App Marketplace Strategy: 30 Playbooks for AppExchange & HubSpot Growth

An app marketplace strategy is how a software company grows by listing an integration in the app marketplace of a platform its customers already use, such as Salesforce AppExchange, the HubSpot App Marketplace, the Shopify App Store, the Atlassian Marketplace or the Slack Marketplace, so that the platform’s users find and install it there. You build the integration, pass the platform’s review, optimize the listing for marketplace search and reviews, then work the platform’s partner program to co-market and co-sell.

The 30 playbooks below follow that order, with each platform’s current rules from its own developer docs and examples from founders who grew this way.

Key Takeaways

• HubSpot lists an app once it has at least 3 active installs from unaffiliated HubSpot accounts, and certifies it after at least 60 active installs and six months listed (HubSpot developer docs, September and October 2026).
• Shopify keeps 0% of the first $1 million in lifetime gross app revenue and 15% above it, plus a 2.9% processing fee (Shopify developer docs, October 2026).
• Atlassian pays Forge app developers 83% of revenue from October 1, 2026, and 100% up to their first $1 million in lifetime Forge revenue (Atlassian developer docs, October 2026).
• Salesforce folded AppExchange and the Slack Marketplace into one catalog, AgentExchange, in April 2026; its security review takes about 1 to 2 weeks to accept a submission and 3 to 4 weeks for the first test (Salesforce, October 2026).
• Plobal Apps got about half of its traffic from the Shopify App Store, where it said it was the top rated app, its CEO told Nathan Latka in 2019.
• Blackthorn CEO Chris Federspiel said in 2023 that Salesforce system integrators bring about 75% of its leads, and in 2024 that its AppExchange listing now adds credibility more than new leads.

What an App Marketplace Strategy Is and Why It Works

Every large software platform runs a store of add-ons that its customers browse when they want the product to do one more job. When you list there, you reach buyers who already use the platform, already have a budget for tools around it and are searching for a fix right now. Nathan Latka calls this “other people’s traffic”: in a 2024 Founderpath webinar he showed that a lot of Zensai’s trials come directly from its listing in Microsoft’s marketplace, and BadgerMaps’ Steve Benson said in the same session that Salesforce drives the most trials of the marketplaces BadgerMaps is listed in.

It isn’t free distribution. Each platform reviews your app, some take a share of the revenue, and a crowded category can bury a new listing. Founders who make it work treat the marketplace as one channel inside a wider partner marketing strategy: the listing brings installs, and the platform’s partners and sales team bring the larger deals.

App Marketplaces Compared: Requirements, Review Time and Fees

Read the rules before you build: they decide how many installs you need before you can list, how long launch takes and how much of each sale you keep. This is what each platform’s own documentation said on October 30, 2026.

Marketplace	Before you can list	Review time	What the platform takes
Salesforce AgentExchange (AppExchange and the Slack Marketplace merged into it in April 2026)	Managed packages and Salesforce Platform API solutions must pass a security review	About 1 to 2 weeks to accept the submission, then 3 to 4 weeks for the first test	A security review fee at submission, waived if you distribute the solution for free; the guide does not publish the amount
HubSpot App Marketplace	At least 3 active installs from HubSpot accounts unaffiliated with you	Initial review within 10 business days	No fee or revenue share in the listing requirements
Shopify App Store	A $19 one-time registration and an app review of the app and its listing	No time published; the status moves through Submitted and Reviewed to Published	0% of the first $1 million in lifetime gross app revenue, 15% above it, plus a 2.9% processing fee; developers with $20 million or more in App Store revenue the prior year, or $100 million in company revenue, pay 15% on all of it
Atlassian Marketplace	Atlassian approves every new public app, including a security workflow and a privacy policy	10 to 15 business days	For Jira, Jira Service Management and Confluence apps, keeps 17% of Forge app revenue and 25% of Connect and Data Center app revenue from October 1, 2026; Forge developers keep 100% of their first $1 million
Slack Marketplace	Not suitable if the app is on fewer than 10 active workspaces and has fewer than 10 weekly active users	Up to 10 business days for a preliminary review, then up to 10 weeks for the functional review	Not stated in the review guidelines

Microsoft’s marketplace takes a cut too: Microsoft charges a 3% standard store service fee when a customer buys your offer through it.

30 App Marketplace Playbooks, Step by Step

Step 1: Choose the right marketplace

1. List where your customers already work. Ask new customers which tools they use every day, and look at which integrations they request. The platform most of them share is your first marketplace.
2. Pick one or two marketplaces, not ten. Each listing needs an integration, a review and someone to answer its reviews. Spread across many and none of them climbs.
3. Look for a young or less crowded marketplace. Apps at the top of an old category were usually there first, so a newer catalog or a narrower category is easier to lead.
4. Check what the platform takes before you build. Compare the revenue share and fees in the table above with your margins; a 15% or 25% share changes your pricing.
5. Plan the review time into your launch date. Salesforce’s security review and Slack’s functional review can each take weeks, and Slack says it can’t speed a review up to match a launch.

Why are the apps today at the top of the HubSpot app exchange? Why are they at the top? Usually it’s because they were there first, right? … Which of these companies have the newest app exchanges, so that you can go be there first? … Don’t try to be in all these, because … they’re not relevant for all of you, but you should be in at least one or two of them.

Nathan Latka, Founder and CEO, Founderpath. Watch at 19:20

Step 2: Build the integration and pass review

6. Solve one job inside the platform. Organice built an org chart that lives in Slack, a single job Slack users already wanted done inside Slack.
7. Ask only for the permissions you use. HubSpot requires a listed app to use every scope it requests, and Slack turns away apps that ask for more access than they need.
8. Test like a brand-new customer. Slack asks you to run installation, setup, everyday use and uninstalling on a workspace that isn’t your development workspace, because that is how its reviewers will test it.
9. Send the reviewer a demo video. Slack says a short video of the whole install, setup and uninstall flow helps its team review a new app faster.
10. Prepare the security paperwork early. Salesforce runs a security review on every managed package and API solution, and Atlassian requires a security workflow and a privacy policy before approval. On Slack, each resubmission during the preliminary review resets your place in the queue, so send everything the first time.
11. Get your first installs from your own customers. HubSpot won’t list an app with fewer than 3 active installs, and Slack won’t list one with fewer than 10 active workspaces and fewer than 10 weekly active users, so ask existing customers to connect before you submit.

Step 3: Optimize the listing for marketplace search

12. Put the problem in the name, tagline and short description. Atlassian says keyword relevance in those fields is the first of three factors it uses to rank apps in its marketplace search.
13. Write the description the way customers describe the problem. Atlassian’s search also matches the meaning of a query, so plain language about the job beats a list of keywords, and keyword stuffing can lower the ranking.
14. Use the words people type into the marketplace search box. Organice’s founder said he wrote words like “org chart” into his Slack listing, and his first customer found the app by searching the Slack Marketplace; in 2023 he agreed that all of Organice’s trial and paying customers had come from it.
15. Add screenshots, a video and a demo. Atlassian says rich media drives engagement and trial starts, and engagement is the third ranking factor.
16. Fill in the support details. Atlassian counts whether a listing provides support details in its engagement score.
17. Let people install straight from the listing. Slack lets you turn on direct install, so a visitor adds the app from the Slack Marketplace page instead of hunting for a button on your site.
18. Rank on Google for the integration as well. Mergify’s founder said in 2023 that very few new sign-ups came through its GitHub Marketplace listing, while it ranked first on Google for “merge queue for GitHub”. Publish an integration page on your own site for “your product + platform” searches.

Step 4: Earn reviews, installs and the platform’s badge

19. Ask for a review at every touchpoint. After the sales call, after onboarding and after each support ticket, ask for one, the way Allo does.
20. Send reviews to the marketplace that matters most. Allo pointed its review requests at the HubSpot marketplace because most of its customers use HubSpot.
21. Count active installs, not downloads. HubSpot measures active installs as unaffiliated production accounts with app activity in the past 30 days and, for certification, judges retention and reviews alongside them.
22. Earn the certification badge. HubSpot certifies apps with at least 60 active installs that have been listed for at least six months; certified apps get a badge, a search filter of their own and eligibility for curated collections.
23. Aim to be the top rated app in one narrow category. Plobal Apps’ CEO said in 2019 that it was the top rated app on the Shopify App Store and that about 50% of its traffic came from the store, 40% from SEO keywords and 10% from Quora and other activities.
24. Buy a listing that already has reviews. Nathan Latka described how Blackthorn searched the Salesforce AppExchange for an app with a lot of reviews but a free tool, then bought it.

First is to ask a lot. … We always remind them after the sales meeting, after the first onboarding, after every ticket of support, and then we have all the marketplace. … Most of our customers are using HubSpot. … So one of the next focus is to really be number one in the HubSpot marketplace. So now we’ve put all our effort more to that platform for reviews.

Jeremy Goillot, Founder and CEO, Allo (about 5,000 customers). Watch at 16:32

Step 5: Co-market and co-sell with the platform

25. Use the partner program’s marketing kit. HubSpot gives listed technology partners PR templates and launch guides, a partner newsletter and discounted event sponsorship. Use them on launch day; a Product Hunt launch can run the same week.
26. Climb the partner tiers. HubSpot ranks technology partners as Partner, Rising, Leading and Premier based on customer value and the revenue they influence, evaluates upgrades each quarter and shows the tier on the listing.
27. Work the platform’s implementation partners. In 2023 Blackthorn’s CEO said system integrators bring about 75% of its leads by pulling Blackthorn into the Salesforce projects they run.
28. Ask for a revenue share when you send volume to a platform. Federspiel said Blackthorn built its Salesforce payments app on Stripe when no one else integrated with Stripe, and set up a revenue share on the payments it sends Stripe’s way; in the same 2023 talk he said the partnership earns Blackthorn about $1 million a year.
29. Partner with the largest marketplaces. G2’s Godard Abel said in 2022 that G2 partners with the AWS, Microsoft Azure and IBM Red Hat marketplaces, so reviews on G2 also appear where those buyers shop.
30. Say no to integrations that bring no customers. Blackthorn integrated its payments app with two other AppExchange apps, which took a lot of time and brought no revenue; the payment gateways and event apps that asked to integrate wanted to say they were on Salesforce, not to send Blackthorn business.

Actually the App Exchange now kind of stinks for getting new leads. … Years ago it was very good; now it adds credibility to you. Our biggest source of leads are system integrators.

Chris Federspiel, CEO, Blackthorn ($16M revenue). Watch at 19:42

Federspiel’s full talk on Blackthorn’s Salesforce growth is on Founderpath Resources.

Do App Marketplaces Still Bring Customers?

For a new app in a young or narrow category, it can: Organice’s first customers came only from the Slack Marketplace, and Omnisend CEO Rytis Lauris said that in its first few years Omnisend relied on app stores such as the Shopify App Store, BigCommerce and WordPress before content and SEO became its second channel.

Mature marketplaces change, and the founders above saw it happen. In 2017 Cirrus Insight’s Brandon Bruce said the Salesforce AppExchange, once a primary way for it to reach leads, had become more pay-to-play, and that most of its deals came through word of mouth. By 2024 Blackthorn said its listing mainly added credibility, and in April 2026 Salesforce merged AppExchange into AgentExchange. Treat a listing as a channel to measure, not a guarantee: track installs, trials and revenue from it separately from your other channels.

Founderpath took its own advice: when Stripe beta-launched Stripe Apps and the Stripe App Marketplace in May 2022, Founderpath was in the first set of apps, and it reads revenue data through integrations with the billing, banking and accounting tools founders already use.

Funding Marketplace Growth Without Giving Up Equity

A marketplace channel costs money before it pays: engineering time for the integration, review fees, a revenue share on every sale and months of collecting installs and reviews. Founders who grow this way can fund it from revenue rather than sell equity for it.

Founderpath provides non-dilutive capital for bootstrapped software founders. Connect your billing, banking and accounting data, and Founderpath shows you what you qualify for, with every figure disclosed up front. There’s no pitch deck, no equity and no board seats.

Check what you qualify for. It takes less than 5 minutes.

App Marketplace FAQ

What is an app marketplace strategy?

An app marketplace strategy is how a software company grows by listing an integration in the app marketplace of a platform its customers already use, such as Salesforce AppExchange, the HubSpot App Marketplace, the Shopify App Store, the Atlassian Marketplace or the Slack Marketplace. You build the integration, pass the platform’s review, optimize the listing for marketplace search and reviews, and work the platform’s partner program to co-market and co-sell.

Which app marketplace should a SaaS company list on first?

List on the platform most of your customers already use every day, because that is where they will search for you. Ask new customers which tools they use and which integrations they want. Start with one or two marketplaces, and favour a newer catalog or a narrower category, where a new app can reach the top faster than in a crowded one.

How long does it take to get an app listed?

It depends on the platform. As of October 2026, HubSpot completes an initial review within 10 business days, Atlassian approves new apps in 10 to 15 business days, Salesforce’s security review takes about 1 to 2 weeks to accept a submission and 3 to 4 weeks for the first test, and Slack takes up to 10 business days for a preliminary review and up to 10 weeks for the functional review. Shopify does not publish a review time.

How much do app marketplaces charge?

As of October 2026, Shopify keeps 0% of the first $1 million in lifetime gross app revenue and 15% above it, plus a 2.9% processing fee and a $19 registration fee. Atlassian keeps 17% of Forge app revenue and 25% of Connect and Data Center app revenue, after a first $1 million of Forge revenue at 0%. Microsoft charges a 3% store service fee on transactable offers. Salesforce charges a security review fee unless you distribute the solution for free. HubSpot’s listing requirements list no fee or revenue share.

How do you rank higher in an app marketplace?

Put the problem your app solves in the name, tagline and short description, write the description in the words customers use, add screenshots and a video, fill in the support details, and collect reviews from happy customers. Atlassian, for example, ranks apps on keyword relevance, the meaning of the search, and an engagement score built from ratings, reviews, installs and support details.

What does HubSpot require to list an app in its marketplace?

As of October 2026, HubSpot requires at least 3 active, unique installs from HubSpot production accounts unaffiliated with you that showed app activity in the past 30 days, and an app that uses every scope it requests. Its team completes an initial review within 10 business days. Certification needs at least 60 active installs and six months in the marketplace.

What happened to Salesforce AppExchange?

In April 2026 Salesforce launched the new AgentExchange, which unifies AppExchange, the Slack Marketplace and the Agentforce ecosystem in one catalog. Apps built on Salesforce, such as managed packages and Salesforce Platform API solutions, still have to pass Salesforce’s security review before they are distributed there.

What are the biggest marketplace listing challenges for small SaaS companies?

The common ones are minimum install counts before you can list, review queues that take weeks, security reviews and their fees, revenue shares that cut into margins, crowded categories where older apps hold the top spots, and listings that bring fewer customers than expected. Mergify’s founder, for one, said in 2023 that very few of its new sign-ups came through its GitHub Marketplace listing, while it ranked first on Google for “merge queue for GitHub”.

Sources and Method

Every figure and quote in this guide was checked against its source on October 30, 2026. Platform rules come from each platform’s own documentation: Salesforce’s TDX 2026 announcement and ISVforce security review guide, HubSpot’s developer docs on listing requirements, certification and partner tiers, Shopify’s revenue share and app review docs, Atlassian’s pricing, app approval and search ranking docs, Slack’s Marketplace guidelines and review guide, and Microsoft’s marketplace fee docs. Platform rules and fees change, so check the linked page before you plan around a number. Founder figures and quotes come from published Founderpath talks by Chris Federspiel (Blackthorn), Jeremy Goillot (Allo), Rytis Lauris (Omnisend), Godard Abel (G2) and Nathan Latka, each linked to the moment it was said, and from Nathan Latka’s interviews with the founders of Plobal Apps (2019), Organice (2023), Cirrus Insight (2017) and Mergify (2023), linked to the moment on YouTube. An earlier version of this post listed more than 40 company examples; the ones we could not check against what was said, or that were not about app marketplaces, were removed, and two figures were corrected to what the founders actually said.