AppExchange Marketplace
The AppExchange Marketplace is Salesforce's official online store for ready-to-install business solutions and certified experts that extend the Salesforce platform.
Definition
The AppExchange Marketplace is Salesforce's official online store for ready-to-install business solutions and certified experts that extend the Salesforce platform. It hosts apps, components, Flow and Lightning Bolt solutions, data services, and consulting offerings built by Salesforce partners. Customers reach it at appexchange.salesforce.com to find, evaluate, and install solutions, while partners use it as their main distribution channel. Solutions arrive as packages, which Salesforce describes as containers for apps, tabs, and objects, and any package containing custom code has passed Salesforce Security Review.
In 2025 Salesforce began rebranding the marketplace toward AgentExchange, the home for Agentforce actions, topics, and prompt templates, and several install pages now carry that name. The underlying idea has not changed. Rather than building every adjacent feature itself, Salesforce relies on partners to fill gaps like industry verticals, niche compliance needs, and integrations with non-Salesforce products. The marketplace makes those partners discoverable to millions of users and supplies the trust signals, security review, customer reviews, and transparent pricing, that justify installing third-party code into a production org.
How the AppExchange marketplace actually works
What you can find on the marketplace
The marketplace groups listings into a handful of solution types, and most buyers arrive looking for one type but discover adjacent ones along the way. Apps are managed packages that bring a full user interface and data model, like a billing system or a project tracker. Components are smaller reusable building blocks, often Lightning components, that drop into existing pages. Lightning Bolt solutions package an industry template with apps, flows, and a community theme. Flow solutions ship pre-built automation you import and adapt. Data services connect external datasets and enrichment into your org. Beyond software, the marketplace also lists consulting services from system integrator partners, so a customer can hire help to implement what they install. Each type has its own listing layout and filters. With the AgentExchange shift, a newer category covers Agentforce building blocks: prebuilt actions, topics, and prompt templates that extend the agent layer. The breadth is the point. A customer extending Salesforce can usually start from something a partner already built rather than coding from a blank org.
Discovery, categories, and search
Discovery is how a listing earns installs, so the marketplace invests heavily in it. The interface supports keyword search plus browsing by business area such as Sales, Service, Marketing, Analytics, Finance, HR, and Industries. Filters narrow results by Salesforce edition, supported language, and pricing model, which matters because a package built for Enterprise Edition may not install on a lower edition. Curated rails like Featured listings, Editor's Picks, and Most Popular push selected partner solutions to the top of category pages. Most discovery traffic starts from search, though some categories draw heavy curated traffic from the Editor's Picks rail. Collections group related listings around a theme or use case, giving buyers a shortlist instead of an open-ended search. For partners, ranking well in search and earning a spot on a curated rail is a real growth lever, since position on the page drives click-through. A clear listing title, accurate category tags, and a strong star rating all feed how high a solution surfaces.
Pricing models and how money flows
Listings fall into three broad pricing patterns, and the difference affects how a customer pays and how a partner gets paid. Free listings are common for utility apps and entry-level products, and they carry no revenue share back to Salesforce. Paid listings handle billing through the partner's own system, so the marketplace is the discovery surface but the transaction happens off-platform. Subscription listings can run through Salesforce-managed checkout, where Salesforce collects payment and the partner receives a payout net of marketplace fees. Pricing on a listing can be per user, per org, tiered by edition, or quote-based for enterprise deals. Free does not mean low-risk, since a free package still executes its own Apex and can affect org performance and security. Customers should weigh the total cost of ownership, including any per-seat license the partner charges after install, separate from any Salesforce-managed checkout fee. The pricing filter on the marketplace lets buyers screen by model before they ever open a listing.
Reviews and the trust system
Every listing accumulates customer reviews tied to verified installs, and that review history is one of the marketplace's strongest assets. The aggregate star rating helps order search results, so a higher-rated solution tends to surface above a weaker one in the same category. Reviews include written feedback plus optional structured ratings covering ease of use, value, support, and features. Because installing third-party code into a production org is a real commitment, buyers lean on this signal heavily. Many say they would not install from a partner sitting below three or four stars. The most useful reviews to read are the recent negative ones, since they surface failure modes that a polished demo never shows: a clunky upgrade, slow support response, or a feature that did not match the listing copy. After a customer goes live, leaving an honest review keeps the signal alive for the next buyer and gives the partner direct feedback. Reviews and the security badge together form the trust layer that makes a public marketplace for production software workable.
Security Review, the trust foundation
Every listing carrying custom Apex, Lightning components, or API access has passed Salesforce Security Review, and the badge is what lets a customer trust third-party code in production. Salesforce describes the review as reviewers acting like attackers who have access to a running instance of the solution. They examine usage documentation, data-flow documentation, and code scanner reports, looking for vulnerabilities before the solution ever reaches a customer org. Partners run Salesforce Code Analyzer over their package and upload the scan reports as part of submission. Salesforce states that a solution typically takes 4 to 5 weeks to get through the review, and that for every paid solution a partner sells, Salesforce asks for a 999 dollar fee for the initial submission and for any subsequent attempts. Once approved, a partner can release new package versions through the Partner Console with a quick attestation rather than a full resubmission, though the Product Security team can request a fresh review at any time, with annual reviews being typical. That recurring scrutiny is why the badge keeps meaning something over a product's life.
The install flow and what happens in your org
Installing from the marketplace is a guided flow that ends inside Setup of the target org. A buyer clicks Get It Now on a listing, picks a connected org through the account picker, and chooses Install in Production or Install in Sandbox. Salesforce guidance is to test in a Developer Edition org or a sandbox first, validate the behavior, then promote to production, because the package runs real code once installed. During install you decide who gets access: admins only, all users, or specific profiles. A managed package install creates a dedicated namespace in your org, and its components and code do not count against your org's customization limits. That namespace is also why a managed package cannot be edited in place and why removing one later means a clean uninstall rather than picking it apart. Unmanaged packages behave differently: their contents are fully editable, count against org limits, and are upgraded by uninstalling and reinstalling. The solution provider chooses the package type, and that choice shapes how the solution behaves and how cleanly it comes back out.
Try before you buy, and the partner economics
The marketplace gives prospects two low-commitment ways to evaluate a solution without touching production. A Test Drive opens a shared, read-only demo org with sample data, so anyone can click around the live product immediately. A free trial or trial org provisions a clean org with the package pre-installed, letting a prospect run a real workflow end to end. Trial orgs tend to convert better than a Test Drive because the buyer experiences their own scenario, though they cost the partner more to set up and maintain. Underneath the discovery surface sits the partner economics that fund all of this. Partners join the Salesforce Partner Program, register through a Partner Business Org, and list under a publishing organization that owns the listing metadata. Salesforce takes a share of revenue from managed-checkout subscription sales and charges program and review fees, while free listings carry no revenue share. Higher partner standing can unlock marketing benefits like Editor's Picks consideration and co-marketing, which is why serious ISVs treat their marketplace presence as a core part of go-to-market, not an afterthought.
How to install a solution from the AppExchange marketplace
Installing a solution from the marketplace is a guided flow that finishes inside Setup of the org you choose. Test in a sandbox or Developer Edition org first, then promote to production once the solution behaves as expected.
- Find and open the listing
Browse or search appexchange.salesforce.com, open the solution's listing, and read the description, edition compatibility, and recent reviews. Confirm it supports your Salesforce edition before going further.
- Click Get It Now and pick a target org
Select Get It Now, sign in, and use the account picker to choose a connected org. Choose Install in Sandbox for the first run rather than installing straight into production.
- Choose who gets access
On the install screen, decide access: admins only, all users, or specific profiles. Admins-only is the safest default while you validate, since you can grant broader access through permission sets later.
- Validate, then promote to production
Run a real workflow in the sandbox, check performance and any conflicts, then repeat Get It Now against production. Confirm the managed-package namespace appears under Installed Packages in Setup.
Grants the package to System Administrators at install time; you assign other users access afterward via permission sets or profiles.
Grants access to every internal user immediately. Convenient for broadly used apps but riskier for a first install you have not validated.
Lets you map each profile to a package access level, useful when only one team needs the solution.
The account picker target determines where the package lands. Salesforce recommends a sandbox or Developer Edition org first, then production.
- Managed packages create a namespace that persists, so a misbehaving production-only install is hard to fully unwind. Validate in a sandbox first.
- Edition and language filters exist for a reason. A package built for a higher edition may fail to install or silently lack features on a lower one.
- A free listing still runs its own Apex. Evaluate free packages with the same care you give paid ones for performance and security impact.
Prefer this walkthrough as its own page? How to AppExchange Marketplace in Salesforce, step by step
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on AppExchange Marketplace.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on AppExchange Marketplace.
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. The AppExchange Marketplace fills gaps Salesforce chooses not to build itself. What is the strategic logic behind that arrangement?
Q2. What is the most common rollout pattern enterprises follow when installing a solution from the marketplace into production?
Q3. Why would an organization reach for the AppExchange Marketplace rather than commissioning custom development?
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