Top 8 Snowflake Marketplace Questions, Answered

Snowflake Marketplace is designed to give customers and organizations a place to easily find, try and buy data, apps and AI products that help solve their most pressing business problems. We have more than 540 providers, offering over 2,400 live, ready-to-use data products (as of Jan 31, 2024), so there are many options to help you enrich your own data resources, build new data apps and leverage the power of AI on Snowflake. This also means we get many questions about how to get a product onto Snowflake Marketplace, how to choose a pricing model, how listings are vetted and so forth.

With that in mind, we’ve answered 8 of the most commonly asked questions about Snowflake Marketplace from providers and consumers alike. And if you need a little refresher on how to navigate Snowflake Marketplace listings, this blog has tips that may come in handy if you’re participating in the second annual Great Marketplace Scavenger Hunt, which starts May 2 and runs through May 31. (See full terms and conditions.)

Q: What’s the process for listing a data product on Snowflake Marketplace?

Listing on Snowflake Marketplace is simple. If you have a Snowflake account with the ability to provide data sets, are a user with appropriate permissions, and meet the legal requirements for providers of listings, then you can become a provider of listings. First, create a provider profile to offer listings on the Snowflake Marketplace. If you’d like to charge for your listing, set up your account to provide paid listings. You’ll need to get access to a role with provider privileges.

Q: What should providers consider when listing a Snowflake Native App?

First, determine the desired scope of distribution for your Snowflake Native App. Is the intended audience all of Snowflake Marketplace, or a specific segment of customers? Do you want it to be paid or free? What type of user interface can you employ to create the optimal user experience? Then, consider access. A Snowflake Native App may require access to the consumer’s data objects to operate effectively. It’s important to assess the permissions and privileges needed to run the app. Also, what permissions are required before you grant access to the app itself? Next, think about the process for monitoring and troubleshooting as customers run the app. Finally, market your app to your target audience.

Q: What types of listings get noticed more? How do I promote my listing?

A: The more effort and detail you put into your listing, the better chance you have of attracting the customers you want. To start, fill out each listing field with accurate, relevant information (don’t forget to check spelling!). Give potential users a taste of your product by publishing free-to-use data sets or providing sample data sets that can be customized for a specific customer. Show off your product’s usefulness: Provide detailed descriptions and use cases or add videos with demos or walkthroughs to help people understand what they'll get and how to use it. Set competitive pricing and regularly check it in case adjustments are needed. Get the word out through a variety of channels, such as social media, industry forums and your partners, to promote your offerings. And once a listing is live, review it regularly to keep all the information up to date.

Q: What billing and payment options are available on the platform? 

Snowflake offers a range of billing facilities to streamline the process for both providers and consumers. Providers can sell their listing directly to Snowflake customers and invoice them through Snowflake, simplifying the sales and procurement process. Customers can pay their invoices via electronic fund transfer or credit card. Eligible Snowflake customers can also purchase third-party data and Snowflake Native Apps seamlessly on Snowflake Marketplace with their Snowflake Capacity commitment. There are two monetization models available: usage-based and subscription.

Q: How do I set the price for my listing?

There are no one-size-fits-all guidelines for pricing a listing, whether it’s usage-based or a subscription model. To find the right price, you may want to offer a sample and then ask customers for feedback on pricing. You can also research similar listings on Snowflake Marketplace to understand the competitive pricing landscape. If you’re looking for help assessing the market value of your data, check out Gulp Data’s Snowflake Native App and try it for free from Snowflake Marketplace. 

Q: If the data I’m looking for is not on Snowflake Marketplace, can I request it?

Yes! There are two effective ways to request additional data. If you know the provider and they already exist on Snowflake Marketplace, reach out to them through the contact button on their profile. If you’ve worked with a Snowflake field representative, contacting them is also a great way to make your request.

Q: How do buyers validate the quality of the data sets?

Once you’ve reviewed the Snowflake Marketplace listing, you can download or request a free sample and perform quality checks on it, the same way you would with data sourced from an FTP or an API. Snowflake offers Data Quality functions (currently in public preview) for customers. You can also use third-party data assessment tools that integrate with Snowflake or open source solutions to ensure data quality. 

Q: What are the ways to integrate third-party data sources and perform analytical modeling without a data engineer, especially for those not well-versed in SaaS and Python?

There are a few options to incorporate third-party data sources and engage in analytical modeling without the need for a data engineer:

• Snowsight offers straightforward tools for dashboard creation, worksheets and collaboration.
• Snowpark allows for the integration of existing dashboards.
• Streamlit in Snowflake enables rapid development of visualizations.
• Existing dashboarding tools, such as Tableau and Hex, can be connected to Snowflake. Snowflake is streamlining the user experience and making machine learning and large language model (LLM) functions more accessible to users with less technical expertise.

Ready to explore Snowflake Marketplace for yourself? The Great Marketplace Scavenger Hunt is a great way to see everything Snowflake has to offer, and potentially win fun swag in the process. Check it out between May 2 and May 31.