Compute Nest provides three sales methods for service providers: Alibaba Cloud Marketplace product, third-party-paid product, and custom sales. Choose based on your software type, deployment model, and billing preference.
Choose a sales method
| Sales method | Best for | Billing model |
|---|---|---|
| Alibaba Cloud Marketplace product | Most commonly used — broad market reach with platform-backed sales | One-time purchase or subscription |
| Third-party-paid product | Building your own e-commerce storefront | Subscription |
| Custom sales | Offline deals for private services | Validity-period-based (set in console) |
Alibaba Cloud Marketplace product and third-party-paid product cannot be selected at the same time.
Configure a sales method in the Compute Nest console for published services before customers can purchase and use your services.
Alibaba Cloud Marketplace product
Publishing your service to Alibaba Cloud Marketplace gives it visibility to Alibaba Cloud customers and supports both one-time purchase and subscription billing. For an overview of how selling works, see Overview of selling Compute Nest services in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace.
Private service sales
Cloud resources for private services are deployed in the customer's account. You charge software license fees; Alibaba Cloud charges cloud resource fees.
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Free trials | Supported. If you enable free trials for your Marketplace listing, you must also enable them on the associated Compute Nest service templates or packages. Alibaba Cloud covers the trial resource costs. |
| Fee display | Shows both cloud resource fees and software license fees. |
| License management | Required before publishing. See the checklist below. |
License management checklist
Before publishing to Alibaba Cloud Marketplace, verify that your software handles the following:
License acquisition and activation — how customers get a license after purchase, how your system generates it, and whether activation is manual or automatic
License vulnerabilities — whether the software can be deployed and used without a valid license, and whether signature verification is in place to prevent unauthorized distribution
Expiration enforcement — whether core features are disabled on license expiration, and whether expiration can be bypassed by changing the time or devices
If any of the above issues exist, implement license management before publishing. For details, see Subscription expiration check.
Fully managed service sales
Fully managed services (also called SaaS service sales) deploy all cloud resources in your account, not the customer's. Incorporate cloud resource costs into your software pricing.
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Free trials | Supported. Resource fees during the trial period are covered by you, the service provider. |
| Fee display | Shows software fees only. Cloud resource fees are not shown. |
Third-party-paid product
Third-party-paid product helps individual software developers quickly build their own software e-commerce platforms using an accessible web framework. Billing is subscription-based. For details, see What is Compute Nest SaaS Boost.
Custom sales
Custom sales supports private services only. Set the software validity period in the Compute Nest console, then sell to customers through offline channels rather than online. For setup instructions, see Custom sales.