AppExchange Listing
An AppExchange Listing is the marketplace page on Salesforce AppExchange that represents one solution offered by a partner.
Definition
An AppExchange Listing is the marketplace page on Salesforce AppExchange that represents one solution offered by a partner. The listing carries the product name, tagline, descriptions, screenshots, demo video, feature highlights, supported industries and editions, pricing, customer reviews, installation method, and support contacts. It lives at appexchange.salesforce.com under a permanent URL. Customers use the listing to discover, evaluate, and install third-party apps, components, and bolt-ons before bringing them into their own org.
Partners build and maintain a listing in the AppExchange Partner Console using a guided tool called the Listing Builder. A solution listing is linked to a managed package and must pass Salesforce Security Review before it can publish. A consultant listing promotes professional services rather than software and skips the package and review steps. Once approved and published, the listing becomes the partner's storefront, lead-capture surface, and review aggregator in one place.
How an AppExchange listing is built and published
Solution listings versus consultant listings
AppExchange supports two main listing kinds, and the Listing Builder shows a different path for each. A solution listing represents software: a managed package, a Lightning component, a Bolt solution, or a Flow. It runs through five steps and is tied to a package that has cleared Security Review. A consultant listing represents professional services from an SI or implementation partner. It runs through a shorter three-step path (Fill in the Basics, Add Details, Grow Your Business) and does not link to a package or require a review. The distinction matters because buyers filter AppExchange by what they need. Someone hunting for a ready-to-install app does not want consulting firms in the results, and someone looking for an implementation partner does not want to scroll past apps. Choosing the right listing kind at the start puts the listing in the correct part of the marketplace. A partner can hold both kinds at once: many ISVs publish a solution listing for their app and a consultant listing for the services team that deploys it.
The five steps of the Listing Builder
A solution listing is created through five steps in the Listing Builder. Step one, Fill in the Basics, sets the title, the short and long descriptions, the required and compatible Salesforce products, supported editions, key features, target industries, user personas, languages, and business-need categories. Step two, Set Pricing, picks the pricing model (free, freemium, paid, or subscription), defines tiers, and confirms how payment is handled. Step three, Add Details, is the marketing layer: SEO-friendly descriptions, the tagline, highlights, screenshots, video, and terms and conditions. Step four, Link Your Solution, connects the managed package, confirms security compliance, and sets the install method (install from the listing, from the partner website, or by contacting the partner directly). Step five, Grow Your Business, configures free trials, test drives, and lead capture so prospects can try the product and the partner can follow up. Each step can be saved as a draft, so a listing does not have to be finished in one sitting.
The Partner Console and connecting a package
The AppExchange Partner Console is the one-stop site where partners create, publish, and manage listings. Partners reach it through the Publishing section of the Salesforce Partner Community. The console is organized into tabs. The Listings tab holds in-progress drafts and live listings and the New Listing button. The Technologies tab is where the technical plumbing lives: connected orgs, managed packages, APIs, trial templates, and License Management Org registration. The Analytics area reports tile views, hovers, and lead events so partners can see what is converting. Before a solution listing can link to a package, the partner connects the packaging org (the org that contains the managed package) to the console. Once connected, any packages AppExchange finds show up on the Packages tab and become available to attach in step four of the Listing Builder. A single listing maps one-to-one to a package, though a partner can bundle multiple packages behind one solution where that makes sense.
Security Review gates publication
A solution listing cannot go live until its package passes Salesforce Security Review. The review is Salesforce protecting the customers who install from the marketplace. It checks that the package enforces object and field permissions (CRUD and FLS), respects the org sharing model, handles secrets safely, and avoids common web vulnerabilities of the kind tracked by OWASP. Partners are expected to scan their own code with Salesforce Code Analyzer before they submit, which catches many issues early. In practice the review is the longest stretch in getting a listing out the door. It can take weeks, and a first submission rarely passes clean. Salesforce sends back a list of findings, the partner fixes them, and the package is resubmitted. Consultant listings skip this entirely because there is no code to review. Free apps still go through the full review; the fee may be waived but the security bar is identical to a paid app. Once the review passes, the listing can be submitted for publication.
Trials, test drives, and lead capture
Step five of the Listing Builder is where a listing earns its keep as a sales tool. A test drive lets a prospect log into a read-only org that already has the product installed and configured, so they can click around without installing anything. A free trial goes further: it spins up a fresh trial org, pre-loaded with the package from a Trialforce template, that the prospect controls for a set period. Both let buyers feel the product before they commit, which lifts conversion on hands-on apps. Lead capture ties it together. When a prospect starts a trial or fills in a contact form, the listing can create a Lead in the partner's own Salesforce org through the connected lead flow. That gives the partner a named contact, the company, and the action that prompted interest, all ready for sales follow-up. Partners who configure trials and lead capture well treat the listing as the top of their funnel rather than a static brochure page.
Reviews, ratings, and listing trust
Each listing shows a star rating computed from customer reviews, and reviews are one of the strongest signals a buyer weighs. A review can only be left by someone with a verified install of the package, which keeps the ratings honest. Partners can publicly respond to a review, but they cannot delete one. A negative review about a bug that was fixed months ago still sits on the listing, so partners lean hard on support quality and pre-release testing to keep ratings high. Beyond reviews, a few content habits make or break listing trust. Generic brochure copy converts worse than a description tied to a concrete outcome. Stale screenshots are the loudest signal that a product has been abandoned, so partners refresh visuals with each major release. Ignored negative reviews tend to define a listing in search results. None of these are expensive to fix, but they are easy to overlook in the rush to ship a first version.
Editions, prerequisites, and the install handoff
A listing declares which Salesforce editions it supports (Group, Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, Developer, and others) and which features must already be enabled in the customer org before the app will work, such as Experience Cloud sites, Person Accounts, or a specific industry cloud. A customer on a mismatched edition, or missing a prerequisite, cannot complete the install, so accurate compatibility data saves both sides a failed attempt and a support ticket. When a buyer clicks Get It Now, the listing hands off to the package install flow. The customer chooses a target org, picks who the package is installed for, and approves the components. For a paid or subscription listing, the buyer may pass through Checkout first. The listing itself does not run code in the customer org; it points at the package and tracks the relationship. After install, the listing keeps working as the support landing page and the place customers return to leave a review.
How to create and publish an AppExchange listing
Here is how a partner creates and publishes a solution listing through the AppExchange Partner Console and Listing Builder. This assumes the managed package already exists and the partner business org is set up.
- Open the Partner Console and start a listing
From the Publishing section of the Salesforce Partner Community, open the AppExchange Partner Console. On the Listings tab, click New Listing and choose a solution listing. The Listing Builder opens at step one.
- Fill in the basics and pricing
Enter the title, descriptions, supported products and editions, industries, personas, and business-need categories. Move to Set Pricing and pick a model (free, freemium, paid, or subscription) with any tiers.
- Add marketing details
In Add Details, write the tagline, highlights, and SEO-friendly description, then upload the logo, screenshots, and demo video. Add the terms and conditions buyers agree to.
- Link the package
In Link Your Solution, connect the packaging org if you have not already, attach the managed package, confirm security compliance, and choose the install method.
- Configure growth, then submit
In Grow Your Business, set up free trials, test drives, and lead capture. Submit the package for Security Review if it has not passed, then submit the finished listing for publication.
The product name shown on the marketplace tile and listing page. Keep it specific and searchable.
A short tagline plus a longer description that explains what the app does and the outcome it drives.
The Salesforce editions and required products the app needs, so mismatched customers are filtered out before install.
The package the listing represents, connected from the packaging org and cleared through Security Review.
How customers get the app: install from the listing, from your website, or by contacting you directly.
- A solution listing cannot publish until the linked package passes Security Review, and the first review pass rarely succeeds. Plan for weeks of remediation.
- Consultant listings skip the package link and Security Review; do not pick a solution listing if you are only promoting services.
- Editions and prerequisites are not cosmetic. Get them wrong and customers hit a failed install instead of a working app.
- Reviews cannot be deleted once posted, so fix bugs before a release rather than hoping a one-star review ages out.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to AppExchange Listing in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on AppExchange Listing.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on AppExchange Listing.
About the Author
Dipojjal Chakrabarti is a B2C Solution Architect with 29 Salesforce certifications and over 13 years in the Salesforce ecosystem. He runs salesforcedictionary.com to help admins, developers, architects, and cert/interview candidates sharpen their fundamentals. More about Dipojjal.
Test your knowledge
Q1. An AppExchange Listing maps to its underlying product in what way?
Q2. On a listing, a negative review about a bug the partner already fixed cannot simply be removed. Why does that matter to how partners operate?
Q3. Who is responsible for creating and updating an AppExchange Listing's content through the Publishing Console?
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