Twelve of the 20 ERP systems we compare can still run on servers you own or control, but the list is getting shorter and the terms are getting tighter. SAP S/4HANA On-Premise, SAP Business One, Dynamics 365 Business Central, Sage X3, Acumatica, SYSPRO, proALPHA, IFS Cloud, Odoo and, until 2028, Epicor Kinetic all offer it. Unit4, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, NetSuite, Sage Intacct and the SaaS editions of SAP do not.
This guide checks every system against the vendor's own documentation (9 October 2026), shows how often buyers actually ask for on-premises in ERP Pilot's quiz, and measures what that one answer does to a shortlist. For the general trade-offs between both deployment models, see our cloud ERP vs on-premise comparison; this page is about which products are still available.
Which ERP systems can you still run on-premises?
Ten systems install on your own infrastructure today, two more run in a private or customer-managed environment with limits, and six are cloud-only. Two products sit in between: Infor sells CloudSuite as cloud but still documents on-premises installations of its LN and M3 products, and for QAD we found no on-premises documentation for its current release.
| System | On-premises? | What the vendor says |
|---|---|---|
| SAP S/4HANA On-Premise | Yes | Customer-run on own infrastructure (SAP Help); a release every two years, seven years of mainstream maintenance per release from 2023 (SAP) |
| SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition | Private hosting | Single-tenant, run under RISE with SAP; counts as private hosting, not your own server room |
| SAP Business One | Yes | On-premise or cloud, on SAP HANA or Microsoft SQL Server (SAP Learning) |
| Dynamics 365 Business Central | Yes, by subscription | New customers buy on-premises licences as a subscription since 1 April 2025 (Microsoft); each release supported about 18 months (Lifecycle) |
| Dynamics 365 Finance & SCM | Narrow | Microsoft still lists Finance + Operations (on-premises) under its Modern Lifecycle Policy (Lifecycle); our quiz treats the product as cloud-only, see below |
| Epicor Kinetic | Yes, until 2028 | Final on-premises feature release 2028.1, active support to 31 Dec 2029 (Epicor) |
| Sage X3 | Yes | Supports private cloud and on-premises in addition to Sage's cloud (Sage) |
| Acumatica | Yes (PCS licence) | Private Cloud Subscription may run on your own servers (licensing guide, April 2026) |
| SYSPRO | Yes | Cloud, on-premise and hybrid (SYSPRO) |
| proALPHA | Yes | Cloud, on-premises and hybrid (proALPHA) |
| IFS Cloud | Yes (remote deployment) | Customer-managed deployment on-premise, in a private cloud or sovereign hosting (IFS) |
| Odoo | Yes | Enterprise packages for paying on-premise customers, Community edition free (Odoo docs) |
| Infor CloudSuite | Legacy only | CloudSuite is sold as cloud; on-premises LN and M3 installations are still documented (Infor docs) |
| QAD Adaptive ERP | Unclear | The 2024 release notes describe general availability in the cloud (QAD); the newest on-premises installation guide we found is for 2022.1 |
| Unit4 ERP | No | On-premises versions not supported or maintained after 31 Dec 2024 (Unit4) |
| Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP | No | SaaS with quarterly updates (Oracle); Oracle's on-premises ERP is E-Business Suite, outside our 20 systems |
| Oracle NetSuite | No | Delivered only as a cloud subscription (NetSuite) |
| Sage Intacct | No | Described by Sage as true cloud-native, multi-tenant software (Sage) |
| SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition | No | Multi-tenant SaaS |
| SAP Business ByDesign | No | SaaS only, and SAP ended new sales on 20 April 2026 |
Sources: vendor documentation and announcements linked in each row, checked 9 Oct 2026. "Private hosting" means a single-tenant environment run for you, not in your own data centre.
The table hides one important distinction. "Yes" means the vendor still lets you install the software, not that the on-premises edition gets the same attention as the cloud. Most vendors in the "Yes" rows now market themselves cloud-first, and Epicor has already announced that new features will reach its cloud only after 2028.
How many ERP buyers still ask for on-premises?
More than one in four. Between 14 February and 8 October 2026, 343 people answered the deployment question in ERP Pilot's quiz, and 94 of them (27 %) said they need on-premises or private hosting. The surprise is who asks: the smallest companies, not the largest.
| Runs requiring on-premises, of all runs in that size band | |
|---|---|
| 1 to 20 employees (n = 114) | 39 runs, 34 % |
| 21 to 100 employees (n = 104) | 31 runs, 30 % |
| 101 to 500 employees (n = 75) | 11 runs, 15 % |
| More than 500 employees (n = 50) | 13 runs, 26 % |
| All runs (n = 343) | 94 runs, 27 % |
Source: ERP Pilot quiz submissions, 14 Feb to 8 Oct 2026, English and German versions combined, n = 343 runs that answered the deployment question. Self-selected sample of people evaluating ERP, not a market survey. Measured 9 Oct 2026.
Companies with up to 100 employees asked for on-premises in 70 of 218 runs (32 %), companies with 101 to 500 employees in 11 of 75 (15 %). Above 500 employees the share rises again, which fits the usual picture of large groups with their own data centres and regulated sites. The quiz does not ask why, so we can only offer readings: small firms often run an existing server and a local partner, and the cost of a subscription weighs more against a licence they already paid for.
What the quiz question counts
The quiz asks whether regulatory, security or policy requirements mean the ERP has to run on your own servers or in a dedicated private environment you control. A yes therefore includes private hosting, not only a server in your own building.
What does an on-premises requirement do to your shortlist?
It changes the winner about half the time. We re-scored all 94 on-premises runs with ERP Pilot's current scoring engine on 9 October 2026, once as submitted and once with "cloud is fine" instead. In 48 of the 94 runs the number one recommendation changed. On average the on-premises answer removed 5.1 additional systems from the ranking through hard knockouts.
| Runs in which the system ranked first (of 94) | |
|---|---|
| Acumatica | 22 |
| SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition | 20 |
| SAP S/4HANA On-Premise | 17 |
| Odoo | 16 |
| Dynamics 365 Business Central | 11 |
| proALPHA | 4 |
| IFS Cloud | 2 |
| SYSPRO | 2 |
Source: ERP Pilot scoring engine, replay of 94 real quiz runs that required on-premises (14 Feb to 8 Oct 2026), scored on 9 Oct 2026. English engine (20 systems) for 83 runs, German engine (17 systems) for 11.
With "cloud is fine", the same 94 runs would have produced a different picture: Dynamics 365 Finance & SCM would have ranked first 29 times, NetSuite 8 times and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 5 times. All three are knocked out by the on-premises answer in our engine.
One of those knockouts is stricter than the vendor. Microsoft still lists Dynamics 365 Finance + Operations (on-premises) under its Modern Lifecycle Policy, so an on-premises deployment of Finance & SCM exists. Our quiz treats the product as cloud-only. If you are a larger company that needs on-premises and leans towards Microsoft, ask Microsoft or a partner directly which functions the on-premises edition carries before you rule it in or out.
💡 Key Takeaway
An on-premises requirement is one of the strongest single answers in ERP selection: it decides the top recommendation in about half of the runs we measured. Make sure it is a real requirement, not a habit, before it shapes your shortlist.
Which vendors are winding on-premises down?
Three of the systems in our comparison have set concrete dates, and two of them have already passed. The pattern is the same each time: the software keeps running, but new functions, new licences or support stop on a fixed date.
| Date | What changes |
|---|---|
| 31 Dec 2024 | Unit4: on-premises support ends. Unit4 ERP on-premises no longer maintained |
| 1 Apr 2025 | Business Central: no new perpetual licences. New on-premises customers buy by subscription |
| Jan 2028 | Epicor Kinetic 2028.1. Last release with new on-premises features |
| 31 Dec 2029 | Epicor Kinetic: active support ends. Sustaining support from 1 Jan 2030 |
| 2037 | Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2. Premier Support committed through at least 2037 |
| 31 Dec 2040 | SAP S/4HANA on-premise. SAP commits to maintenance until end of 2040 |
Sources: Unit4 announcement, Oct 2023, Microsoft Tech Community, Epicor news release, 11 Dec 2025, Oracle EBS blog, SAP News, Feb 2020. Checked 9 Oct 2026. Epicor dates are marked tentative by Epicor.
The Epicor announcement matters most for current buyers, because Epicor Kinetic is a common choice for mid-sized manufacturers who want their own servers. According to Epicor's news release of 11 December 2025, Kinetic 2028.1, tentatively planned for January 2028, is the last release to include new features on-premises. Active support for it runs until 31 December 2029. A company that signs for Kinetic on-premises today gets a few years of new releases and then a planned move to Epicor's cloud.
Microsoft took a softer route. Business Central on-premises remains available, but since 1 April 2025 new customers can only license it by subscription, according to Microsoft's partner announcement. Each release is supported for about 18 months under the Modern Lifecycle Policy, so staying supported means upgrading roughly once a year. Former NAV customers will recognise the trade-off from our Dynamics NAV upgrade guide.
SAP keeps the longest runway. It has committed to maintenance for S/4HANA until the end of 2040 and, from the 2023 release onwards, ships a new release every two years with seven years of mainstream maintenance each (SAP News, Sept 2022). SAP ECC customers face a different set of deadlines, covered in our SAP ECC end of life guide.
When is "on-premises" really a private cloud?
More often than the label suggests. Several vendors offer a model where the software runs in an environment dedicated to you, but someone else operates the hardware. For many buyers that satisfies the real requirement, which is usually control over data location and upgrade timing rather than a server in the basement.
- SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition ranked first in 20 of the 94 on-premises runs. It is single-tenant, but it is operated under SAP's RISE with SAP contract. If your requirement is "data in a dedicated environment", it qualifies; if it is "our own hardware", only S/4HANA On-Premise does.
- Acumatica sells a Private Cloud Subscription that, according to its licensing guide, may be deployed on your own physical servers or with a hosting partner. Outside its own SaaS, you buy the underlying Windows Server and SQL Server licences yourself.
- IFS Cloud offers a customer-managed "remote deployment" on-premise, in a private cloud or in sovereign hosting. It is the same product as IFS's managed cloud, but your IT team runs the container platform it needs.
- proALPHA lists cloud, on-premises and hybrid models side by side, which suits manufacturers that want production-related processes close to the shop floor and other functions in the cloud.
Before you write "on-premises only" into a requirements list, write down why. If the reason is a customer contract or a regulator, check whether it names a location, an operator or both. That one sentence decides whether a private edition is acceptable and can bring several systems back onto your shortlist.
What does on-premises cost beyond the licence?
Mostly people and upgrades. The licence model itself has converged: Business Central on-premises is now a subscription for new customers, and Odoo's Enterprise packages are only available to paying subscribers, also when you host them yourself. What you add on-premises is the infrastructure underneath and the work of keeping it current.
- Platform licences. Acumatica's licensing guide names Windows Server and SQL Server as separate purchases outside its SaaS. SAP Business One needs SAP HANA or Microsoft SQL Server (SAP).
- Upgrade rhythm. Business Central releases are supported for about 18 months, S/4HANA releases arrive every two years. Each upgrade is a project your team or partner runs.
- Specialist skills. IFS remote deployment and current SAP releases expect your IT to run modern infrastructure, not just a Windows file server.
Our ERP pricing guide lists licence and implementation ranges for every system in the table, and the TCO calculator adds them up over three years. Neither includes your own hardware and hosting, so add those to any on-premises estimate.
When is on-premises still the right decision?
When the requirement comes from outside your company and names a location or an operator you cannot delegate. Typical cases are defence and other contracts that restrict data location, plants that need the ERP to keep working when the internet connection fails, and groups that already run a data centre with the staff to match.
It is a weaker decision when the main reason is that the old system ran on-premises. The vendor dates above show where the market is going: a company that signs for an on-premises edition today should plan for at least one more migration within the life of the system, unless it picks a vendor with a long, documented commitment such as SAP's 2040 maintenance date for S/4HANA.
What should you ask a vendor before you sign for on-premises?
Five questions separate a real on-premises offer from a transitional one:
- Is the on-premises edition the same release as the cloud edition? Ask for a list of functions that are cloud-only today.
- Until when will you ship new features on-premises, and until when will you support them? Ask for the date in writing, the way Epicor published it.
- Can we buy a perpetual licence, or only a subscription? Microsoft no longer sells new perpetual Business Central licences.
- How often do we have to upgrade to stay supported? Once a year and once every few years are very different workloads.
- What is the migration path to your cloud, and what does it cost? If the vendor is moving to the cloud, your exit route is part of the purchase.
Put the answers next to the table above and the shortlist usually narrows to two or three systems. Your own answers on industry, size and accounting move the ranking far more than any general list, so treat this page as a filter, not a recommendation.