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Third-party ISVs

This topic walks you through the concept, benefits, and features of third-party ISVs. You can also figure out the difference between ISVs and merchants.

What is ISV?

An ISV (independent software vendor) is a role that helps merchants develop and manage mini programs under the authorization of merchants. After logging in to the console, developers need to choose their role as an ISV or a merchant based on their needs.

See the diagrams below to learn self-developed mini programs (merchants develop their own mini programs) and third-party mini programs (ISVs help merchants develop mini programs):

Self-developed mini programs

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Merchants can develop and manage their own mini programs tailored to their business needs. The mini program a merchant develops belongs to the merchant or their company. To learn how merchants get onboarded to Alipay+ Mini Program Platform, see Merchant onboarding.

Third-party mini programs

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An ISV acts as a third-party service developer to help develop and manage mini programs on behalf of its merchants. The mini program the ISV develops belongs to the merchant who authorizes the development. To learn how ISVs get onboarded to Alipay+ Mini Program Platform, see ISV onboarding.

ISV & merchant

To learn more about the difference between merchants and ISVs, check the following table:

Role

Description

Flow

Merchant

Develop and manage their own mini programs.

  1. Merchant onboarding
  2. Create mini program
  3. Manage mini program
  4. Release mini program

ISV

Help merchants develop and manage mini programs.

  1. ISV onboarding
  2. Create service
  3. Merchant selects service
  4. Gain merchant's authorization
  5. Develop mini program for merchant
  6. Release mini program

Benefits

The Alipay+ Mini Program ecosystem brings benefits to merchants, ISVs, and wallets, as shown in the diagram below:

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Service features

As an ISV, you can create and release services on Alipay+ Mini Program Platform to scale your business. Currently, there are two service types you can provide for merchants: mini program development and mini program templates. To learn the current service features of ISVs, see the table below:

Features

Description

Pros

Cons

Target

Mini program development

ISVs can develop a mini program specifically for a merchant from scratch tailored to the merchant's needs.

  • Provide a shorter and quicker development path.
  • Allow dynamic customization.
  • Ensure merchant account security.
  • Unable to upload codes in bulk.

Targeted at merchants with customized needs for mini programs.

Mini program templates

ISVs can quickly create mini program templates for merchants in batches based on sample codes provided by Mini Program Platform. A mini program template can be applied to different merchant needs.

  • Develop merchant mini programs quickly and on a large scale.
  • Enable large-scale management of mini programs.
  • Ensure merchant account security.
  • Longer development path.
  • No option for customization.

Targeted at merchants with similar development needs for mini programs.

More information

Merchant onboarding

ISV onboarding