SAP Analytics Cloud release schedule 2026: every QRC explained

SAP Analytics Cloud ships on a Quarterly Release Cycle (QRC): one major, customer-impacting update every three months, in February, May, August and November. For 2026 that means four waves — QRC1 through QRC4 — each bundling the biweekly FastTrack features into a single release. This page is the running index of the 2026 cycle: the confirmed dates, what actually shipped in the quarters already delivered, and what is on the roadmap for the ones still to come. It is updated as each quarter lands.

The 2026 release calendar

SAP publishes the harmonized release calendar for its cloud products in advance. For SAP Analytics Cloud, the 2026 major-release dates are:

• QRC1 2026 — 14–15 February 2026 (delivered)
• QRC2 2026 — 16–17 May 2026 (delivered)
• QRC3 2026 — 15–16 August 2026 (upcoming)
• QRC4 2026 — 14–15 November 2026 (upcoming)

Between the quarterly majors, SAP delivers server patches (usually monthly, during the maintenance window) and, for FastTrack tenants only, biweekly minor releases. Most production tenants are on the quarterly cycle, so the four QRC dates above are the ones that matter for planning your upgrades and testing.

QRC1 2026 — story versioning, new charts, live Snowflake

The February release was less about a single headline feature and more about removing everyday friction. The most-cited additions were a story versioning framework (save, review read-only, and restore up to 10 versions without touching published content), two new chart types — the Pareto chart with built-in 80/20 logic and the Area chart — a centralized comment management dashboard for governance, scheduled My Metrics reports by email, a live Snowflake connection for planning-capable models, and a new Fact Deletion step in Data Actions. Full detail in the QRC1 2026 breakdown.

QRC2 2026 — asymmetric reporting, decoupled Data Panel, planning hooks

The May release delivered a feature finance teams had wanted for years: asymmetric reporting in the new table experience, letting you show different measures and hierarchy levels per column without scripting (actuals + budget + variance for revenue, actuals only for headcount, in the same table). It also brought composite versioning, the decoupled Data Panel, drag-and-drop chart building, the onBeforeDataEntryProcess() planning event for input validation, and new Data Export / Import APIs in the Job Monitor. Full detail in the QRC2 2026 breakdown.

QRC3 2026 — expected mid-August

The third quarterly release is scheduled for 15–16 August 2026. Its confirmed scope is published ahead of general availability in SAP's Roadmap Explorer and What's New Viewer. See the QRC3 2026 preview for what is currently announced — noting that pre-release scope is subject to change by SAP until it ships.

QRC4 2026 — expected mid-November

The final release of the year is scheduled for 14–15 November 2026. It closes the 2026 cycle and typically consolidates the year's roadmap themes. See the QRC4 2026 preview for the current outlook.

How to prepare for each release

Two habits keep upgrades painless. First, use a private test edition tenant to preview each QRC before it hits production, so you can validate your critical stories and data actions against the new version. Second, keep your models clean — consistent aggregations, no orphaned dimension members — because most upgrade surprises trace back to model hygiene, not the release itself. If you are building new models, our ready-made templates already follow these conventions.

Where to follow the releases

For the short-form running tracker of each release as it lands, see the SAC releases page. For the deep dives, the per-quarter articles linked above walk through each feature and what it means in practice. This index is refreshed as QRC3 and QRC4 are delivered.