AWS and Anthropic combine to revolutionize AI agent accessibility with new marketplace

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is making its move into the AI agent economy with the launch of a dedicated AI Agent Marketplace, set to debut at the AWS Summit in New York City on July 15. According to sources close to the matter, Anthropic will serve as a foundational partner, bringing its Claude models to power many of the agents available at launch.

A central hub for AI agents

The new marketplace is designed as a one-stop shop where companies and developers can publish, find, test, and deploy AI agents within AWS environments. Unlike many current solutions scattered across different ecosystems, AWS’s marketplace promises full integration with its cloud platform, bringing scalability, automation, and simplicity to the process.

“This is Amazon's attempt to simplify the chaos,” said a source familiar with the project. “The goal is to create a developer-friendly marketplace that’s as easy to use as the App Store, but for autonomous AI agents.”

The platform will feature plug-and-play deployment, allowing customers to activate agents instantly within their cloud setups. Moreover, startups will benefit from flexible pricing models, including pay-as-you-go or subscriptions, mirroring familiar SaaS models.

While AWS will retain a commission on sales, insiders say it will be “minimal,” designed to prioritize growth, accessibility, and developer engagement.

A late entry, but a heavyweight one

AWS is entering a field already populated by tech heavyweights. Google Cloud launched its Agent Marketplace in April, and Microsoft followed with an Agent Store inside Microsoft 365 Copilot in May. Salesforce and ServiceNow are also betting big on AI-driven workflows.

Yet, Amazon's trump card is scale.

The marketplace will run on AWS’s massive cloud infrastructure, offering startups and enterprises access to hundreds of thousands of GPUs for training, fine-tuning, and deploying agents, an advantage few rivals can match.

“AWS may be late to the party, but they’re arriving with a firehose of infrastructure and a war chest of strategic partnerships,” said one analyst. “That changes the game.”

Implications for startups and developers

The marketplace aims to unlock opportunities across the AI ecosystem, especially for smaller developers and startups seeking distribution, monetization, and scalability without being locked into closed ecosystems.

Key benefits include:

• Centralized access to a diverse catalog of autonomous agents

• Instant scalability within AWS environments

• Global reach via AWS’s massive customer base

• Flexible monetization options (consumption-based or subscriptions)

• Technical support and cloud resources unmatched by most platforms

Still, some observers warn that execution will be key. There are concerns that the platform could be dominated by major players, pushing smaller innovators to the margins. AWS’s ability to foster a truly open and level playing field will determine whether it can fulfill its ambitious vision.

Looking ahead

With the AI agent market projected to hit $50.3 billion by 2030, AWS's move is both a defensive and offensive play. Defensive against growing competition, and offensive in seizing control of a fragmented but promising frontier.

If successful, the AWS AI Agent Marketplace could become the gravitational center of this new digital economy, simplifying how intelligent agents are built, sold, and scaled around the world.