AWS Marketplace launched very early in 2012. At that point it provides an easy way for multiple sellers to simplify the use of Amazon machine images that you can launch via Amazon EC2.
Over time, more and more vendors began to offer commercial software or managed open source products. And for the longest time, this is what most often came to mind when someone mentioned the AWS Marketplace:
“That’s where you get managed AMIs.”
But, as is the AWS tradition, the marketplace evolved and continues to deliver feature after feature. As part of developing my latest course here for A Cloud Guru, "Introduction to the AWS Marketplace," here are five things I learned about the 2021 AWS Marketplace...
Buy Fully-Developed Machine Learning Models
One of the many product types offered on the AWS Marketplace is a pre-trained machine learning model. That's right, you can buy a fully fledged ML model to use with Amazon SageMaker!
These models are scanned for security issues and deployed in network isolation mode so you know your processing is secure and your data is always under your control.
Models from the provider can be updated regularly so that you can always take advantage of the latest education. With a flexible billing model, offers in this range are a great way to get started on your ML work right away.
Get Datasets Aplenty
Have you ever needed access to a really large dataset but weren't sure where to get it? Did you think, "Hey, this could be on the AWS Marketplace?"
Probably not, but you should.
AWS Data Exchange The AWS Marketplace offers a unique lens into the "data products" category. There are currently over three thousand datasets listed.
This includes everything from health care data to financial information to gaming data and more. Some data is free while others offer a subscription model.
Once subscribed, that data can be delivered to Amazon S3, which means you can easily use all the excellent AWS data tools to process and visualize the data.
Negotiate a Private Offer
Each product in the AWS Marketplace clearly indicates its pricing model and current cost.
For products where you need to deploy an AWS infrastructure (such as an Amazon EC2 instance), you also get a quick AWS cost calculator so you know the total charges you're seeing.
But what if you didn’t want to pay the list price?
For bulk purchases or situations where you have specific needs, the AWS Marketplace has a feature called "Private Offers".
This allows you to negotiate custom terms with the seller that can cover license amounts, pricing, contact lengths, and more. The seller then sends you a custom contract link that allows you to purchase the publicly listed item with your own private terms.
Private offers usually provide a simplified workflow for a really frustrating process. If you've ever had to deal with corporate shopping, you know what I'm talking about.
If you've never done this, consider yourself lucky. Private offers mean you probably never have to!
Buy SaaS subscriptions
I've always connected AWS Marketplace to items that need to run in my AWS account. This is one place where I can find software to deploy in my AWS environment.
SaaS category offers break this notion. Any SaaS that builds onboarding integration can be listed on the AWS Marketplace.
Why would you want to buy SaaS through the AWS Marketplace?
The primary reason is that it will appear on your AWS bill like any native AWS service does. For some organizations, this is the only way they can achieve these types of solutions, without an absurd amount of hoops.
Options are nice to have!
Use license grants
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there are also three low level objects to work with in the AWS Marketplace. A subscription linking your account to a product (free or paid), a license to use that product, and a grant to use license.
That last thought might sound a bit strange. Why would you need a grant for a license? ... Also, you know, legal "stuff."
Well, in the AWS organization structure, the account that pays for the license is always—in fact, rarely—the account it needs to use.
The idea of grants gives you a good balance of visibility into availability (here's everything we're paying for) and usage (who's using what?).
What’s Next?
The AWS Marketplace has grown by leaps and bounds. This applies to both the features of the service and the scale of the product inventory.
While many people ignore Marketplace, whether you recognize it or not, it has had a huge impact on the way we buy solutions in the cloud.
Sellers are shifting their billing model to monthly subscription or consumption-based pricing enabled by the Marketplace and driven by demand from its users
This is so much easier for organizations as they are no longer locked into multi-year contracts for software and services they might be using.
If you want to learn more about the features and functionality in the AWS Marketplace, why not try my new course?
