What is Salesforce Experience Cloud? Posted by
MacLain JohnsonThe short answer: Salesforce Experience Cloud is Salesforce’s platform for building branded digital experiences: customer portals, partner sites, help centers, and public websites that run directly on your CRM data. Because every page sits on the same platform as Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, what a customer does in the portal is instantly visible to your internal teams, and vice versa. It was called Community Cloud until 2021.
Most companies eventually need to put Salesforce data in front of people who do not log in to Salesforce: customers checking a case, partners registering a deal, students tracking an application. Experience Cloud is how you do that without building and integrating a separate web application. Here is what it is, what you can build with it, and how to choose between its two site frameworks.
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud?
Experience Cloud is a digital experience platform built on the core Salesforce platform. You design sites in Experience Builder using drag-and-drop components, control who sees what with the same sharing and security model that governs your internal org, and publish experiences that read and write live CRM records. There is no synchronization layer to build or maintain, which is the fundamental difference from pairing Salesforce with an external web platform.
One naming note: the product was called Salesforce Community Cloud until 2021, when Salesforce renamed it Experience Cloud to reflect that it builds more than communities. Many admins and older documentation still say “Communities,” and the license names still use the term. Same product.
What can you build with Experience Cloud?
Experience type What it does Customer portal or help center Customers open and track cases, search knowledge articles, manage their account details, and deflect routine questions before they reach an agent Partner portal (PRM) Partners register deals, manage shared leads and opportunities, access enablement content, and collaborate on pipeline with your channel team Community or forum Users ask questions, share answers, and build peer knowledge, with discussions tied back to CRM contacts and support data Public website or microsite Marketing pages, event sites, or application forms that feed submissions straight into Salesforce as leads or records
What are the key features of Experience Cloud?
- Experience Builder. A drag-and-drop site builder with standard components for records, lists, knowledge, cases, and navigation, plus support for custom Lightning Web Components when you need something bespoke.
- CRM data, live. Portal users interact with the same records your employees see, filtered through sharing rules, so there is one source of truth and no integration middleware.
- Built-in CMS. Enhanced CMS workspaces manage content, images, and variations across sites and channels, with role-based workflows and approvals.
- Audience targeting. Pages and components can vary by audience, so one site serves different content to customers, partners, or prospects based on who is logged in.
- Security and identity. Login, self-registration, single sign-on, and the platform sharing model control access down to the field level.
LWR or Aura: which site framework should you choose?
Experience Cloud sites run on one of two frameworks. Aura is the original template framework and still powers most existing sites; it remains fully supported with no announced end of life. LWR (Lightning Web Runtime) is the newer framework and Salesforce’s clear strategic direction: it pre-compiles pages at publish time for much faster load speeds, which matters for public, SEO-sensitive sites. Recent releases have steadily closed LWR’s early gaps, adding enhanced CMS, component variations, and OmniStudio support. Our guidance: new builds should default to LWR unless you depend on specific Aura-only components, and existing Aura sites do not need an urgent migration, just a plan. This is one of the highest-stakes decisions in an Experience Cloud project because switching frameworks later means rebuilding the site.
Implementing Experience Cloud with CloudMasonry
The hard parts of an Experience Cloud project are rarely the pages: they are the sharing model, the license selection, and the framework choice, all of which are expensive to change after launch. CloudMasonry has designed and delivered customer portals, partner sites, and self-service communities across industries, and our Experience Cloud consulting practice covers strategy, implementation, integration, and ongoing support. For a deeper look at the platform’s capabilities, see our guide to the key features of Salesforce Experience Cloud, or contact us to talk through your use case.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Experience Cloud the same as Community Cloud?
Yes. Salesforce renamed Community Cloud to Experience Cloud in 2021 to reflect that the product builds portals, help centers, and full websites, not just communities. The underlying product and licenses carried forward under the new name.
What is the difference between LWR and Aura sites?
Aura is the original Experience Cloud framework and remains fully supported. LWR is the newer framework that pre-compiles pages for faster load times and is Salesforce’s strategic direction. New sites should generally default to LWR; existing Aura sites can continue running while you plan any move.
Do Experience Cloud users need Salesforce licenses?
External users need Experience Cloud licenses, which are separate from internal Salesforce licenses and come in member-based and login-based models. Choosing between them depends on how often each user logs in, and it is one of the most important cost decisions in a portal project.
Does Experience Cloud work with Service Cloud and Sales Cloud?
Yes. Experience Cloud sites run on the same platform and data as Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, so portal activity like new cases, deal registrations, and form submissions appears immediately for internal teams without any integration layer.
MacLain JohnsonThe short answer: Salesforce Experience Cloud is Salesforce’s platform for building branded digital experiences: customer portals, partner sites, help centers, and public websites that run directly on your CRM data. Because every page sits on the same platform as Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, what a customer does in the portal is instantly visible to your internal teams, and vice versa. It was called Community Cloud until 2021.
Most companies eventually need to put Salesforce data in front of people who do not log in to Salesforce: customers checking a case, partners registering a deal, students tracking an application. Experience Cloud is how you do that without building and integrating a separate web application. Here is what it is, what you can build with it, and how to choose between its two site frameworks.
What is Salesforce Experience Cloud?
Experience Cloud is a digital experience platform built on the core Salesforce platform. You design sites in Experience Builder using drag-and-drop components, control who sees what with the same sharing and security model that governs your internal org, and publish experiences that read and write live CRM records. There is no synchronization layer to build or maintain, which is the fundamental difference from pairing Salesforce with an external web platform.
One naming note: the product was called Salesforce Community Cloud until 2021, when Salesforce renamed it Experience Cloud to reflect that it builds more than communities. Many admins and older documentation still say “Communities,” and the license names still use the term. Same product.
What can you build with Experience Cloud?
| Experience type | What it does |
|---|---|
| Customer portal or help center | Customers open and track cases, search knowledge articles, manage their account details, and deflect routine questions before they reach an agent |
| Partner portal (PRM) | Partners register deals, manage shared leads and opportunities, access enablement content, and collaborate on pipeline with your channel team |
| Community or forum | Users ask questions, share answers, and build peer knowledge, with discussions tied back to CRM contacts and support data |
| Public website or microsite | Marketing pages, event sites, or application forms that feed submissions straight into Salesforce as leads or records |
What are the key features of Experience Cloud?
- Experience Builder. A drag-and-drop site builder with standard components for records, lists, knowledge, cases, and navigation, plus support for custom Lightning Web Components when you need something bespoke.
- CRM data, live. Portal users interact with the same records your employees see, filtered through sharing rules, so there is one source of truth and no integration middleware.
- Built-in CMS. Enhanced CMS workspaces manage content, images, and variations across sites and channels, with role-based workflows and approvals.
- Audience targeting. Pages and components can vary by audience, so one site serves different content to customers, partners, or prospects based on who is logged in.
- Security and identity. Login, self-registration, single sign-on, and the platform sharing model control access down to the field level.
LWR or Aura: which site framework should you choose?
Experience Cloud sites run on one of two frameworks. Aura is the original template framework and still powers most existing sites; it remains fully supported with no announced end of life. LWR (Lightning Web Runtime) is the newer framework and Salesforce’s clear strategic direction: it pre-compiles pages at publish time for much faster load speeds, which matters for public, SEO-sensitive sites. Recent releases have steadily closed LWR’s early gaps, adding enhanced CMS, component variations, and OmniStudio support. Our guidance: new builds should default to LWR unless you depend on specific Aura-only components, and existing Aura sites do not need an urgent migration, just a plan. This is one of the highest-stakes decisions in an Experience Cloud project because switching frameworks later means rebuilding the site.
Implementing Experience Cloud with CloudMasonry
The hard parts of an Experience Cloud project are rarely the pages: they are the sharing model, the license selection, and the framework choice, all of which are expensive to change after launch. CloudMasonry has designed and delivered customer portals, partner sites, and self-service communities across industries, and our Experience Cloud consulting practice covers strategy, implementation, integration, and ongoing support. For a deeper look at the platform’s capabilities, see our guide to the key features of Salesforce Experience Cloud, or contact us to talk through your use case.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Experience Cloud the same as Community Cloud?
Yes. Salesforce renamed Community Cloud to Experience Cloud in 2021 to reflect that the product builds portals, help centers, and full websites, not just communities. The underlying product and licenses carried forward under the new name.
What is the difference between LWR and Aura sites?
Aura is the original Experience Cloud framework and remains fully supported. LWR is the newer framework that pre-compiles pages for faster load times and is Salesforce’s strategic direction. New sites should generally default to LWR; existing Aura sites can continue running while you plan any move.
Do Experience Cloud users need Salesforce licenses?
External users need Experience Cloud licenses, which are separate from internal Salesforce licenses and come in member-based and login-based models. Choosing between them depends on how often each user logs in, and it is one of the most important cost decisions in a portal project.
Does Experience Cloud work with Service Cloud and Sales Cloud?
Yes. Experience Cloud sites run on the same platform and data as Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, so portal activity like new cases, deal registrations, and form submissions appears immediately for internal teams without any integration layer.
Client Success Stories
Flexera
CloudMasonry partnered with Flexera to develop and integrate a new online community in support of over 80,000 customer and partner community users.
Evenly
CloudMasonry enabled dental care startup Evenly to hit the ground running, designing and delivering an integrated Salesforce solution in a few short weeks.
MCIC Vermont
CloudMasonry built a Salesforce Experience Cloud collaboration platform for MCIC Vermont, connecting subscribers and internal teams to reduce liability risk.
Prosci
CloudMasonry worked with Prosci to re-architect its Salesforce environment around newly integrated business systems while minimizing disruption to existing users.