--- title: "Marketplace Listing Without Public Pricing" url: https://www.suger.io/resources/blog/marketplace-listing-without-public-pricing/ canonical: https://www.suger.io/resources/blog/marketplace-listing-without-public-pricing/ type: Blog description: "Marketplace listing without public pricing: AWS's leads-only preview, Microsoft's private-plan-only offers, and what Google Cloud documents for SaaS." --- # Marketplace Listing Without Public Pricing > Canonical HTML version: https://www.suger.io/resources/blog/marketplace-listing-without-public-pricing/ 1. [Home](/) 2. / 3. [Resources](/resources/) 4. / 5. [Blog](/resources/blog/) 6. / 7. Marketplace Listing Without Public Pricing: Who Allows It? # Marketplace Listing Without Public Pricing: Who Allows It? AWS lets eligible listings hide their price in preview, and Microsoft now accepts offers made only of private plans. Google Cloud documents it for professional services only. Here is each rule, and what a placeholder price costs you. [![Chloe Wu](/authors/chloe-wu.jpg)](/resources/blog/author/chloe-wu/) [Chloe Wu](/resources/blog/author/chloe-wu/) Sep 28, 2026 ![Marketplace Listing Without Public Pricing: Who Allows It?](/images/blog/marketplace-listing-without-public-pricing/hero.png) Explore AI Summary [![](/logos/company/openai.svg)](https://chat.openai.com/?q=Read%20and%20summarize%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suger.io%2Fresources%2Fblog%2Fmarketplace-listing-without-public-pricing%2F%2C%20then%20cite%20the%20source.%20Focus%20on%20what%20it%20says%20about%20Cloud%20GTM%2C%20Marketplaces. "Summarize with ChatGPT")[![](/logos/company/anthropic.svg) ](https://claude.ai/new?q=Read%20and%20summarize%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suger.io%2Fresources%2Fblog%2Fmarketplace-listing-without-public-pricing%2F%2C%20then%20cite%20the%20source.%20Focus%20on%20what%20it%20says%20about%20Cloud%20GTM%2C%20Marketplaces. 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"Summarize with Perplexity") Table of Contents - [What is a marketplace listing without public pricing?](#what-is-a-marketplace-listing-without-public-pricing) - [Does each marketplace make you publish a price?](#does-each-marketplace-make-you-publish-a-price) - [How does AWS let you remove public pricing?](#how-does-aws-let-you-remove-public-pricing) - [What changed at Microsoft on September 13, 2026?](#what-changed-at-microsoft-on-september-13-2026) - [What does Google Cloud document?](#what-does-google-cloud-document) - [What happens if you publish a placeholder price instead?](#what-happens-if-you-publish-a-placeholder-price-instead) - [Should you list without a public price?](#should-you-list-without-a-public-price) - [Frequently asked questions](#frequently-asked-questions) - [Takeaways](#takeaways) _A marketplace listing without public pricing is a product buyers can only buy on negotiated terms, because no price is shown to the public. For software, AWS allows it in preview behind a Request for private offer button, and Microsoft allows offers made only of private plans. Google Cloud documents a hidden price only for professional services._ * * * If every enterprise deal you sign is negotiated, a public price is a number you never intend to charge. It is still a price. A buyer can subscribe at it, an AI summary can explain it, and on Microsoft a renewal can fall back to it. So the question comes up early in a marketplace launch: do we have to publish one? The answer now depends on the cloud. AWS documents a way to remove public pricing from a listing, in preview, once buyers can request a private offer instead. On September 13, 2026, Microsoft rewrote the certification policy that had required a public plan on every offer, so an offer made only of private plans can now pass. Google Cloud’s SaaS documentation asks for a publicly available plan and doesn’t document a way to hide its price. This post sets the rules side by side, with what each exception costs, what happens if you publish a placeholder price instead, and a checklist for deciding. It covers whether a price shows, not which model you charge on; for that, see how the [cloud marketplace pricing models](/resources/blog/cloud-marketplace-pricing-models/) compare. ## What is a marketplace listing without public pricing? **A marketplace listing without public pricing is** a product that no buyer can purchase at a posted price. Either the listing is public and the buyer has to ask you for a private offer, or only the customers you target can see the product at all. Either way, every sale runs on terms you negotiated. It isn’t the same thing as a private offer. The private offer is the negotiated deal; this is about what everyone else sees behind it. The two are connected, though: on Microsoft, and for SaaS on Google Cloud, a private offer requires a public plan, which is why an ISV that never charges list price still has to decide what that plan shows. Professional services already work this way on all three: no buyer purchases them at a posted price. AWS has you set their prices in each private offer, Microsoft sells them “only via Private Offers,” and Google Cloud sells them only by private offer. The open question is software. ## Does each marketplace make you publish a price? For software you sell through the marketplace, by default, yes. AWS requires SaaS pricing dimensions any buyer can subscribe to, Microsoft requires a public plan on every offer and a publicly transactable one before you can send a private offer, and Google Cloud requires a publicly available plan before you can send a SaaS private offer. AWS and Microsoft each document one way around it; Google Cloud documents none for SaaS. AWS Marketplace Microsoft Marketplace Google Cloud Marketplace **Default for software** SaaS pricing dimensions “cannot be limited to private offers only,” and a paid product needs one priced above $0.00 ”At least one public plan” on every offer ”At least one of your pricing plans must be publicly available” before a SaaS private offer **Documented way around it** Pricing visibility, in preview: **Don’t display product pricing for buyers** Offers made only of private plans, allowed since policy version 1.96, dated September 13, 2026 None publicly documented for SaaS **Who qualifies** A “contract-based SaaS, AMI, or container listing” with Request for private offer active and no active public subscriptions Paid products bought and installed through the Azure portal; never consulting, Contact Me or free offers Not applicable **What other buyers see** The listing, with Request for private offer where Subscribe would be Nothing: the offer “isn’t visible in Microsoft Marketplace,” and targeted tenants buy in the Azure portal The public plan, at the list price you “charge customers publicly” **What you give up** Self-serve subscriptions, and AI Insights, which AWS creates where public pricing is available Private offers, which require publicly transactable plans Not applicable **Professional services** No public price: you price each private offer Sold only through private offers, and not visible on the storefronts Sold only through private offers; the list price and each plan can be hidden Read the table as a list of trade-offs, not permissions. For software that transacts on the marketplace, only AWS keeps the product in front of every buyer without a price. Microsoft’s exception removes the listing along with the price, and Google Cloud’s hidden list price exists for services that were never self-serve. ## How does AWS let you remove public pricing? **Pricing visibility is** AWS’s option to keep a product in the AWS Marketplace catalog while hiding its public pricing, a setup AWS also calls a leads-only listing. It is in preview and “subject to change.” Buyers see a **Request for private offer** button where **Subscribe** would be, and each request reaches you in AWS Partner Central to start a negotiation that can become a private offer. Three conditions come first: - **Buyers can already request a private offer.** The Request for private offer button must be enabled on the listing, which requires eligibility for AWS Customer Engagement (ACE) and linked AWS Partner Central and AWS Marketplace accounts. - **The product type fits.** AWS limits it to a “contract-based SaaS, AMI, or container listing.” - **Nobody holds a public subscription.** “If buyers have active subscriptions, you can’t remove public pricing. This includes test subscriptions.” The switch is a change request in AWS Partner Central: **Request changes**, **Update public offer**, **Update pricing visibility**, then **Don’t display product pricing for buyers**. Choosing **Display product pricing for buyers** later turns pricing back on. Order matters: AWS warns that if you remove public pricing without an active request button, “your listing might be removed.” For a new product, AWS’s sequence is to create a public offer as usual (buyers won’t see it once pricing is hidden), publish in Limited, enable Request for private offer, remove public pricing, and only then request Public visibility. The subscription rule makes this, in practice, a choice for a new listing or one without public subscribers: an established listing can’t use it while any public subscription is active. Two things change once it’s on. Every sale starts as a request someone has to answer, and [how AWS routes a private offer request, and who should answer it](/resources/blog/aws-marketplace-private-offer-requests/), is a process of its own. And AWS’s AI Insights, the plain-language pricing summary it adds to listings, are generated from public pricing and “automatically created for listings where public pricing is available.” A listing that hides its pricing shouldn’t count on them. ## What changed at Microsoft on September 13, 2026? Microsoft stopped requiring a public plan on offers that contain only private plans. Certification policy 100.1.5 now says each offer “must have at least one public plan, except for private-plan-only offers.” Until version 1.96, dated September 13, 2026, the same policy said: “Private plans are not allowed without a corresponding public plan.” Microsoft’s change history gives no separate effective date. **A private plan is** a plan inside an offer that only the customers you target can see and buy; for SaaS, you target them by Microsoft Entra tenant ID. The new exception is real, and narrower than it sounds: - **It covers private plans, not private offers.** Microsoft’s private offer FAQ is explicit: “To use private offers, ISVs must have publicly transactable plans published to Marketplace.” If your deals need something only a private offer does, such as attaching your own contract, targeting the customer’s organization rather than a tenant, or selling through multiparty or CSP private offers, you still need a public plan with a price. [Azure Marketplace private offers vs private plans](/resources/blog/azure-private-offers-vs-private-plans/) covers which construct fits which deal. - **The offer disappears from the storefront.** “An offer that contains only private plans isn’t visible in Microsoft Marketplace,” and for SaaS, “Customers can access SaaS offers with only private plans through the Azure portal.” Customers you haven’t targeted can’t find it at all, and Microsoft’s Request private offer experience “is available on public products,” so a buyer you haven’t targeted has no listing to request one from. - **Private plans carry their own limits.** An offer holds up to 45 of them. You can target 10 tenant IDs by hand, or up to 20,000 with a CSV file. A private plan takes up to 48 hours to reach the customer, where a private offer is available within 15 minutes. Private plans exclude consulting services, Contact Me offers and free services. And once you publish a public plan, Microsoft says, “you can’t change its visibility to private,” so an existing offer can’t become private-plan-only by switching its public plans over. A **Contact Me** listing shows no price either, but nothing transacts on it: Microsoft excludes Contact Me offers from private plans, and private offers need a publicly transactable plan. ## What does Google Cloud document? For SaaS, a public plan. Google’s setup page for SaaS private offers lists as a prerequisite, “At least one of your pricing plans must be publicly available,” and a private offer’s pricing “is based on your product’s pricing plan, which is the plan that sets the list price that you charge customers publicly on Cloud Marketplace.” Google documents hiding that price only for professional services. **Professional services.** Customers usually see the list price on your public listing, Google says, “but you can choose to hide it if you want to,” and each plan has a toggle to hide it from the listing. That fits the product: customers can buy professional services “only by accepting a private offer” from you or a reseller, and if you’ve turned on sales lead management, they can message you for more information. Google requires both you and the customer to be located in the United States, and each service must link to a current commercial Cloud Marketplace product. **SaaS.** Google’s public documentation doesn’t say whether a SaaS plan’s price can be hidden, or what a buyer would see if it were. The hide toggle in the professional-services pricing steps is absent from the equivalent SaaS steps. Treat SaaS price visibility on Google Cloud as unconfirmed: check the Pricing section of your own Producer Portal, or ask Google through Partner Support Desk, before you promise anyone a price-free SaaS listing. ## What happens if you publish a placeholder price instead? It becomes a real price. Each cloud treats the public price as something a buyer can pay, or a private offer can build on or fall back to, so a placeholder is only as safe as the worst transaction it can produce. - **AWS: $0.01 is a test price.** On a Limited product with a non-free pricing model, AWS sets newly added dimensions to $0.01, and “When you publish to public, you’ll provide the actual price for your product.” Suger’s AWS listing guide keeps prices at $0.01 while a listing is Limited, so the end-to-end test purchase doesn’t charge a real price, and replaces them when you publish. On a leads-only listing the test prices stay out of sight; if the request to go Public needs a minimum price, AWS says to “increase the test price slightly.” Setting every dimension to $0.00 hides nothing: the product “will automatically convert to the Free pricing model.” - **AWS: a high list price is purchasable.** Buyers “should be able to subscribe to any of the pricing dimensions on public products,” AI Insights will explain that price to them, and raising any dimension later makes the pricing update option “unavailable for at least the next 90 days.” - **Microsoft: the list price is the renewal fallback.** If a customer turned on auto-renewal and doesn’t accept a new private offer, “the customer is charged at the list price of the public plan after the private offer End date.” Percentage-discount private offers are also calculated from that list price. - **Google Cloud: usage offers discount from list.** A usage-based private offer is a discount on your plan’s usage pricing, and under one committed-use option, customers who spend beyond the commitment “pay the list price for the additional usage.” A placeholder usage price flows straight into what the buyer pays. Flat-fee offers set their own amount. An illustrative example: Acme lists its public Microsoft plan at $500,000 a year so that nobody self-serves, and Globex accepts a one-year private offer at $120,000 with auto-renewal on. If the private offer has ended by the renewal date and Globex hasn’t accepted a new one, the next year renews at $500,000. A price Acme never meant to charge ends up on the invoice. ## Should you list without a public price? Only where the exception fits how you already sell. Answer these per cloud before you change anything: 1. **Do your Microsoft deals depend on private offers?** Contract upload, organization-level targeting, and multiparty or CSP deals all need one, so keep a public plan and price it as a renewal you’d accept. Go private-plan-only only if every buyer is a known tenant who buys in the Azure portal. 2. **Is your AWS listing eligible today?** It has to be a contract-based SaaS, AMI or container listing, with Request for private offer active and no active public subscriptions. If any of those is missing, the public price stays, so make it one you’d accept from a buyer who subscribes. 3. **Have you seen Google Cloud’s SaaS control yourself?** Until you have, plan on a publicly available plan whose price buyers can see. 4. **Who answers the requests?** Hiding the price on AWS turns every would-be subscriber into a request. Name an owner before you switch it on. 5. **What discovery do you give up?** On AWS, the Subscribe button and AI Insights; on a private-plan-only Microsoft offer, the storefront listing itself. 6. **Can you undo it?** AWS lets you display pricing again. On Microsoft, a private plan can later be made public, but a published public plan can never be made private. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can you list on AWS Marketplace without public pricing? Yes, in preview. With Request for private offer enabled, a contract-based SaaS, AMI or container listing can hide its pricing, so buyers request a private offer instead of subscribing. The public offer must have no active subscriptions, test subscriptions included. ### Does Microsoft Marketplace still require a public plan? Not for offers made only of private plans, since version 1.96 of Microsoft’s certification policies, dated September 13, 2026. Every other offer needs one, and private offers still require publicly transactable plans. A SaaS offer with only private plans is reachable only through the Azure portal. ### Can you hide your price on Google Cloud Marketplace? For professional services, yes: Google documents hiding the list price and a toggle to hide each plan. For SaaS, private offers need at least one publicly available pricing plan, and Google doesn’t publicly document a way to hide its price. ### What is the $0.01 price on a Limited AWS listing? A test price. AWS sets new dimensions on a Limited, non-free product to $0.01 and asks for the actual price when you publish to Public. It isn’t a way to list without pricing, and setting every dimension to $0.00 converts the product to the Free pricing model. ### What happens when a Microsoft private offer ends? If the customer turned on auto-renewal and hasn’t accepted a new private offer, Microsoft charges the public plan’s list price after the private offer’s end date. That makes a placeholder list price the renewal price, so price the public plan as a renewal you’d accept. ## Takeaways - For software sold through the marketplace, AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud all expect a public price by default. Professional services sell through private offers on all three. - AWS’s leads-only listing is in preview and needs Request for private offer, a contract-based SaaS, AMI or container listing, and no active public subscriptions. - Microsoft’s September 13, 2026 change allows offers with only private plans. It doesn’t extend to private offers, and a private-plan-only SaaS offer is reachable only through the Azure portal. - Google Cloud documents a hidden price only for professional services. For SaaS, treat it as unconfirmed. - A placeholder is a real price: purchasable on AWS, the renewal fallback on Microsoft, and the discount base for Google Cloud usage offers. Whichever way each listing shows its price, the negotiated deals behind it still have to be built, approved and tracked. [Suger’s private offer management](/platform/private-offers/) does that for AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud private offers from one place. ## Sources Primary sources for the platform rules cited above. Last verified September 28, 2026. Cloud providers change fees, eligibility, and program terms without notice — check the source before relying on a figure. - [AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: Update pricing visibility](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/update-pricing-visibility.html) — In preview and subject to change; a leads-only listing stays in the catalog with Request for private offer in place of Subscribe; the prerequisites (request button enabled, ACE eligibility, linked accounts, a contract-based SaaS, AMI or container listing, no active subscriptions including test subscriptions); the change-request path and both visibility options; the listing-removal warning; the new-product sequence and the test-price note - [AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: Adding private offer and demo request buttons](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/creating-private-offer.html#private-offer-requests-demos) — After you enable the buttons, you can remove public pricing so buyers contact you through Request for private offer instead of purchasing through a public offer - [AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: SaaS product guidelines](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/saas-guidelines.html) — Pricing dimensions cannot be limited to private offers only, and buyers should be able to subscribe to any dimension on public products; a non-free product needs one dimension above $0.00, and all-$0.00 converts it to the Free pricing model - [AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: Configuring SaaS product settings](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/saas-product-settings.html) — New dimensions on Limited products with non-free pricing models are set to $0.01; the actual price is provided when you publish to Public; a price increase makes pricing updates unavailable for at least 90 days - [AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: Providing details for a professional services product](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/proserv-product-details.html) — Professional services dimensions are priced when you create a private offer for the buyer - [AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: AI Insights](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/ai-insights.html) — Generated from the listing's public pricing and the product website, and created automatically for listings where public pricing is available - [Microsoft Marketplace certification policies](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/marketplace/certification-policies) — Policy 100.1.5: each offer must have at least one public plan, except for private-plan-only offers; public plans can be Contact Me, BYOL or Get It Now (Transact) - [Change history for commercial marketplace certification policies](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/marketplace/offer-policies-change-history) — Version 1.96, dated September 13, 2026: Updated 100.1.5 policies; no separate effective date is given - [Microsoft Learn: Plan a SaaS offer for Microsoft Marketplace](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/plan-saas-offer) — Customers can access SaaS offers with only private plans through the Azure portal, marked Azure portal only in the availability table - [Microsoft Learn: Private plans in Microsoft Marketplace](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/private-plans) — An offer with only private plans isn't visible in Microsoft Marketplace or discoverable by customers not associated with it; up to 45 private plans per offer; Microsoft Entra tenant ID targeting for SaaS - [Microsoft Learn: Learn about Private plans (customer documentation)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/private-plans) — Private plans only for paid products purchased and installed from the Azure portal, never for consulting services, Contact me or free services; tenant rather than billing-account targeting; multiparty and CSP private offers not supported - [Microsoft Learn: Create plans for a SaaS offer in Microsoft Marketplace](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/create-new-saas-offer-plans) — Up to 10 tenant IDs by hand or 20,000 by CSV file; a private plan can later be made public, but a published public plan can't be made private - [Microsoft Learn: ISV-to-customer private offers](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/isv-customer) — What private offers add over private plans, including contract upload and targeting an organization rather than a tenant; private offers available within 15 minutes, private plans up to 48 hours - [Microsoft Learn: Frequently asked questions about ISV-to-customer private offers](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/isv-customer-faq) — Private offers require publicly transactable plans; percentage discounts apply on top of a publicly listed plan; with auto-renewal on and no new private offer, the customer is charged the public plan's list price after the end date; auto-renew is off by default - [Microsoft Learn: Plan a professional service offer](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/plan-professional-service-offer) — Professional services may only be sold via private offers and aren't visible on the storefronts - [Microsoft Learn: Introduction to listing options](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/determine-your-listing-type) — The Request private offer experience is available on public products; a Contact Me listing asks customers to request contact - [Google Cloud Marketplace Partners: Configure your SaaS product's backend for private offers](https://docs.cloud.google.com/marketplace/docs/partners/offers/backend-integration) — Before you begin: at least one of your pricing plans must be publicly available - [Google Cloud Marketplace Partners: Pricing models for private offers](https://docs.cloud.google.com/marketplace/docs/partners/offers/select-pricing-model) — Private offer pricing is based on the plan that sets the public list price; flat-fee offers customize the payment amount; usage-based offers discount the plan's usage pricing; under the commitment-discount option, usage beyond the commitment is billed at list price - [Google Cloud Marketplace Partners: Choose and submit your pricing model (professional services)](https://docs.cloud.google.com/marketplace/docs/partners/professional-services/choose-pricing) — Customers usually see the list price, but you can choose to hide it; each plan has a toggle to hide it from the public listing - [Google Cloud Marketplace Partners: Offer professional services](https://docs.cloud.google.com/marketplace/docs/partners/professional-services) — Customers buy professional services only by accepting a private offer; sales lead management messages; vendor and customer both in the United States; each service links to a current commercial product listing - [Google Cloud Marketplace Partners: Choosing and submitting your pricing model (SaaS)](https://docs.cloud.google.com/marketplace/docs/partners/integrated-saas/select-pricing) — The SaaS pricing steps in Producer Portal, which include no plan-visibility toggle, and Partner Support Desk for assistance - [Suger docs: AWS Marketplace List Product](https://doc.suger.io/aws-marketplace/list-product/) — Suger behaviour: listing prices stay at $0.01 while the listing is Limited, so the end-to-end test purchase doesn't charge a real price, and are replaced when you publish ## Keep reading - [Cloud GTMHow to Retire a Marketplace Listing, Plan or DimensionSep 24, 2026](/resources/blog/retire-marketplace-listing/) - [Cloud GTMGetting Your Listing Ready for Event TrafficAug 27, 2026](/resources/blog/listing-ready-for-event-traffic/) - [MarketplacesAlibaba Marketplace: Private Offers vs PromotionsAug 24, 2026](/resources/blog/alibaba-marketplace-private-offers-vs-promotions/) - [Cloud GTMClosing Cloud Marketplace Deals Before Year-EndAug 24, 2026](/resources/blog/closing-marketplace-deals-before-year-end/) [Browse every post on the Suger Blog](/resources/blog/) ### Stay Updated Get the latest Cloud GTM insights, product updates, and marketplace strategies delivered to your inbox.