SAP HANA is SAP’s in-memory database. On-premise, SAP sells it under the SAP Software Use Rights (SUR) in two commercial families. A full-use licence, SAP HANA, enterprise edition, may be used with any appropriately licensed data source and is sized against the Gigabytes of Memory metric. A runtime licence may be used only together with the SAP software it was bought for, and its fee is calculated on HANA SAP Application Value (HSAV) (HSAV), so it grows as the customer licenses more SAP software.[1] Since SAP S/4HANA runs only on SAP HANA, every S/4HANA landscape needs one of these two licence families. This article describes both families as the SUR enGLOBAL.v.4-2026 (PDF dated 20 April 2026) sets them out, and covers the HANA runtime included in the private cloud tailored option.
Editions
Exhibit 3 §19 of the SUR names the following HANA database editions and options.
| Edition (SUR name) | SUR section | Metric | What it may be used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAP HANA, enterprise edition | §19.2 | Memory | Unlimited Data Sources, subject to the Licensed Level |
| SAP HANA, runtime edition for applications and SAP BW (HANA REAB) | §19.15 | HSAV | Only with licensed “HANA REAB Supported Software” |
| SAP HANA, runtime edition for applications and SAP BW - Partial (HANA REAB-Partial) | §19.16 | HSAV | As REAB, for part of the customer’s software |
| SAP HANA, runtime Edition for SAP BW | §19.4 | HSAV | Only to support SAP Business Warehouse |
| SAP HANA, Limited Runtime edition for Applications | §19.5 | HSAV | Only with the listed SAP HANA Related Apps |
| SAP HANA, active/active read-enabled option | §19.12 | HANA units | Read-only secondary in system replication |
The SUR defines “Data Sources” as any software product or database instance for which the customer holds an appropriate licence.[1] The enterprise edition includes, as Runtime Software, the HANA information management, data replication, data privacy, spatial and graph, predictive, and search and text options, native storage extension, SAP ASE, SAP IQ, near-line storage for SAP BW and SAP BW/4HANA, and the SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator. The runtime editions bundle a similar list (HANA Platform, Data Integrator, Smart Data Integration, SAP Landscape Transformation replication server, SAP ASE, and the listed options), but only for loading data into, and administering, the runtime database.[1]
A slide in SAP’s 2020 on-premise licensing overview for user groups summarises the split as “HANA Enterprise Edition (Full Use) Based on GB of Memory” against “HANA REAB (run-time) Based on 15% HSAV”.[3] The deck states it is informational and not part of any agreement, and the 15% figure does not appear in the SUR. The percentage that applies to a given customer is a price-list and Order Form matter.
Metrics
Two Package metrics from SUR Exhibit 2 govern HANA:
- Gigabytes of Memory (Exhibit 2 §25.1) is the total amount of memory the Software may use, measured in gigabytes. It is the Licensed Level for the enterprise edition.
- HANA SAP Application Value (HSAV) (Exhibit 2 §48.2) is the sum of prices for licensed Software, excluding items the price list marks as not contributing. The runtime editions are priced on it. It is related to, but distinct from, SAP Application Value (SAV) (§48.1), which sums list prices for Named Users, External Community Members, Software Engines and Supplementary Products and is used for third-party runtime databases.[1]
Counting / floors
Full use (effective 2026-04-20). The enterprise edition may be used with an unlimited number of Data Sources, and that use is subject to the applicable Licensed Level (SAP HANA, enterprise edition: unlimited Data Sources within the Licensed Level). The licence must be sized for all data that is queried and joined through Smart Data Access. One-way, read-only Smart Data Access to SAP or third-party software does not, on its own, require Named User licences.[1]
Runtime components inside the enterprise edition. SAP ASE may run on no more than 1 Core per 64 GB of memory in the HANA system, counted across all machines. SAP IQ is limited to 1 Core per 256 GB and may be accessed only through the enterprise edition (SAP ASE runtime in HANA enterprise edition capped at 1 Core per 64 GB).[1] These ratios tie the size of the bundled ASE and IQ deployments to the licensed HANA memory.
Runtime fees (effective 2026-04-20). The fee for HANA REAB is calculated on the HSAV of the HANA REAB Supported Software, and additional fees are due if that HSAV increases (HANA REAB fee follows HANA SAP Application Value). The same fee mechanism applies to HANA REAB-Partial, to HANA Runtime for BW (§19.4.6) and to Limited HANA Runtime (§19.5.9).[1] As a result, buying more SAP Named Users or engines on a runtime landscape also increases the database fee, even when the database itself is no larger.
Active/active read-enabled. Read-only use of a system-replication secondary requires the customer to license an equal number of active/active read-enabled units to the SAP HANA units of the primary instance (Active/active read-enabled option must match primary HANA units). For runtime landscapes, a separate option is priced on HSAV (§19.13).[1]
Runtime restrictions
The runtime editions are use-restricted, not feature-restricted. The HANA Studio, Cockpit, Web IDE and SAP Business Application Studio tools are included, but the SUR limits their use:
- Scope of use. A runtime database licensed from SAP may be used only with the Packages licensed on the same Order Form. Any other use requires a full-use licence, including programming tools, from an authorized vendor (SUR §8.1.1, Runtime database limited to Packages on the same Order Form).
- Modelling. All data modelling, distribution, and creation or extension of data structures in HANA REAB, including virtual tables through Smart Data Access, must be done through the HANA REAB Supported Software. Data Integrator, Smart Data Integration and SLT may be used only to load data into the runtime database or the supported software.[1]
- No redistribution. HANA REAB Supported Software may not distribute data from tables in HANA REAB that are licensed for other software. The SUR’s example is SAP Data Services, which may not distribute data from HANA REAB licensed for SAP S/4HANA (HANA REAB: no distribution of data licensed for other software).
- Reporting and export. All reporting must go through the supported software or through custom views built with the included tools, and SAP BI tools may read those views. Data may be exported with licensed SAP tools only to SAP HANA enterprise or standard edition, the SAP HANA service, SAP HANA Cloud or SAP Datasphere (Runtime HANA data export only to listed SAP targets).
- HANA Runtime for BW. This edition supports SAP Business Warehouse only. Its use is limited to communication between SAP BW and the database, and all modelling and loading must be done through SAP BW (HANA Runtime for BW limited to SAP BW communications).
- BusinessObjects repository. HANA REAB, HANA REAB-Partial and Limited HANA Runtime may host the BI platform’s Central Management Server repository and audit database, and serve as a platform for the Design Studio runtime (§§19.5.7, 19.15.5, 19.16.6).[1]
Virtualization & partitioning
The SUR does not publish a hard or soft partitioning policy for HANA. The rule it does state concerns tenants: where a customer has licensed more than one SAP HANA edition, each edition licence type may be deployed only in its own tenant database within a HANA system. System Database and Cockpit tenants are limited to administration (Each licensed SAP HANA edition in its own tenant database).[1] A runtime tenant and a full-use tenant can therefore share hardware, but not a tenant.
For S/4HANA, SUR Exhibit 3 §2.1 adds two rules. S/4HANA Packages may be deployed only on an SAP HANA installation, and only S/4HANA Packages may be deployed on that installation. The SUR also states that S/4HANA Packages “are not licensed for Use with any third party runtime database” (S/4HANA Packages only on SAP HANA, never on a third party runtime database).[1] Customers that keep a third-party runtime database for part of the landscape come under the segregated database landscape rules in SUR §9. These rules define Type 1, 2 and 3 installations. They limit database-level communication from the third-party database into HANA to a one-time productive Initial Data Load, while application-level API communication remains permitted.
Cloud / BYOL
In the private cloud tailored option (SAP Cloud ERP Private, tailored option, also sold as RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, tailored option), SAP HANA runtime is a runtime database licensed for use with certain tailored option packages. Its bundled components (HANA Platform, SAP ASE, near-line storage, the HANA options, SDQ, SDI and native storage extension) may be used only with the customer’s tailored option packages (HANA Runtime in tailored option only with S/4HANA Cloud packages). The SDG adds that data may not be distributed from one tailored option package to another at the HANA database level.[2] The subscription is counted in Full Usage Equivalents, not HSAV. See RISE with SAP and GROW with SAP commercial constructs.
The SUR publishes no vCPU-to-memory mapping for running on-premise HANA licences on hyperscaler infrastructure. The memory Licensed Level applies wherever the software runs.
Programs
HANA runtime and full-use licences are not programs. In conversions from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA, SAP’s 2020 overview shows the database line after conversion as “HANA Run-time or Enterprise Edition”, which means the customer chooses one licence family as part of the conversion.[3] See SAP S/4HANA contract conversion programmes.
Out of scope
- SAP HANA Cloud, SAP Datasphere and SAP Business Technology Platform database services, which are licensed through cloud service descriptions and capacity units.
- HSAV percentages and memory block prices, which are set in the confidential SAP price list.
- SAP HANA, standard edition and SAP HANA, express edition, which the SUR sections cited here do not describe beyond naming standard edition as an export target.
- The segregated database landscape rules in SUR §9, beyond the summary above.