Salesforce communities have transformed how organizations engage with their customers, partners, and employees. By providing tailored portals and forums, businesses can enhance customer service, streamline partner collaborations, and boost employee productivity. However, with multiple licensing options available—such as the Community and Community Plus licenses—selecting the right fit for your organization can be complex.
Understanding the distinctions between these licenses is crucial to maximizing your investment in Salesforce. This article delves into the various Salesforce community licenses, offering insights to help you choose the one that best aligns with your business objectives.
Here is a simplified version that will help you understand better.
| License Type | Purpose | Key Features | Ideal For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Community | Basic customer support and information sharing. | Access to cases, FAQs, and limited data based on permissions. | Businesses needing a simple support portal. |
| Customer Community Plus | Enhanced collaboration with customers and access to advanced features. | Ability to manage data, access reports, and collaborate more efficiently. | Businesses requiring advanced support tools. |
| Partner Community | Collaboration with external partners and distributors. | Access to opportunities, leads, campaigns, and analytics. | Organizations managing a partner ecosystem. |
| External Apps | Extending app functionality to customers or external users. | Supports high-volume external users with API access. | Companies with large-scale app integrations. |
| External Identity | Identity management for external users. | Simplified access for external users without full Salesforce features. | Businesses managing external authentication. |
| Channel Account | Enabling distributors, resellers, or brokers to manage their relationships. | Comprehensive tools for managing channel operations, from deal registrations to analytics. | Organizations in distribution or channel sales. |
1. Experience Cloud User Licenses
The following licenses are used for external users: Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, External Apps, External Identity, and Channel Account.
Required Editions: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions.
Experience Cloud sites use community user licenses. A community license works like a standard Salesforce internal license. External users with a member-based license (that is, a license that is assigned to a specific user) are able to access a community as many times as they want. However, external users do not have access to the internal org.
Find out more details here.
2. Service Cloud User Licenses
Service Cloud Portal users have the High Volume Customer Portal license. This license gives contacts unlimited logins to your Service Cloud Portal to access customer support information. Users with this license can access accounts, assets, cases, contacts, custom objects, documents, ideas, and questions, depending on their permission settings.
The Overage High Volume Customer Portal license is the same as the High Volume Customer Portal license, except that users do not have unlimited logins. You have to contact Salesforce for information about the number of customer portal licenses you can activate.
Find more information here.
3. Customer Portal User Licenses
Users of a Customer Portal site have the Customer Portal Manager Standard license.
Note: Starting with Summer ’13, these licenses are only available for organizations that already have a Customer Portal. If you don’t have a customer portal but want to easily share information with your customers, you need Experience Cloud User Licenses.
It allows contacts to log in to your customer portal to manage customer support. You can associate users who have a Customer Portal Manager Standard license with the customer portal user profile or a profile cloned and customized from the customer portal user profile. This standard profile lets users view and edit data they directly own or data owned by or shared with users below them in the customer portal role hierarchy. These users can also view and edit cases where they are listed in the contact name field.
Users with the Customer Portal Manager Standard license can:
- View contacts, price books, and products.
- View and edit accounts and cases.
- Create and edit assets.
- Create, view, edit, and delete custom objects.
- Access custom objects depending on their permissions.
- Receive the “Portal Super User” permission.
- Access Salesforce CRM content if they have a Salesforce CRM Content feature license or appropriate permissions.
The Overage Customer Portal Manager Standard license is the same as the Customer Portal Manager Standard license, except that users are limited to one login per month.
Find more information here.
4. Customer Portal—Enterprise Administration User Licenses
Customer Portal—Enterprise Administration users have the Customer Portal Manager Custom license. This license gives contacts unlimited logins to your Salesforce customer portal to manage customer support.
You can associate users who have a Customer Portal Manager Custom license with the customer portal user profile or a profile cloned and customized from the customer portal user profile, which lets them view and edit data they directly own and view, create, and edit cases where they’re listed in the contact name field.
Users with this license can:
- Create, read, or update accounts, assets, and cases.
- View contacts.
- View custom objects and run reports depending on their permissions.
- Receive the “Portal Super User” and “Delegated External User Administrator” permissions.
- Access Salesforce CRM content if they have a Salesforce CRM Content feature license or the appropriate permissions.
The Overage Customer Portal Manager Custom license is the same as the Customer Portal Manager Custom license, except that users do not have unlimited logins. You can contact Salesforce for information about the number of customer portal licenses you can activate.
Find more information here.
Summary
Choosing the right Salesforce community license is a critical decision for businesses aiming to optimize their customer and partner engagement strategies. Whether you need a simple Customer Community license for basic support or a more robust Community Plus license with advanced features, Salesforce offers options tailored to different use cases.
However, managing multiple licenses and their configurations can be complex, especially as your business grows. That’s where our Salesforce customer portal solution comes in. Designed to adapt to your unique requirements, our portal goes beyond standard licenses, offering:
- Enhanced scalability to support your growing user base.
- Seamless integration with Salesforce CRM for unified data access.
- Customizable features to match your business processes.
- Simplified management with an intuitive interface.
Unlike traditional licensing options, our portal empowers businesses with flexibility and efficiency, making it easier to meet evolving customer and partner needs.
If you’re ready to elevate your operations and provide a superior user experience, contact us today to explore how our tailored solution can help you achieve your goals.
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