Operate, don’t build.
Instead of treating commerce as an IT project that gets built and then maintained, forward-thinking organizations view commerce as an operational system that runs continuously, adapts, and optimizes itself. That means processes that are not just connected but orchestrated. Decisions that are not made manually but intelligently automated.
This is where Autonomous Commerce Execution (ACE) comes in. The Emporix ACE platform combines Commerce Orchestration with Agentic Commerce Intelligence (ACI) - AI agents that do not just react but independently analyze, decide, and act. On top of that, pre-built Value Streams connect customer journeys, business processes, and data flows into coherent, measurable end-to-end workflows - from customer intent to final delivery.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Organizations migrating from SAP Hybris with Emporix report concrete results. HABA FAMILYGROUP replaced their existing SAP Commerce solution with the Emporix platform, going live on their first channel within four months and achieving annual cost savings of 43% in the second year after the switch. DORMA-Glas is also using Emporix to replace their SAP Commerce legacy solution, reducing operating costs while building a composable architecture designed for long-term adaptability.
The critical point: the migration does not have to be a big bang. Using the Strangler Fig pattern, organizations can modernize incrementally, keeping existing legacy infrastructure operational while new processes are built and brought to production in parallel. This reduces risk and enables value creation from day one.
What Decision-Makers Should Do Now
The SAP Hybris end of life on July 31, 2026, is not a problem that resolves itself. It is a strategic window. Organizations that use it can do more than modernize their commerce platform—they can fundamentally improve how they operate across digital commerce.
The next steps:
1. Take stock: Which processes run on SAP Hybris today? Where does custom code create migration complexity? What is your current TCO?
2. Define your target architecture: Is this just a platform swap - or a fundamental realignment of how your commerce processes work?
3. Choose your migration approach: Big bang or incremental modernization? The Strangler Fig approach enables value creation from day one.
4. Engage the right partners: A successful migration requires both technical expertise and strategic guidance.
Ready to take the next step?
Learn how Emporix ACE can turn your SAP Hybris migration into a strategic transformation. Our partners support you through analysis, planning, and implementation - step by step, without disrupting operations.
