Platform Edition
Platform Edition (also known as Lightning Platform Starter or Lightning Platform Plus) is a Salesforce edition that provides access to the core Salesforce platform for building and running custom applications without the standard CRM functionality.
Definition
Platform Edition (also known as Lightning Platform Starter or Lightning Platform Plus) is a Salesforce edition that provides access to the core Salesforce platform for building and running custom applications without the standard CRM functionality. It excludes standard CRM objects like Opportunities, Forecasts, Quotes, and Campaigns, but includes custom objects, Tabs, Apex, Visualforce, Lightning components, Flows, APIs, and the AppExchange. Platform Edition comes in two tiers: Starter (with basic limits) and Plus (with higher limits and additional features like custom report types). It is designed for organizations that need a custom application platform rather than out-of-the-box CRM.
In plain English
“Platform Edition (or Lightning Platform Starter/Plus) is a Salesforce edition that gives you the core platform for building custom applications without standard CRM features. It excludes things like Opportunities and Forecasts but includes everything you need to build apps: custom objects, Apex, Lightning components, Flows, and APIs.”
Worked example
Skyway Logistics, a 50-person freight forwarder, doesn't need Salesforce's standard CRM - Opportunities, Forecasts, Quotes - because their business runs on shipment tracking, not deal pipelines. They license Platform Edition (Lightning Platform Starter), which gives them custom objects, Apex, Lightning components, Flows, and APIs without the standard CRM features they'd never use. The team builds a custom Shipment object, related Carriers and Routes objects, and a tracking app - paying only for the platform capabilities they actually need.
Why Platform Edition matters
Platform Edition (also known as Lightning Platform Starter or Lightning Platform Plus) is a Salesforce edition that provides access to the core Salesforce platform for building and running custom applications without the standard CRM functionality. It excludes standard CRM objects like Opportunities, Forecasts, Quotes, and Campaigns, but includes custom objects, Tabs, Apex, Visualforce, Lightning components, Flows, APIs, and the AppExchange.
Platform Edition comes in two tiers: Starter (with basic limits) and Plus (with higher limits and additional features like custom report types). It's designed for organizations that need a custom application platform rather than out-of-the-box CRM. Common use cases include partner management systems, employee experience apps, industry-specific operational systems, and other internal applications. The platform tier is typically much less expensive than full Sales or Service Cloud, making it cost-effective for non-CRM use cases.
How organizations use Platform Edition
Uses Platform Edition for an internal employee experience app, paying less than full Sales Cloud for non-CRM functionality.
Built a custom partner management system on Platform Edition, taking advantage of the platform without unneeded CRM features.
Treats Platform Edition as the right choice for custom enterprise apps that don't need full Sales or Service Cloud.
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.
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Q1. What is Platform Edition?
Q2. What does Platform Edition exclude?
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