Integration type overview
Alibaba Cloud Marketplace is a platform for software transactions and delivery. Product integration types include Image, Software as a Service (SaaS), Downloadable, Service, DingTalk, Container, and Resource Orchestration.
The activation method and required integration information vary for each product type.
Image class
Image-based products are created by packaging services into images.
You can create ECS instances from an image to obtain a system environment that matches the image. Alibaba Cloud Marketplace offers images from service providers. These images integrate specific software environments and features, such as PHP runtime environments and control panels, into the operating system. You can select these images when you create an instance to meet specific requirements. For more information, see Publish an image product.
Software as a Service (SaaS) products
SaaS products are online applications offered by service providers.
You do not need to purchase separate cloud resources to use them. After you purchase a product, you can log on to a specific website to use the application. For more information, see Introduction to SaaS product integration.
SaaS products can offer a pay-as-you-go billing method. With this billing method, the service provider must push usage data to Alibaba Cloud Marketplace through an API for billing. For more information, see Push metering data.
API classes
API products deliver a service provider's backend services and data to users through a set of APIs.
You can use API products in the applications you develop. Alibaba Cloud Marketplace can also push API usage data to the service provider. For more information, see Publish an API service product.
Service Class
Service products are manual services that service providers offer to users. They do not deliver specific software or cloud resources. For more information, see Service Product Service Stream Template.
Download Class
Downloadable products are download packages made available by service providers.
You can download and run these packages directly on your computer without deploying them to cloud resources.
Container classes
Container products are delivered to users as container images or container orchestration templates.
After you purchase a container product, you can create a container cluster with one click. This provides one-stop management for networking, storage, logs, monitoring, scheduling, routing, and continuous deployment. You can also use authorization codes from Alibaba Cloud Marketplace to manage authorization for the delivered services. For more information, see Publish a container service product.
Resource orchestration class
Resource Orchestration Service helps you model and configure Alibaba Cloud resources.
You can create a template that describes all the Alibaba Cloud resources you need, such as ECS instances or RDS database instances. Resource Orchestration Service then creates and configures these resources based on the template. This lets you spend more time using your Alibaba Cloud resources. For more information, see Publish a Resource Orchestration product.