Does a developer have to pay for publishing a SaaS app on Windows Azure Marketplace?

Question

Currently i'm building a simple SaaS-driven TMS. The aim is to publish it in the Windows Azure Marketplace. I'm not able to find any pricing on that. Does Microsoft charge developers for publishing? Is that on a Monthly base? Or are all applications that are hosted on Windows Azure also publishable (if that's even a word) on the market?

Or... do they take a percentage of the price you ask for your subscriptions?

Any help would be appreciated!

Answer 1

I don't know what TMS is, but... The Windows Azure Marketplace lets you publish your app and sell monthly subscriptions. You choose the pricing tiers and restrictions on those tiers (maybe amount of storage, reports, etc.). The marketplace deals with payment collection activation/deactivation of service (by sending your app special messages), and promoting the app in the marketplace itself.

Any Windows Azure app may be listed in the marketplace, but those being billed through the marketplace need to be SaaS apps.

There's no cost to publish, but there's a commission taken by the marketplace (I can't recall the percentage).

EDIT: Here's the agreement you have to sign when publishing. It contains complete details of the payment and fee structure.