Managed Package

A Managed Package is a collection of Salesforce components (objects, classes, flows, pages, etc.) that is developed and distributed by a third-party ISV or internal team through AppExchange or directly. Managed Packages have their own namespace, support versioning and upgrades, and protect the developer's intellectual property by obfuscating Apex code.

A Managed Package is a Salesforce-shipped bundle of metadata - objects, fields, classes, flows, pages - distributed under a unique namespace, versionable, upgradable, and (importantly) protected. The Apex code inside a managed package is obfuscated; the namespace prevents collisions with the consuming org's customizations; the version history makes upgrades safe. For ISVs publishing on AppExchange and for internal teams distributing reusable packages, this is the standard distribution mechanism.

The reason it earns its own concept rather than being treated like ordinary metadata is upgrade safety. A subscriber can install version 1.0 of a managed package, then upgrade to 1.1 next quarter, and the platform handles the migration cleanly - preserving subscriber data, applying schema changes, deprecating old components. That guarantee is what makes the AppExchange model viable. Choose a managed package for anything you'll distribute beyond a single org; reserve unmanaged packages for transient or single-use bundles.