Sales Cloud vs Platform license: what Platform users can do, and who can switch

A full Salesforce (Sales Cloud) seat gives access to the standard CRM: leads, opportunities, forecasts, campaigns. A Salesforce Platform seat gives access to custom apps plus core objects like accounts and contacts, at a much lower list price. If some of your users never touch the sales objects, they may be paying for features they don't use.

By Pratik Poddar · Updated 23 October 2026 · About 7 minutes

The two licenses in Salesforce's words

Salesforce's Standard User Licenses documentation describes them like this:

• Salesforce: "Designed for users who require full access to standard CRM and AppExchange apps. Users with this user license are entitled to access any standard or custom app."
• Salesforce Platform: "designed for users who need access to custom apps but not to standard CRM functionality." Platform users "can access core platform functionality, such as accounts, contacts, reports, dashboards, documents, and custom tabs," but "aren't entitled to some user permissions and standard apps, including standard tabs and objects, such as forecasts, leads, campaigns, and opportunities."

Salesforce lists the Platform user license as available in Enterprise, Unlimited, Performance and Developer Editions. Platform users can use all custom apps in the org and the Lightning Console app if it's enabled.

What a Platform user can and can't use

The "No" rows are the standard objects Salesforce names; its wording ("such as") means the list isn't exhaustive. For anything else a user relies on, such as Cases, Quotes, Products or a specific managed package, check Salesforce's license documentation and your contract before you plan a move.

List prices: what the gap looks like

Salesforce publishes these US list prices per user per month (billed annually unless noted), as of October 2026:

If you bought before September 2026, you may be on Enterprise or Unlimited Edition. Salesforce introduced Core, Advanced and Max on 3 September 2026 and said "existing customer pricing on legacy editions remains unchanged." CIO reported that Core replaces Enterprise, whose list price was $175 per user per month, and Advanced replaces the $350 Unlimited edition. (Those legacy prices already included an average 6% list price increase Salesforce applied on 1 August 2025.)

At list price, an Enterprise seat at $175 versus Platform Starter at $25 is a $150 per user per month difference, or $1,800 per user per year. Your real numbers depend on your discounts, so redo the sum with your contract prices.

How to find downgrade candidates

A good candidate holds a full Salesforce license but, over a meaningful window, neither owns nor edits any record on the objects Platform excludes. You can check that with aggregate queries. Start with ownership:

SELECT OwnerId, COUNT(Id) n
FROM Opportunity
WHERE LastModifiedDate = LAST_N_DAYS:180
GROUP BY OwnerId

And edits by anyone, not just owners:

SELECT LastModifiedById, COUNT(Id) n
FROM Opportunity
WHERE LastModifiedDate = LAST_N_DAYS:180
GROUP BY LastModifiedById

Repeat for Lead and Campaign (and Case, if you want to be conservative). Then list your full-license users:

SELECT Id, Name, Profile.Name, Profile.UserLicense.Name, LastLoginDate
FROM User
WHERE IsActive = true AND Profile.UserLicense.Name = 'Salesforce'

Anyone on that list who logs in regularly but appears in none of the aggregate results is a candidate. Aggregate queries return at most 2,000 groups, which is fine for most small and mid-size orgs.

Checks before you move anyone

• Reading, not just editing. Ownership and edits don't show who reads opportunities, for example a finance user who views pipeline reports. Ask the user and their manager.
• Reports and dashboards. A Platform user can't see records on objects the license excludes, so reports built on them won't show that data. Check the reports and dashboards they rely on.
• Custom object count. Platform Starter covers 10 custom objects and Platform Plus 110. Count the custom objects the user's apps need.
• Profile. A user's license comes from their profile, so moving means assigning a profile built on the Salesforce Platform license. Build and test it in a sandbox first.
• Timing. Standard Salesforce terms don't allow reducing quantities mid-term, so buying Platform seats now adds cost until renewal. Most teams plan the swap for the renewal itself. See the renewal negotiation guide.

Other cheaper options to consider

Platform isn't the only lighter seat. Integrations that run on a full seat may fit the API-only Salesforce Integration license (five are included in each Enterprise, Unlimited and Performance org, per Salesforce). People who have left should be deactivated, not downgraded. Our guide to unused Salesforce licenses covers both.

Sources

1. Salesforce Help, Standard User Licenses
2. Salesforce, Platform pricing (Platform Starter, Platform Plus)
3. Salesforce, Sales Cloud pricing
4. Salesforce News, new Core, Advanced and Max editions (3 September 2026)
5. CIO, Salesforce offers more Agentforce credits to drive adoption (September 2026)
6. Salesforce News, pricing update (June 2025)
7. Salesforce Main Services Agreement (October 15, 2026), section 5.1