Skip to main content
CMDashCybersecurity Maturity Dashboard
DocsFeature guidesBuying CMDash on AWS Marketplace

Buying CMDash on AWS Marketplace

What it is

CMDash is sold on AWS Marketplace in two forms. The hosted service is a subscription to the CMDash organization you sign in to on the web; AWS bills the plan and the metered usage on your AWS invoice. The self-hosted edition runs in your own AWS account from an AMI and CloudFormation templates, including a template for AWS GovCloud (US). This guide covers both from the buyer's side.

When to use it

Use the Marketplace route when your organization buys software through AWS, wants the spend to count against an AWS commitment, or needs the data to stay in its own AWS account (self-hosted).

Before you start

  • Account: An AWS account that can subscribe to Marketplace products.
  • Plans: Starter, Essentials and Command, each with a monthly and a 12-month term. Enterprise is sold as a private offer; ask CMDash for one.
  • Who links it: The subscription is attached to a CMDash organization by that organization's Owner. Nothing links until the Owner confirms.
  • One payer: An organization is billed by AWS or by CMDash, never both.

How to

Hosted service

  1. Subscribe to the CMDash listing in AWS Marketplace.
  2. In your AWS Marketplace console, open the subscription and choose Set up your account. The link works once and expires within about an hour. If it expires, choose Set up your account again.
  3. Create your CMDash organization, or sign in to one you own.
  4. Select Attach your AWS subscription to your organization. The plan is set from the subscription.
  5. Open Settings → Billing to see the plan and the channel that pays for it.

A trial organization can attach a subscription afterwards. An organization with a live card subscription keeps it until someone cancels it, and Settings, Billing warns that two channels are paying.

Self-hosted edition

  1. Subscribe to the self-hosted listing and launch the template that fits: eval (one instance, self-signed certificate), prod (load balancer, private instance, encrypted Multi-AZ database) or GovCloud (the production shape with FIPS endpoints).
  2. Set Licensing to marketplace to take the plan from your subscription, or license-file to use a signed CMDash licence file. The GovCloud template takes a licence file.
  3. When the stack reaches CREATE_COMPLETE, open the Url output and register the first account. On a new install it creates the organization and becomes its owner.
  4. Open Settings → License to see the subscription state and when AWS last confirmed it.

The full parameter reference is in the self-hosting guide for AWS on the developer pages.

Manage the plan and usage

  1. Change, upgrade or cancel the plan in AWS Marketplace, not in CMDash.
  2. Metered usage (monitored vendors and AI runs) is reported to AWS every hour and appears on the AWS invoice.
  3. If you hold several licences, each is bound to one organization. The organization gets the highest plan among its paid licences.

Common questions

What happens when I cancel? The plan stays until the paid period ends, then the organization returns to the Free plan. Your data is not deleted, and you can still read and export it.

The setup link says it expired. Choose Set up your account again in the AWS console for a fresh link.

Can I move a licence to another organization? Yes, but it is a support request, not a button. Contact CMDash.

What if AWS stops confirming my self-hosted subscription? The install enters a grace period and then read-only. Reading and export keep working. Settings, License says when each begins.

Does the Marketplace price differ from the website? The listing in AWS Marketplace is the authority for what you pay through AWS. Check it before you subscribe.

This page is the product manual, published from the repository at docs/user/feature-guides/aws-marketplace-buyer-guide.md. Customers read the same text inside CMDash under Help. Last updated October 12, 2026.

Buying CMDash on AWS Marketplace — CMDash Docs