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Salesforce User and consumption licensing

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This article covers Salesforce contractual User subscriptions, Setup user licenses, login-based daily unique logins, Permission Set License overlays, and consumption metrics (Flex Credits, Einstein Requests, Conversations). It is not legal advice. Contractual sources are the Main Services Agreement, Help license-type articles, and rate cards linked in References. Tableau Creator / Explorer / Viewer, Slack seats, and Heroku user licenses are not described in Salesforce legal or Help pages.

On This Page

Salesforce User and consumption licensing is how Salesforce sells Purchased Services: a contractual User (a person with a purchased subscription and credentials under the Main Services Agreement), exactly one Setup user license per user, optional Permission Set License overlays, login-based daily unique logins, and usage metrics such as Flex Credits, Einstein Requests, and Digital Engagement Conversations. Trailhead says customers buy editions and add-ons (product licenses), not individual settings licenses. Help says SKUs contain one or more licenses; the SKU name and the license name generally match, but not always. Lightning Platform Starter and Lightning Platform Plus contain the Salesforce Platform user license.

Editions

The Salesforce Product and Packaging Guide (© 2023) names editions Starter, Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, and Suites. Add-ons “extend the capabilities of the core products.” Salesforce uses four pricing models on that guide: Priced Per User (each unit of a SKU allows an individual user to access the technology; each user has their own login; examples Sales Cloud and Service Cloud); Priced as a Percentage of Contract Value (derived pricing; sandbox example); Priced Per Planned Consumption (examples Data Cloud, Commerce Cloud, storage); Flat Fee Per Org (examples Marketing Cloud editions). That guide is a marketing packaging document, not a license-metric contract. No list prices are catalogued here.

Trailhead: “As an org admin, you assign each user one user license. For example, the Sales Cloud Enterprise Edition includes the Full CRM user license for users who need access to CRM functionality, and also includes the Chatter Free license.” Trailhead also: “you don’t even buy individual platform, user, or permission set licenses (which are all settings licenses). Instead, you buy editions and add-ons, which are product licenses.”

Contractual Restrictions for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Sales & Service Cloud (Rev. 07-2020) publish edition functionality caps (examples: custom objects per User, Enterprise 100, Unlimited / Performance 200). Those are edition restrictions, not a purchase metric. Salesforce Essentials Product Specific Terms (last updated 3 June 2019) say such restrictions are contractual, not technically enforced. Essentials may be superseded commercially by Starter; that successor is not confirmed in a current legal PDF.

Metrics

The catalog has twenty-nine rows for Salesforce, each under Salesforce’s own name. Salesforce publishes no User-to-PSL conversion. Community 1:20 is provisioned login licenses, not a commercial named-user conversion. Platform Login 10,000 credits / 50 per unique login is that license only.

# Salesforce name Catalog row Unit What Salesforce says 
1 User User User MSA: an individual authorized by Customer to use a Service, for whom Customer has purchased a subscription, and to whom a user identification and password has been supplied. Fees based on subscriptions purchased, not actual usage. Quantities cannot decrease mid-term. No User minimum in the MSA; quantities are on the Order Form. 
2 daily unique login daily unique login Other Login-based licenses share a monthly login pool. One login per user per day even with multiple logins or site switches. Experience Cloud Help: 1 monthly login purchased : 20 login licenses provisioned. Overages calculated over 12 months from contract start with month-to-month rollover on that page. Daily unique logins used for overages from 1 April 2018. 
3 Permission Set License Permission Set License Other Overlay: entitles users to features not in their assigned user license. Any number per user. Requires the PSL and a permission set. Not a substitute for the required one user license. User Licenses do not convert to PSLs. Unmetered Platform Developer and Admin AI User PSL: unmetered usage does not consume Flex credits. 
4 Flex Credits Flex Credits Other Quantity on the Order Form Usage Details table. Consume at the multiplier for the Usage Type. Must be used before Order End Date; no rollover. Data 360 monthly volume tiers reset on the first day of each calendar month (see Salesforce Data 360 credit consumption). Not a User License. 
5 Einstein Requests Einstein Requests Other Each LLM-gateway API call consumes Einstein Requests. Size factor: ceil((input + output tokens) / 2,000) times the model multiplier. Rate card 24 Oct 2025. Agentforce 1 Edition and some products no longer use Einstein Requests (those prompt multipliers sit on the Flex Credits Rate Card). 
6 Conversation Conversation Other Digital Engagement: one or more messages in a single session. Starts when an agent accepts an inbound message or sends an initial outbound. Ends on disconnect / logoff, or automatically after 24 hours. Sandbox conversations deduct from entitlement. Not a User License. 
7 Salesforce Platform Salesforce Platform User Seat-based license for custom apps, not standard CRM. Purchase one seat per user. Lightning Platform Starter / Plus contain this user license (SKUs, not separate metrics). 
8 Salesforce Platform Login Salesforce Platform Login Other Login-based Platform license, available 15 Oct 2024. 10,000 credits per purchase; 50 credits per unique login; 1:20 provision. That pack does not apply to Experience Cloud logins. 
9 Identity Only Identity Only User Employees access only identity services (SSO). 100 complimentary (PE/EE/UE/Performance); 10 in each new Developer Edition org. 10 custom objects (contractual). 
10 External Identity External Identity User Purchase in blocks of active users for Experience Cloud without a community user license. Developer Edition complimentary 5. Recommended cap 10 million unique logins/month. 
11 Identity Verification Credits Identity Verification Credits Other Predetermined number of SMS messages for mobile identity verification. Quantity is the Order Form, not Help. 
12 PEM Member PEM Member User Named user license with unlimited monthly access. Add-on; EE or higher. No PEM-to-Partner-Community ratio is published. 
13 PEM Login PEM Login Other Daily login-based Partner Ecosystem Management add-on. EE or higher. 
14 vCore vCore vCPU MuleSoft Anypoint: one virtual core on CloudHub. Up to ten Mule applications per VCore purchased. Not a CRM User metric; CRM Users do not convert to vCores. 
15 Salesforce (user license) user license User Full CRM user license. Designed for users who require full access to standard CRM and AppExchange apps. One user license per user. Not the same as Salesforce Platform. 
16 Lightning Platform - One App Lightning Platform - One App User Limited to one custom app, defined as up to 10 custom objects, plus read-only Accounts and Contacts. 
17 Force.com - App Subscription Force.com - App Subscription User Access to a Lightning Platform Light App or Enterprise App. CRM functionality isn’t included. Up to 10 custom objects and 10 tabs. 
18 Company Community User Company Community User User Internal user license for employee communities. Up to 10 custom objects and 10 custom tabs. 
19 Salesforce Integration Salesforce Integration User API-only. Can’t be used for human users. 5 included EE/UE/PE; 1 Developer Edition. 
20 Knowledge Only User Knowledge Only User User Users who only need access to the Salesforce Knowledge app. 
21 Unified Employee Unified Employee User Every employee user. Access to employee agents in Slack and Experience Cloud sites. Not a Slack billed-member metric. 
22 Chatter Free Chatter Free User Users without Salesforce licenses who need Chatter. No Salesforce objects or data. Cannot convert Salesforce / Starter / Chatter Only to Chatter Free. 
23 Chatter External Chatter External User Users outside the email domain. Groups they are invited to only. 
24 Chatter Only Chatter Only User Existing Chatter Plus customers only. Not sold to new customers. Up to 10 custom objects. 
25 Customer Community Customer Community User Experience Cloud B2C. Member-based or login-based. 1:20 provision on login SKUs. Guest users do not consume this license. 
26 Customer Community Plus Customer Community Plus User B2C needing reports/dashboards and standard sharing. Member or login. 10 custom objects. Storage 2 MB member / 1 MB login. 
27 Partner Community Partner Community User B2B / PRM. Member or login. Can’t be used with person accounts. 10 custom objects (PRM SKU) or 100 (External Apps SKU). 
28 External Apps External Apps User Custom digital experiences with limited CRM objects. 100 custom objects. 10 MB storage member-based. 
29 Channel Account Channel Account Other Usage based on number of partners, not individual users. Typical pool of 40 partner users per partner account; more can be purchased. 

User licenses (Setup)

Help groups user license types. Catalog rows for these types are in the Metrics table above. Trailhead calls the Salesforce (full CRM) license the Full CRM user license.

Help family License types Salesforce names How Help counts them 
Standard (internal) Salesforce (full CRM); Salesforce Platform (seat); Salesforce Platform Login (login / credits, available 15 Oct 2024); Salesforce Integration (API only; 5 included EE / UE / PE, 1 DE); Identity Only; Lightning Platform - One App; Company Community User; Force.com - App Subscription; Knowledge Only User; Unified Employee Seat-based: one license per user, unlimited logins. Login-based: unique login pool. Integration cannot be used for human UI users. 
Experience Cloud (external) Customer Community / Login; Customer Community Plus / Login; Partner Community / Login; External Apps / Login; Channel Account / Login; External Identity Member-based: assigned to a specific user, unlimited access to the community (not the internal org). Login-based: daily unique login from a monthly pool. Channel Account: up to 40 partner users per partner account (pooled); more can be purchased. Guest users do not consume external licenses. 
Chatter Chatter Free; Chatter External; Chatter Only (Plus; existing customers only) Standard Salesforce licenses already allow free Chatter access. Chatter Only is not sold to new customers; Help points new buys to Lightning Platform Starter. You cannot convert Salesforce, Lightning Platform Starter, or Chatter Only to Chatter Free. 

Lightning Platform Starter (10 custom objects) and Lightning Platform Plus (110 custom objects) contain the Salesforce Platform user license. Those SKUs are for internal employees or contractors; Help: they cannot complete internal or external customer service work without a Service Cloud license. Platform Login users have access to the Salesforce Platform permission set; that SKU does not grant additional data storage.

PEM Member is a named-user add-on with unlimited monthly access; PEM Login is daily login-based. Both require EE or higher. Salesforce publishes no PEM-to-Partner-Community ratio.

Counting / floors

User = one individual; no Service to non-Users. MSA Definitions: a User is an individual authorized by Customer to use a Service, for whom Customer has purchased a subscription (or who has been provisioned), and to whom a user identification and password has been supplied. MSA 3.4: Customer will not make any Service available to anyone other than Customer or Users, or use any Service for the benefit of anyone other than Customer or its Affiliates (unless an Order Form or Documentation says otherwise), and will not circumvent a contractual usage limit.[1] Catalog proof: User = one individual; no Service to non-Users (backs User = one individual; no Service to non-Users).

Fees based on subscriptions purchased, not actual usage. MSA 5.1: except as otherwise specified in the Agreement or an Order Form, fees are based on Services subscriptions purchased and not actual usage; quantities purchased cannot be decreased during the relevant subscription term.[1] Catalog proof: Fees based on subscriptions purchased, not actual usage (backs Fees based on subscriptions purchased, not actual usage). Published exception: Agentic Enterprise License Agreement (AELA) is a fixed-price, fixed-term unlimited-consumption overlay with no overages and no usage-based billing — not a User-to-Flex-Credit conversion.

Exactly one user license per user. Permission set licenses and feature licenses overlay (any number). The Feature Licenses Overview Help page was unavailable at retrieval; the definition is from Licenses Overview only (examples Marketing, WDC).

Seat vs login — daily unique login. Member / seat: one license per user, unlimited logins. Login-based: one daily unique login even if the user logs in multiple times or switches sites. Platform Login Help: after users are logged in, they do not consume extra logins if they log in multiple times within the same day.[9] Catalog proof: Login-based — one unique login per User per day (backs Login-based licenses — one unique login per User per day).

1:20 provision (not a commercial User-to-login conversion). Experience Cloud Help and Platform Login Help: 1 monthly login purchased provisions 20 login licenses. Example: 1,000 monthly logins then 20,000 login licenses provisioned. This is not a User-to-login commercial conversion.

Salesforce Platform Login arithmetic (that license only). Purchase of the Salesforce Platform Login license gives 10,000 credits; 50 credits per unique login = 200 unique logins; 1:20 then 4,000 provisioned login user licenses for Salesforce Platform Login. The 50-credit pack does not apply to Experience Cloud login SKUs.[9] Catalog proof: Login provision ratio 1:20 (Platform Login) (backs Login provision ratio 1:20 (Platform Login / Community login)).

Custom objects per User (edition restriction, not a purchase metric). Contractual Restrictions for Sales Cloud / Service Cloud (Rev. 07-2020): Custom objects (per User) — Enterprise 100; Unlimited / Performance 200 (Essentials / Professional N/A on that table).[15] Catalog proof: Custom objects per User — EE 100 / Unlimited·Performance 200 (backs Custom objects per User — EE 100 / Unlimited·Performance 200). Essentials PST: such restrictions are contractual, not technically enforced.

P-10 = ten donated User subscriptions. Supplemental Terms: P-10 (or P10) subscriptions means the ten User subscriptions for certain Services offered at no charge to eligible organizations.[21] Catalog proof: P-10 = ten donated User subscriptions (backs P-10 = ten donated User subscriptions). Donation under Power of Us Program — not a commercial SKU.

P-10 Sandbox unused 150 consecutive days. As part of system maintenance, SFDC may delete any Sandbox that Customer has not logged into for 150 consecutive days; 30 or more days before any such deletion, SFDC will notify Customer (email acceptable).[21] Catalog proof: P-10 Sandbox unused 150 consecutive days → delete after ≥30 days notice (backs P-10 Sandbox unused 150 consecutive days → delete after ≥30 days notice).

Flex Credits across consumption services. Flexible Buying Models: Flex Credits are a single flexible unit of payment you can spend across Salesforce consumption services. Rate Card: quantity is on the Order Form Usage Details table; must be used before Order End Date; no rollover; consume at the Usage Type multiplier.[17] Catalog proof: Flex Credits work across Salesforce consumption services (backs Flex Credits work across Salesforce consumption services). Not a User License. Salesforce publishes no User-to-Flex-Credit pack sizes.

Pay-go / Pre-commit / Pre-purchase overages. Flexible Buying Models FAQ: for pay-go, there are no overages — all usage is charged at list price; for pre-commit and pre-purchased, any overage will be charged at the contracted rate. Numeric rates are not published. AELA has no overages (see Programs).[24] Catalog proof: Pay-go / Pre-commit / Pre-purchase overages at contracted rate (backs Pay-go / Pre-commit / Pre-purchase overages at contracted rate).

Login overage Help conflict. Experience Cloud Help: 12-month window from contract start; entitlements roll over month to month (1,000 monthly logins then 12,000 annual). Usage-Based Entitlements Help: a Monthly frequency refreshes on the contract month (example: 50 monthly logins purchased 15 Jan refresh 15 Feb). Both are Salesforce Help. Order Form / contract frequency controls; Salesforce publishes no single overage formula.

Identity Only. 100 complimentary licenses with Professional, Enterprise, Unlimited, and Performance. 10 in each new Developer Edition org. 10 custom objects (contractual, not technically enforced).

External Identity. Purchase in blocks of active users; included free with paid community user licenses in EE / PE / UE; 5 in Developer Edition. Recommended not to exceed 10 million unique logins per month (extra charge possible).

Guest page views. Enterprise 500,000 / month; Unlimited 1 million / month; overages yearly. Guests do not consume external licenses. Not a purchasable user license.

Channel Account. Up to 40 partner users per partner account (typical); more can be purchased. Partner users beyond 40 are purchased separately.

MSA. No published User quantity floor. Quantities are on the Order Form.

Virtualization

Salesforce CRM Services are SaaS. There is no hypervisor, core-factor, or socket count for Sales Cloud / Service Cloud user licenses. vCore / Core is a MuleSoft Anypoint metric (vCore); CRM Users do not convert to vCores. See MuleSoft Anypoint capacity and usage-based licensing.

Cloud / BYOL

Purchased Services are cloud subscriptions under the MSA. No public BYOL hypervisor metric was found. Trailhead: Heroku “creates platform licenses but no user licenses, because its products define functionality at the platform (org) level but not the user level.” A Heroku dyno-hour is not a Salesforce User.

Programs

Related programs: Agentic Enterprise License Agreement; Power of Us Program.

  • Agentic Enterprise License Agreement (AELA). Flexible Buying Models: fixed-price, fixed-term agreement with unlimited access to Salesforce consumption services, no overages, and no usage-based billing. Distinct from Pay-as-you-go / Pre-commit / Pre-purchase on the same page. Catalog proofs: fees Evidence notes AELA as the published consumption exception (Fees based on subscriptions purchased, not actual usage); Flex Credits across services (Flex Credits work across Salesforce consumption services); pay-go overages FAQ does not apply to AELA (Pay-go / Pre-commit / Pre-purchase overages at contracted rate).
  • Power of Us Program (P-10). Nonprofit page / Supplemental Terms: eligible nonprofit or educational organizations receive 10 free User subscriptions for certain Services. Catalog proofs: P-10 = ten donated User subscriptions; sandbox unused 150 consecutive days (P-10 Sandbox unused 150 consecutive days → delete after ≥30 days notice).
  • Order Form. MSA: the ordering document or online order specifying Services, including addenda. Usage limits and Flex Credit / Einstein Request quantities live in Usage Details on the Order Form.
  • Product Terms Directory. Hub for product-specific terms. Individual product-term records (5,000+) were not reviewed for this article.
  • Einstein Order Form Supplement. Enablement terms for Einstein features, not a seat count.
  • Agentforce Help. Names consumption-based, hybrid (per user / per month licensing plus consumption), and business-metrics-based pricing. Flex Credits convert usage types by the Agentforce Rate Card multiplier.

Buying programs and private price books are not catalog units, and marketing prices per user per month are not license metrics.

Out of scope

  • Tableau Creator / Explorer / Viewer role math: not in Salesforce legal or Help pages; Tableau Help documents it, see Tableau Creator, Explorer and Viewer licensing.
  • Slack billed-member / Fair Billing formula: not in Salesforce legal or Help pages; the Slack Help Center documents it, see Slack active-member licensing and Fair Billing Policy. Unified Employee Help mentions employee agents in Slack; that is not a Slack seat metric.
  • Heroku user licenses: Trailhead says there are none.
  • Marketing Cloud Super Message / Contact counts without the PDF terms.
  • User-to-PSL or User-to-Flex-Credit conversions. Salesforce publishes one user license + any number of PSLs; Flex Credit pack sizes stay on the Order Form.
  • Community login-to-named-user commercial conversions beyond Help 1:20 provision and Platform Login 50-credit pack (that license only).

Catalog rows

Sample catalog rows for this article, grouped by table.

References

  1. Main Services AgreementLast updated 1 June 2026. User; subscriptions; usage limits; fees on purchased subscriptions not actual usage.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  2. Licenses OverviewSalesforce Help (not date-stamped). Exactly one user license; PSL and feature-license overlays; usage-based entitlements; Unmetered Platform Developer and Admin AI User PSL.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  3. User LicensesMember- or seat-based vs login-based; SKUs contain licenses.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  4. User License Type OptionsStandard, Experience Cloud, Chatter, Guest families.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  5. Standard User LicensesSalesforce, Salesforce Platform, Salesforce Platform Login (15 Oct 2024), Integration included floors, Identity Only DE 10, Lightning Platform - One App, Company Community User, Force.com - App Subscription.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  6. Experience Cloud User LicensesDaily unique login; 1:20 provision; 12-month rollover; Channel Account 40; guest page-view caps; overages from 1 April 2018.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  7. Chatter User LicensesChatter Free / External / Only; Chatter Only existing customers only.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  8. Permission Set LicensesOverlay; any number; not a substitute for a user license.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  9. Salesforce Platform Login License Details10,000 credits; 50 credits per unique login; 4,000 provisioned licenses per that purchase.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  10. Features Available with Lightning Platform Starter, Lightning Platform Plus, and Salesforce Platform Login LicensesStarter / Plus contain the Salesforce Platform user license; custom-object / storage / API numbers.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  11. Salesforce Identity LicensesIdentity Only 100 complimentary; External Identity; Identity Verification Credits (quantity unpublished).Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  12. Usage-Based EntitlementsMonthly-frequency refresh example (conflicts with Experience Cloud rollover).Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  13. Understand How Licenses WorkTrailhead. Product license vs settings license; Full CRM user license; Heroku platform licenses with no user licenses.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  14. Salesforce Product and Packaging Guide2023. Four pricing models; editions named. No list prices catalogued.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  15. Contractual Restrictions for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Sales & Service Cloud (CRM)Rev. 07-2020. Edition functionality caps.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  16. Salesforce Essentials Product Specific TermsLast updated 3 June 2019. Restrictions contractual, not technically enforced.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  17. Flex Credits Rate CardUpdated 17 June 2026. No rollover; Usage Type multipliers.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  18. Agentforce and Generative AI Usage and BillingConsumption / hybrid / business-metrics pricing; Flex Credit conversion.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  19. Einstein Requests Rate CardUpdated 24 October 2025. LLM-gateway size factor.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  20. Digital Engagement (Conversations / messages rate card)Conversation session; 24-hour auto-end; sandbox deducts.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  21. Supplemental Terms for Eligible Nonprofits and Educational InstitutionsP-10 (ten User subscriptions).Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  22. Partner Ecosystem Management User LicensesPEM Member / PEM Login.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  23. Customer agreements hubLive legal hub.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  24. Flexible Buying ModelsAELA; Flex Credits; pay-go / pre-commit / pre-purchase overages FAQ.Retrieved 2026-08-31.
  25. Main Services AgreementCatalog: Main Services AgreementEffective 2026-06-01. Retrieved 2026-09-15.
  26. Supplemental Terms for Eligible Nonprofits and Educational InstitutionsCatalog: Supplemental Terms for Eligible Nonprofits and Educational InstitutionsEffective 2023-03-01. Retrieved 2026-09-15.
  27. Salesforce Platform Login License DetailsCatalog: Salesforce Platform Login License DetailsEffective 2024-10-15. Retrieved 2026-09-15.
  28. Flexible Buying Models | Salesforce PricingCatalog: Flexible Buying Models | Salesforce PricingEffective 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-15.
  29. Flex Credits Rate CardCatalog: Flex Credits Rate CardEffective 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-09-15.
  30. Contractual Restrictions for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Sales & Service Cloud (CRM)Catalog: Contractual Restrictions for Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Sales & Service Cloud (CRM)Effective 2020-07-01. Retrieved 2026-09-15.

See also

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