Microsoft Azure Marketplace

The Microsoft Azure Marketplace is an online store that offers applications and services either built on or designed to integrate with Microsoft's Azure public cloud.

The products and services sold through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace come from either Microsoft directly or its technology partners. Before they become available for purchase on the Marketplace, all services and products are certified through the Microsoft Azure Certified program to ensure compatibility with the Azure public cloud.

As of June 2016, the Microsoft Azure Marketplace offers over 3,800 products organized into seven categories:

Virtual machines (VM) -- Software images designed for Linux and Windows Server virtual machines. These are provided by Microsoft and other software vendors, including Veeam, CoreOS and SAP.

Developer services -- Add-on services for application development and management. Vendors for these services include SendGrid, New Relic and mLab.

API apps -- Tools to help developers connect applications to software as a service (SaaS) offerings and application programming interfaces (APIs). This category offers tools such as Salesforce Connector, HDInsight Connector and SharePoint Server Connector.

Azure Active Directory applications -- Applications that can be configured on Azure Active Directory to support user account management and single-sign on. Applications include Box, Citrix and Concur.

Web applications -- Azure web apps and templates, including open source options. Applications offered include Scalable WordPress, CakePHP and Django.

Data services -- Services that provide data on demographics, financials, retail, sports and a range of other categories. Organizations can use this data for custom applications and business intelligence tools. Data services include Microsoft Bing Search API,  Microsoft Translator and Dun and Bradsteet's Business Verification.

Microsoft Dynamics solutions -- Products that can be used alongside Microsoft Dynamics, a suite of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications from Microsoft. Products in this category include AX for Pharma, Instant AX for Manufacturing and ProjAX for Microsoft.

The Microsoft Azure Marketplace has various pricing and subscription options, based on product type. Some products are free, while others involve a monthly charge or follow a pay-as-you-go model. Users are charged separately for the Marketplace products they purchase and their Azure infrastructure costs.