Monetize your AI apps and agents on Marketplace to realize growth

Ready to stop guessing how to monetize your offer? Skip right to App Advisor

Software development companies are building faster than ever. But when it comes to sales, the key to monetization happens early.

Monetization, packaging, and operational execution helps determine whether your AI solution becomes a growth engine on Microsoft Marketplace. New data reinforces the opportunity. According to Omdia research highlighted in Microsoft’s blog on the partner revenue opportunity:

• 88% of partners selling through Marketplace report revenue growth,
• 75% close deals faster,
• 69% secure larger deals,
• 60% agree Marketplace improved their deal structure.

The Omdia study found that among partners that sell through Marketplace (compared to direct go-to-market and sales motions), they saw incredible gains with Marketplace.

The opportunity is clear. The question is how to capture it consistently.

How the AI app and agent monetization checklist helps

The time to think about sales is when you’re building, not just when you hit “publish” on an offer.

That’s why the Microsoft Marketplace Monetization Checklist for SaaS and Container Offers was created as part of the AI envisioning sessions. It gives your team a structured, practical framework to move from idea to revenue with confidence.

A solution can offer immense value, but because monetization decisions are made too late, it can perform worse than expected. Pricing models, packaging tiers, metering accuracy, and subscription flows are often bolted on after architecture is finalized.

The checklist changes that. It organizes monetization strategy around the five pillars of the Well-Architected Framework so that revenue design and technical design stay aligned. This checklist is also featured in App Advisor Build and Publish stage, so that you don’t miss a single step along the way.

This ensures your offer is:

• Secure and enterprise-ready,
• Reliable across subscription lifecycle events,
• Cost-optimized for margin protection,
• Performance-aligned to your pricing model,
• Operationally structured for scale.

Instead of guessing, you follow a clear path.

Monetizing your offer the right way

While designed for Saas and Azure Container offers, this checklist can be helpful for any offer. It guides you through key decisions that directly impact growth:

• Define your revenue model early during design, not after deployment,
• Model cost of goods sold against pricing tiers to protect margin,
• Package plans intentionally (Starter, Pro, Enterprise) to drive upsell,
• Implement secure licensing and Marketplace API validation to prevent revenue leakage,
• Optimize trial-to-paid conversion with structured upgrade paths.

The checklist also reinforces operational execution with best practices for both SaaS and Azure Container offers.

The result: an offer built for revenue, not just deployment.

From build to publish to monetization on Microsoft Marketplace

Building a great app or agent for your customers is the goal, but scaling your sales helps you grow.

You’re not just publishing an offer, you’re building:

• A pricing strategy aligned to architecture,
• A subscription model aligned to customer value,
• An operational model aligned to Marketplace growth.

This is how your company can turn Marketplace from a just listing platform into a revenue multiplier.

Ready to monetize apps and agents on Microsoft Marketplace?

You don’t have to guess how to grow.

Use these resources to monetize your app or agent and get world-class Microsoft best practices, curated for you:

• Download the Marketplace Monetization Checklist,
• See the opportunity for your revenue growth in App Advisor,
• Watch sessions with experts by signing up for the AI Envisioning sessions.