What is the difference between SAP ERP and SAP ECC?

First and foremost difference is that SAP ERP is a licensing model & SAP ECC is an installable unit. This means that you can “actually & literally” install ECC but not ERP.

SAP Business Suite is a collection of many SAP applications and ERP is a collection of many installable units. Below will make it clear.

• SAP Business Suite Applications = SAP ERP + SAP CRM +SAP SRM + SAP SCM + SAP PLM
• SAP ERP = SAP ECC + SAP XSS + SAP BW + SAP EP + SAP PI + SAP NetWeaver MDM + SAP NetWeaver AS

SAP ERP is the largest SAP application and SAP ECC is the largest system (Source - SAP)

In the most basic way to compare, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a generic term that wasn't washed away by naming conventions by SAP itself. In the new version of SAP Suites, they now use ECC (ERP Central Component)as a conventional term. So basically, it just means that SAP ECC is a version of SAP ERP. But don't be confused if you can see SAP ECC 5.0 ERP, you can just ignore the ERP tag at the end. (Note: The newest version of the SAP suite is SAP ECC 6.0

Often when talking about SAP you will hear both the acronyms, ECC and ERP. ECC stands for Enterprise Central Component. ERP Stands for Enterprise Resource planning. SAP Business One is an ERP. The content in the Ask Engine is for SAP Business One ERP. SAP’s solution for major companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Coca Cola is SAP ECC. It was formerly called SAP R/3.