The Complete Guide to Selling on Azure Marketplace.

What is Azure Marketplace?

Azure Marketplace was Microsoft's cloud software storefront where Azure customers discover and buy third-party applications, virtual machines, container images, managed applications, and services. Microsoft unified it with Microsoft AppSource as Microsoft Marketplace — in the US in September 2025 and worldwide by November 2025 — and the old storefront addresses now redirect there. Azure customers still reach it inside the Azure portal, where marketplace solutions surface alongside Microsoft's own services during procurement.

For ISVs, Azure Marketplace opens access to a buyer base that's particularly strong in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, government) and any organization that has standardized on Microsoft's cloud. Many enterprise Azure customers carry a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), and purchases of eligible marketplace offers count toward it.

New to the channel? Our overview of Azure Marketplace for ISV sellers explains how the seller motion works before this guide walks through the steps.

MACC drawdown — the budget unlock

The Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) is a contractual agreement where enterprise customers commit to spending a specific amount on Azure over a defined period — typically 3 years. In exchange, Microsoft offers discounted pricing, dedicated support, and enterprise-grade terms.

Purchases of Azure benefit-eligible offers count toward MACC — 100% of the pretax amount — when the customer buys through the Azure portal using an Azure subscription tied to the MACC agreement. For the buyer, this fundamentally changes the procurement conversation:

• They're not spending new budget — they're drawing down a commitment they already have
• Procurement buys through its existing Microsoft agreement instead of onboarding a new vendor
• Finance treats the purchase as an Azure expense, not a new software line item

For the seller, MACC is a strong argument for listing on Azure. An offer's sales count toward MACC only once it reaches Azure IP co-sell eligible status, so ask about a prospect's MACC during discovery — and confirm your own eligibility before you promise the drawdown.

Listing types on Azure Marketplace

Azure supports four main listing types. The right choice depends on delivery model and where you want the product to surface.

Most modern ISVs list as SaaS Offers. Fours automates SaaS listing across Azure, AWS, and GCP from one dashboard.

Azure IP co-sell eligibility — the status that matters

Microsoft gives Azure offers one of three co-sell statuses: In-market (the offer is live on Microsoft Marketplace), Co-sell ready, and Azure IP co-sell eligible. Co-sell ready exposes your solution to Microsoft sales teams. Azure IP co-sell eligible also lets you submit co-sell referrals, makes the offer's sales count toward customers' MACC — they see it marked Azure benefit eligible in the Azure portal — and earns the Microsoft preferred solutions badge on your listing.

Co-sell ready requires:

• A PartnerID and an active Microsoft Marketplace account in Partner Center, with a complete business profile
• The offer published live on Microsoft Marketplace
• A sales contact for each co-sell geography
• The required listing information and documents — including a one-pager and a pitch deck — on the Co-sell > Solutions page

Azure IP co-sell eligible then adds four requirements:

• At least US$100,000 of Azure consumed revenue or marketplace billed sales at the organization level over the trailing 12 months (Azure credits don't count)
• Microsoft technical validation that the solution is primarily platformed on Azure
• A reference architecture diagram (not required for Azure Application, Container, or Virtual Machine offers)
• A transactable offer on Microsoft Marketplace — List Only doesn't qualify

Co-sell ready needs only a live offer and complete Partner Center documentation, so pursue it at launch. Plan for Azure IP co-sell eligibility once your Azure and marketplace revenue approaches the US$100,000 threshold.

Partner Center — where everything happens

Partner Center is Microsoft's hub for managing your entire marketplace presence. It's where you:

• Create and maintain offers (SaaS, VM, Managed Apps)
• Configure pricing, plans, and regional availability
• Submit offers for validation and publish them
• Access analytics, sales reports, and payout data
• Manage co-sell solution cards and referral pipeline
• Register opportunities in the co-sell system

Partner Center has a learning curve. Most ISVs burn several weeks learning which tab controls what — notably, co-sell referrals, technical validation, and payout configuration live in different parts of the UI. Fours' Partner Center integration abstracts this: offers and referrals flow from your CRM to Partner Center automatically.

Private offers on Azure

Azure supports private offers similar to AWS — custom-priced agreements sent to a specific Azure customer. The buyer accepts the offer from the Azure Portal, and billing flows through their Azure invoice (which counts against MACC).

Key mechanics:

• Offers can be flat-rate, metered, or hybrid
• Contract duration up to 3 years
• Custom billing schedules — annual upfront, quarterly, monthly
• Optional discount tiers (e.g., volume discounts for multi-year commits)
• EULA customization for enterprise terms

Manually creating Azure private offers through Partner Center is slow. Automate the workflow to generate offers from CRM data and route approvals through your existing deal desk.

Metered billing on Azure Marketplace

For usage-based products, Azure uses the Marketplace Metered Billing API. Your application submits usage events (dimensions, quantities, timestamps) and Microsoft bills the customer accordingly.

Differences from AWS metering:

• Azure accepts usage only within 24 hours of consumption — the same window AWS now allows for SaaS usage
• Dimensions are defined per-plan, and changing them after launch is restricted
• Usage events are atomic — you can't retroactively adjust reported quantities without a support ticket

Instrument your metering pipeline with retries, DLQs, and monitoring from day one. Unreported usage is lost revenue.

Transact vs List Only — pick Transact

Azure Marketplace lets you publish in two modes:

• Transact — billing flows through Microsoft. It is required for Azure IP co-sell eligibility, the status that makes your sales count toward MACC.
• List Only — marketplace presence is effectively a brochure. Buyers click through to your website to transact outside the marketplace. No MACC drawdown and no Azure IP co-sell eligibility.

Many ISVs start with List Only because it's faster. It's almost always the wrong call. Without Transact, buyers don't get the MACC benefit — removing the single biggest reason they'd buy on the marketplace. Go Transact from day one, even if it means a slower launch.

Common mistakes on Azure Marketplace

1. Launching List Only

You lose MACC drawdown and Azure IP co-sell eligibility. The buyer gets zero incentive to transact through the marketplace vs direct. Go Transact.

2. Ignoring co-sell status

Co-sell ready is the status that exposes your solution to Microsoft sales teams. Pursue it at launch, and Azure IP co-sell eligibility once you meet its revenue threshold.

3. Overlooking Partner Center analytics

Partner Center provides detailed telemetry on offer impressions, subscriptions, and seller engagement. Most teams never look at it. Review quarterly to identify conversion gaps.

4. Disconnected co-sell data

Microsoft's co-sell opportunities live in Partner Center, not in your CRM. Without a sync, attribution breaks and leadership can't measure partner-sourced pipeline. Integrate Partner Center with Salesforce or HubSpot.

5. Skipping regional availability

If your offer is only available in the US, you're invisible to EU and APAC Azure customers. Configure regional availability broadly from launch.

Frequently asked questions