AppSource

Microsoft AppSource is the marketplace for business applications, extensions, and add-ons that run on Microsoft cloud products including Dynamics 365, the Power Platform, Microsoft 365, and Azure. For Dynamics 365 customers it is the canonical place to discover and install ISV-built functionality — country-specific localizations for Business Central, industry verticals on top of CRM, connectors, and AI agents. Apps are published by Microsoft partners under transactable or contact-me models, and Business Central extensions in particular must be available on AppSource to be installed into a SaaS tenant.

In practice, publishing to AppSource means passing Microsoft's technical validation — an automated and manual review checking manifest completeness, telemetry, security, and (for Business Central apps) the AppSource Cop linting ruleset — before a listing goes live. This is separate from whether the app is actually good; validation checks that the app won't break the platform or misbehave, not that it solves the buyer's problem well. Buyers should treat AppSource ratings and the publisher's own support responsiveness as the real signal, alongside a trial installation in a sandbox environment before committing to a production tenant.

A common point of confusion: an AppSource listing does not mean Microsoft built, maintains, or supports the app — that's the publishing partner's job, and support quality varies enormously between a well-resourced ISV and a single consultant's side project. Before installing a business-critical AppSource app, check who the publisher is, how long the app has existed, and what happens if that partner stops maintaining it — a solution's health depends on someone still shipping updates as Business Central and Dataverse themselves keep changing underneath it.