At Snowflake, we like data. And we appreciate people who also like data—and like working with it. Snowflake Marketplace is designed with that in mind: giving people and organizations a place to easily find, try, and buy data and applications that can help them build more and do more with data.
Earlier this year we removed the log-in requirement for Snowflake Marketplace so anyone can browse the over 1,800 product listings (as of Jan 31, 2023) at any time. But we haven’t dialed back the detail in the listings—in fact, we’ve put a lot of effort into making sure our listings are loaded with useful information so you can easily evaluate if a listing will help you address your business needs. That means you can determine if a particular data asset is the right fit before you download it, saving you time and effort.
Think you know your way around Snowflake Marketplace? Join the Great Marketplace Scavenger Hunt happening April 4–May 5 to test your third-party data discovery skills in Snowflake Marketplace for the opportunity to earn some cool Snowflake swag! (See full program terms and conditions.)
Let’s take a tour through four of the most useful elements in a Snowflake Marketplace listing.* We’ll show you where to find pricing information, trial details, usage examples, and more. And if some of these features happen to help you answer some of the questions in the Great Marketplace Scavenger Hunt, well … consider that a beneficial coincidence!
#1: Browse by category and business need to streamline searches
Marketplace has a great search function, but if you want to explore particular types of data products, the Browse Data Products page is your friend.
The six most frequently used category and business need options are highlighted in the drop-down menu for easy access, but there’s a total of 19 categories spanning industries, departments, and types of products (such as connectors) to help you focus your browsing.
Click through to the Browse Data Products page and you can refine your results even further. Which leads us to our next useful Marketplace feature …
#2: Filters that make (business) sense
Snowflake Marketplace has several extremely helpful filters on the Browse Data Products page that you can mix and match to quickly get to exactly the data products you want. Along with the expected filters for items such as category, provider name, and geographic region, you’ll also find a few more specialized options:
- Business Needs: These filter options help surface data products that will help you answer your most pertinent question: what business pain point are you trying to solve? Select multiple options to get a wider view of an issue, such as selecting all customer-focused business needs to see where third-party data products can help you across your customer experience initiatives.
- Availability: Need that emissions data yesterday? Choose “Instantly Accessible” in this filter to find data products that are available without waiting. If you’re looking for something that’s more tailored to your particular needs, choose “By Request” for data and apps that a provider will personalize for you.
- Price: While there are many free data products available in Snowflake Marketplace, providers with paid listings often have a free trial option so you can try before you buy. The provider determines what they offer for free, such as a subset of data or a time-limited trial.
#3: The right-hand column in data listings: tags, regions, and refreshes, oh my!
Every Snowflake Marketplace listing has a column of vital details and information on the right side. Scroll through this column for an easy-to-digest, “just the facts” overview of critical details including:
- Pricing: If you’re looking at a listing for a paid data product, you’ll find useful information about the product’s pricing model below the “Get” button. Some products have a monthly fee, others are pay-per-query, and some offer a combo of per-month and per-query pricing.
- Tags: Each tag in this section represents a category associated with this particular listing. Click on one to open the category page and see more listings with the same tag. Tags are a great way to get a sense of other listing options that could be useful to your project. (You can also scroll to the bottom of the listing for a compilation of related items.)
Don’t forget: tags represent categories, not business needs. You’ll find a rundown of the related business needs, including short descriptions of how the data product addresses the need, in the “Business Needs” section below the opening description.
- Refreshes: Find out how often the data product is updated—daily, weekly, monthly, and so on.
- Cloud Region Availability: Discovering that the data product you wanted doesn’t run on your cloud provider is not something you want to learn at the last minute. Make sure you’re set up for success with the info in this section, as well as the Geo coverage section.
#4 Usage examples: See what the data can do
Want to see what kinds of questions you can answer with a particular data set or data service? The Usage Examples section highlights real-world examples complete with queries so you can get a better understanding of how the data product will enrich your data-driven project. Many providers also include links to additional comparison resources and how-tos.
Now that you’re familiar with Snowflake Marketplace listings, you have everything you need to find, try, and buy data and applications from our more than 390 providers (as of Jan 31, 2023). You can also put your knowledge to the test in our Great Marketplace Scavenger Hunt—and check back here after May 5 for answers to the Scavenger Hunt questions. Happy hunting!
* Snowflake Marketplace listings listed herein are provided for illustrative purposes only. Access to and use of Marketplace listing data remains subject to the applicable listing provider terms and conditions, which control in all respects.