SAP Datasphere has its own data marketplace, called the Data Marketplace, where a team that already runs SAP Datasphere can find third-party data products, test a sample and install the product into a space. This guide shows how to read a product page for what the provider states, what installing involves, and how to load company data that is delivered direct into the same place. The statements about SAP come from SAP's documentation for SAP Datasphere, version 2026.20 of 28 September 2026, read on 4 October 2026.
What the marketplace is
You reach it from Catalog & Marketplace in the side navigation. The catalogue search has a collection named Data Products (Marketplace), which holds the data products that providers publish in SAP Datasphere, either free or for a licence. A second collection, Data Products, holds data products from SAP applications and from supported partners such as SAP Databricks, and is not covered here. SAP's definition of a data product is a set of tables that stands on its own and exposes its data for use outside the application that produced it.
Who can see a product depends on its context. The public data marketplace is managed by SAP, and every user belongs to it and cannot leave. A provider can also run a private marketplace: a data shop with one provider, a private data exchange across companies, or an internal marketplace for the users of one system. To join a private context you need a member activation key from the provider that owns it.
Two boundaries matter. SAP states that marketplace data products are produced and consumed in SAP Datasphere, with an exception for providers who set the visibility option to Formations, and that a product created in one landscape can be seen and acquired only in that landscape. According to SAP's guide for data providers, a provider needs an SAP Datasphere licence and a provider profile in the Data Sharing Cockpit, and a provider without a tenant of its own appears through a content aggregator, which maintains the profile for it.
Reading a product page
Every data product has a details page. These are the fields a buyer needs, with the question each one settles.
| Field | What SAP documents | Question to settle |
|---|---|---|
| Access and price | Open (free, no key), License Key (a key the provider supplies, for example after a commercial agreement) or On Request (ask the provider first). A priced product shows its price, currency and pricing model, one time or monthly | What does the key cover, for whom and until when? |
| Data Shipment | Integrated Delivery (copied into your space, managed by the marketplace), External Delivery (files shared outside SAP Datasphere, managed by the provider) or Open SQL (written to an Open SQL schema you create, managed by the provider) | Who runs delivery, and who answers when it fails? |
| Delivery Mode | Full Replication (updates arrive), Live Access (a view shared live, with no copy) or One-Time Replication (one delivery, corrections only by reloading) | Do you need updates, and what do they do to rows you already hold? |
| Delivery Pattern and Size Category | The update cycle, such as daily, weekly or monthly, and a size band from S, under 1,000 records, to XXXL, over 100 million | Is the cycle the one you need, and is the size the one you expect? |
| Regional Coverage, Industry, Data Category | The countries and regions, industries and categories the product is assigned to | Does the coverage include your markets? |
| Sample Data | A table that previews 20 rows, with Show All for the rest, and a download offered only as an Excel file | Does it hold the columns you will join on? |
| Terms of Use and Attachments | The provider's terms, legal documents and supplemental documents | What may you do with the data, and for how long? |
Three details change what you can rely on. SAP notes that licence validity is not effective for a keyed product delivered by Live Access, so ask the provider how access to such a product ends. A One-Time Replication product gives no corrections unless you reload it. And the terms are the provider's own: SAP states that the provider is responsible for adding terms of use to every product, and that installing a product means agreeing to them.
Installing and keeping a product
The steps are the same for every access type.
- Search under Catalog & Marketplace, choose the Data Products (Marketplace) collection and open the details page.
- Download the sample, if there is one, and test it.
- Choose Install for a free product, Install with License Key for a keyed one, or Request Access for an on-request one, which opens an email to the provider.
- Pick the target space, which must be one you can access, and the update type if the product offers updates.
- Read the terms of use and the legal documents, then install. The objects appear in the Repository Explorer of that space.
You need a global role with the Data Warehouse General and Catalog Asset privileges, and a scoped role for the target space with space, space file, data integration and connection privileges. SAP gives the Catalog User role with the DW Modeler scoped role template as a pair that carries them.
Afterwards the Marketplace Data Products page lists your installations, with charts of installations by month, top providers and licence validity. For each product you can update to the latest minor version, reinitialise one that has failed, or uninstall it. SAP warns that reinstalling a product needs a new licence, so try an update or a reinitialisation before an uninstall.
Where the marketplace stops
The marketplace carries what providers have published into SAP Datasphere. Providers that deliver another way are not in it, and SAP's guide itself names a route outside it: the catalogue has a Request External Products button that opens the Datarade website, which SAP notes is external to its product. The guide to how Datarade works for buyers covers what is on the other side.
Fokals is delivered direct, by REST API and as bulk files in JSON, JSON Lines or CSV, which a team that licenses the data loads into a space with SAP Datasphere's own loaders. The data then sits beside whatever the marketplace delivered. The delivery page describes the formats, and the comparison of marketplaces and direct licensing sets out when each route fits.
Loading data delivered direct
SAP documents several ways to get your own files into a space. Four of them suit files like these, and the size and format of the file decide between them.
| Route | What SAP documents | Limit to plan for |
|---|---|---|
| CSV import in the Data Builder | Creates a local table from a CSV file, with transformations during the upload | A .csv extension, Unicode text only and at most 25 MB per file |
| Replication flow from object storage | Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure Data Lake Gen2, Microsoft OneLake and SAP HANA Cloud data lake files as sources | CSV or Parquet, with Parquet supported only on Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage and Azure Data Lake Gen2; load type Initial Only; the folder and files must not change during the load |
| Data flow from a remote file store | Files of type JSON, JSONL, CSV, XLS, XLSX, ORC or Parquet on Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage or Azure Blob Storage | An Excel file must not exceed 50 MB; each cloud's bucket and object naming rules apply |
| Open SQL schema | A space administrator creates a database user, who writes tables to an Open SQL schema over ODBC; space users then use them as sources | Needs a database user and your own loading tool |
Acme Robotics (illustrative) receives a CSV export of 180 MB. That is over the limit of the CSV import, so Acme copies the file to its own Amazon S3 bucket, creates a connection to the bucket in its space and runs a replication flow with load type Initial Only into a local table.
Two properties of Fokals files need a decision before the load. The first is JSON in a single cell: lists and objects arrive that way, SAP converts string columns to String(5000) on CSV import, and a replication flow fails on a longer string unless you switch off Fail on Data Truncation, which then cuts the value. A cut JSON value is no longer JSON, so measure the longest cell in each JSON column of a sample first. The second is identifiers. Load ISIN, LEI, FIGI and any other digit-only identifier as strings, because SAP warns that a value that cannot be converted to its assigned type, such as a number with leading zeros, is replaced by null in some loads.
Once the files are tables in the space, join on the company ID across Fokals tables. Join to your own records on ISIN, FIGI or ticker with MIC, or on the website domain for tables keyed by website, as the data dictionary sets out. The guide to adding external company data to SAP Datasphere covers the join model inside the space, and the SAP pages on connections describe each source type.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SAP Datasphere Data Marketplace?
It is the part of the SAP Datasphere catalogue where providers publish data products and buyers install them into spaces. SAP lists it as the Data Products (Marketplace) collection under Catalog & Marketplace. Products are either free or need a licence, are produced in SAP Datasphere and as a rule consumed there, and can be seen only in the landscape where they were created.
How do you install a data product from the SAP Datasphere Data Marketplace?
Open the product's details page, download the sample if one is offered, then choose Install, Install with License Key or Request Access, depending on the access type. Select a target space, review the terms of use and the legal documents, and install. You need the Data Warehouse General and Catalog Asset privileges in a global role, and space privileges in a scoped role for the target space.
What is the difference between Integrated Delivery, External Delivery and Open SQL?
They are the three data shipment types on a product page. Integrated Delivery copies the data into the space you choose and is managed by the marketplace. External Delivery shares files outside SAP Datasphere and is managed by the provider. Open SQL writes through an Open SQL schema that you create in your space, and is also managed by the provider.
Does every data product need a licence key?
No. The access type of a product is Open, License Key or On Request. An Open product is free, needs no key and is activated when you accept its terms of use. A License Key product needs a key from the provider, for example after a commercial agreement. An On Request product must be requested from the provider before you can install it.
Can you load data delivered direct into SAP Datasphere?
Yes. SAP documents a CSV import of up to 25 MB, connections to object storage with replication flows or data flows, and Open SQL schemas written by a database user. Fokals data, which is delivered direct by REST API and as bulk files, reaches a space this way: you load the files with these loaders and join them to your own records.
What this page says about the products it names was checked against their public documentation on 4 October 2026. Product and company names are trademarks of their owners. Fokals is not affiliated with them or endorsed by them.