The AWS APN Partner Network helps businesses access essential AWS resources, enabling growth through strategic partnerships and innovation.
The AWS Partner Network (APN) is a worldwide network of organizations that utilize AWS technologies, programs, funding, and tools to develop solutions and services for their customers. Partners within the APN have access to valuable resources and support, enabling them to deliver impactful services that cater to customer needs.
Eligibility for the AWS Partner Network varies depending on your business type and goals. Typically, the APN is designed for:
If your business operates in these sectors, joining the APN is a strategic step toward accessing AWS partner benefits and co-sell opportunities.
The AWS Partner Network includes various roles, each offering specialized services and solutions to address diverse AWS cloud needs.
These roles ensure that businesses of all sizes can find the right type of partner to match their AWS cloud needs.
The AWS Partner Network (APN) is rapidly expanding globally, helping businesses across regions access AWS resources and drive growth.
The AWS Partner Network (APN) continues to expand globally, with significant growth in regions like LATAM. The expansion ensures that businesses in emerging markets gain access to AWS resources, enabling faster cloud adoption and market entry.
The AWS Partner Network (APN) structures partner progression differently by partner type; tier levels apply mainly to Services Partners, while ISVs are typically recognized through technical validation and readiness milestones.
AWS structures partner progression in different ways depending on the partner type. For AWS Services Partners (consulting, professional services, and managed services), AWS recognizes three tier levels:
For ISVs (software partners), AWS typically differentiates partners less through tier labels and more through solution readiness and technical validation. A common step is completing the AWS Foundational Technical Review (FTR), which evaluates alignment with AWS Well-Architected best practices and is valid for three years.
In practice, many ISVs also run Well-Architected Reviews (WAR) on their workloads to identify architectural risks and prioritize remediation before or alongside formal validations.
AWS then guides partners through the most relevant Partner Paths and program validations based on whether they build software, services, training, or distribution offerings.
New APN partners typically begin at the Select Tier. This tier provides access to essential AWS tools and resources, enabling partners to start their journey with AWS. As they meet additional requirements and demonstrate customer success and technical expertise, partners can advance to the Advanced and Premier Tiers.
To advance through the AWS Partner Network (APN) tiers, partners must meet several key requirements:
Partners must demonstrate their technical capabilities, typically through successful customer case studies that show how their solutions help solve real-world business problems using AWS.
Earning AWS certifications in relevant technical areas, such as cloud architecture or DevOps, validates a partner’s technical expertise. These certifications are a critical requirement for moving to higher tiers in the APN.
To progress, partners must meet specific revenue and co-sell readiness metrics. These ensure that the partner is actively participating in co-selling with AWS and helping customers scale their AWS environments.
Each AWS Partner Network (APN) tier offers unique benefits, including marketing resources, funding, technical support, and enhanced visibility.
Access to credits, funding, and co-sell support depends on the specific AWS Partner Path and programme enrollment, not only tier. For example, AWS provides rules for promotional credits and how they can be used.
For ISVs (software partners), co-sell readiness is commonly tied to AWS ISV Accelerate and ACE workflows, rather than Services tier labels. AWS positions ISV Accelerate as a co-sell programme that connects ISVs with AWS field sellers and supports joint opportunities (often via ACE).
As partners mature, AWS supports deeper enablement through the resources tied to their path/programme participation (Services tiers on the Services path; validations and programmes on the Software path).
The APN onboarding process includes registration, business plan submission, milestone tracking, and scaling opportunities through AWS Marketplace and co-selling.
To start, sign in to the AWS Console and complete the registration process on AWS Partner Central. This portal provides the essential tools and resources needed to join the AWS Partner Network (APN).
After completing registration, you’ll need to submit a partner business plan. This document outlines your company’s goals, AWS service offerings, and your strategy for leveraging AWS technologies to drive business growth.
Once registered and after submitting your partner business plan, you will work toward meeting APN program milestones. These milestones are key to progressing through the APN tiers, unlocking advanced benefits and enhancing your engagement with AWS resources.
As an APN partner, you can sell or resell software and professional services in AWS Marketplace. This helps expand your customer reach, accelerate sales, and boost revenue. Co-selling with AWS also becomes a key strategy to accelerate your sales pipeline, enabling collaboration with AWS sales teams and other partners.
Onboarding into the AWS Partner Network (APN) presents challenges, including team alignment and time-consuming processes, which can be streamlined with automation.
Many partners face the challenge of aligning their internal teams with the AWS Partner Network (APN) platform, especially when trying to coordinate the various aspects of onboarding, such as training, certification, and business planning. AWS encourages partners to register on AWS Partner Central, which provides essential resources to guide partners through the process. This registration process helps teams understand the various partner paths and how to leverage AWS resources effectively to streamline internal alignment.
While the official AWS Partner Network does not specify exact onboarding timelines, many partners find the traditional onboarding process to be time-consuming, involving multiple steps like certification, business planning, and milestone tracking.
Solution: Automating key processes such as readiness assessments and milestone tracking can help speed up the onboarding process, reducing the time needed to meet the program’s requirements and move through the tiers.
Skematic automates key elements of the AWS Partner Network onboarding process, offering:
This combination of automation and intelligence reduces the time-to-partner activation from months to weeks, allowing teams to scale alliances without additional headcount. Startups using Skematic can unlock AWS credits, co-sell programs, and marketplace listings up to 80% faster, while tracking activities that directly lead to revenue, giving them a clearer, quicker view of impact.
Built on the same principles that powered partnerships at CrowdStrike and Amazon, Skematic follows a proven framework:
The future of partnerships is intelligent. Partnerships are now a critical engine for scale, and Skematic makes every step of that engine faster, clearer, and more automated. The platform is live and launching with early customers, so for software companies looking to move fast with AWS, the best time to start is now.
Join the waitlist to get started with Skematic today.
The AWS Partner Network (APN) structures progression differently based on partner type. Services partners (including Consulting and many MSPs on the Services path) are commonly recognized through tier levels such as Select, Advanced, and Premier.
ISVs (software partners) are typically differentiated through technical validations and programme milestones (for example, FTR/Well-Architected readiness and eligibility for programmes like ISV Accelerate), rather than being grouped under the same tier labels.
To join, register on AWS Partner Central and enroll as an AWS Partner. Then work toward meeting the technical and go-to-market requirements relevant to SaaS/ISVs, such as solution readiness validations (for example, FTR and Well-Architected Reviews) and programme milestones if co-sell is a goal.
New members typically start as Enrolled partners in AWS Partner Central. From there, progression depends on partner type: ISVs move forward by completing technical validations such as the Foundational Technical Review (FTR) (and Well-Architected readiness), while Services Partners may progress through tier levels like Select, Advanced, and Premier based on achievements and requirements.
Companies can create an AWS Partner Central account and join the AWS Partner Network (APN) at no cost. However, enrolling in the AWS Partner Network programme includes an annual membership fee of $2,500, and AWS notes this includes $3,500 USD in AWS Promotional Credits once the company has joined.
Yes, companies in LATAM and other regions worldwide can join the AWS Partner Network and benefit from the global AWS ecosystem.
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