Requirements for becoming a Solutions Partner with certified software for a solution area

Appropriate roles: Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program partner admin | Referrals admin | Co-sell Solutions admin

This section provides details about requirements to become a Solutions partner with certified software on a per-solution basis.

General eligibility requirements

Microsoft Marketplace readiness (for example, transactable and IP co-sell eligible, if applicable - see the note about exceptions): Microsoft Marketplace is a single web destination for customers to find, try, and buy the right cloud solutions and AI agents. With the new AI Apps and Agents category in Marketplace, customers can choose from a growing collection of AI apps and agents to meet their unique needs. Publishing and transacting through Marketplace helps you unlock growth and limitless innovation.
Interoperable with the Microsoft Cloud: Each solution is validated by a technical review before it becomes certified. By proving that your software solution is interoperable with the Microsoft Cloud, you’re making it easier for customers to identify the software that works seamlessly with the Microsoft workloads they already use.
Proven customer success: Your application is evaluated by its demonstrated track record of customer success, as measured by commercial performance and deployments, such as Marketplace Billed Sales (MBS) and other designation-relevant measures, as well as evidence of customer satisfaction, such as Marketplace ratings or a minimum of two artifacts of evidence from customers.

Note

These exceptions are currently in place for the transactability of Modern Work and Business Applications solutions:

Modern Work: Microsoft 365 solutions need to be listed in Microsoft Marketplace but don't need to be transactable at this time due to Marketplace transactability capabilities.
Business Applications: Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dataverse, and Power Apps offers must be listed in Microsoft Marketplace and Business Applications IP co-sell eligible but don't need to be transactable at this time due to Marketplace transactability capabilities.

Important

It is important to note that recurring billing events are not each categorized as transactions. A transaction refers specifically to the first occurrence of a unique combination of the customer, partner, and offer. For example, a transaction with monthly payments over two years would only count as one transaction.

Insights & Visibility into CSD Qualification Metrics

To help you track your progress toward Solutions Partner with Certified Software Designation (CSD) qualification, we’re introducing a new Insights Panel in Partner Center Referrals. This panel gives greater transparency into the core metrics used for qualification: Marketplace Billed Sales, Net Customer Adds, and Marketplace Transactions.

What you can see:

MBS Insights - Aggregated transactions by offer, counts of transactions, and total billed sales amounts.
Net Customer Adds Insights - Details of qualifying new customer additions at the offer level.
Marketplace Transactions Insights - Underlying transactions that contribute toward your CSD qualification.

Requirements for Azure

This table summarizes the conditions that must be met to become a Solutions Partner with certified software for Azure.

Category	Metrics	Learn more
Microsoft Marketplace	Solutions must be Azure IP co-sell eligible.	Co-sell requirements - Partner Center
Technical	Solutions must pass a technical review audit that assesses the interoperability with Azure products, platforms, and services, with specific criteria according to the solution's integration scenarios: Data Operations and Management Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning Integration Customer Deployed Services and Container Augmentation Control Plane, Orchestration, and DevOps	Technical audit
Customer success	Solutions and partners must satisfy the following criteria: Partner criteria: Commercial performance measured by the same criteria as the FY24 IP co-sell Top Tier marketplace performance criteria, namely that partners must meet one of the following criteria over a trailing 12-month period: USD4 million marketplace billed sales (MBS) transactions OR 12 net-new customer adds to the marketplace of greater than USD10,000 each. Where "Net-new" means net-new to the Microsoft commercial marketplace (not net-new to Microsoft) and/or net-new to the specific partner. OR 30 marketplace transactions with eight unique customers. Where a marketplace transaction refers to your Microsoft commercial marketplace sale or deal with a customer and must be at a minimum value of USD100. The transaction doesn't refer to the individual billing event with a customer (that is, not counting each billing event for a subscription as multiple transactions). * OR USD30 million Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments (MACC) with at least five marketplace transactions. Where a marketplace transaction refers to your Microsoft commercial marketplace sale or deal with a customer and must be at a minimum value of USD100. The transaction doesn't refer to the individual billing event with a customer (that is, not counting each billing event for a subscription as multiple transactions). OR USD200 million Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments (MACC) with at least one IP Co-sell eligible and transactable listing Solution criteria: Customer satisfaction measured by one of the following criteria for the solution: At least a 4.5 average commercial marketplace rating, and with 15 or more ratings OR Two artifacts of referenceable customer evidence (including, but not limited to, case studies), relevant to the product and solution area.	Azure IP co-sell top-tier benefits - Partner Center

Requirements for Business Applications

To become a Solutions Partner with certified software for Business Applications, you must meet the conditions summarized in this table.

Category	Metrics	Learn More
Microsoft Marketplace	Solutions must be Business Applications co-sell eligible. Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dataverse and Power Apps offers don't need to be transactable at this time due to Marketplace transactability capabilities.	Co-sell requirements
Technical	Solutions must pass a technical review audit that assesses the interoperability with Business Applications products, platforms, and services, with specific criteria to assess feature overlaps, operational excellence, data handling and more.	Technical audit
Customer success	Solutions and partners must satisfy the following criteria: Partner criteria: Commercial performance measured by partners meeting one of two specific thresholds over a trailing twelve-month period: USD1 million marketplace billed sales (MBS) transactions over a trailing twelve-month period. OR Business Applications independent software vendor (ISV) partner influenced revenue (PIR) of USD4 million over a trailing twelve-month period. This metric captures your influence on qualified Business Applications customer deployments, including if you don't transact through the commercial marketplace. While partner influenced revenue (PIR) isn't visible in Partner Center, when you have achieved the threshold, you're able to apply for the Business Applications certified software designation in Partner Center. Business Applications partners can contribute to influenced revenue through deal registration, co-sell, Cloud Embed, and AppSource installs. We're evaluating other metrics that might be added in the future to capture non-transactable Business Applications offers. Solution criteria: Customer satisfaction measured by one of the following criteria for the solution: At least a 4.5 average commercial marketplace rating and with 15 or more ratings OR Two artifacts of referenceable customer evidence (including, but not limited to, case studies), relevant to the product and solution area

Requirements for Modern Work

This table summarizes the conditions that must be met to become a Solutions Partner with certified software for Modern Work.

Category	Metrics	Learn More
Microsoft Marketplace	Microsoft 365 solutions don't need to be transactable at this time due to Marketplace transactability capabilities.
Technical	Solutions must complete the Microsoft 365 App Compliance Program certification.	Microsoft 365 App Compliance Program
Customer success	Solutions and partners must satisfy the following criteria: Partner criteria:^[1] Commercial performance measured by one of the following criteria over a trailing twelve-month period: Partners meeting USD100,000 Marketplace Billed Sales (MBS) transactions OR Solutions averaging 50,000 Teams Apps monthly active users (MAU) Solution criteria: Customer satisfaction measured by one of the following criteria for the solution: At least a 4.5 average Marketplace rating and with 15 or more ratings OR Two artifacts of referenceable customer evidence (including, but not limited to, case studies), relevant to the product and solution area	Microsoft Teams app usage report

(1) Insights & Visibility into CSD Qualification Metrics - To help you track your progress toward Solutions Partner with Certified Software Designation (CSD) qualification, we’re introducing a new Insights Panel in Partner Center Referrals. This panel gives greater transparency into the core metrics used for qualification: Marketplace Billed Sales, Net Customer Adds, and Marketplace Transactions.
What you can see:

MBS Insights - Aggregated transactions by offer, counts of transactions, and total billed sales amounts
Net Customer Adds Insights - Details of qualifying new customer additions at the offer level
Teams App Usage Insights - A distinct count of users within a rolling 28-day period
Marketplace Transactions Insights - Underlying transactions that contribute toward your CSD qualification

Requirements for Security

To become a Solutions Partner with certified software for Security, you must meet the conditions summarized in this table.

Category	Metrics	Learn More
Microsoft Marketplace	Solutions must be Azure IP co-sell eligible.	Co-sell requirements
Technical	Solutions must pass a technical review according to the Security platform or product that they integrate with: Sentinel: The solution must have passed the publishing criteria and be active in the Microsoft Sentinel Content hub gallery If the solution integrates with a Microsoft Security platform not listed, it might still be eligible for the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), which covers a broader set of platforms. Follow the link in the Learn more column for more information.	Review the Microsoft Sentinel content and solutions documentation https://aka.ms/MISA
Customer success	Solutions and partners must satisfy the following criteria: Partner criteria: Commercial performance measured by the same criteria comprising the FY24 IP co-sell top tier Marketplace performance criteria, namely that partners must meet one of the following criteria over a trailing twelve-month period: USD $4 million Marketplace Billed Sales (MBS) transactions OR 12 net-new customer adds to Marketplace of greater than USD $10,000 each Where "Net-new" means net-new to Microsoft Marketplace (not net-new to Microsoft) and/or net-new to the specific partner. OR 30 Marketplace transactions with eight unique customers. Must be at a minimum value of USD $100. Solution criteria: Customer satisfaction measured by one of the following criteria for the solution: At least a 4.5 average Marketplace rating, and with 15 or more ratings OR Two artifacts of referenceable customer evidence (including, but not limited to, case studies), relevant to the product and solution area Also note that customer evidence, specifically for the Security designation, doesn't need to be publicly referenceable but might need to be validated by the customer.	Azure IP co-sell top-tier benefits

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Last updated on 2025-09-26