Software license via Marketplace or BYOL?
Marketplace for fast setup and bundled compute+license on one invoice. BYOL (Bring Your Own License) if you already have licenses or negotiate a better price with the software vendor.
Try this first
- 1Marketplace advantages: one invoice, billing aggregation via your cloud account, often a free trial. Setup in minutes.
- 2Marketplace drawbacks: the license is bound to Marketplace, not your software vendor. Switching cloud means re-buying.
- 3BYOL: portable, often cheaper at scale, and direct vendor relationship. More setup work, own license management.
- 4For open-source distros (NGINX, MongoDB Enterprise, Splunk) on Marketplace: check if the price is justified. Self-host often cheaper.
- 5For Microsoft on Azure: Hybrid Use Benefit with BYOL can save up to 40 percent on Windows licenses. Run the numbers.
When to bring us in
For a Marketplace purchase above 10K per year: ask your software vendor to deliver the same scope direct via BYOL. Often the price is negotiable.
See also
- Everyone logs in with the AWS root accountRoot is for emergencies and billing. Day-to-day work belongs in IAM users or SSO.
- Every developer has AdministratorAccessAdministratorAccess everywhere is convenient now, painful later. Start with role-based policies.
- Everyone has individual IAM users with their own passwordIdentity Center (formerly AWS SSO) links to your IdP and issues temporary credentials per session.
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