Stop Nodding Along. Start Actually Understanding.

Cloud marketplace conversations happen fast, and they are full of acronyms. EDP, MACC, CPPO, ACE, ISV Accelerate, FTR, MPO — if you are new to marketplace, these terms flow past you in partner calls and sales conversations like a foreign language you vaguely recognize but do not actually speak.

This glossary is the reference you keep open. It covers 50 terms — from foundational concepts to advanced program mechanics — that every ISV leader needs to internalize before building a serious marketplace GTM strategy.

Definitions are written to be clear and practically useful, not technically exhaustive.

A

ACE (AWS Customer Engagements)

ACE is the AWS platform through which ISV partners and AWS account teams share and co-manage sales opportunities. When an ISV registers an opportunity in ACE, they can invite the relevant AWS account team to join the pursuit, request co-sell support, and track deal status.

ACE is the operational backbone of the AWS ISV Accelerate co-sell program. Submitting opportunities through ACE is required for co-sell credit and for accessing AWS sales resources on specific deals.

ACE Pipeline Manager

The AWS tool (now part of the AWS Partner Central platform) that ISVs use to submit, manage, and track opportunities within the ACE program. It is the primary interface for co-sell motion management on the AWS side.

Effective use of ACE Pipeline Manager is a prerequisite for getting meaningful co-sell engagement from AWS field teams.

AMI (Amazon Machine Image)

An AMI is a pre-configured virtual machine image that includes an operating system, software, and configuration settings. On AWS Marketplace, AMI-based listings allow buyers to launch instances of a seller's software directly in their own AWS account.

AMI listings are common for infrastructure software, databases, and security tools. Unlike SaaS listings, AMI-based products run in the buyer's environment, not the seller's.

APN (AWS Partner Network)

The APN is AWS's global partner program. It encompasses ISVs (software partners), consulting partners, managed service providers, and distributors.

Participation in the APN is required for ISVs who want to list on AWS Marketplace, access co-sell programs, and earn AWS Partner designations. APN membership tiers (Select, Advanced, Premier) are based on certifications, customer references, and revenue thresholds.

APS (AWS Partner Score / AWS Partner Solutions)

AWS Partner Solutions is the marketplace catalog for AWS partner products, distinct from the AWS Marketplace transactional platform. It is primarily a discovery and referral layer, not a transaction layer.

Separately, AWS uses partner scoring internally to assess ISV partner quality and inform co-sell prioritization.

B

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

A BYOL listing is a marketplace product where the buyer already holds a license purchased through a direct channel and uses the marketplace listing for deployment and operational convenience — not for purchase. BYOL listings are common for ISVs transitioning existing customers to marketplace infrastructure without requiring them to re-purchase.

BYOL listings do not generate marketplace revenue directly but can be a useful bridge strategy.

Billing Reconciliation

The process of matching marketplace payout records from AWS, Azure, or GCP against an ISV's internal revenue records and accounting systems. Because marketplace payouts arrive on net-30 to net-60 cycles and the data formats vary by provider, billing reconciliation is an ongoing operational requirement — not a one-time setup task.

C

Channel Partner Private Offer (CPPO)

A CPPO is a mechanism on AWS Marketplace that allows an ISV to extend a discounted private offer to a channel partner (reseller or distributor), who then creates their own private offer at their own price to sell to the end buyer. CPPOs enable a multi-tier channel model within AWS Marketplace, letting ISVs work with their existing reseller networks while still transacting through marketplace.

Azure has an equivalent mechanism for its cloud solution provider (CSP) channel.

Cloud Marketplace

A cloud marketplace is a curated digital catalog operated by a major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP) where independent software vendors list and sell software products. Transactions flow through the cloud provider's billing infrastructure, enabling buyers to apply committed cloud spend to software purchases.

The three major cloud marketplaces are AWS Marketplace, Microsoft Azure Marketplace, and Google Cloud Marketplace.

Co-Sell

Co-sell is a sales motion in which an ISV and a cloud provider's sales team jointly pursue an enterprise opportunity. The ISV brings its product expertise and customer relationship; the cloud provider contributes its account team relationship, credibility with the buyer, and deal support resources.

Co-sell motions are facilitated through formal programs: ISV Accelerate (AWS), IP Co-Sell (Azure), and ISV Solution Connect (GCP).

Committed Use Discount (CUD)

CUDs are Google Cloud's mechanism for enterprise buyers to commit to a specific level of GCP spending in exchange for pricing discounts. Software purchased through GCP Marketplace by buyers who have active CUD agreements can count toward their committed spending obligations, which reduces procurement friction and can accelerate deal cycles for GCP Marketplace ISVs.

Contract Pricing

A marketplace pricing model in which a buyer and seller agree to a custom contract — price, duration, payment schedule — that is then transacted through the marketplace. Contract pricing is typically structured as a Private Offer on AWS or Azure and is the most common mechanism for enterprise marketplace deals above $50,000 ACV.

CPPO

See Channel Partner Private Offer.

CUD

See Committed Use Discount.

D

Disbursement

The payout an ISV receives from a cloud marketplace provider after a transaction settles. Disbursements occur on defined schedules — typically net-60 for AWS and net-30 to net-45 for Azure and GCP — and are net of the marketplace commission.

ISVs need to account for the disbursement lag in their revenue forecasting and cash flow planning.

Drawdown

In marketplace context, drawdown refers to a buyer's use of marketplace purchases to reduce their outstanding committed cloud spend obligation. When a buyer with an EDP or MACC purchases software through the marketplace, that purchase draws down their committed balance.

This is the mechanism that makes marketplace purchases attractive for buyers close to their commitment fulfillment deadlines.

E

EDP (Enterprise Discount Program)

The EDP is AWS's primary mechanism for securing large multi-year spending commitments from enterprise buyers. In exchange for committing to a minimum spend over 1–5 years (often $1M–$100M+), buyers receive discounts on AWS services.

AWS Marketplace software purchases count toward EDP commitments, making marketplace-listed software effectively budget-neutral or procurement-facilitated for EDP buyers. The EDP is one of the primary economic drivers behind marketplace deal acceleration.

Entitlement

An entitlement is the right to use a software product, granted to a buyer after a successful marketplace transaction. In AWS Marketplace, entitlements are managed through the AWS Marketplace Entitlement Service.

Your software needs to check entitlements to verify that a user is authorized to access the product they have purchased.

Expiration Management

The operational process of tracking and managing the expiration of marketplace subscriptions — notifying buyers before renewal, handling auto-renew logic, and managing the subscriber transition when subscriptions lapse. Poor expiration management is a common cause of churn in marketplace subscription businesses.

F

Free Trial

A time-limited free access period offered through a marketplace listing. Marketplace free trials allow buyers to evaluate software in their own cloud environment before committing to a purchase.

Free trials are a key mechanism for product-led growth within marketplace channels, particularly for developer tools and infrastructure software.

FTR (Foundational Technical Review)

The FTR is an AWS Partner Network technical assessment that evaluates an ISV's cloud architecture against AWS Well-Architected best practices. While not strictly required for all marketplace listings, FTR completion is required for certain co-sell program tiers and AWS competency designations.

It is both a quality signal and a prerequisite for deeper AWS partner engagement.

Fulfillment

Fulfillment is the process of delivering software access to a buyer after a successful marketplace transaction. For SaaS products, fulfillment typically means provisioning the buyer's account in your system and granting access.

For AMI-based products, fulfillment is the deployment of the AMI in the buyer's cloud environment. The fulfillment URL — the landing page where buyers land after subscribing — is a critical integration point in your marketplace setup.

G

GTM (Go-To-Market)

In marketplace context, GTM refers to the overall strategy for how a software company brings its product to market through cloud marketplace channels. A marketplace GTM strategy includes listing strategy (which marketplaces, which product types), pricing strategy, co-sell motion design, private offer workflow, and partner channel integration.

I

IP Co-Sell (Azure)

IP Co-Sell is Microsoft's co-sell program for ISVs with transactable Azure Marketplace listings. An ISV product that achieves IP Co-Sell status becomes eligible for joint selling with Microsoft's sales team, meaning Microsoft account executives can recommend and pursue the ISV's solution alongside Azure services.

Microsoft sellers earn co-sell revenue credit for deals involving IP Co-Sell eligible solutions, creating a direct financial incentive for Microsoft's field organization to bring ISV products into enterprise conversations.

ISV (Independent Software Vendor)

An ISV is a company that develops and sells software, typically as a commercial product, and is not the original equipment manufacturer of the underlying hardware or platform. In cloud marketplace context, ISVs are the sellers — companies that list their software on AWS, Azure, or GCP Marketplace for purchase by cloud buyers.

ISV Accelerate (AWS)

ISV Accelerate is AWS's primary co-sell program for qualified software partners. ISVs accepted into ISV Accelerate gain access to AWS's global sales organization for joint opportunity pursuit, receive co-sell support on registered deals, and can participate in AWS-led customer engagements.

ISV Accelerate is a significant distribution lever — AWS's sales team actively pursues enterprise accounts, and their endorsement of an ISV solution carries substantial buyer credibility.

ISV Solution Connect (GCP)

ISV Solution Connect is Google Cloud's co-sell program for qualified marketplace ISVs. It provides mechanisms for ISVs and Google Cloud sales teams to jointly pursue opportunities and share pipeline, with a particular focus on solutions that integrate deeply with GCP services like BigQuery, Vertex AI, and Google Kubernetes Engine.

L

Listing

A marketplace listing is the product page an ISV creates on a cloud marketplace. A listing includes the product description, pricing information, technical specifications, screenshots, customer references, and — for transactable listings — the subscription and metering configuration.

Listings range from free product pages (non-transactable) to fully transactable SaaS subscriptions that process payments through the marketplace.

Listing Types

Cloud marketplaces support multiple listing types, each with different technical requirements and use cases: SaaS (subscription billed through marketplace), AMI (virtual machine image, AWS-specific), Container (Kubernetes-based deployments), Data Products (datasets and data services), Professional Services (time-and-materials engagements), and Consulting Partner listings. The appropriate listing type depends on your product architecture and sales motion.

M

MACC (Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment)

MACC is Microsoft's primary committed spend mechanism for enterprise Azure buyers. Similar to AWS's EDP, MACC agreements commit buyers to minimum Azure spending over a defined period in exchange for pricing benefits.

Azure Marketplace purchases by MACC customers count toward their commitment obligations, making marketplace a preferred procurement mechanism for enterprises managing their MACC fulfillment. MACC is one of the most powerful deal-acceleration levers in the Azure marketplace ecosystem.

Marketplace-Led Growth (MLG)

Marketplace-Led Growth is a go-to-market strategy that treats cloud marketplace as a primary acquisition and expansion channel — similar to how Product-Led Growth treats the product itself as the primary acquisition mechanism. MLG companies design their pricing, free trial strategy, and onboarding specifically to leverage marketplace discoverability, committed spend, and co-sell motions as growth drivers rather than treating marketplace as a secondary or supplementary channel.

Metering

Metering is the process of tracking and reporting usage data to the cloud provider for usage-based marketplace pricing. For AWS, metering records must be submitted hourly via the AWS Marketplace Metering Service.

For Azure and GCP, similar metering APIs exist. Metering infrastructure must be highly reliable — missed or late metering submissions create billing gaps that are difficult to retroactively correct.

MPO (Marketplace Private Offer)

An MPO is a custom-priced, buyer-specific offer delivered through a cloud marketplace. MPOs allow sellers to negotiate deal terms (price, duration, payment schedule) with a specific buyer off-platform and then formalize the transaction on-platform.

MPOs are the primary mechanism for enterprise marketplace deals, enabling the speed and commitment-spend eligibility of marketplace transactions with the flexibility of direct sales negotiation.

Multi-Cloud Marketplace

A strategy of listing on two or more cloud marketplaces simultaneously to maximize buyer accessibility and committed-spend eligibility. Multi-cloud marketplace strategies require managing separate API integrations, metering systems, and listing workflows for each provider, which increases operational complexity.

Platforms like Automatum manage multi-cloud listing complexity without requiring proportional increases in ISV engineering investment.

N

Non-Transactable Listing

A marketplace listing that provides product information and enables buyer contact or trial access, but does not process purchases through the marketplace's billing system. Non-transactable listings are sometimes used as a first step before completing the technical integration required for a transactable listing.

However, non-transactable listings do not count toward committed cloud spend, which significantly limits their commercial value.

P

Partner Central (AWS)

AWS Partner Central is the portal through which APN partners manage their AWS partnership — including opportunity registration for co-sell, training and certification tracking, program enrollment, and co-marketing resources. ISVs engaged in the AWS ISV Accelerate program use Partner Central as the primary workspace for co-sell motion management.

Private Offer

See MPO (Marketplace Private Offer).

Product Listing Approval

Each cloud marketplace reviews new product listings before they are published and visible to buyers. The approval process includes technical validation, content review, and compliance checks.

AWS's review process is typically the most thorough and can take 2–6 weeks depending on listing type and marketplace team bandwidth. Planning for review timelines is essential for accurate go-live scheduling.

Procurement Simplification

One of the primary value propositions of cloud marketplace for buyers is procurement simplification. Because marketplace vendors have already been vetted by the cloud provider, buyers can often bypass portions of their internal vendor assessment process.

Purchases flow through the cloud provider's existing billing relationship, eliminating new vendor setup, separate invoicing, and additional payment processing. This simplification is a significant buyer-side motivation for marketplace-first purchasing.

R

Referral Fee

Some cloud marketplace co-sell programs include referral fees or co-sell incentives payable by the ISV to the cloud provider for deals sourced through the provider's sales team. Referral fee structures vary by program and deal size.

Understanding referral fee obligations is important for accurate marketplace P&L modeling.

Revenue Share

See Commission. The percentage of each marketplace transaction that the cloud provider retains as compensation for providing the marketplace infrastructure and buyer access. AWS charges 3–5%, Azure and GCP charge 3% for most product types.

S

SaaS Listing

A SaaS marketplace listing is a transactable product page for a software-as-a-service application. In a SaaS marketplace listing, the software runs in the seller's infrastructure (not the buyer's cloud account), and the buyer purchases access through the marketplace.

The marketplace handles billing; the seller handles fulfillment. SaaS listings are the most common listing type for modern B2B software companies and typically require the deepest API integration with the marketplace platform.

SaaS Revenue Recognition

The accounting treatment for revenue earned through marketplace SaaS subscriptions. Because marketplace payouts occur on net-30 to net-60 schedules and may span contract periods, revenue recognition for marketplace SaaS requires careful treatment under ASC 606 (US GAAP) or IFRS 15.

Finance teams need to understand that marketplace revenue is not recognized at payout — it is recognized as the service is delivered.

Seller of Record

In marketplace transactions, the cloud provider acts as the seller of record — meaning the provider invoices the buyer and handles payment processing. The ISV is effectively the supplier.

This arrangement has important tax, legal, and revenue recognition implications. It simplifies the buyer relationship (one vendor to invoice) but requires ISVs to understand that their commercial relationship with the buyer is mediated through the marketplace platform.

SKU (Stock Keeping Unit)

In marketplace context, a SKU is a specific priced product configuration within a listing. A single marketplace listing may have multiple SKUs representing different tiers (Starter, Professional, Enterprise), usage packages, or contract durations.

SKU design is a meaningful part of marketplace pricing strategy — too many SKUs create buyer confusion, too few limit your ability to segment by buyer size and use case.

Subscription

A marketplace subscription is the ongoing commercial relationship created when a buyer subscribes to a marketplace listing. Subscriptions have start dates, end dates (or auto-renewal terms), pricing, and entitlement records.

Managing subscriptions — including upgrades, downgrades, cancellations, and renewals — is one of the core operational requirements of a transactable marketplace listing.

T

Transactable Listing

A marketplace listing that is fully integrated with the cloud provider's billing system and can process purchases directly through the marketplace. Transactable listings are the only listing type that enables committed-spend eligibility and co-sell credit.

They require the deepest technical integration — subscription lifecycle event handling, metering API integration, and fulfillment URL configuration — but they are the only listing type that generates marketplace revenue.

Trial Conversion

The process by which a buyer who initiated a free trial converts to a paid marketplace subscription. Trial conversion rates and conversion timelines are important metrics for marketplace PLG strategies.

The conversion experience — how a buyer moves from trial to paid within the marketplace — requires careful UX design and entitlement management.

U

Usage-Based Pricing

A marketplace pricing model in which buyers are charged based on their actual consumption of the product — number of API calls, amount of data processed, number of active users, hours of compute, or other defined usage dimensions. Usage-based pricing on marketplace requires a functioning metering infrastructure and careful dimension design.

It is well-suited for products with highly variable usage patterns across buyers.

Usage Metering Dimension

A specific unit of measurement used to track and bill for usage in a usage-based marketplace listing. For example, a security product might meter on the number of scans per month; a data platform might meter on gigabytes processed.

Dimension design determines how precisely your marketplace pricing maps to your customers' actual value realization — and how defensible your pricing model is in competitive situations.

V

Vendor of Record

See Seller of Record. The party legally responsible for the transaction — in marketplace contexts, the cloud provider — as distinct from the software vendor supplying the product.

W

Well-Architected Review

An AWS assessment framework that evaluates cloud workloads against AWS best practices across six pillars: operational excellence, security, reliability, performance efficiency, cost optimization, and sustainability. While not required for all marketplace listings, the AWS Well-Architected Framework is a prerequisite for the Foundational Technical Review (FTR) required by certain co-sell program tiers.

Webhook

An HTTP callback sent by a cloud marketplace to an ISV's system when a subscription event occurs — such as a new subscription, an upgrade, a cancellation, or a renewal. Reliable webhook handling is a foundational requirement for transactable marketplace listings.

Webhooks must be handled idempotently, with appropriate retry tolerance, because missed or mishandled events can result in billing discrepancies or access provisioning failures.

Using This Glossary in Practice

These 50 terms cover the vocabulary you will encounter in co-sell conversations, partner calls, deal registrations, and marketplace product reviews. The ones that appear most frequently in revenue-impacting contexts — EDP, MACC, CUD, ISV Accelerate, IP Co-Sell, Private Offer, CPPO, metering, and entitlement — deserve the deepest familiarity.

Understanding the vocabulary is only half the battle. The other half is building the operational capability to execute on what these terms represent: a transactable listing, a functioning metering pipeline, an active co-sell program enrollment, and a private offer workflow that can turn a negotiated deal into a marketplace transaction in days rather than weeks.

Build the Capability, Not Just the Knowledge

Automatum is a cloud marketplace GTM platform that gives ISVs the operational infrastructure behind these terms — the API integrations, metering systems, private offer workflows, and co-sell management tools — without requiring your engineering team to build any of it from scratch. Over 60 ISVs have used Automatum to go from zero marketplace presence to transactable listings on AWS, Azure, and GCP.

If you are ready to move from vocabulary to execution, the Automatum team can show you what listing looks like for your specific product and customer base.