Salesforce Optimizer
Salesforce Optimizer was a free tool that scanned an org's configuration and returned a prioritized list of recommendations for cleaning up, simplifying, and improving the setup.
Definition
Salesforce Optimizer was a free tool that scanned an org's configuration and returned a prioritized list of recommendations for cleaning up, simplifying, and improving the setup. It looked at things like unused fields, duplicate page layouts, old API versions, and sharing rules, then flagged what an admin should fix. This term is retired. Salesforce removed the Optimizer app from the platform during the Winter '26 and Spring '26 release windows.
Optimizer was not a separate product you bought. It shipped inside Setup and ran against the org's own metadata. New orgs lost access to it after March 31, 2025, and existing orgs lost it during their Winter '26 or Spring '26 upgrade. The work it did now lives across several built-in Setup tools plus community options, which the sections below cover.
How Optimizer worked and what took its place
What Optimizer actually was
Salesforce Optimizer was an org-analysis feature built into Setup. An admin opened the Optimizer page, started a run, and the tool inspected the org's configuration against a set of Salesforce best-practice checks. When the run finished, Optimizer showed the results on an in-app page inside Setup, grouped by category and sorted so the most impactful items sat near the top. Each finding came with a short explanation of the problem and a pointer toward the fix. The tool was free and available in most editions that supported the relevant features. It did not change anything on its own. Optimizer only read metadata and produced a report, so running it was safe and carried no risk to data or configuration. Admins typically used it as a periodic checkup. A common rhythm was to run it once a quarter, skim the high-priority findings, and turn the worst items into a cleanup backlog. Because it ran against the live org, the results reflected real usage rather than a generic checklist.
The areas it checked
Optimizer covered a wide spread of configuration health. On the data model side, it flagged custom fields that no page layout, report, or other component referenced, plus fields that looked unused based on stored values. It reported on objects approaching field limits and on layouts that were near-duplicates of each other. On the automation and code side, it surfaced Apex classes and triggers, Visualforce pages, and other components still pinned to old API versions that Salesforce planned to retire. It also reviewed security and sharing. Optimizer looked at sharing rules, profiles, and permission sets, calling out items that overlapped or that granted access nobody appeared to use. It checked storage usage and warned when an org neared its data or file limits. Other checks covered things like inactive validation rules and workflow that could be consolidated. The point was breadth: one run touched many corners of the org that an admin would otherwise have to inspect by hand, one Setup page at a time.
Why and when it was retired
Salesforce announced the end of the Optimizer app and then removed it on a phased schedule. New orgs created after March 31, 2025 never received Optimizer at all. For existing orgs, access went away during the platform upgrade: Hyperforce instances lost it in the Winter '26 release, and the remaining non-Hyperforce instances lost it in the Spring '26 release. By the end of the Spring '26 rollout, the feature was gone everywhere. This was not the first piece of Optimizer to be cut. Back in Summer '21, Salesforce retired the older PDF report that Optimizer used to email, moving everything to the interactive in-app results page. The full app retirement a few years later was a bigger step. Salesforce framed the change around its native Setup tools, which had grown to cover much of what Optimizer reported. Rather than maintain a separate scanning app, the platform pointed admins toward purpose-built features for security, release readiness, and storage, each of which goes deeper than a single Optimizer line item ever did.
What to use instead inside Setup
Most of what Optimizer reported now has a dedicated home in Setup. For security posture, Health Check scores the org's settings against a baseline and lets an admin fix risky values from one screen. For features Salesforce is changing or retiring, Release Updates lists each pending change, explains the impact, and offers a test-and-activate flow, which replaces Optimizer's old API-version and deprecation warnings. For capacity, the Storage Usage page under Data shows exactly how much data and file storage the org consumes and which objects drive it. A few checks need a query rather than a page. To find components on old API versions, an admin can run SOQL against the Tooling API objects for Apex classes, triggers, and pages, then filter by API version. Sharing and permission cleanup happens under Sharing Settings, Profiles, and Permission Sets. None of these is a single button, so the trade is real: more accurate, deeper tools in exchange for the convenience of one combined report.
Community and partner options
Outside the native tools, the admin community filled the all-in-one gap that Optimizer left. The best-known free option is Org Check, an open-source app that connects to an org, reads its metadata, and presents a browsable health view. It surfaces unused custom fields, objects, profiles and permission sets, components on old API versions, and other clutter, much like Optimizer did, with filtering and drill-down on top. Because it is community-maintained rather than a Salesforce product, you install it yourself and it sits outside official support. There are also paid analysis and code-quality tools on AppExchange that go further, scoring technical debt, mapping dependencies, and tracking changes over time. For a worked example: an admin who used to run Optimizer every quarter might now run Health Check for security, scan Release Updates before each seasonal release, check Storage Usage monthly, and lean on Org Check for the unused-metadata sweep that Optimizer once handled in a single click. The coverage is there, just spread across more tools.
Trust & references
Cross-checked against the following references.
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Salesforce Optimizer.
Hands-on resources to go deeper on Salesforce Optimizer.
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. What does Salesforce Optimizer do for an admin reviewing an org's overall health?
Q2. Which dimensions does Salesforce Optimizer evaluate when it generates its analysis report?
Q3. How often should an admin run Salesforce Optimizer to keep up with an org's configuration drift?
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