Key Features of Salesforce Experience Cloud Posted by
MacLain JohnsonThe short answer: Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly Community Cloud) is the platform for building customer portals, partner sites, help centers, and other external-facing sites directly on Salesforce. Its defining feature is that every site runs on your CRM data and security model, so customers and partners interact with the same records your internal teams use, governed by the same permissions.
Most companies eventually need to give people outside the company a way in: customers checking a case, partners registering a deal, members updating their account. Salesforce Experience Cloud exists so you can build those experiences without standing up a separate website and syncing data to it. Here are the features that matter most, and how to think about whether it fits.
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud?
Experience Cloud is Salesforce’s digital experience platform for external audiences. You use it to build branded sites (Salesforce calls each one an “experience”) for customers, partners, or any outside group, with content, self-service tools, and live CRM data in one place. It was renamed from Community Cloud in 2021, and you will still hear both names, along with “portals” and “communities,” used interchangeably.
What are the key features of Salesforce Experience Cloud?
- Experience Builder. A drag-and-drop builder for assembling pages from standard and custom components, with themes and branding controls, so most site changes do not require a developer.
- Prebuilt templates. Starting points for the common patterns: a customer help center with knowledge and case deflection, a partner portal with lead and opportunity sharing, or a build-your-own site on the newer LWR (Lightning Web Runtime) framework for high-performance custom experiences.
- Live CRM data. Site visitors work with actual Salesforce records: they log cases, view orders, update registrations, and see statuses in real time. There is no copy of the data to keep in sync.
- The Salesforce security model. Profiles, permission sets, and sharing rules govern exactly which records each external user can see, which is the feature that makes regulated and partner use cases workable.
- Audience targeting and personalization. Pages and components can vary by audience, so a gold-tier partner and a new customer can get different experiences from the same site.
- Content management. The built-in CMS lets marketing teams manage articles, banners, and media across experiences, and content can also come from external CMS platforms.
- Automation and AI. Flows run behind forms and buttons for guided processes like onboarding or applications, and Agentforce assistants can be embedded to answer questions grounded in your knowledge base.
What do companies actually build with it?
Site type What it does Customer portal / help center Self-service case logging, knowledge articles, order and account visibility, deflecting routine questions from your service team Partner portal (PRM) Deal registration, lead distribution, co-branded marketing assets, and pipeline visibility for resellers and channel partners Member or client site Account management, applications and renewals, statements and documents for members, investors, students, or policyholders Public website or microsite Marketing pages, event sites, or storefront-adjacent experiences that pull from CRM data without requiring login
How is Experience Cloud licensed?
External users do not need full Salesforce licenses. Experience Cloud is sold through member-based and login-based models: you either license a number of external users or a monthly pool of logins, at price points far below internal user licenses. Which model is cheaper depends entirely on how often your users visit, which is worth modeling before you buy. Partner licenses (with access to leads and opportunities) cost more than customer licenses, so mapping user types to license types early prevents expensive surprises.
When is Experience Cloud the right choice?
The decision usually comes down to how much your external experience depends on CRM data and security. If customers or partners need to see and act on Salesforce records, Experience Cloud is almost always cheaper and faster than building a custom web application plus an integration layer. If you just need a marketing site with no data behind it, a standard CMS is the simpler tool. CloudMasonry has delivered Experience Cloud portals for financial services firms, homebuilders, and professional services organizations; our Experience Cloud consulting practice can help you scope the fit, or contact us directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud used for?
Salesforce Experience Cloud is used to build external-facing sites on Salesforce: customer self-service portals, partner relationship management (PRM) sites, help centers, and member sites. Visitors interact with live CRM data under the same security model that governs internal users.
Is Experience Cloud the same as Community Cloud?
Yes. Salesforce renamed Community Cloud to Experience Cloud in 2021. The terms community, portal, site, and experience all refer to the same underlying product.
Do external users need Salesforce licenses?
Not full ones. Experience Cloud uses its own external license types, sold per member or per login. They cost significantly less than internal Salesforce licenses, and choosing between member-based and login-based pricing depends on how frequently your users sign in.
What is an LWR site in Experience Cloud?
LWR (Lightning Web Runtime) is the newer, faster framework for Experience Cloud sites, built around Lightning Web Components. Salesforce recommends LWR templates for new builds where performance and design flexibility matter most; older sites typically run on Aura templates.
MacLain JohnsonThe short answer: Salesforce Experience Cloud (formerly Community Cloud) is the platform for building customer portals, partner sites, help centers, and other external-facing sites directly on Salesforce. Its defining feature is that every site runs on your CRM data and security model, so customers and partners interact with the same records your internal teams use, governed by the same permissions.
Most companies eventually need to give people outside the company a way in: customers checking a case, partners registering a deal, members updating their account. Salesforce Experience Cloud exists so you can build those experiences without standing up a separate website and syncing data to it. Here are the features that matter most, and how to think about whether it fits.
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud?
Experience Cloud is Salesforce’s digital experience platform for external audiences. You use it to build branded sites (Salesforce calls each one an “experience”) for customers, partners, or any outside group, with content, self-service tools, and live CRM data in one place. It was renamed from Community Cloud in 2021, and you will still hear both names, along with “portals” and “communities,” used interchangeably.
What are the key features of Salesforce Experience Cloud?
- Experience Builder. A drag-and-drop builder for assembling pages from standard and custom components, with themes and branding controls, so most site changes do not require a developer.
- Prebuilt templates. Starting points for the common patterns: a customer help center with knowledge and case deflection, a partner portal with lead and opportunity sharing, or a build-your-own site on the newer LWR (Lightning Web Runtime) framework for high-performance custom experiences.
- Live CRM data. Site visitors work with actual Salesforce records: they log cases, view orders, update registrations, and see statuses in real time. There is no copy of the data to keep in sync.
- The Salesforce security model. Profiles, permission sets, and sharing rules govern exactly which records each external user can see, which is the feature that makes regulated and partner use cases workable.
- Audience targeting and personalization. Pages and components can vary by audience, so a gold-tier partner and a new customer can get different experiences from the same site.
- Content management. The built-in CMS lets marketing teams manage articles, banners, and media across experiences, and content can also come from external CMS platforms.
- Automation and AI. Flows run behind forms and buttons for guided processes like onboarding or applications, and Agentforce assistants can be embedded to answer questions grounded in your knowledge base.
What do companies actually build with it?
| Site type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Customer portal / help center | Self-service case logging, knowledge articles, order and account visibility, deflecting routine questions from your service team |
| Partner portal (PRM) | Deal registration, lead distribution, co-branded marketing assets, and pipeline visibility for resellers and channel partners |
| Member or client site | Account management, applications and renewals, statements and documents for members, investors, students, or policyholders |
| Public website or microsite | Marketing pages, event sites, or storefront-adjacent experiences that pull from CRM data without requiring login |
How is Experience Cloud licensed?
External users do not need full Salesforce licenses. Experience Cloud is sold through member-based and login-based models: you either license a number of external users or a monthly pool of logins, at price points far below internal user licenses. Which model is cheaper depends entirely on how often your users visit, which is worth modeling before you buy. Partner licenses (with access to leads and opportunities) cost more than customer licenses, so mapping user types to license types early prevents expensive surprises.
When is Experience Cloud the right choice?
The decision usually comes down to how much your external experience depends on CRM data and security. If customers or partners need to see and act on Salesforce records, Experience Cloud is almost always cheaper and faster than building a custom web application plus an integration layer. If you just need a marketing site with no data behind it, a standard CMS is the simpler tool. CloudMasonry has delivered Experience Cloud portals for financial services firms, homebuilders, and professional services organizations; our Experience Cloud consulting practice can help you scope the fit, or contact us directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud used for?
Salesforce Experience Cloud is used to build external-facing sites on Salesforce: customer self-service portals, partner relationship management (PRM) sites, help centers, and member sites. Visitors interact with live CRM data under the same security model that governs internal users.
Is Experience Cloud the same as Community Cloud?
Yes. Salesforce renamed Community Cloud to Experience Cloud in 2021. The terms community, portal, site, and experience all refer to the same underlying product.
Do external users need Salesforce licenses?
Not full ones. Experience Cloud uses its own external license types, sold per member or per login. They cost significantly less than internal Salesforce licenses, and choosing between member-based and login-based pricing depends on how frequently your users sign in.
What is an LWR site in Experience Cloud?
LWR (Lightning Web Runtime) is the newer, faster framework for Experience Cloud sites, built around Lightning Web Components. Salesforce recommends LWR templates for new builds where performance and design flexibility matter most; older sites typically run on Aura templates.
Client Success Stories
Millennium Trust
A leading retirement and custody provider. Read how CloudMasonry built their client-facing portal on Salesforce Experience Cloud, connected to AWS and Heroku.
JPMorgan Chase
One of the world’s largest financial institutions. See how CloudMasonry delivered Salesforce Experience Cloud and Grants Management projects across the firm.
Prosci
The global leader in change management. Read how their customer experience runs on Salesforce Experience Cloud alongside Sales and Service Cloud.
Tri Pointe Homes
One of the nation’s largest homebuilders. See how Salesforce Experience Cloud supports their homebuying experience alongside Sales Cloud and CPQ.