Gaining visibility and driving revenue for your software products requires more than just building excellent solutions-it demands strategic presence in marketplaces where customers shop for cloud technologies. Azure Marketplace and AWS Marketplace are two of the most powerful platforms where startups, SMEs, and enterprises connect with millions of cloud users globally. This guide walks you through why publishing your product on these marketplaces matters, the business models available, detailed publishing steps for each marketplace, how to automate part of the process, and insights from real-world successes.
Why Publish Your Product in Azure and AWS Marketplaces?
Publishing your product in cloud marketplaces dramatically expands your potential audience by tapping into buyers already looking for solutions like yours. It simplifies the sales and procurement process, enabling streamlined billing, compliance, and consolidated customer management. Marketplaces also bolster trust, as your product undergoes quality and security reviews, reassuring buyers of its reliability.
Business Benefits of Cloud Marketplace Publishing:
- Global reach: Access millions of customers in 100+ countries and regions without building a direct sales infrastructure.
- Reduced sales cycles: Marketplace features like product discovery, pre-committed cloud budgets, and integrated billing shorten buyer decision timelines.
- New revenue streams: Monetize software via multiple pricing and licensing models including subscriptions, pay-as-you-go, and bring-your-own-license.
- Marketing & Co-selling: Gain access to Microsoft and AWS co-sell programs, partner incentives, and marketing resources to boost visibility.
- Trusted buying experience: Buyers use unified billing, consolidated invoicing, and enjoy streamlined procurement through their cloud accounts.
Business Models and Income Generation Techniques
When publishing on Azure and AWS Marketplaces, you can choose business models that best fit your product and customer preferences:
- SaaS Subscriptions: Monthly or annual recurring revenue with automated usage metering and billing integration.
- Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Customers provide existing licenses; marketplaces simplify deployment and product delivery.
- Pay-per-use: Customers pay based on actual consumption, typical for cloud infrastructure, container, or VM image products.
- One-time Purchase: Fixed price for perpetual licenses; marketplace handles transaction and provisioning.
- Professional Services Offers: Managed services, consulting, or support packages listed alongside software solutions.
Famous Products in AWS and Azure Marketplaces
Both AWS and Azure Marketplaces feature products across categories, including security, machine learning, database, networking, and SaaS productivity tools. Here are some well-known examples:
| Marketplace | Popular Product Examples | Category |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Marketplace |
|
Security, Analytics, DevOps, CMS |
| Azure Marketplace |
|
Business Analytics, Developer Tools, Databases, Security |
Detailed Steps to Publish Your Product to Azure Marketplace
Publishing to Azure Marketplace is designed to be streamlined but requires precise preparation and compliance with Microsoft’s program requirements.
Prerequisites for Azure Marketplace Publishing
- Enroll in the Microsoft Partner Center and join the Commercial Marketplace Program.
- Ensure your company profile is complete and verified.
- Prepare a product offering that fits supported offer types: SaaS, Virtual Machine image, Container, Consulting Service, or Managed Service.
- Gather marketing materials: screenshots, videos, descriptions, and pricing details.
- Have a validated deployment or provisioning method aligned with Azure Marketplace policies.
Publishing Checklist for Azure Marketplace
- Log in to Partner Center and create a new offer under the Commercial Marketplace section.
- Select an offer type that suits your product.
- Define your offer meta name, description, categories, and legal terms.
- Configure technical settings such as deployment scripts, VM images, and SaaS plans.
- Fill in pricing and monetization models (subscription, BYOL, consumption).
- Upload marketing assets - images, videos, documentation.
- Submit your offer for Microsoft review and validation.
- Address feedback from Microsoft and resubmit, if necessary.
- Once approved, publish your offer and monitor listing via the Partner Center dashboard.
Detailed Steps to Publish Your Product to AWS Marketplace
AWS Marketplace requires product packaging and compliance with AWS policies, especially for AMIs, SaaS, or data products.
Prerequisites for AWS Marketplace Publishing
- Register as a seller in the AWS Marketplace Management Portal.
- Prepare product packaging: VM images (AMIs), CloudFormation templates, or SaaS APIs.
- Determine pricing models and category listings.
- Prepare marketing content and compliance documentation.
Publishing Checklist for AWS Marketplace
- Access the AWS Marketplace Management Portal.
- Choose submission method based on product complexity:
- Products tab: For simple products with straightforward pricing.
- Assets tab: For complex products using product load forms (PLF) and CloudFormation templates.
- Download and complete the Product Load Form (PLF) if applicable.
- Upload your product assets, including AMIs, CloudFormation templates, or SaaS API metadata.
- Submit the product for AWS Marketplace review (security, compliance, usability).
- Respond to AWS team feedback or security findings promptly.
- After approval, your product listing goes live on AWS Marketplace.
- Monitor and update your listing periodically through the AWS Marketplace Management Portal.
Automation of Publishing Steps Using GitHub Actions
While publishing and initial submission require manual steps for verification and documentation, many parts of product package building, testing, and initial metadata generation can be automated with GitHub Actions.
What Can Be Automated:
- Continuous integration pipelines to build and validate VM images or container images.
- Automated packaging of product code and images into deployable artifacts (e.g., AMI registration or container registry pushes).
- Generation and validation of CloudFormation templates or ARM templates.
- Automated metadata generation files like Product Load Forms (PLFs) for AWS Marketplace.
- Triggering product tests against sandbox environments before submission.
What Still Requires Manual Effort:
- Initial registration and enrollment in Partner Centers or Seller Portals.
- Manual submission of completed forms and marketing content to respective portals.
- Responding to feedback from marketplace review teams.
- Negotiation of pricing tiers and legal acceptance.
- Final publishing confirmation and go-live steps.
Case Study: Stonetusker’s Successful Marketplace Migrations
Stonetusker recently supported a major security software company migrating their container-based product listings to both AWS and Azure Marketplaces. Leveraging deep expertise in cloud infrastructure and marketplace policies, Stonetusker ensured a smooth packaging, compliance review, and deployment process, significantly reducing the time to market. The client gained global marketplace visibility, increased sales through co-sell engagements, and simplified billing integration.
Learn more about how Stonetusker can help you with your Marketplace migration and publishing at Stonetusker Contact.
Future Outlook and Emerging Trends
Cloud marketplaces are evolving into comprehensive ecosystems beyond simple transactional catalogs. Expect to see:
- AI and automation-driven personalized product recommendations to accelerate customer decision-making.
- Deeper integration with DevOps pipelines for continuous delivery and updates of marketplace software offerings.
- Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud marketplace strategies, enabling vendors to publish once and reach across top cloud providers seamlessly.
- Expanding monetization models blending consumption, usage-based pricing, and professional services.
- Greater emphasis on security and certification badges to assure compliance in regulated industries.
Conclusion
Publishing your product on Azure and AWS Marketplaces unlocks huge business potential by opening channels to a global customer base, simplifying procurement, and enabling flexible monetization. While initial publishing requires careful preparation, following the detailed steps and checklists outlined will ensure a smooth onboarding process. Automation with CI/CD tools like GitHub Actions enhances repeatability and build quality but does not replace essential manual approvals and content submissions. With the right approach, your product can thrive in these marketplaces, benefiting from marketing, co-selling, and streamlined billing.
Stonetusker's experience proves that expert guidance can reduce time to market and maximize cloud marketplace success.
Are you ready to amplify your product’s reach and revenue? Get started today by contacting Stonetusker for expert marketplace publishing assistance: https://stonetusker.com/contact-us/
References & Further Reading
- AWS Marketplace Seller Guide
- Microsoft Azure Marketplace Publishing Guide
- Microsoft Partner Center
- AWS Marketplace Management Portal
