Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Exam Guide

Important Update

The Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder exam will be refreshed on August 21, 2026, to align with the Summer '26 release. This exam guide aligns with the refreshed version of the exam. If you are taking the exam before August 21, refer to the current exam guide.

About the Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Exam
Audience Description: Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder
Purpose of This Exam Guide
About the Exam
Exam Outline
Recommended Training and Resources
Salesforce Certification Candidate Code of Conduct
Maintaining Your Salesforce Certification

About the Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Exam

The Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Exam is designed for individuals who would like to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in designing, building, and deploying custom applications using declarative customization capabilities. Candidates for this exam can create, manage, and update data models, application security, business logic, and process automation. They should have experience with:

Designing and managing the data model, user interface, business logic, and security for custom applications
Process automation
Customizing applications for mobile use
Designing reports and dashboards
Deploying custom applications

Audience Description: Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder

The Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder is responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of custom applications, including design, construction, and deployment. Utilizing the declarative customization capabilities of the Salesforce Platform, this role focuses on building robust data and object models, implementing application security, and configuring business logic and process automation.

The Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder is familiar with the capabilities of the Customer 360 platform, including an awareness of Salesforce license types and their related considerations. They possess the experience needed to build custom applications on the platform, tailored to support specific business processes and reporting requirements.

Additionally, they are familiar with the social and mobile capabilities of the platform and are accustomed to using and optimizing business applications on a mobile device. They understand Salesforce development environments and the various options to deploy applications and manage changes effectively on the Customer 360 platform.

The Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder generally has 6 months to 1 year of experience building applications on the Customer 360 platform and/or on a similar technology platform, and has the knowledge, experience, and skills outlined here.

Declarative Application Development: Experience building, managing, maintaining, and updating custom applications using the declarative (point-and-click) customization capabilities of the Salesforce Platform.
Data and Logic Architecture: Proficiency in designing and building data and object models, implementing application security, configuring business logic, and establishing process automation.
Platform Expertise: Deep familiarity with the capabilities of the Salesforce Platform and a clear awareness of Salesforce license types and their related considerations.
Business Solution Design: Ability to design applications that specifically support business processes and meet complex reporting requirements.
Mobile User Experience: Familiarity with the specific capabilities and customizations used to enhance and optimize the Salesforce mobile experience.
Deployment and Change Management: Knowledge of Salesforce development environments and the various options available to deploy applications and manage changes on the Salesforce Platform.

Here are typical job roles that align to this certification.

Primary Audience:

Experienced Salesforce Platform Administrator
Application Builder (declarative)
Business Analyst
Product/ISV Developer
Salesforce Architects

Secondary Audience:

Salesforce Developer
Mobile App Developer (integrating with the Salesforce Platform)
Database Analyst
IT Systems Analyst
Business Intelligence (BI) Analyst

Purpose of This Exam Guide

This exam guide is designed to help you prepare for the Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Exam. This guide provides information about the target audience, the recommended training and documentation, and a complete list of exam objectives. Salesforce highly recommends a combination of on-the-job experience and self-study to maximize your chances of passing the exam.

About the Exam

Here are details about the Platform App Builder Exam.

Content: 60 multiple-choice questions and up to five unscored questions
Time allotted to complete the exam: 105 minutes
Passing score: 73%
Version: Exam questions align to the SU ’26 release.
Registration fee: US 200, JPY 30,000, plus applicable taxes as required per local law
Retake fee: US 100, JPY 15,000, plus applicable taxes as required per local law
Delivery options: Proctored exam delivered onsite at a testing center or in an online environment; find more information on scheduling an exam here.
References: No hard-copy or online materials may be referenced during the exam.
Prerequisite: None

This exam may contain up to five additional unscored questions to gather performance data. Unscored questions are randomly integrated and have no impact on your final exam result.

Exam Outline

The Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Exam measures a candidate’s knowledge and skills related to the following objectives.

Salesforce Fundamentals: 18%

Given a scenario, identify the boundaries of declarative customization and the use cases for programmatic customization.
Identify common scenarios for extending an org using the AgentExchange.
Apply features and capabilities available to restrict and extend object, record, and field access.
Given a set of business requirements, determine the appropriate sharing solution.
Identify the features and capabilities available when creating reports, report types, and dashboards.

Data Modeling and Management: 20%

Given a scenario, determine the appropriate data model.
Given a scenario, explain the capabilities of the various relationship types and the implications of each on record access, user interface, and reporting.
Given a scenario, determine the considerations when selecting or changing a field data type.
Given a scenario, determine the options and considerations when importing and exporting data, including the capabilities of external data sources.

Business Logic and Process Automation: 32%

Given a scenario, demonstrate the use of formula fields to meet stated business requirements.
Given a scenario, determine the capabilities, use cases, and implications of roll-up summary fields.
Given a scenario, demonstrate the use of validation rules to meet stated business requirements.
Create and configure flows using Flow Builder.
Describe the capabilities and use cases for Flow Approval processes.
Given a scenario, determine the appropriate flow type to meet stated business requirements.
Maintain, monitor, and troubleshoot flows.
Describe the capabilities and use cases for using Agentforce to automate business processes.

User Interface: 15%

Describe the user interface customization options.
Demonstrate the capabilities and use cases for custom buttons, links, and actions.
Given a scenario, determine the declarative options available for incorporating Lightning components in an application.
Describe the programmatic customizations available for incorporating custom Lightning components in an application.
Given a set of requirements, determine the appropriate global, object-specific actions and layouts to optimize the Salesforce mobile user experience.

App Deployment: 13%

Given a set of business requirements, recommend a solution for managing the application lifecycle, including sandbox types.
Given a use case, demonstrate knowledge, viability, and troubleshooting when using change sets.
Describe the use cases and considerations when using unmanaged and managed packages.
Given a scenario, determine the appropriate deployment plan.

Recommended Training and Resources

As preparation for this exam, we recommend a combination of hands-on experience, training course completion, Trailhead trails, and self-study in the areas listed in the Exam Outline section of this exam guide.

The self-study materials recommended for this exam include:

Trail: Prepare for Your Salesforce Platform App Builder Certification
Superbadge: Object Relationships Superbadge Unit
Superbadge: User Access Fundamentals Superbadge Unit
Superbadge: Formulas Superbadge Unit
Superbadge: Data Quality and Validation Unit
Superbadge: Flow Fundamentals Superbadge Unit

The certifications recommended (not required) for this exam include:

Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator

To review online documentation, tip sheets, and user guides, search for the topics listed in the Exam Outline section of this guide on Salesforce Help and study the information related to those topics.

Salesforce Certification Candidate Code of Conduct

At Salesforce, Trust is our #1 value. Protecting the security of Salesforce Certifications is up to all of us. As a participant in the Salesforce Certification Program, you’re required to review and accept the terms of the Salesforce Certification Program Agreement and Code of Conduct at the beginning of each exam.

Maintaining Your Salesforce Certification

One of the benefits of holding a Salesforce Certification is always being up to date on new product releases. You'll be required to complete the Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder certification maintenance badge on Trailhead once a year.

Don’t let your hard-earned certification expire! If you don't complete all maintenance requirements by the due date, your certification will expire.

Bookmark these useful resources for maintaining your certifications.