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SAP AI Units & the SAP Business AI Commercial Model

As of 2026-09-23

Edited by Cédric-Olivier Mâry, sole editor and publication director — 27 years in the SAP ecosystem. How these pages are produced, and where automation is used.

What is SAP AI Units & the SAP Business AI Commercial Model?

SAP prices AI in three layers — Base AI included in every cloud subscription, Premium AI paid in AI Units (0.02 per agent action in 2026, 35 per Joule for Consultants user per month), and custom-built AI billed at runtime — and is moving most per-user AI packages into Base during Q3 2026.

What it is

The SAP Business AI commercial model is the set of rules that decides which AI capability a customer already owns, which one it pays for, and in which currency. Since mid-2026 SAP presents it publicly as three layers (sap.com pricing page, July 2026 whitepaper):

Base AI — included at no extra cost in every SAP cloud subscription. It covers Joule Base (the conversational assistant: find information, navigate, get in-context guidance) and embedded AI built into the applications. No AI Units are consumed.
Premium AI — paid with SAP AI Units. It is now centred on Joule Agents, plus "AI features" such as SAP Document AI, Document Grounding and SAP Joule for Developers, and one per-user offer, SAP Joule for Consultants.
Custom-built AI — agents, apps and workflows a customer builds itself in Joule Studio. Design time is free (within fair-use limits); productive runtime is billed on actual resource consumption through the SAP BTP Enterprise Agreement (BTPEA), CPEA or pay-as-you-go. SAP states that running custom-built agents in the Joule Studio runtime is free through the end of 2026.

Why it matters

Agents are billed per action (0.02 AI Units each in 2026), so the cost driver of an agentic roll-out is the number of steps per task, not the number of users — a per-user budget will be wrong in both directions.
Q3 2026 moves most generative AI features from paid per-user packages into Base AI; renewing or selling a Joule Premium package without checking the transition wastes money.
AI Units sit in one annual pool that expires after 12 months and is monitored in SAP for Me — the customer, not SAP, must watch consumption and decide whether to deactivate or pay excess use.

Key points

Three layers: Base AI (Joule Base + embedded AI, included) · Premium AI (AI Units) · Custom-built AI (free design, runtime billed via BTPEA/CPEA/PAYG).
AI Units: SKU 8019164, bought annually in blocks of 100, one shared pool, expire after 12 months; SAP's J4C page example prices them at €7 (not a general list price; contract price negotiated).
Joule Agents: 0.02 AI Units per agent action in 2026; Joule Assistants carry no separate charge.
AI features (Document AI, Document Grounding, Joule for Developers) are charged per request or record — Document Grounding 0.005 AI Units per record.
Joule for Consultants: 35 AI Units/user/month incl. 22,900 pooled requests; overage 2 AI Units per 1,000 requests.
Q3 2026: Joule Premium PUPM packages (Finance, HCM, SCM, Spend, CX) retired; most gen-AI features move to Base AI; J4C is the last per-user offer.
Joule Base needs the €0 SKU 8019544 (AI terms) unless AI Units are already held; SAP-Managed Joule is activated from SAP for Me.
Monitor in SAP for Me (Finance & Legal → Business AI; KBA 3580451); estimate in the Discovery Center AI Estimator (indicative, not a quote).

Terms used on this page

AI Unit: SAP's single virtual currency for Premium AI; bought annually (SKU 8019164) into a shared customer pool, consumed only when Premium AI performs work, expires after 12 months.
Base AI: AI included at no extra cost in every SAP cloud subscription: Joule Base plus embedded AI in the applications. Consumes no AI Units.
Premium AI: AI paid with AI Units: Joule Agents (per action), AI features such as Document AI or Document Grounding (per request/record) and SAP Joule for Consultants (per user).
Agent action: One step an agent takes to complete a task — calling a service, triggering a workflow or generating a response; the billing unit for SAP-delivered agents (0.02 AI Units in 2026).
PUPM package: Per-user-per-month Joule Premium package for a line of business (Finance, HCM, SCM, Spend, CX); being retired in the Q3 2026 transition.
SAP for Me Business AI tab: Customer-portal view (Finance & Legal) showing AI Unit balance, monthly consumption, consumption by product/feature and expiring units.

Sources

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