SAP S/4HANA Cloud is offered in two main variants: the Private Edition and the Public Edition. Although both solutions have the same technical basis, there are some differences - particularly with regard to operation, functions and customizability.
First of all, operation: With the SAP Private Cloud variant, customers use a dedicated IT environment (single-tenant instance), as already mentioned. This is provided and configured exclusively for a single company. This ensures maximum control and data security. With the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Public Edition, on the other hand, hosting takes place in a multi-tenant environment in SAP's data centers (= SAP Public Cloud). In this scenario, several companies share the infrastructure. However, applications and data are still separated from each other. This approach is particularly cost-efficient.
There are also differences between the SAP public cloud and the SAP private cloud option in terms of the range of functions. For example, the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition offers identical functionalities to S/4HANA On-Premise, including all industry solutions and country variants. In contrast, the Public Edition provides highly standardized processes for selected company divisions and industries.
SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Private Edition is extensively configurable and customizable in depth (even down to the source code). With this enormous flexibility, it is able to map even very complex, specific business processes that have grown over many years. In contrast, the SAP public cloud variant is based on industry best practices that can be implemented quickly. While the solution is configurable and extensible like all SaaS applications, the software itself cannot be changed (unlike the Private Edition).