Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
You can drive meaningful business results fast and extend Salesforce from anywhere with apps from AppExchange. In fact, AppExchange is used by 91% of Salesforce customers, and 90% of the Fortune 500. All apps on AppExchange go through a security review process to ensure they meet our highest security standards, so you can trust any app that you install into your org.
AppExchange also saves you time and resources so you can solve business challenges quickly. Instead of building apps from scratch or investing in high-cost development, you can just install an app or get a certified Salesforce consultant to help you.
To find the right apps for you:
1. Define success: Define what business challenges you are trying to solve and what long- and short-term success looks like.
2. Determine your budget: Understand paid pricing against your budget or start with free apps.
3. Discover and evaluate apps: Once you know your goals and budget, use AppExchange’s curated collection pages and intelligent recommendations to find the right app for you.
4. Read listing reviews: Inform your decision with over 142,000+ peer reviews from Trailblazers like you.
5. Try before you buy: With the Test Drive feature, you can use a Salesforce sandbox to simulate your production environment and see how the app will perform.
6. Join the Trailblazer Community: With over 19 million members, the Trailblazer Community is a place to learn Salesforce with your peers, build your network, and find mentors.
7. Leverage content and guided learning paths: To continue to skill up and learn more about AppExchange, take our AppExchange trail on Trailhead, and check out our App Guides, which feature customer-recommended apps.
Before installing an app into your production instance of Salesforce, make sure you:
- Check edition compatibility: Verify that the app you want to download is compatible with your Salesforce edition.
- Check for an external service: Make sure the AppExchange app has access to that service.
- Test-drive before installing: Some listings offer a “Take a Test Drive” button. As an admin or read-only user, take a test drive of the app to review the core functionality.
- Install the app into Developer Edition or your sandbox after clicking “Get It Now”: Further testing the app in either environment lets you test it beyond the constraints of a read-only user. Now you’ll be able to create, edit, and delete records within your newly installed app.
- If you’re satisfied with the app’s functionality, install the app into your production organization.
There are hundreds of free apps to explore on AppExchange. You can discover them either through the Free Apps collection page, under the “Solutions by Type” tab, or by filtering search results on the left-hand side.
When it comes to solving business challenges, take advantage of hundreds of Salesforce Labs apps — free, open-source apps developed by Salesforce employees to help you get started faster. Many of these apps are unmanaged packages, so you can customize them as you see fit.
AppExchange extends Salesforce across any department and industry. We have features and resources to help you find an app that is right for you and your business.
1. A good place to start is the curated collection pages, which you can find on the navigation bar. These are groups of curated listings by the AppExchange team, and they’re a great way to zero in on the top apps by industry or product.
2. You can also explore our series of App Guides — proven apps recommended by Trailblazers — in specific categories like sales, service, manufacturing, marketing, back office, and Salesforce Labs.
3. Finally, AppExchange has "Recommended for You" — intelligent recommendations based on your profile data, install history, location, and more.
You'll find a lot of great details on an app listing page. At the top of a listing, you can scroll through a carousel of images and an overview. As you scroll, you’ll be able to see the app’s requirements to install and more detailed highlights, including pricing. You can also engage directly with a real person, in real time, without leaving the listing through AppExchange Chat. A partner may also provide access to white papers, datasheets, case studies, and webinars to help you learn more.
From the listing page, you can dig even deeper by requesting to “Watch a Demo” or “Taking a Test Drive” before installing the app into your org.
Anyone is able to browse AppExchange, watch a demo, and test-drive apps. Only Salesforce admins and users with “Download AppExchange packages” permissions can install AppExchange apps.
During the installation process, you’ll be given three options on who will have access to the app:
1. All users
2. Some users
3. Admins only (Please note: If you choose admins only, you may make it available to other users later.)
Packages are containers that hold the code and metadata associated with apps or components. Solutions on AppExchange are distributed in managed or unmanaged packages.
Managed packages are maintained by the partner and can be upgraded by the customer. Unmanaged packages are templates where the underlying code can be viewed and changed but not upgraded. Package types are listed on every AppExchange listing.