Oracle support is one of the largest and most predictable line items in an enterprise IT budget. For organisations running Oracle Database, E-Business Suite (EBS), PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, or Hyperion on-premise, Oracle's annual support fee typically represents 20 to 25 percent of the total Oracle spend. Oracle increases support fees by 3 to 5 percent annually, and organisations that are not actively consuming Oracle's new functionality — patches, upgrades, new features — often find that they are paying a premium price for services they do not use. This article is part of our Oracle license negotiation guide. The third-party support decision is also covered in our Oracle license optimisation tips article. Hands-on evaluation and vendor negotiation support is available through our Oracle advisory practice.
What Is Third-Party Oracle Support?
Third-party support (TPS) for Oracle products is provided by specialist companies that are not Oracle but that offer support services — break/fix, tax and regulatory updates, security alerts, and general database and application support — for Oracle software products. The two largest Oracle third-party support providers are Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support. Both operate globally, serve enterprise clients, and offer support for Oracle Database, Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, Hyperion, and other Oracle on-premise product lines.
Third-party support is not Oracle's official support. Third-party support providers develop their own patches and fixes — they do not provide Oracle's official patches, security updates, or new releases. For organisations that are not planning to upgrade their Oracle software and do not need Oracle's new feature releases, third-party support provides the operational stability and compliance support needed at materially lower cost.
The Main Third-Party Oracle Support Providers
- Largest third-party Oracle support provider globally
- Supports Oracle Database, EBS, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, Hyperion
- 15-minute SLA for critical issues (P1)
- Dedicated Primary Support Engineer per client
- Price: typically 50% of Oracle support cost, locked for contract term
- Strong Oracle Applications specialist (EBS, PeopleSoft, Siebel)
- SAP support also available (dual-vendor strategy)
- Named support engineers with deep application expertise
- Flexible contract terms
- Price: typically 50–55% of Oracle support cost
- Official Oracle support with access to Oracle patches
- Required for Oracle product upgrades and access to new releases
- My Oracle Support (MOS) access for knowledge base and patches
- 3–5% annual price increase standard
- Price: 22% of net licence fees per year (standard rate)
What Third-Party Support Covers
Third-party Oracle support providers cover the operational support requirements for organisations running stable Oracle software versions. What they provide includes:
Free Guide
Oracle Licensing & Negotiation Guide
Everything you need to navigate Oracle's complex licensing rules, true-up traps, and negotiation levers.
- Break/fix support for issues with Oracle software in production
- Tax, legal, and regulatory (TLR) updates — critical for EBS and PeopleSoft users managing payroll, tax calculations, and government reporting
- Security vulnerability alerts and custom security fixes (not Oracle's official patches, but equivalent protections developed by the TPS provider)
- Interoperability support — support for operating system, middleware, and hardware upgrades while remaining on the current Oracle software version
- General advice and support for Oracle software configuration, performance, and operational issues
Critically, third-party support providers do not provide access to Oracle's official software patches, Oracle's new software releases, or access to My Oracle Support (MOS). If your organisation is on Oracle support and plans to upgrade to a new Oracle version — for example, moving from Oracle EBS 12.2.9 to a future release, or upgrading Oracle Database to a new major version — you will need Oracle Premier Support during the upgrade project. Third-party support is appropriate for organisations that have decided, explicitly or implicitly, to run their current Oracle software version for the foreseeable future.
What Third-Party Support Does Not Cover
The key limitations of third-party Oracle support versus Oracle Premier Support are:
- No access to Oracle's official patches or security Critical Patch Updates (CPUs)
- No access to My Oracle Support knowledge base, including Oracle's Oracle Bug database and Oracle product notes
- No access to Oracle software upgrades or new software versions under support entitlement
- No interoperability certification for Oracle's own hardware products (Exadata, SPARC)
- Oracle will not provide support assistance if you have a TPS contract — hybrid arrangements require careful contractual management
Important Consideration: Oracle's official position is that switching to third-party support does not impact your perpetual licence rights — you retain your Oracle licences regardless of support status. However, Oracle may attempt to use licence compliance reviews or audits more aggressively against accounts that have moved to third-party support, viewing them as commercial adversaries rather than active revenue accounts. This risk should be assessed in the context of your Oracle relationship and audit history.
Side-by-Side Comparison: TPS vs Oracle Premier Support
| Feature | Oracle Premier Support | Rimini Street / Spinnaker |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | 22% of net licence fees + annual uplift | ~50% of Oracle support cost, price-locked |
| Official Oracle patches | Yes — full access | No — TPS-developed equivalents only |
| Security updates | Oracle Critical Patch Updates (quarterly) | TPS-developed security fixes (comparable coverage) |
| Tax & regulatory updates | Oracle-provided TLR updates | TPS-developed TLR updates (full coverage) |
| Response SLA (P1) | 1 hour initial, variable resolution | 15 minutes (Rimini Street), 30 minutes (Spinnaker) |
| Named support engineer | No — ticket-based pooled support | Yes — dedicated Primary Support Engineer |
| Software upgrades | New versions available under support | Not provided — current version only |
| Price stability | 3–5% annual increase standard | Price locked for contract term (typically 3 years) |
Who Is a Good Candidate for Third-Party Oracle Support?
Third-party Oracle support is most appropriate for organisations where one or more of the following conditions apply:
Stay Ahead of Vendors
Get Negotiation Intel in Your Inbox
Monthly briefings on vendor pricing changes, audit trends, and contract tactics. Unsubscribe any time.
No spam. No vendor affiliations. Buyer-side only.
- The Oracle software version is stable and no upgrade is planned in the next 3 to 5 years
- The organisation is not consuming Oracle's new feature releases or patches on a regular basis
- Oracle support represents a significant annual cost that is not generating visible value in return
- The organisation has a strong internal Oracle team capable of working with TPS engineers
- The organisation is in a transition phase — moving to cloud or non-Oracle alternatives — and wants to reduce Oracle costs during the transition
The strongest candidates for third-party Oracle support are typically organisations running Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1 or 12.2, PeopleSoft 9.1 or 9.2, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, or Siebel CRM — all mature, stable Oracle applications where Oracle's roadmap investment is limited and where the business value of Oracle's official patches is low. For Oracle Database, third-party support is appropriate where the database version is stable and where the organisation is not planning an upgrade.
How to Evaluate and Execute the Switch
The process for evaluating third-party Oracle support is structured and manageable with the right preparation:
- Conduct an Oracle software inventory — list all Oracle products on support, their versions, and your current support fees
- Assess each product's TPS eligibility — identify which products have active Oracle upgrade plans (exclude these) and which are stable (candidates for TPS)
- Issue RFP to Rimini Street and Spinnaker Support — request pricing, SLA terms, reference clients in your industry, and sample contract terms
- Reference check with current TPS clients — speak to comparable organisations currently using TPS for the same Oracle products
- Assess Oracle relationship risk — consider your Oracle audit history, current Oracle relationship quality, and any pending Oracle commercial negotiations
- Issue Oracle support termination notice at the appropriate notice period (Oracle requires notice in advance of support termination)
- Transition to TPS provider with a parallel period if required
One important strategic consideration: third-party support can also be used as a negotiation lever with Oracle. Informing Oracle that you are in active TPS evaluation — particularly for large support fee accounts — frequently produces Oracle offers for support discount or commercial concession to retain the account. This does not require you to actually switch to TPS; the credible evaluation itself creates commercial tension that Oracle will respond to. Our Oracle sales negotiation tactics guide covers this and similar leverage strategies.
Conclusion
Third-party Oracle support is a mature, well-tested alternative to Oracle Premier Support for organisations running stable Oracle on-premise software. The 50 percent cost reduction, price stability, and often superior SLA terms make it a compelling option for many enterprise Oracle footprints. The key constraints — no official Oracle patches, no upgrade access — are genuine, but for organisations not actively consuming Oracle's new releases, these constraints are largely theoretical.
IT Negotiations provides independent evaluation of third-party Oracle support options, including vendor assessment, contract review, and Oracle relationship risk analysis. Contact our team for a confidential assessment of whether third-party support is right for your Oracle estate.
Cut Your Oracle Support Bill in Half
Our Oracle specialists evaluate your support contract, assess TPS eligibility, and negotiate the best outcome — whether that means switching or leveraging TPS to improve Oracle's terms.