Snowflake Native Apps: A New Revenue Channel

The Snowflake Native Apps Framework has matured into a powerful engine for building and distributing data applications. Beyond just sharing logic, it represents a significant new revenue channel for data providers, SaaS companies, and independent developers. By listing applications on the Snowflake Marketplace, you can deploy code directly into your customer’s account, unlocking new business models while ensuring their data never leaves their control.

The Paradigm Shift: Code to Data#

Traditionally, SaaS applications require customers to move their data to the provider’s cloud. Snowflake Native Apps flip this model: the code moves to the data.

This architecture solves two massive hurdles in B2B software sales:

1. Security Reviews: Since the app runs inside the customer’s Snowflake account, the data remains under their governance policies.
2. Data Gravity: Moving terabytes of data is slow and expensive. Native Apps process data where it lives.

Monetization Models#

Snowflake provides flexible billing options handled directly through the Marketplace platform.

1. Subscription-Based#

The simplest model is a recurring monthly or annual fee. This works well for “always-on” utilities, monitoring tools, or reference data applications.

• Pros: Predictable revenue, easy for customers to understand.
• Cons: Doesn’t scale with customer usage intensity.

2. Usage-Based (Pay-As-You-Go)#

You can charge based on specific usage metrics. Snowflake supports several variations:

• Query-based: Charge per query executed.
• Compute-based: Pass through Snowpark Container Services costs or charge a premium on top of compute used.
• Custom Events: The most flexible option. You can emit custom billing events from your application logic (e.g., “processed_document”, “risk_score_generated”).

3. Freemium & Trials#

The Marketplace supports “Try and Buy.” You can offer a free version with limited functionality or a time-boxed free trial (e.g., 30 days full access). This is critical for driving adoption.

Key Components for Monetization#

To monetize an app, you need to implement specific hooks in your setup_script.sql and application logic.

The Manifest File#

Your manifest.yml defines the privileges your app needs. For monetization, you don’t need special manifest entries, but you must configure your listing in the Provider Studio.

Custom Billing Events#

To implement custom meter billing, your app emits billing events using SYSTEM$CREATE_BILLING_EVENT from a stored procedure.

-- Example pseudo-code for a billing event
CALL SYSTEM$CREATE_BILLING_EVENT(
  'MY_EVENT_CLASS',
  'MY_SUBCLASS',
  CAST(EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()) * 1000 AS BIGINT), -- start_timestamp
  CAST(EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()) * 1000 AS BIGINT), -- timestamp
  10.50 -- base_charge in USD
);

Strategy: Building a “Sticky” App#

1. Solve a Specific High-Value Problem: Don’t build generic tools. Build something that solves a headache like “PII masking for healthcare data” or “SAP ERP connector.”
2. Leverage Snowpark: Use Python or Java to bring complex business logic (ML inference, specialized parsing) that can’t be done in SQL.
3. UI Matters: Use Streamlit to provide a configuration interface and a dashboard for the user to see the value they are getting.

Getting Started#

1. Develop: Build your application package using the Native Apps Framework.
2. Test: Deploy strictly in test mode to valid accounts.
3. Scan: Run the automated security scan required by Snowflake.
4. Publish: Create a listing in Provider Studio and set your pricing plans.

The Native App economy is just getting started. Early movers who solve critical enterprise data problems stand to gain the most.