✦Quick answer
Salesforce license types fall into five main groups. Prices range from free or included licenses to several hundred dollars per user per month, so the right choice depends on what each user actually needs to do.
Full CRM for sales and service users
Platform for employees on custom apps
Experience Cloud for customers and partners
Specialized access such as Identity and Integration
Product licenses such as Marketing Cloud
If you're a CFO, IT leader, or Salesforce admin, you've probably asked a simple question with a surprisingly complicated answer:
"Are we paying for the right Salesforce licenses?"
It's easy to see why the answer is often "not quite." Two mistakes are common, and both cost money:
MISTAKE 1
One license type for everyone
Simpler to manage, but many users get access they never use.
Cost: wasted spendMISTAKE 2
The cheapest option
Months later, users discover they can't access the records they need.
Cost: workarounds and lost productivity| License Type | Best For | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|
| ✦Salesforce (full CRM) | Sales and service users working with leads, opportunities, cases, and forecasts | From $25 per user/month, rising with edition |
| ✦Salesforce Platform (Starter, Plus, Login) | Employees using custom apps without full CRM needs | From $25 per user/month, or pay-per-login |
| ✦Experience Cloud | Customers, partners, resellers, and distributors using portals | Per member or per login |
| ✦Identity | Users who only need single sign-on and authentication | Includedin some editions, or low-cost standalone |
| ✦Salesforce Integration | System-to-system API connections | Includeda limited number with Enterprise and Unlimited editions |
| ✦Marketing Cloud | Marketing teams running campaigns and journeys | Per organization, based on contacts and usage |
| ✦Developer Edition | Learning, building, and testing | Freenot for production use |
In this guide, you'll learn:
ⓘPrices are Salesforce list prices in USD as of October 2026. Licensing, packaging, and pricing vary by edition, region, contract, and negotiated terms, so confirm current entitlements with Salesforce before purchasing.
A Salesforce edition defines what your whole organization has purchased, a user license sets the baseline access for one person, feature licenses add specific capabilities to individual users, and permission set licenses unlock extra functionality that permission sets can then grant. Profiles and permission sets control what each user can do, but only within the limits of their licenses.
| Term | What It Controls | Per User or Per Org? | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edition | The features and limits available to your entire Salesforce org | Per org | Starter, Pro Suite, Enterprise, Unlimited |
| User license | The baseline products and objects one user can access | One per user | Salesforce, Salesforce Platform, Identity, Customer Community |
| Feature license | Access to a specific additional feature | Multiple per user | Marketing User, Service Cloud User, Knowledge User, Flow User |
| Permission set license | Paid or included access to extra functionality, enabled through permission sets | Multiple per user | Product-specific add-ons for sales planning, CPQ, and similar features |
| Profile and permission sets | What the user can actually see and do | Per user | Object, field, app, and system permissions |
Think of it as layers, each one sitting inside the limits of the one above it:
1 · EDITION · per org
Your organization buys an edition, which sets the ceiling for what's possible.
2 · USER LICENSE · one per user
Each user gets one user license, which defines their baseline access.
3 · FEATURE LICENSES + PERMISSION SET LICENSES
Add specific capabilities where needed.
4 · PROFILES + PERMISSION SETS
Grant the exact permissions within those boundaries.
THE PROBLEM
A marketing manager has a full Salesforce user license but can't create campaigns.
THE INSTINCT
Dig into profiles and permission sets.
THE QUICKER FIX
Check whether the Marketing User feature license is enabled on their user record, because campaign creation depends on it.
A permission set can't give a user functionality their license doesn't include.
You can't assign a low-cost license and then "unlock" full CRM features through permissions. If a user needs objects or capabilities outside their license, they need a different license, an add-on, or the relevant permission set license.
Decide licenses before configuration starts. Changing a user's license later can remove permission sets and require rebuilding access.
Salesforce licenses are organized by who uses them (internal employees or external users) and by how they're billed: per user, per login, per organization, or by usage. Choosing the right billing model can matter as much as choosing the right license type.
INTERNAL LICENSES
For employees who work inside your Salesforce org, such as sales reps, service agents, operations staff, and admins.
EXTERNAL LICENSES
For people outside your organization, such as customers, partners, resellers, and distributors, through Experience Cloud portals and sites.
Access is deliberately more limited and controlled than an employee's.
| Billing Model | How It Works | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Per user seat-based |
A license is assigned to a named user | Employees and partners who use Salesforce regularly |
| Per login | You pay for logins within a period rather than named users | Large groups of customers or occasional users |
| Per organization | One subscription covers the org, priced by contacts or volume | Marketing Cloud and Account Engagement |
| Usage-based | Pricing depends on consumption, such as AI actions, data, or credits | Agentforce, Data 360, extra storage, and messaging |
The same license type can be far cheaper or far more expensive depending on how people use it:
A partner who logs in every day
→ Usually cheaper per userA customer who checks an order status once a quarter
→ Usually cheaper per loginUsage-based pricing adds another layer. As organizations adopt Agentforce and Data 360, a growing share of Salesforce spend comes from consumption rather than seats, so you need to forecast and monitor it like user licenses.
✦The practical takeaway
For every user group, decide both which license they need and which billing model matches how often they'll actually use Salesforce.
The main internal Salesforce licenses are Salesforce (full CRM), Salesforce Platform (Starter, Plus, and Login), Identity Only, Salesforce Integration, Chatter Free, and the Einstein Agent User license for Agentforce agents. Each is designed for a different employee or system, and choosing the right one avoids paying for access you don't need.
The standard license for users who need core CRM functionality, plus AppExchange apps:
Right for: sales reps, sales managers, service agents, and Salesforce admins
For employees who mainly work with custom apps and objects rather than the full CRM.
✓ INCLUDES
✕ EXCLUDES STANDARD CRM OBJECTS
| Platform License | What It Includes | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Starter | Access to up to 10 custom objects per user | Simple internal apps with a small data model |
| Platform Plus | Access to up to 110 custom objects per user | Complex internal apps with many related objects |
| Platform Login Per login |
Pay-per-login access with custom object limits similar to Starter | Occasional internal users who log in only a few times a month |
Important: Salesforce's terms don't allow you to rebuild standard CRM features, such as an opportunity pipeline, with custom objects to avoid buying full licenses. Doing so can breach your contract.
For employees who only need single sign-on and authentication through Salesforce, not CRM records.
Useful when Salesforce is your identity provider for other apps, or for Account Engagement users who need to log in without a full CRM license.
For system-to-system connections. API-only access, with no ability to log in through the Salesforce interface.
Supports least-privilege integrations and easier tracking. Enterprise, Unlimited, and Performance editions include a limited number at no extra cost.
A no-cost license for employees who only need Salesforce's collaboration features, such as Chatter feeds, groups, and files, without access to CRM data.
When you build an Agentforce agent, it runs under its own dedicated agent user, rather than consuming one of your employee licenses.
Agent activity is typically billed through consumption, so plan for usage costs rather than seats.
Available through Developer Edition for learning, building, and testing.
Very limited storage, users, and API calls. Not a substitute for production user licenses.
Experience Cloud licenses give customers, partners, and other external users controlled access to Salesforce through branded portals and sites. The main options are Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, Channel Account, External Apps, and External Identity, and most can be bought per member or per login.
| License | Best For | Typical Use Cases |
|---|---|---|
| ✦Customer Community | Large customer audiences with simple needs | Self-service, knowledge articles, order tracking, case submission |
| ✦Customer Community Plus | Customers who need more advanced access | Shared records, reporting, delegated admin, account-level collaboration |
| ✦Partner Community | Resellers, distributors, and channel partners | Lead and opportunity sharing, deal registration, partner account management |
| ✦Channel Account | Partner companies with many users each | Licensing at the partner-account level instead of per individual user |
| ✦External Apps | Fully custom external apps | Branded experiences that need custom objects with limited CRM exposure |
| ✦External Identity | High-volume external users who mainly need login | Registration, authentication, and profile management |
| ✦Guest User Included with your org |
Anonymous public visitors | Public pages, forms, and knowledge on your site |
The cheapest option isn't always the most cost-effective. If a license doesn't support the records, sharing, or processes your portal needs, you'll face extra configuration work or a later license change.
| Factor | Member-Based | Login-Based |
|---|---|---|
| How it's billed | Per named external user | Per login within a period |
| Best for | Users who log in often | Large audiences who log in occasionally |
| Example | 200 partners using the portal every week | 20,000 customers, of whom only a few hundred log in each month |
| Watch out for | !Paying for users who rarely log in | !Costs rising quickly if usage spikes |
LOGS IN MORE THAN A FEW TIMES A MONTH
Member-based usually cheaper
LOGS IN RARELY
Login-based usually wins
Base the decision on real data, not registered user counts:
Portals often see spikes during renewals, enrollment periods, or product launches, so include those peaks in your estimate.
✦Codleo tip
Before renewing Experience Cloud licenses, compare registered users with monthly active users and login frequency from the past 12 months. It's one of the quickest ways to spot whether you're on the wrong billing model.
Salesforce license prices in 2026 range from free (Chatter Free, Developer Edition, and included Integration and Identity licenses) to $25–$550 per user per month for CRM editions, with Platform licenses from $25 per user per month and Experience Cloud licenses priced per member or per login.
| Edition | Price per user/month, billed annually |
Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Starter Suite | $25 | Small teams needing core CRM |
| Pro Suite | $100 | Growing teams needing more automation and forecasting |
| Enterprise | $175 | Mid-size and larger teams needing API access and customization |
| Unlimited | $350 | Large teams needing premium support and higher limits |
| Agentforce 1 | $550 | Organizations deploying AI agents and Data 360 at scale |
| License | Typical Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Starter | Per user$25 per user/month | Up to 10 custom objects per user |
| Platform Plus | Per user$100 per user/month | Up to 110 custom objects per user |
| Platform Login | Per loginCredit-based, paid per login | For occasional internal users |
| Identity Only | Includedin some editions; low-cost standalone | Authentication and SSO only |
| Salesforce Integration | Includedlimited number with Enterprise, Unlimited, and Performance; low-cost add-ons | API-only access |
| Customer Community | Per memberor from about $2 per login | Basic customer self-service |
| Partner Relationship Management | Per memberfrom $25 per member/month, or per login | Partner and reseller collaboration |
| External Apps | Per memberfrom $35 per member/month or $15 per login | Custom external experiences |
| Chatter Free | Free | Collaboration only |
| Developer Edition | Free | Non-production development and learning |
| Marketing Cloud Account Engagement+ | Per orgfrom $1,250 per org/month | B2B marketing automation, priced per org |
| Agentforce | Usage-basedConsumption-based credits | Billed by agent usage, not seats |
List prices in USD as of October 2026, billed annually unless noted. Pricing, names, and packaging vary by region, contract, and volume, and enterprise customers often negotiate discounts. Confirm current pricing with Salesforce before purchasing.
The monthly license price is only part of what you'll pay. These often cost as much as the licenses themselves in the first year:
For a full breakdown, see our Salesforce implementation cost guide.
Choose Salesforce licenses by what each user needs to do, not by job title or department. Sales and service users usually need full CRM licenses, employees using custom apps can often use Platform licenses, customers and partners need Experience Cloud licenses, and systems need Integration licenses.
| User Type | License to Evaluate | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sales rep or sales manager | Salesforce (full CRM) | Needs leads, opportunities, forecasts, and pipeline reports |
| Service agent | Salesforce (full CRM) with Service Cloud | Needs cases, knowledge, and service workflows |
| Operations or back-office user | Platform Starter or Plus | Works mainly in custom apps without standard CRM objects |
| Occasional internal user | Platform Login | Logs in only a few times a month |
| Admin or power user | Salesforce (full CRM) | Needs broad configuration and data access |
| Employee needing only SSO | Identity Only | Uses Salesforce to log in to other apps |
| System integration | Salesforce Integration | Needs API-only access |
| Customer | Customer Community or Customer Community Plus | Self-service and controlled data access |
| Partner or reseller | Partner Community or Channel Account | Shares leads, deals, and partner data |
| Marketing team | Marketing Cloud or Account Engagement | Campaigns, journeys, and marketing automation |
Which records do they need?
Leads, opportunities, cases, or only custom objects?
What will they actually do?
View data, update it, or manage full processes?
Are they internal or external?
Employees, or customers and partners?
How often will they log in?
Daily, weekly, or a few times a year?
Do they need any specific features?
Such as Marketing User, Knowledge, or a product add-on
A 44-person B2B company on Enterprise edition also runs a partner portal and a customer support portal.
| User Group | Users | One License for All | Right License Mix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales reps and managers | 15 | Enterprise, $2,625/month | Enterprise, $2,625/month |
| Service agents | 8 | Enterprise, $1,400/month | Enterprise, $1,400/month |
| Operations (custom apps only) | 12 | Enterprise, $2,100/month | Platform Starter, $300/month |
| Admins | 3 | Enterprise, $525/month | Enterprise, $525/month |
| HR and finance (SSO only) | 4 | Enterprise, $700/month | Identity Only, included |
| System integrations | 2 | Enterprise, $350/month | Integration, included |
| Partners (frequent users) | 40 | Partner, $1,000/month | Partner, $1,000/month |
| Customers (about 300 logins/month) | – | Login-based, $600/month | Login-based, $600/month |
| Annual total | $111,600 | $77,400 | |
$34,200
saved per year (~31%)
Without removing any functionality users actually need. The savings come from matching operations, SSO-only, and integration users to the licenses built for them.
Illustrative example at list prices. Confirm that each user's required objects and features are supported before changing licenses.
Marketing Cloud is licensed per organization rather than per user, with pricing based on edition, contacts, and messaging usage. Eligible nonprofits can receive 10 donated Salesforce licenses through the Power of Us program, plus discounted pricing on additional licenses.
Unlike Sales Cloud or Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud doesn't charge per user. Your cost depends on:
| Marketing Cloud Product | Starting Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Account Engagement+ (formerly Pardot) | From $1,250/org/month | B2B lead generation, nurturing, and scoring |
| Marketing Cloud Next Growth | $1,500/org/month | AI-assisted, multi-channel campaigns |
| Engagement+ | From $2,000/org/month | High-volume B2C email and mobile journeys |
| Marketing Cloud Next Advanced | $3,250/org/month | Advanced AI, scoring, and journey orchestration |
✦Account Engagement users who don't need full CRM access can sign in through Salesforce with an Identity license.
For a full breakdown of editions, usage credits, and hidden costs, see our Salesforce Marketing Cloud pricing guide.
10
donated Enterprise Edition licenses
Through the Power of Us program, eligible nonprofits can receive 10 donated Enterprise Edition licenses, either for Salesforce's nonprofit offering or for Sales and Service Cloud.
✓Plus discounts on additional licenses and products
| Nonprofit Edition | Listed Price (per user/month) |
|---|---|
| Nonprofit Cloud Enterprise | $60 |
| Nonprofit Cloud Unlimited | $100 |
| Nonprofit Agentforce 1 for Sales or Service | $135 |
Note on NPSP
The Nonprofit Success Pack isn't a license. It's a set of managed packages that runs on top of Salesforce licenses. Salesforce still supports NPSP but is focusing new innovation on its newer nonprofit offering, so organizations planning major changes should evaluate both paths.
!Donated licenses reduce subscription costs, but implementation, data migration, training, and administration still need a budget.
The most important Salesforce license limitations are that Platform licenses exclude standard CRM objects like leads, opportunities, and cases; permission sets can't exceed what a license allows; Integration licenses are API-only; Identity licenses don't include CRM access; and Developer Edition can't be used for production users.
| License | Key Limitation | What It Means in Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Starter and Plus | ✕No leads, opportunities, cases, campaigns, or forecasts; custom object limits of 10 or 110 per user | Not suitable for sales or service users |
| Platform Login | ✕Built for occasional use | Frequent users can cost more than a seat license |
| Identity Only | ✕Authentication and SSO only | Users can't work with CRM records |
| Salesforce Integration | ✕API-only, no user interface access | Not a cheap license for human users |
| Experience Cloud | ✕Access and sharing designed for external users | Customers and partners can't be given full internal access |
| External Identity | ✕Login and profile management only | Not a full customer portal license |
| Developer Edition | ✕Very limited users, storage, and API calls | Never a substitute for production licenses |
Moving a sales user to a Platform license to save money will cut off access to opportunities and forecasts. Always review which objects and features each user relies on before changing a license.
Permission sets only work within a user's license entitlements. Switching a user's license can also remove their existing permission sets, so plan to rebuild access afterward.
You may not hit a technical block when giving Platform users access to more custom objects than their license allows, but exceeding contractual limits can breach your Salesforce agreement and lead to back-billing. The same applies to recreating standard CRM functionality with custom objects.
Not every license, feature license, or add-on is available in every edition. Platform licenses, for example, are available with Enterprise and Unlimited editions, and some included licenses, such as Integration and Identity allowances, depend on your edition and contract. Always confirm against your actual Salesforce agreement.
To check your Salesforce licenses, go to Setup, type "Company Information" in the Quick Find box, and open the page. You'll see every user license, permission set license, and feature license your org owns, with totals, used, and remaining counts.
Click the gear icon and open Setup.
Type Company Information in the Quick Find box and select it.
Scroll to User Licenses to see each license type, total purchased, used, and remaining.
Scroll further to Permission Set Licenses and Feature Licenses to see add-on usage.
Create a new report using the Users report type.
Filter where Last Login is before the last 30, 60, or 90 days.
Add columns: Full Name, Profile, User License, Role, and Last Login.
Group by User License to see where inactive users are concentrated.
Export the results to share with team leaders for review.
✦For a user-by-user view of add-ons, create a custom report type based on Permission Set License Assignments.
Build your inventory
Record purchased, assigned, and available licenses by type, plus renewal dates from your contract.
Flag inactive and unnecessary accounts
Look for former employees, finished contractors, test users, duplicates, and people who changed roles.
Group users by what they do
Sales, service, operations, admins, executives, integrations, partners, and customers.
Spot over-licensing
Find users with full CRM licenses who only work in custom apps or only need SSO.
Spot under-licensing
Look for shared logins, spreadsheet workarounds, and teams exporting data because they can't do their work inside Salesforce.
Review add-ons and external users
Check who actually uses each feature license and permission set license, and compare Experience Cloud logins with your billing model.
Before you remove or downgrade anyone, confirm what they actually use. Someone who logs in rarely may still depend on features that a cheaper license doesn't include, such as month-end approvals or quarterly forecasts.
Those are the minimums. Larger orgs benefit from a quarterly review.
Codleo's Salesforce consultants will audit your license allocation, usage, add-ons, and external users, then show you where you're over- or under-licensed and what to change before your next renewal.
The most effective ways to reduce Salesforce licensing costs are removing licenses from inactive users, matching each user to the right license type, reviewing unused add-ons, choosing the right Experience Cloud billing model, using dedicated Integration licenses, and negotiating before renewal.
!Cutting licenses blindly often costs more in lost productivity than it saves.
Deactivate departed employees, finished contractors, and test accounts. Frozen or deactivated users keep their data, so you can restore access if needed.
Operations staff working only in custom apps, employees who only need SSO, and system connections rarely need full CRM licenses.
Paid capabilities assigned for an old project often stay on the bill long after anyone uses them.
Switch occasional customer users to login-based licensing and keep frequent partners on member-based licensing.
Enterprise and Unlimited editions include a limited number at no extra cost, which can free up full licenses currently used by integrations.
Buy licenses when people actually start, not months ahead based on a headcount forecast.
Start reviewing usage at least 90 days out, and bring data on actual utilization to the conversation. Multi-year agreements and timing near Salesforce's quarter-end can also improve terms.
| Mistake | Why It Hurts | Better Approach |
|---|---|---|
| ✕Giving everyone the same license | You pay for features many users never touch | ✓Assign licenses by role and required functionality |
| ✕Choosing the cheapest license first | Users can't do their jobs and create workarounds | ✓Pick the lowest-cost license that fully supports the work |
| ✕Expecting permission sets to fix license gaps | Permissions can't exceed license entitlements | ✓Check license, feature licenses, and permission set licenses together |
| ✕Renewing without an audit | Inactive and mismatched licenses roll over year after year | ✓Audit at least 90 days before every renewal |
| ✕Using employee accounts for integrations | Security risk and broken integrations when people leave | ✓Use dedicated Integration licenses |
| ✕Treating customers like employees | Paying internal license prices for external access | ✓Use the right Experience Cloud license and billing model |
The right Salesforce license isn't the one with the most features or the lowest price. It's the one that gives each user exactly what they need to do their job, without paying for access they'll never use.
✦Start by grouping users by what they actually do
Then review your license mix regularly, especially before renewals, because roles, products, and usage change over time.
Done well, license planning:
Exactly what each user needs, nothing they'll never use.
Talk to Codleo, a Salesforce Summit Partner. Our consultants will review your users, license allocation, add-ons, and portals, then recommend the license mix that balances cost, functionality, and growth, before you sign your next contract.
Review My Salesforce LicensesPublish date: 7th October, 2026