--- title: "AWS SaaS: what it means and how SaaS companies use AWS" description: "AWS is mostly infrastructure and platform, not SaaS. How SaaS companies build on it, the silo, bridge and pool tenant models, and what AWS Marketplace charges sellers." canonical: "https://saascron.com/aws-saas/" language: "en-US" author: "Ricardo Machado" author_url: "https://saascron.com/author/ricardo-machado/" published: "2026-10-20T07:00:00-04:00" updated: "2026-10-20T07:00:00-04:00" category: "Platforms" tags: ["AWS", "Platforms", "Multi tenant", "Marketplace"] --- # AWS SaaS: what it means and how SaaS companies use AWS > AWS is mostly infrastructure and platform, not SaaS. How SaaS companies build on it, the silo, bridge and pool tenant models, and what AWS Marketplace charges sellers. You searched for "AWS SaaS" and found three different things: SaaS products sold on AWS Marketplace, advice on building SaaS on AWS, and AWS services that sound like SaaS. You want to know which one applies to your situation. AWS (Amazon Web Services) mostly sells infrastructure and platform services: servers, storage, databases and managed building blocks that other companies run their own software on. "AWS SaaS" usually means a software company running its SaaS product on AWS, selling it through AWS Marketplace, or both. The difference matters because it decides who is responsible for what, and who takes a cut of the revenue. This guide covers the responsibility split, the three ways SaaS companies separate customers on AWS, and the fees AWS Marketplace charges sellers. For what SaaS is, see [What is SaaS?](https://saascron.com/what-is-saas/). For the line between SaaS and the platforms it runs on, see [SaaS vs PaaS](https://saascron.com/saas-vs-paas/). ## AWS and SaaS in plain terms Think of a shopping mall. The mall owner builds the floors, supplies the power and keeps guards at the entrances. Shops rent units and sell their own goods to their own customers. The owner also runs a directory with a shared checkout, and takes a small fee on every sale made through it. AWS is the mall owner. A SaaS company is a shop: it rents compute and storage, puts its application on top and sells subscriptions. AWS Marketplace is the directory with the checkout. In the terms of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), what a SaaS company rents from AWS is infrastructure or platform. With platform as a service, you "deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications" and keep "control over the deployed applications" ([NIST SP 800-145](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/145/final)). A SaaS company does exactly that, then sells the finished application to its own customers. ## Who secures what AWS splits security in two in its [shared responsibility model](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/shared-responsibility-model/). AWS is responsible for "security of the cloud": the infrastructure "that runs all of the services offered in the AWS Cloud", meaning hardware, software, networking and facilities. The customer is responsible for "security in the cloud", which is "determined by the AWS Cloud services that a customer selects". For a SaaS company, the customer in that sentence is you. Your application, your tenant isolation, your access rules and your customers' data are on your side of the line. Your customers hold you to account for all of it, whatever runs underneath. ## Three ways to separate tenants A SaaS product serves many customers, called tenants, from one system. AWS's [Guidance for Multi-Tenant Architectures](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/solutions/multi-tenant-architectures-on-aws/) describes three database models: | Model | What tenants share | How data is kept apart | Isolation | Cost and complexity | |---|---|---|---|---| | Silo | Nothing: each tenant gets its own application stack and database instance | Separate database instance per tenant | Strongest | Highest | | Bridge | The application stack and the database instance | A dedicated schema per tenant | Middle | Middle | | Pool | Everything, including the tables | Row-level security in the database | Least | Lowest | The isolation and cost columns follow AWS's own wording: the silo model "provides the strongest tenant isolation but incurs the most cost and complexity", and the pool model "offers the least tenant isolation but costs the least". You do not have to pick one model for everyone. AWS's [SaaS Architecture Fundamentals](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/saas-architecture-fundamentals/full-stack-silo-and-pool.html) whitepaper, now marked for historical reference, describes basic-tier tenants in a shared pool and premium-tier tenants in their own stacks. It adds a condition: every silo must run the same configuration and the same software version, with no one-off customization. Without that rule, each premium customer becomes a separate product to maintain. ## Selling through AWS Marketplace AWS Marketplace is a catalog where AWS customers can buy your SaaS product, with AWS billing them. AWS lists [four SaaS pricing models](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/saas-pricing-models.html): subscriptions billed on hourly usage, contracts billed in advance or on a flexible schedule, contracts with an extra metered rate for usage above the contract, and free. AWS charges sellers a [listing fee](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/listing-fees.html) on the pre-tax total contract value. The rates below have applied since January 5, 2024: | Offer type | Listing fee | |---|---| | SaaS public offer | 3% | | Server products (machine images, containers, machine learning), public offer | 20% | | Private offer under $1M | 3% | | Private offer from $1M to under $10M | 2% | | Private offer of $10M or more | 1.5% | | Private offer renewal | 1.5% | | Through a channel partner | 0.5% added to the rate | A regional fee of 1% is added for buyers in South Korea, effective April 1, 2025. **Example:** you sell a three-year SaaS contract worth $240,000 as a private offer. - Listing fee: $240,000 x 3% = $7,200, so you keep $240,000 - $7,200 = $232,800 before your own costs. - The same deal sold through a channel partner: 3% + 0.5% = 3.5%, so $240,000 x 3.5% = $8,400. - A private offer renewal at the same value: $240,000 x 1.5% = $3,600. - A $1,200,000 private offer falls in the 2% band: $1,200,000 x 2% = $24,000. For comparison, a public SaaS listing at $100,000 of contract value pays $3,000, while a server product at the same value pays $20,000. Put the fee in your margin model before you set a price for the Marketplace. ## Common mistakes 1. **Calling a product SaaS because it runs on AWS.** Software you install and operate on your own AWS servers is still software you run. Why it happens: "cloud" is used for both. Instead: ask who runs the application and whether the buyer only logs in. 2. **Assuming AWS secures the application.** AWS covers "security of the cloud"; your code, tenant isolation and data sit on your side. Why it happens: a large provider feels like a security guarantee. Instead: write down which controls are yours and who owns each one. 3. **Choosing one tenant model for every customer.** Silo for everyone multiplies cost; pool for everyone may fail a buyer's isolation requirement. Why it happens: one model is simpler to build first. Instead: match the model to the tier, and keep every silo on the same version. 4. **Leaving the Marketplace fee out of the price.** On a $240,000 channel deal the fee is $8,400. Why it happens: the fee arrives later, on a separate listing-fee invoice, not on the price you quote. Instead: model the fee for each offer type, including the channel uplift. If your SaaS product lets customers use their own domains, see [Cloudflare for SaaS](https://saascron.com/cloudflare-for-saas/) for one way to handle it. For how SaaS fits into the wider cloud models, see [SaaS in cloud computing](https://saascron.com/saas-in-cloud-computing/). ## Sources - AWS, [Shared responsibility model](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/shared-responsibility-model/), checked October 2026. - AWS, [Guidance for Multi-Tenant Architectures on AWS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/solutions/multi-tenant-architectures-on-aws/) and [SaaS Architecture Fundamentals: full stack silo and pool](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/saas-architecture-fundamentals/full-stack-silo-and-pool.html), checked October 2026. - AWS Marketplace Seller Guide, [SaaS product pricing](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/saas-pricing-models.html) and [listing fees](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/marketplace/latest/userguide/listing-fees.html), checked October 2026. - NIST, [SP 800-145](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/145/final), September 2011. ## In three sentences AWS mostly sells infrastructure and platform services, and "AWS SaaS" usually means a SaaS company that runs its product on AWS, sells it through AWS Marketplace, or both. On AWS you choose how to separate tenants, from a silo per tenant (strongest isolation, highest cost) to a shared pool (least isolation, lowest cost). Marketplace sales carry a listing fee of 1.5% to 3% for SaaS offers, plus 0.5% through a channel partner, so a $240,000 private offer pays $7,200. --- Canonical: