Salesforce License Types - A Comprehensive Guide
salesforce
Fredrik Filipsson
Table Of Contents
  1. What are the Salesforce Licenses Types – A Comprehensive Guide

What are the Salesforce Licenses Types – A Comprehensive Guide


What types of Salesforce licenses are available?

When you’re thinking about purchasing Salesforce License Types, it’s important to choose the right one for your business. Understanding the difference between various licenses and their specific features and functionalities can be difficult, but you’ll need to understand each license’s limitations and benefits before you make your choice.

In this guide, we will provide a comprehensive overview of the Salesforce license types and their respective features, helping you make an informed decision.

salesforce license types

Salesforce License


The most commonly purchased Salesforce license provides users with full access to all standard CRM functionality, standard applications, custom applications, and AppExchange apps. This license is perfect for users who require full functionality access and flexibility.

Salesforce Platform License


The Salesforce Platform license is for users who need to access custom or AppExchange apps but not standard CRM functionality. These users have access to core platform functionality, such as accounts, contacts, custom tabs, reports, dashboards, and documents. However, they are restricted in some areas. They do not have access to opportunities or forecasts and are not entitled to some user permissions and standard apps.

Salesforce Platform Light License


The Salesforce Platform Light license provides the same access rights as the Salesforce Platform license. However, the number of times the user can log in monthly is limited. Users cannot edit or create new dashboards and can only view them if the dashboard’s running user also has a Salesforce Platform Light license.

Force.com – One App License


The Force.com Salesforce license is for users who need access to a single custom application but not standard CRM functionality. These users have the same rights as Salesforce Platform users but are limited to a single custom application consisting of up to 10 custom objects and have only read-only access to accounts and contacts.

Force.com – Free License


The Force.com Free Salesforce license is essentially the same as the Force.com – One App license. However, they do not have access to accounts and contacts.

salesforce license

Knowledge Only User License


The Knowledge Only User Salesforce license is for users who only need access to Salesforce Knowledge. They can access the following tabs: Articles, Article Management, Home, Reports, and custom tabs. The license also includes a profile that grants access to the Articles tab via the “View Articles” user permission. A user’s profile must also include the “Manage Articles” permission to view and use the Article Management tab.

Content Only User License


The Content Only User Salesforce license is for users who only need access to Salesforce CRM Content. They can access the following tabs: Workspaces, Content, Subscriptions, Ideas, and Home.

Ideas and Answers Internal User License


The Ideas and Answers Internal User Salesforce license is for internal Salesforce users who only require access to the Answers and Ideas features. The license allows users to access the Home tab, Answers tab, Ideas tab, and up to three other custom tabs.

Guest User License


The Guest User Salesforce License is essentially for a Force.com site, allowing you to create one active Force.com Site for each Guest User license in your Org. Site visitors have access to any information made available in an active public site but can be restricted by object and read/write privileges.

Customer Portal Manager Standard License


The Customer Portal Manager Standard Salesforce license is for contacts that access your customer support information by logging into your Customer Portal. These users can view and edit data owned by them or users below them in the Customer Portal role hierarchy. They also can view and edit cases in which they are involved, access custom objects based on their profile, and receive the Portal Super User permission.

Customer Portal Manager Custom License


The Customer Portal Manager Custom Salesforce license is an extension of the Customer Portal Manager Standard license. It allows the user to run reports based on their profile settings, plus receive the “Delegated Portal User Administrator” permission.

Partner Portal User Licenses


Partner portal users can also have two user licenses entitling them to additional features. These are the Silver Partner and Gold Partner Salesforce licenses.

Silver Partner License


The Silver Partner Salesforce license entitles the user to access Salesforce CRM Content (based upon feature license and profile), 2 MB of data storage, and access to the documents tab, approvals, and My Account Profile.

Gold Partner License


The Gold Partner Salesforce license entitles the user to access Salesforce CRM Content (based upon feature license and profile), 5 MB of data storage, and access to accounts, leads, opportunities, cases, custom objects, documents tab, approvals, and My Account Profile.

High Volume Customer Portal User License


This license is designed for contacts who need access to customer support information in your Org. These users don’t have roles, don’t appear in the role hierarchy, and can only access specific records based on specific criteria. These users can access accounts, assets, cases, contacts, custom objects, documents, ideas, and questions depending on their profile settings.

Chatter Only License


Salesforce.com recently announced a Chatter license for users who typically do not access Salesforce CRM but need to collaborate with other users via Chatter. The license is $15/user/month and allows the user to access profiles, status updates, people directories, real-time feeds, file sharing/content, groups, ideas, contacts, accounts, dashboards, reports, 1 custom app, and up to 10 custom objects.

FAQs

Choosing the right Salesforce license is critical to your business’s success. Each license type comes with its own set of features and limitations, making it important to evaluate your business’s needs to determine which license is best for you.

By understanding the differences between each license type, you can make an informed decision that will enable your business to achieve maximum productivity and efficiency.

While you may be tempted to opt for a cheaper license, it may not provide your users with the access they need to required features. Therefore, be careful when purchasing Salesforce licenses on a budget.

We hope this guide has provided you with the information you need to select the best Salesforce license for your business. If you have questions or require further help, don’t hesitate to reach out to a Salesforce expert who can guide you through the process.