AWS sales programs you can use, and how to claim them

There are 13 AWS paths for winning deals: ACE, ISV Accelerate, Partner Connections and Specializations for sharing deals; four AWS Marketplace private offer routes; three reseller programs; and POA and Marketing Development Funds for funding. Which ones you can use depends on whether you resell, deliver services, sell software, or hold more than one of these roles.

For AWS partners that resell, deliver services or sell software. Hardware has no sales paths mapped here. The AWS Device Qualification Program is on the Certifications page.As of Nov 1, 2026

Which AWS sales programs can you use?

Every path below is a program AWS runs, under AWS’s own name, including the ones that rarely pay off. Program names appear because people search for them. “Co-Selling with AWS” is the name AWS gives its learning module, and it’s used here only as that name.

Share your deals with AWS

Path	What it gives you	Role it needs	Works with others?
ACE (APN Customer Engagements)	What it gives youShare sales opportunities with AWS, request AWS support, receive AWS referrals once ACE-eligible, and reach Marketing Development Funds and Partner Opportunity Acceleration Funds	Role it needsAny	Works with others?Sequence: comes before ISV Accelerate, which requires ACE program eligibility
Partner Connections	What it gives youFind complementary partners and share opportunities to work multi-partner deals	Role it needsAny	Works with others?Check with AWS: AWS’s pages don’t say whether it needs ACE
ISV Accelerate	What it gives youFeatures your solutions to speed deal closure, plus training, events, best practices and a route to ISV-specific funding	Role it needsSoftware	Works with others?Sequence: needs ACE eligibility, a generally available AWS Marketplace listing and Validated or Differentiated status first
AWS Specializations (services starting point)	What it gives youAWS’s stated place for services partners to begin when working with AWS sales teams	Role it needsServices	Works with others?Check with AWS: AWS names it as the starting point, and doesn’t state what it gates

Which of these fit depends on how many live opportunities you already have, whether you have an AWS Marketplace listing, and whether other partners are on the same deal.

Sell through AWS Marketplace

Path	What it gives you	Role it needs	Works with others?
Private offers	What it gives youCustom pricing and terms for one buyer, with a custom EULA option; you can extend several private offers to one buyer	Role it needsSoftware	Works with others?Check with AWS: the seller guide says a buyer can be subscribed to only one offer at a time
Express private offers	What it gives youPredefined pricing and qualification criteria that you configure once	Role it needsSoftware	Works with others?Check with AWS
Channel Partner Private Offers	What it gives youA software company authorizes channel partners to sell its product at terms it sets; the purchase appears as a line item on the customer’s AWS bill	Role it needsSoftware, Resell, Services	Works with others?Check with AWS
Private Offer Promotion Program	What it gives youAWS Promotional Credits for customers, to streamline procurement	Role it needsSoftware	Works with others?Check with AWS: AWS’s funding page states no eligibility rules

Which of these fit depends on whether your buyers want custom terms, whether channel partners sell your product, and which of your customers already buy through AWS Marketplace.

Resell AWS

Path	What it gives you	Role it needs	Works with others?
Solution Provider Program	What it gives youManage customer billing directly, earn discounts for business growth and new opportunities, and earn financial incentives for expanding your AWS business; AWS announced a Base Benefit, a New Customer Incentive and a Partner Growth Incentive for it	Role it needsResell, Services	Works with others?Check with AWS: joining runs through an AWS Distributor
Distribution Program	What it gives youOffload billing and operations management to an AWS Distributor, with pre- and post-sales support, training and marketing resources	Role it needsResell, Services, Software	Works with others?Check with AWS
Private Pricing Resell Program	What it gives youResell AWS under private pricing in exchange for spend commitments, with cash or discounts based on your engagements with AWS and Deal Registration; some countries and customer segments are excluded	Role it needsResell	Works with others?Check with AWS

Which of these fit depends on whether you bill customers yourself or through a distributor, the countries and customer segments you sell to, and how much your AWS business is growing.

Fund the deal

Path	What it gives you	Role it needs	Works with others?
Partner Opportunity Acceleration (POA) funding	What it gives youFunding for proofs of concept and migrations, listed for Select, Advanced and Premier services tiers; needs an Amazon Payee Central account	Role it needsServices	Works with others?Check with AWS: AWS names it among the funds ACE-eligible partners can reach
Marketing Development Funds (MDF)	What it gives youCash reimbursement or AWS Promotional Credits to offset the marketing costs of generating demand; listed for Advanced and Premier services tiers; needs an Amazon Payee Central account	Role it needsServices	Works with others?Check with AWS: AWS’s pages state no rule for combining it with POA

Which of these fit depends on your services tier, whether the deal needs a proof of concept or a campaign, and whether you can set up Amazon Payee Central.

How do these programs combine?

ACE gates the most. AWS’s ISV Accelerate requires ACE program eligibility, and it counts a minimum of 5 launched opportunities, from ACE or from AWS Marketplace private offers, plus 15 qualified opportunities in ACE, both over the past 12 months. So private offers and ACE both feed the same threshold.

ISV Accelerate has more conditions to meet before AWS sends an invitation: a generally available AWS Marketplace listing, Validated or Differentiated status, an Amazon Payee Central account, one person who completed the “Co-Selling with AWS” module, and at least $2,000 in recognized AWS account revenue at enrollment.

For resellers, both the Solution Provider Program and the Distribution Program run through an AWS Distributor, and AWS’s pages don’t say whether you can hold both. POA and MDF each need an Amazon Payee Central account.

AWS’s sales program pages state no exclusions between these paths. Two limits are stated: a buyer can be subscribed to only one offer at a time, and the Private Pricing Resell Program excludes certain countries and customer segments.

How do you claim or earn each one?

ACE

01
Join the APN
Join the AWS Partner Network at no cost.
02
Accept ACE terms
Accept the ACE Terms and Conditions.
03
Share opportunities
Share sales opportunities with AWS through ACE Pipeline Manager.
04
Check referral criteria
For referrals, check the ACE FAQ in AWS Partner Central, which sets the criteria and needs a sign-in.

ISV Accelerate

01
Meet the requirements
5 launched and 15 qualified opportunities over the past 12 months, plus the Marketplace and Amazon Payee Central requirements above.
02
Wait for the invitation
Once you meet the requirements, the ISV Accelerate team sends one.
03
Reach out to AWS
After you enroll, reach out to your AWS Partner Development resource.

Solution Provider and Distribution programs

01
Become an AWS Partner
Join through AWS Partner Central.
02
Connect with a Distributor
Find an AWS Distributor in your country.
03
Review requirements
Check the program requirements and your AWS partner tier requirements.
04
Join
Work with your Distributor to join. The Distribution Program also needs the AWS Distribution Seller Agreement.

POA and MDF funding

01
Set up Payee Central
AWS requires an Amazon Payee Central account for MDF and POA requests.
02
Check your tier
AWS lists POA for Select, Advanced and Premier, and MDF for Advanced and Premier.
03
Look up amounts
Amounts and rules sit in AWS Partner Central, because AWS’s public pages don’t state them.

AWS’s public pages don’t list common reasons requests are turned down. One stated exclusion: opportunities marked FVO don’t count toward the ISV Accelerate minimums.

Why do two similar companies choose differently?

Illustrative

Company A — delivers managed services on AWS and also resells it

The paths that fit it include the Solution Provider Program through a Distributor, POA funding for a proof of concept on a live deal, and MDF for a campaign if its services tier allows.

It also uses ACE to share the deal with AWS.

Illustrative

Company B — sells its own software on AWS Marketplace, no services arm

The paths that fit it include ACE, private offers and express private offers for repeatable deals, and Channel Partner Private Offers if resellers will carry its product.

It adds ISV Accelerate once its opportunity counts reach AWS’s minimums.

The same AWS programs, and two different sets of paths. Neither set is a recommendation for you.

AWS has the paths. Playmaker finds yours.

You’ve just seen how much AWS offers: programs, funding, listings, specialists and the many ways they combine. All of it is real, and much of it can run at the same time. Which of it fits your company depends on your tier, your roles and your deals.

Playmaker does that work for you:

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Built for your mix. Reseller and services, a Marketplace listing and ISV Accelerate, several funding programs at once. Playmaker works out how they fit together for your company, not for a generic partner.
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YOUR PLAYS

Northwind x AWS · Put the partner advantage to work on your deals

Your partner plays, ranked by revenue, each with a recipe to run it.

Your plays (26)

Ranked for Northwind. Each play shows what AWS makes available and the first step to take.

Competition (6)Sales (5)Marketing (3)Funding & Incentives (4)Marketplace (5)Services (3)

1Register live deals as ACE co-sell opportunitiesAWSCO-SELL
2Verify ISV Accelerate MDF eligibility and file the first funding requestAWSFUNDING INCENTIVE
3Package deployment services as a multi-product Marketplace solutionAWSBUNDLED SERVICES
4Complete the streamlined Foundational Technical ReviewAWSTECHNICAL VALIDATION
5Launch a joint AWS co-marketing campaignAWSCO-MARKETING

1Register live deals as ACE co-sell opportunities

WHY THIS PLAY

Shared opportunities pull AWS sellers into your deals and build the pipeline history co-sell programs measure.

⚡ WHAT IT’S WORTH

Puts an AWS account team on your 3 largest open deals, and counts toward ISV Accelerate.

YOUR RECIPE

1Create the opportunity in ACE Pipeline Manager and request AWS co-sell support.
2Add the AWS contact and customer details so it can be reviewed.
3Find your AWS counterparts in Partner Connections.

Start this play

What changed recently in sales?

AWS announced new reseller incentives that began rolling out on Jan 1, 2026: a Base Benefit, a New Customer Incentive that replaces the Partner Originated Discount and Public Sector Discount, a Partner Growth Incentive, and Deal Registration for the Private Pricing Resell Program. No Playmaker change page covers AWS sales programs yet.

Frequently
asked questions

The short answers for AWS sales. Playmaker shows you the rest in 3 minutes.

AWS’s program pages describe sharing opportunities through ACE and don’t use the term deal registration for it. For resellers, AWS announced Deal Registration for its Private Pricing Resell Program in updates rolling out from Jan 1, 2026. Referral criteria sit in AWS Partner Central.

Through the Solution Provider Program, which lets partners manage customer billing and earn discounts for business growth and new opportunities, or through the Distribution Program. Joining runs through an AWS Distributor, and the percentages are in AWS Partner Central, not on AWS’s public pages.

AWS lists POA funding for proofs of concept and migrations for Select, Advanced and Premier services tiers. You need an Amazon Payee Central account, and AWS sets amounts in AWS Partner Central.

No. ACE needs an AWS Partner Network membership, which is free, acceptance of the ACE terms, and opportunities you share. ISV Accelerate is a later step that requires ACE eligibility.

AWS’s public pages don’t say these paths exclude each other. Channel Partner Private Offers connect the two roles, because a software company authorizes channel partners to sell its product. Check with AWS for any rule on holding both.

Sources

The AWS pages this page reads, all accessed Nov 1, 2026. Program names and terms belong to AWS.

AWS, AWS Marketplace, AWS Partner Central, AWS Partner Network and Amazon Payee Central are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. WorkSpan is not affiliated with or endorsed by AWS.

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