If you want to know which vendors the 2025 MSP 501 picked as their favorite go-to-market partners, you’ll have to attend the Preferred Vendor Awards session Sept. 17 at the MSP Summit in Orlando, Fla.

However, you can find the finalists below. And we can tell you that Microsoft is among the top picks in seven of nine technology categories spanning vendors, suppliers, distributors and marketplaces. Other finalists in multiple categories include AWS, Google, Ingram Micro and Kaseya.

A little background: When we survey managed service providers as part of picking our annual MSP 501, we ask for their top three or five preferred or most strategic vendors in each major technology category. This gives us insight into what products customers are buying from MSPs, and also which vendors MSPs like working with.

In 2024 we began publishing our MSP 501 Preferred Vendor list to publicly identify these favored MSP vendors and suppliers. In 2025, we modified our product categories and our 2025 MSP 501 Preferred Vendor list now has winners in nine categories. See the 2024 finalists and 2024 winners.

Microsoft is a 2025 finalist in MSP staples such as cybersecurity and cloud, and the rapidly emerging AI tools category, among others. Other vendors near the top in multiple categories include AWS, Cisco, ConnectWise, Google, Ingram Micro and Kaseya.

As is always the case with the channel, vendors’ relationships with partners are crucial although product development also gets MSPs’ attention.

“We do a lot with Microsoft, a tremendous amount,” said Don Wisdom, CEO of Datalink Networks, an MSP 501 company. “We meet with Microsoft leadership from time to time, and they are continuing to evolve their programs to where they're literally replacing their direct field salespeople with the channel partners. And in fiscal 2026, it’s going to accelerate.”

Here are the finalists in each category (finalists listed alphabetically):

Infrastructure. Four data center giants were at the top of this category, which includes servers, storage and networking.

Which vendor's infrastructure do MSPs sell the most?

Finalists: Dell, Cisco, HPE, Lenovo, Juniper, IBM, NetApp, Pure Storage

Online cloud marketplaces. This is a rapidly growing area for MSPs, and the top four vendors were selected by at least 20% of the MSP 501 winners.

Which online cloud marketplaces does your company use to sell, source, select products for your organization or on behalf of your customers?

Finalists: ConnectWise Marketplace, Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, Kaseya/Datto Marketplace, Microsoft Commercial Marketplace for Azure/AppSource, Pax8 Marketplace, TD Synnex CloudSolv

AI technology providers. There are dozens of AI tools in the market, and new ones keep coming. Surprisingly, one tool was so dominant that only four AI tools were picked by more than 6% of the MSP 501.

Which of the following major AI technology providers do you have partnerships with?

The finalists: ChatGPT, Claude by Anthropic, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot

Cybersecurity. This was another crowded field, with a plethora of vendors and five were picked as prime partners by at least 35% of the MSP 501.

Which cyber security vendors do you primarily use and consider your preferred and most strategic suppliers to protect your clients' environments?

The finalists: Arctic Wolf, Bitdefender, Blackpoint Cyber, Cisco (includes AMP, Duo), CrowdStrike, Fortinet, Huntress, Microsoft, Palo Alto, SentinelOne, Sophos.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)/Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). Everybody knows the big three here, so no surprise who the finalists are.

Which IaaS and PaaS do you sell the most?

The finalists: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.

Cloud SaaS. Four options were mentioned by at least one-quarter of the MSP 501 as trusted software-as-a-service partners, including the big three hyperscalers.

Which cloud SaaS suppliers do you consider your preferred and most strategic suppliers?

The finalists: Adobe, Amazon S3/EC2/AWS, Google Apps/Gsuite/Workspace, Microsoft Office 365.

Backup and disaster recovery. Three data protection giants were named as most strategic partners by at least 45% of the MSP 501.

Which backup and disaster recovery suppliers do you consider your preferred and most strategic?

The finalists: Acronis, Axcient, Barracuda, ConnectWise, Kaseya/Datto, Microsoft, N-Able, Veeam.

RMM software and/or (PSA) platforms. Three vendors were selected as trusted partners by at least 36% of the MSP 501 in this highly competitive field for MSPs.

Which remote monitoring and management (RMM) software and/or professional services automation (PSA) platforms do you primarily use in service offerings?

The finalists: Auvik, ConnectWise, Halo, N-Able, NinjaOne, Kaseya/Datto, Microsoft InTune.

Distributors and technology services distributors (TSDs). MSP 501 companies identified two dominant distributors, and one more had strong support but finished a distant third.

Which distributors and technology services distributors/brokers do your company use for sales, sourcing, products/services?

The finalists: D&H, Ingram Micro, Sandler Partners, ScanSource/Intelisys, TD Synnex, Telarus.