A to Z about SAP BTP : Free-Tier Service Plan, Registration, Consumption Models and Use Cases

[Chandra_Bhushan]

SAP BTP is the platform for the intelligent enterprise that helps you accelerate business outcomes with integration, data to value, and extensibility. So, if you are starting your journey with SAP BTP like me, you need to know about:

• SAP BTP services,


• Different consumption models,


• Free-Tier service option, how to register for it and use it


• Which all services are available under the Free-Tier option?


• Know about SAP BTP Real-Life Use Cases


• How do you request a demo of SAP Solution from SAP?

In this blog, I am going to cover most of the information on SAP BTP, with the main emphasis on the Free-Tier service option.

Ideally, SAP developers look for the trial version of SAP BTP to explore the services before transitioning to the live systems. So, let us first understand what are the different kinds of consumption models available for SAP BTP. SAP offers, two different kinds of consumption models viz.

• Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) for SAP BTP,


• Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement (CPEA)

You can get started with PAYG right away at no expense or fixed upfront financial commitment and then transition to CPEA when you have some predictable usage.

Say, you have short-term projects, or you need to do proof of concepts or small-scale pilots or it can be even you may need to do hands-on experiments with new services, then PAYG is the right choice.

Similarly, when you have long-term projects, larger integration and extension use cases or projects with predictable usage then opting for CPEA is the best option.

Just-to-Know about PAYG and CPEA Pricing

PAYG Pricing

• PAYG can be started for free, and the cost, if any is purely based on the usage of the PAID services.


• The minimum contract duration is 3 months.


• You can continue exploring the Free-Tier services for the duration you wish to. PAYG is auto-renewed for the same contract duration and is billed monthly, only for paid service usage, if any.


• Kindly note, that you may need to save your credit card details for billing, but it will not be charged unless you use the paid service.

CPEA Pricing

• Again, there is no payment required for the Free-Tier service options you have used.


• The minimum contract duration is 12 months.


• It is billed annually in advance, and you get cloud credits.


• The total monthly cost is deducted from your cloud credit balance.


• Any kind of overage is billed in arrears at the price list.


• There are volume-based discounts available. You can always contact SAP for volume-based discounts.

In case you are interested to know about cost estimation for using the paid services, you can get an estimation from the following link of the SAP Discovery Center portal.

SAP Discovery Center - Services (cloud.sap)

Getting started with SAP BTP, its Free-Tier Model, how to register and use it?

Now, getting started with SAP BTP is a lot easier than ever. Let me tell you a few benefits:

1. Choice of no or fixed upfront financial commitment
   
   
   
   • A wonderful option, pay only for services used with Pay-As-You-Go for SAP BTP or realize savings by committing upfront to CPEA. Free tier service options are included with both.
   
   
   
   


2. Use SAP BTP productively from day 1
   
   
   
   • Sounds interesting, right? Well, now you can use all services, including free tier options, in a production environment – no duplication of design or development.
   
   
   
   


3. Full flexibility & freedom
   
   
   
   • Flexibility to turn services on or off and switch between services as your business requires. Flexibility to switch from the Pay-As-You-Go for SAP BTP model to a CPEA agreement or fixed commitment for a single service at any time.
   
   
   
   

Kindly note, as I have mentioned before Free-Tier service options are included with both PAYG and CPEA. Therefore, irrespective of whatever model you choose, the Free-Tier service option of SAP BTP allows you to explore and start building applications using the currently listed 30 Free-Tier services. Any new Free-Tier services are added to the list as and when they are available.

Now the question is, how does it help you as a developer or consultant to support the journey of your organization to an intelligent enterprise. The answer is you get a platform to explore use cases in real-time.

How do I register for using the Free-Tier Service of SAP BTP?

The first step you need to take before opting for the Free-Tier service of BTP is to register for an SAP BTP account. Any new users can go to the following link SAP Business Technology Platform | Application Development and Integration and follow the process to register.

You have 3 options to register.

• Register as a customer - For SAP Customers, you can register here https://account.hana.ondemand.com/#/home/welcome


• Register as a partner - For SAP Partners, you can register here SAP Partner Portal | welcome


• Register as a learner/student - For students or learners, you can register for a Trial account here https://www.sap.com/india/registration/trial.908cb719-0e03-421c-a091-daca045f0acc.html

For the demonstration purpose and to understand the registration process, let me register myself as a learner for SAP BTP.

Whenever registering as a learner, you can use your personal email ID or corporate email ID, to set up your trial account.

When you click on the link provided above to Register as a learner/student and provide all your basic details, you will see a confirmation message like the one below:

Confirmation of free trial account

The next step is to access your SAP BTP Trial account. Kindly note, the trial account is for SAP BTP, which implies SAP BTP can be tried out for free with restricted platform resources and services, whereas the concept of free tier is for SAP BTP services, which are available for existing customers who are on the consumption models (CPEA & PAYG). You can refer the following blog to know about the difference between SAP BTP Trial Account and Free Tier Services of SAP BTP.

SAP Business Technology Platform Free Tier & Trial Environment | SAP Blogs

You need to start your trial by clicking on the button to start the trial as shown in the above screenshot. You can also access the same by clicking on the link provided in the email sent to you post-registration process is complete.

After you click on the button to start the trial, you will see the BTP cockpit as in the below screenshot. The platform is all yours. You can click on the “Go To Your Trial Account” button to access the global account with the resources, services, and entitlements of the platform, or you can also access the learning material provided by SAP.

BTP Cockpit

Please note, for judicious utilization of SAP resources by all, if an account has not been accessed for 30 days, will be suspended. In case you regularly access the account, your trial will continue for 365 days, and post which will be deleted. You will not be able to access your data.

Trial Period

 

Note: First, make sure that the country selector at the top right of the SAP Store page displays the country from which you will be purchasing. Then, browse SAP Store to find the solution(s) you’d like to learn more about, try or buy. As an individual registering for the PAYG consumption model in India, it is not allowed. You can find the list of countries, where registering for PAYG is available from the SAP Store. Maybe we need to wait for some more time for India. You will notice a message similar to below.

Solution unavailable for individual purchase in particular country/region

 

Which all services are available under the Free-Tier option?

Now, the next question is, how do I know which all services fall under the Free-Tier option. Well, to answer that, you need to access the SAP Discovery Center, from the following link.

You can review the list of Free Tier Services from the Discovery Center portal, under the categories Free Tier Services (in the left-hand panel of the below screenshot).

You will see the list of 30 Free Tier services available:

Free-Tier Services: Discovery Center

 

Get a glimpse of SAP BTP Real-Life use cases

If you are interested to know about our real-life use cases on how SAP BTP can meet your specific business needs, you can find them here.

SAP Business Technology Platform | Use Cases

Request for a demo of SAP Solution

You can request a demo from SAP on its solutions by filling up the below form.

Request a Demo | SAP

Summary

Hope this blog would help answer most of the questions, and find resources on SAP BTP Free-Tier services, registration, and commercial models.

Feel to connect with me at c-b.singh 

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Do you have any suggestions? Comment below.

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Have a question in mind, just ask here.

[MustafaBensan]

Hi Chandra,

Regarding the following statement about CPEA:

• The minimum contract duration is 12 months for 10K Euros per year.

Can you please provide a link to any official SAP documentation that confirms the minimum CPEA term is 12 months?  I have been led to believe it was 3 years.

Thanks,

Mustafa.

[Chandra_Bhushan]

Hi Mustafa,

You can refer to the pricing plan for CPEA in the SAP Store here. Also, please find below the snippet of the same for your ready reference.

Hope this helps.

Thank you,

Chandra

[MustafaBensan]

Thanks, Chandra.  That answers my CPEA question.

One other question: you have also provided a link above for partners to register for PAYG, however this is only for non-commercial (Test, Demo and Development) licensing.  Is the PAYG option available for commercialising partner-built solutions on SAP BTP?

[Chandra_Bhushan]

Thanks Mustafa. Regarding your question on PAYG option availability for commercializing partner-built solutions on SAP BTP, you can refer to a detailed blog from my colleague andrew.lunde here, which talks about step-by-step procedure for enabling a Pay-As-You-Go service type global BTP account as an Open Ecosystem PartnerEdge Build program member. Hope this should be helpful to answer your question.

Thanks,

Chandra

[MustafaBensan]

Hi Chandra,

The steps in the blog post by andrew.lunde are for enabling PAYG Test, Demo and Development  licensing, as stated here:

NOTE: The Pay-As-You-Go service type for partners is for Test, Demonstration, and Development only.  Offering a solution for productive customers is not allowed from this service type.  You will need a plan to move your solution to a productive service type account once it is ready to do so.  

I would like to know if a commercial PAYG option is available for partners wishing to offer a solution for productive customers?

Thanks,

Mustafa.

 

 

 

[fem]

@c-b.singh

Does free-tier mean it can be used in a productive environment or als for productive usage? What are the limits?

I tried to understand the pricing for SAP Process Automation, but now gave up. It is a disaster.

The pricing in Jan 2022 changed from consumption based to concurrent sessions, so far so good.

SAP Discovery Center - Process Automation (cloud.sap) highlights at least that SAP Launchpad Service is required as well. However it leaves one totally blind regarding understanding what kind of service plan is required (Free / Attended / Unattended / Standard user / Advanced user) and what are the respective boundaries. Why users when licensed by concurrent sessions? Is it an alternatice approach? Is it required in addition for workflows? Is that dependent on each other or not?

To make it more complicated the SAP Store SAP Process Automation (sapstore.com) is showing different prices, durations, etc. again.

Is there some single-source of truth or trustworthy one-stop-shop for this matter?

[Chandra_Bhushan]

Hi Franz,

Free-Tier enables customers to try out SAP BTP services with an easy path to productive use. All the work within the free tier can be maintained when updating to a productive service plan. You can refer to the following blog for more details:

Blog on SAP BTP Free Tier and Trial Environment

You can also refer to SAP Help portal here, where it says, Pay-As-You-Go or CPEA accounts with free tier service plans are open to customers, partners, and individual developers and let you try out SAP BTP for free without time limits. These account types enable you to test your scenarios with an easy path to productive use and allow you to upgrade to paid service plans. These accounts also allow you to store data long-term and move projects to production easily.

Regarding technical limitations for free tier model for SAP BTP, please refer to the FAQ's.

Regarding SAP Process Automation pricing, duration, sapstore.com is the single source of truth and its trustworthy. In case you need any clarifications, you can always get in touch with them through the contact us section, create a support request and they will revert to all your queries.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Chandra

[fem]

Thanks Chandra,

I now understood free-tier means it can be used in a productive environment but NOT for productive usage (as never explicitly granted).

Best regards,

Franz

[xakartal]

Hello,

I'd like to ask the same question:) Did you have an answer to this?

 

Thank you!

 

[Chandra_Bhushan]

Hi Franz,

All the work within the free tier can be maintained WHEN updating to a productive service plan.

Thanks,

Chandra