Third-party support (TPS) for enterprise software is one of the highest-ROI cost reduction strategies available to IT finance teams. By replacing Oracle, SAP, or IBM vendor support with a third-party provider such as Rimini Street or Spinnaker Support, organizations typically reduce their annual support costs by 40 to 60% while maintaining, or improving, service levels. This guide provides benchmark data from third-party support contracts to help organizations evaluate the cost of TPS and what to expect from a switch.
Third-party support cost benchmarks are part of our broader cluster on Software Compliance and Licensing Cost Benchmarks. For context on why organizations evaluate TPS, also see ERP Maintenance and Support Pricing Benchmarks.
Vendor Support Costs vs. Third-Party Support: Benchmark Comparison
Oracle and SAP charge 22% of net license value annually for standard support (Platinum Support / Standard Support respectively). IBM's support costs range from 17 to 22% depending on product and contract structure. These rates are largely non-negotiable for organizations that remain on standard vendor support, though our benchmark data shows 12 to 18% reductions are achievable through structured negotiations at renewal for large contracts.
Third-party providers charge a fixed rate, typically 35 to 55% of what the organization currently pays for vendor support, providing immediate and predictable savings:
| Vendor Support Product | Current Vendor Support Cost | Rimini Street Rate | Spinnaker Rate | Avg. First-Year Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Database EE | 22% net license value | 40 to 50% of vendor rate | 45 to 55% of vendor rate | $480K to $2.1M |
| Oracle E-Business Suite | 22% net license value | 40 to 50% of vendor rate | 45 to 55% of vendor rate | $380K to $1.8M |
| SAP ECC / S/4HANA | 22% net license value | 50% of vendor rate | 45 to 52% of vendor rate | $620K to $2.8M |
| IBM Db2 / WebSphere | 18 to 22% net license value | 42 to 52% of vendor rate | Not offered | $240K to $980K |
| JD Edwards EnterpriseOne | 22% net license value | 40 to 50% of vendor rate | 45 to 50% of vendor rate | $180K to $740K |
Rimini Street Cost Benchmarks
Rimini Street is the largest third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP products. Our benchmark data from Rimini Street contracts provides the most detailed view of what organizations actually pay.
Rimini Street Pricing Structure
Rimini Street quotes are based on a percentage of the customer's existing vendor support fee, typically in the range of 40 to 50% for the first year. This structure has several implications:
- If your current Oracle support fee is $2M/year, Rimini Street will typically quote $800K to $1M/year
- Annual escalation is capped at 3 to 5% in most contracts, versus Oracle's 6 to 10% annual support fee increases
- The savings compound over time: after 5 years, TPS customers in our benchmark dataset paid 45% less on average than they would have under Oracle support with compounding increases
Benchmark finding: The median Rimini Street customer in our dataset saves $1.8M in the first year of switching from Oracle support. Over a 5-year period, the total savings average $11.2M, with no degradation in incident response times or security patch coverage compared to vendor support.
Rimini Street Benchmark Rates by Contract Value
| Current Vendor Support Annual Fee | Rimini Street List Rate | Negotiated Rate (P50) | Best Outcome (P75) | Annual Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500K to $1M | 50% | 47% | 43% | $265K to $465K |
| $1M to $2.5M | 48% | 44% | 40% | $600K to $1.5M |
| $2.5M to $5M | 46% | 42% | 38% | $1.4M to $3.1M |
| $5M to $10M | 44% | 40% | 36% | $2.8M to $6.4M |
| $10M+ | 42% | 38% | 33% | $5.8M+ |
Spinnaker Support Cost Benchmarks
Spinnaker Support focuses primarily on Oracle and JD Edwards third-party support, with pricing that is broadly comparable to Rimini Street but with some structural differences. Spinnaker often provides slightly higher initial rates than Rimini Street (45 to 55% of vendor support fees versus 40 to 50%) but has a strong track record in highly regulated industries where support documentation and process rigor are priorities.
| Product Area | Spinnaker Standard Rate | Spinnaker Negotiated (P50) | vs. Rimini Street (P50) | Service Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Database | 50 to 55% | 47% | +3 to 5% | Dedicated named engineer |
| Oracle E-Business Suite | 48 to 52% | 45% | +2 to 4% | Functional + technical support |
| JD Edwards World/E1 | 45 to 50% | 43% | +1 to 3% | JDE specialization |
| Oracle Fusion Applications | Not offered | N/A | N/A | N/A |
TPS vs. Vendor Support: Service Level Benchmarks
Cost reduction is only valuable if service levels are maintained. Our benchmark survey of 200+ TPS customers captures satisfaction data across the key service dimensions:
| Service Dimension | % Rating TPS "Better" | % Rating TPS "Same" | % Rating TPS "Worse" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incident response time | 52% | 34% | 14% |
| Issue resolution quality | 48% | 38% | 14% |
| Security patch coverage | 39% | 42% | 19% |
| Regulatory compliance support | 41% | 39% | 20% |
| Knowledge of our specific environment | 64% | 27% | 9% |
| Account management quality | 58% | 28% | 14% |
The standout finding is that 64% of TPS customers rated their TPS provider's knowledge of their specific environment as better than Oracle or SAP support, reflecting the fact that TPS providers typically assign dedicated engineers familiar with the customer's specific configuration, rather than the ticket-based routing used by Oracle and SAP support centers.
When TPS Makes Sense: Decision Benchmarks
Third-party support is not appropriate for every scenario. Our benchmark analysis identifies the conditions under which TPS consistently delivers value versus those where it creates risk:
TPS is strongly indicated when:
- The organization is on a stable ERP version with no planned migration in the next 3+ years
- The vendor's support fees have escalated faster than 5% annually for 2+ years
- The primary support use case is break/fix and regulatory patch coverage (not new feature access)
- The organization is post-M&A and running a legacy system pending migration
- Current vendor support fees exceed $500K annually (meaningful savings threshold)
TPS is contraindicated when:
- The organization is actively migrating to a cloud version of the product (e.g., S/4HANA Cloud, Oracle Fusion) within 12 to 18 months
- Active vendor support is required to access product updates tied to regulatory requirements (e.g., payroll updates, tax changes not provided by TPS)
- The organization relies heavily on vendor co-innovation programs (cloud roadmap access, beta programs)
- The vendor has contractual clauses restricting TPS use (rare, but verify contract terms)
Benchmark Your TPS Options Against Real Contract Data
Our platform includes benchmarks for Rimini Street, Spinnaker, and 8 other third-party support providers. Compare your current support cost against what similar organizations pay, free trial, no commitment.
Using TPS as Vendor Negotiation Leverage
Even organizations that have no intention of switching to third-party support use TPS benchmarks as leverage in vendor support renewal negotiations. This is one of the highest-ROI uses of TPS benchmark data:
Benchmark outcome: Organizations that presented verifiable TPS quotes from Rimini Street or Spinnaker during vendor support renewal negotiations achieved average discounts of 18 to 24% from Oracle and SAP, without actually switching to TPS. The act of benchmarking created the leverage. This saved a median of $640K annually in the renewal year for organizations with support fees above $2M.
The mechanism is straightforward: Oracle and SAP account teams have limited room to discount standard support fees, but when faced with a credible TPS alternative, they often access internal approval pathways for "retention discounts" of 15 to 25%. These discounts are not proactively offered, they only materialize when the customer demonstrates they are actively evaluating the TPS option.
