A paid POC — proof of concept — is a short, priced engagement where the buyer evaluates your product for real money rather than for free. Running it through a cloud marketplace puts that money on their existing cloud bill, which means it draws down committed spend and travels a procurement path their organisation has already approved.
The free pilot has a structural problem: nothing that costs nothing is anybody’s priority. Champions who have not spent money have not spent political capital either, and the evaluation drifts until someone reorganises.
A paid POC fixes the incentive and creates a second problem — now there is a purchase, which means procurement, which means six weeks. Transacting it through a marketplace is how teams get the first without the second.
Here is how to structure one, and where they go wrong.
Why run a POC through a marketplace at all?
Because the money comes from a budget the buyer has already committed, through a vendor they have already approved. Three things follow from that:
It draws down committed spend. Enterprise buyers with a committed cloud agreement have money they must spend with that provider. A marketplace purchase counts against it. That converts your invoice from new spend — which needs a budget owner and an approval — into the consumption of a commitment that already exists.
The vendor onboarding is already done. Your buyer’s procurement team has an approved relationship with their cloud provider. The marketplace transaction runs through it, so the vendor-onboarding step that normally precedes a first purchase does not repeat.
Conversion does not need re-papering. This is the underrated one. A POC that converts to a full agreement on the same marketplace is an amendment or a new private offer, not a new vendor relationship. The path from pilot to production is a document, not a project.
The shapes a paid POC can take
A short-term private offer
The most common and usually the right answer. A private offer with a term matched to the evaluation, at a price that reflects a pilot rather than a production deployment.
AWS supports SaaS contracts where buyers “are either billed in advance for the use of your software, or you can offer them a flexible payment schedule,” and lets customers “pay for additional usage above their contract.” A pilot is exactly the case where a flexible schedule earns its complexity: a small payment to start, the balance on conversion.
Private offers also unlock currencies the public listing does not. AWS public listings use US dollars; private offers support USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY, and INR for sellers in India. For an international pilot that detail can remove a whole finance objection.
A contract with a deliberately short term
Where your product is contract-priced, a short contract term is simpler than a bespoke pilot construct. On Microsoft, one-month contract durations exist with one-time upfront billing, and flexible schedules are available on longer terms “with a private offer only.”
One Microsoft rule to know before you promise a term: the desired contract duration must be available on the public plan for it to be eligible as part of a private offer. If your public plans only offer annual, you cannot quietly do a one-month private offer without changing the public plan first.
A free trial that converts to a paid pilot
Where the technical evaluation is genuinely short and the commercial one is not. AWS notes that all SaaS pricing models support free trials. The risk is the one every PLG team knows: a trial that ends without a decision point produces no urgency at all. Free trials on cloud marketplaces covers designing the expiry properly.
A funded POC
The cloud providers run partner funding programs that can support proof-of-concept work, with eligibility rules that depend on deal stage and program. Amounts and criteria change, so confirm the current terms with your partner manager rather than working from any published figure — AWS partner funding programs covers what each program is for and where to check.
The four things to settle before you send the offer
1. What “success” means, in writing. A POC without written success criteria does not end; it fades. Two or three specific, checkable outcomes, agreed with the champion before the offer goes out. If they cannot be checked in the term you have chosen, the term is wrong.
2. The term, and what happens on the last day. Does access stop? Does it convert automatically? Does it lapse into a monthly arrangement? Decide, and tell the buyer. An entitlement that ends without anyone deciding is how a customer loses access mid-evaluation and blames the product.
3. The conversion mechanism, before you need it. The whole advantage of a marketplace POC is that conversion is a document. Know in advance whether it is an amendment to the existing agreement or a fresh private offer, who issues it, and how long acceptance takes. What buyers see when you send a private offer covers the acceptance flow from their side.
4. Who at the buyer accepts. Marketplace offers are accepted by whoever holds the right permissions on the cloud account, which is frequently not your champion. Identify that person during the POC, not on the day you need a signature.
Where paid POCs go wrong
Pricing the pilot like a small production deal. The point is to remove friction, and a pilot price that requires an approval chain has removed none. Price it to be approvable by your champion’s own authority where you can.
A term shorter than the buyer’s own process. A 30-day POC inside an organisation that reviews security in six weeks is a POC that expires during the security review. Match the term to their calendar, not to your quarter.
Treating the POC as the sale. The POC is a step, and the conversion offer should be drafted before the pilot ends, not after the results arrive. Momentum decays fast at the end of a pilot.
Letting it convert silently. A pilot that auto-converts into a production agreement nobody discussed produces exactly one outcome: a refund conversation and a damaged relationship. Convert deliberately.
Forgetting the entitlement ends. When a POC entitlement expires, your product should react. If it does not, you have a customer using production software with no contract behind them, and nothing in your reporting will say so.
Frequently asked questions
What is a paid POC on AWS Marketplace? A short, priced proof-of-concept engagement transacted through the marketplace, usually as a private offer with a term matched to the evaluation. The cost lands on the buyer’s existing cloud bill.
Why run a proof of concept through a marketplace? It draws down the buyer’s committed cloud spend, reuses a vendor relationship procurement has already approved, and lets a successful pilot convert without a new vendor onboarding.
How long should a marketplace POC run? Long enough to complete the buyer’s own security and evaluation processes. A term shorter than their internal review guarantees an expiry mid-evaluation.
Can I offer a one-month term on Microsoft Marketplace? Yes, one-month contract durations exist with one-time upfront billing. Note that a duration must be available on your public plan before it is eligible as part of a private offer.
Can a POC be billed in instalments? On AWS, yes. SaaS contracts can be billed in advance or on a flexible payment schedule, so a pilot can start with a small payment and settle the balance on conversion.
What should happen when a POC ends? Whatever you told the buyer would happen. Decide in advance whether access stops, converts or lapses — and make sure your product actually reacts when the entitlement ends.
Takeaways
- A paid POC on a marketplace draws down committed cloud spend and reuses an approved procurement path, which is why it moves faster than a direct pilot.
- The usual instrument is a short-term private offer. AWS supports billing in advance or on a flexible payment schedule, plus overage above the contract.
- Private offers also open currencies the public listing does not — AWS supports USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY and INR on private offers.
- On Microsoft, a contract duration must exist on the public plan before it can be used in a private offer.
- Write down success criteria and the end-of-term behaviour before sending the offer. A POC without either does not end, it fades.
- Draft the conversion offer before the pilot finishes. Momentum at the end of a pilot decays in days.
A pilot is only fast if the offer, the conversion and the entitlement behind them are one continuous record. See how Suger handles private offers — pilot terms, flexible schedules and the conversion offer that follows — across every marketplace you sell on.
Sources
Primary sources for the platform rules cited above. Last verified August 12, 2026. Cloud providers change fees, eligibility, and program terms without notice — check the source before relying on a figure.
- AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: SaaS product pricing in AWS Marketplace — SaaS contracts billed in advance or on a flexible payment schedule, overage above contract, and free trial support across all SaaS models
- AWS Marketplace Seller Guide: Product pricing for AWS Marketplace — The currencies supported on public listings versus private offers
- Microsoft Learn: Plan a SaaS offer for Microsoft Marketplace — Contract durations from one month, flexible billing schedules on private offers only, and the rule that the duration must exist on the public plan first
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