M3ter adds AWS Marketplace integration for complex SaaS pricing
m3ter has introduced a native integration for AWS Marketplace, designed to support complex pricing models for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs).
The integration offers ISVs a method to implement usage-based and hybrid pricing models on AWS Marketplace without the need for extensive custom engineering. It also provides connections to customer relationship management (CRM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, and production systems, aiming to enhance monetisation capabilities for B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors.
Pricing complexity
Griffin Parry, CEO and co-founder of m3ter, noted that AWS Marketplace has become an important channel for ISVs but presents challenges when accommodating advanced pricing structures. He said:
"AWS Marketplace offers a compelling way for ISVs to get their products in front of new customers, but onboarding can be challenging if your pricing is complex."
Parry outlined two main difficulties: the lack of native support for sophisticated pricing models and limited mechanisms to provide visibility or to make corrections. He explained further:
"There are two challenges in particular – a lack of native support for complex pricing strategies, and limited visibility and correction mechanisms. That means ISVs have needed to build complex custom integrations or offer simplified (and therefore sub-optimal) pricing. We built our integration so that our customers could fully leverage AWS Marketplace without heavy engineering effort or compromising on pricing design."
Key features
The integration extends several pricing models to AWS Marketplace, including hybrid, tiered, prepay, and token or credit-based billing. According to m3ter, this eliminates the need for custom integrations or rewriting existing pricing logic. The platform also gives real-time visibility over billing, usage reporting, and reconciliation across all sales channels.
Commenting on the practical use of the integration, Lee Power, Senior Product Manager at Matillion and a customer of m3ter, said:
"We're excited to start using the new AWS Marketplace integration with m3ter. From our first hands-on experience, we were able to connect our existing listing and see usage-based charges flow directly to AWS Marketplace seamlessly."
"We've worked closely with m3ter to ensure the solution supports our pricing and billing needs, and we're looking forward to delivering an even smoother experience for our Marketplace customers."
Addressing industry limitations
AWS Marketplace's default Metering API is configured primarily for simple usage-based billing and does not support hybrid models involving both fixed and variable fees, nor does it natively accommodate multi-attribute rating, prepayment balance drawdowns, or token-based approaches. Additionally, AWS Marketplace imposes restrictions on when usage data can be submitted and provides limited mechanisms for data correction and in-period reporting.
m3ter's integration is designed to address these gaps by acting as a data mediation layer between vendor production systems and AWS APIs. This allows ISVs to adapt their pricing structures on AWS Marketplace with less engineering overhead and operational complexity.
Multi-channel distribution
The integration aims to offer a single metering and rating system for all distribution channels - including direct sales, resellers, and cloud marketplaces. Other stated benefits include faster time-to-market for new pricing models, transparency over usage and revenue flow, and the removal of the need to maintain separate, custom billing systems.
AWS Marketplace continues to grow as a significant route for software distribution, and with this integration, m3ter seeks to provide ISVs with tools that facilitate the adoption of complex pricing models within this channel.
