Hosted is fastest, source is most flexible
Hosted agents minimize setup. Buyers can start quickly, especially when the seller provides a ready endpoint, docs, and auth instructions. That makes hosted delivery ideal for evaluation speed and small teams.
Source-code agents trade convenience for control. Buyers can inspect, modify, and self-host them, but the cost is more setup, more infrastructure, and more ownership of runtime quality.
Docker and ZIP sit between the two extremes
Docker images give buyers a portable packaging format without fully handing over the source tree. ZIP delivery is simpler, but it depends more on the included docs and the quality of the archived project structure.
On a marketplace, the product page has to explain these differences clearly. Delivery labels should be a decision aid, not an afterthought buried under the fold.
The wrong delivery model creates post-sale friction
Most buyer frustration comes from mismatched expectations. A team that wants zero-ops hosted access should not discover after payment that the listing assumes self-hosted deployment and a pile of API keys.
Clear delivery facts reduce support tickets, protect ratings, and make sellers look more serious before the transaction even happens.