API review

Salesforce API review

The enterprise CRM system of record: REST, Composite, sObject Collections, SOQL/SOSL, Bulk API 2.0 (150M records/day), Change Data Capture and Pub/Sub for events, plus Salesforce-hosted MCP servers. Best for enterprise clients whose Accounts/Contacts/Leads/Opportunities live in Salesforce.

Verified 25 Oct 2026 · 8 endpoints listed · Official MCP server

See pricing

Salesforce API docs

What a call costs

The actions you pay for, as Salesforce prices them.

Action	Cost	Per
Web Services API on Pro Suite	$25	per user per month

Pricing, plan by plan

US dollars, as Salesforce's pricing page shows them on 25 Oct 2026. Monthly and annual billing are shown apart.

Free tier Free Suite US$0 (Web Services API not included); 30-day free trial of every Sales Cloud edition, but the self-serve trial form requires a phone number and promises a sales follow-up; free Developer Edition org (no phone field, API enabled, 15,000 API calls/day, may be terminated after 45 days inactive).

Free Suite

Free

per user/month

No API

Starter Suite

$25/mo

billed monthly

$25/mo

billed annually

per user/month, billed monthly or annually

No API

Pro Suite

$100/mo

annual billing only

$100/mo

billed annually

per user/month, billed annually

API included

Plan details

Web Services API is a paid extra: $25 USD/user/month

Core

$195/mo

annual billing only

$195/mo

billed annually

per user/month, billed annually

API included

Advanced

$395/mo

annual billing only

$395/mo

billed annually

per user/month, billed annually

API included

Max

$550/mo

annual billing only

$550/mo

billed annually

per user/month, billed annually

API included

Rate limits

Org-wide rolling 24-hour allocation: Enterprise/Professional-with-API = 100,000 + licenses x 1,000 (Salesforce licence) + purchased add-ons; Unlimited/Performance = 100,000 + licenses x 5,000.

Limit	Enterprise / Professional with API	Unlimited / Performance	Example	Developer Edition (free)
Per Day	100,000 + (licenses x 1,000) + add-ons	100,000 + (licenses x 5,000) + add-ons	Enterprise org with 15 Salesforce licenses = 115,000 requests	15,000

How to get an API key

Salesforce uses OAuth. The steps below follow Salesforce's own docs.

Create a Salesforce account. API access starts on the Pro Suite plan.
Create an External Client App (or Connected App) in Setup and use an OAuth 2.0 flow; the Salesforce Integration user license gives API-only system users
Send it with every request: header: Authorization: Bearer <access token>.

Where the docs live

What	Where
Documentation	developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-rest/guide/intro-rest.html
API reference	developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-rest/guide/resources-list.html
OpenAPI spec	developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-rest/guide/openapi-beta.html
llms.txt	developer.salesforce.com/llms.txt
Changelog	developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-rest/guide/rest-rns.html
MCP server	`https://api.salesforce.com/platform/mcp/v1/platform/sobject-all`

Strengths and limits

Where it fits

Enterprise clients whose Accounts/Contacts/Leads/Opportunities live in Salesforce
Idempotent writes by external ID (PATCH upsert, or sObject Collections upsert of up to 200 records)
Large loads and extracts with Bulk API 2.0 (jobs >2,000 records)
Real-time change streams via Change Data Capture / Pub/Sub API

Where it falls short

Small teams on Starter/Pro Suite that have not bought API access (Pro Suite needs the Web Services API add-on)
Quick prototypes: OAuth via External Client Apps / Connected Apps is required, no simple static key
Data sourcing or enrichment (it is a CRM)

Worth knowing

API access: the pricing page's own feature data marks Web Services API false for Free Suite and Starter Suite, 'Additional $25 USD/user/month' for Pro Suite, and included for Core, Advanced and Max. The docs say API is on by default only in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited and Developer editions. Sources: salesforce.com/sales/pricing (editionStatus data in page HTML); developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-rest/guide/intro-rest-compatible-editions.html
Edition names changed: the live pricing page lists Starter Suite $25, Pro Suite $100, Core $195, Advanced $395, Max $550 (our 2026-09-03 capture still had Enterprise $175). Source: salesforce.com/sales/pricing
Upsert by external ID returns HTTP 300 with the matching records when the external ID matches more than one record. Source: developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api_rest.meta/api_rest/dome_upsert.htm
The daily allocation is a rolling 24 hours, not a midnight reset. Source: developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet.meta/salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet/salesforce_app_limits_platform_api.htm
developer.salesforce.com returns HTTP 403 to plain HTTP clients; docs pages had to be rendered in a headless browser (observed 2026-10-25).

3 moreShow fewer

The self-serve 30-day trial (Enterprise Edition) requires a phone number; the free Developer Edition signup has no phone field but its invisible reCAPTCHA rejected our headless browser ('Oops! Something went wrong').
Hosted MCP servers are Enterprise Edition and above only, are disabled by default, and sobject-all can permanently delete records (Recycle Bin for 15 days, no undelete tool). Sources: developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2026/04/salesforce-hosted-mcp-servers-are-now-generally-available; developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/hosted-mcp-servers/guide/sobject-all.html
Developer Edition orgs get 15,000 API calls per rolling 24h and only 5 concurrent long-running requests, so load tests there understate production. Source: developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet.meta/salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet/salesforce_app_limits_platform_api.htm

Who should use it

Use Salesforce for: Enterprise clients whose Accounts/Contacts/Leads/Opportunities live in Salesforce
Look elsewhere for: Small teams on Starter/Pro Suite that have not bought API access (Pro Suite needs the Web Services API add-on)

If Salesforce is not the answer

Other CRM tools in this directory, each with its own review.

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Attio API review

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Best for google Workspace teams that want a simple CRM inside Gmail.

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Before you build

Four things to settle first, each read off Salesforce's own pages.

Confirm the API is on your planAPI access starts on the Pro Suite plan. Free tier: Free Suite US$0 (Web Services API not included).
Keep the key out of your codeOAuth. It is sent as: header: Authorization: Bearer <access token>.
Design around the rate limitOrg-wide rolling 24-hour allocation: Enterprise/Professional-with-API = 100,000 + licenses x 1,000 (Salesforce licence) + purchased add-ons; Unlimited/Performance = 100,000 + licenses x 5,000.
Know the catch before you scaleAPI access: the pricing page's own feature data marks Web Services API false for Free Suite and Starter Suite, 'Additional $25 USD/user/month' for Pro Suite, and included for Core, Advanced and Max. The docs say API is on by default only in Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited and Developer editions. Sources: salesforce.com/sales/pricing (editionStatus data in page HTML); developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-rest/guide/intro-rest-compatible-editions.html

Want us to build it for you?

Tell us what you want Salesforce to do in your stack. We will show you how we would wire it into your data, outbound or CRM, and what we would check first.

Book a call

See case studies

Read from salesforce.com/sales/pricing, developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/api-rest/guide/resources-list.html and developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_app_lim. Verified 25 Oct 2026.

All 8 endpointsFor developers: method, path, what it does and what it costs.

Base URL: <your-domain>.my.salesforce.com/services/data/vXX.X

Bulk and async: Bulk API 2.0: recommended above 2,000 records; 150M records and 15,000 batches per rolling 24h (shared with Bulk API 1.0); results retained 7 days. Source: developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet.meta/salesforce_app_limits_cheatsheet/salesforce_app_limits_platform_bulkapi.htm

Webhooks: No generic webhook product; use Change Data Capture / Platform Events over the Pub/Sub API (gRPC) or Streaming API, or Outbound Messaging (SOAP, up to 100 notifications per message). Sources: developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.change_data_capture.meta/change_data_capture/cdc_intro.htm; developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.api.meta/api/sforce_api_om_outboundmessaging.htm

Filter endpoints

8 endpoints

Method	Path	What it does	Cost
PATCH	`/sobjects/{Object}/{externalIdField}/{value}`	Upsert one record by external ID (create if no match, update if one match)	1 API call
PATCH	`/composite/sobjects/{Object}/{externalIdField}`	sObject Collections upsert of up to 200 records by external ID	counts as one API call
POST	`/composite/sobjects`	Create up to 200 records (mixed objects) in one request	counts as one API call
POST	`/composite`	Chain up to 25 subrequests, feeding outputs into later inputs	the whole series counts as one call
GET	`/query?q=<SOQL>`	SOQL query (dedupe lookups, extracts)	1 API call per page
GET	`/search?q=<SOSL>`	SOSL full-text search across objects	1 API call
POSTasync	`/jobs/ingest`	Bulk API 2.0 ingest job (insert/update/upsert/delete via CSV)	batches count against 15,000 per rolling 24h
GET	`/limits`	Read current org limits and remaining allocations	Not stated