Choose Which Salesforce Connect Adapter to Use
Salesforce Connect uses a protocol-specific adapter to connect to an external system and access its data. When you define an external data source in your organization, you specify the adapter in the Type field.
Required Editions
| Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience (not for high-data-volume external objects) |
Available in: Developer Edition Available for an extra cost in: Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited Editions |
These adapters are available for Salesforce Connect.
| Salesforce Connect Adapter | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-org | Uses the Lightning Platform REST API to access data that’s stored in other Salesforce orgs. | To connect data between your Salesforce orgs. For example, provide your service representatives a unified view of customer transactions by integrating data from different Salesforce orgs. |
OData 2.0 OData 4.0 OData 4.01 |
Uses Open Data Protocol to access data that’s stored outside Salesforce. The external data must be exposed via OData producers. | To integrate external data sources into your org that support the ODATA protocol and publish an OData provider. For example, give your account executives a unified data view by pulling data from legacy systems such as SAP and Microsoft in real time. |
| Custom adapter created via Apex | Uses the Apex Connector Framework to develop your own custom adapter when the other available adapters aren’t suitable for your needs. A custom adapter can obtain data from anywhere. For example, some data can be retrieved from anywhere in the Internet via callouts, while other data can be manipulated or even generated programmatically. |
To develop your own adapter with the Apex Connector Framework when the other available adapters aren’t suitable for your needs. For example, when you want to retrieve data via callouts from a REST API. |
| Salesforce Connect Adapter for Amazon DynamoDB | Connects Amazon DynamoDB data sources to Salesforce through external objects. The data stored in Amazon DynamoDB can use the flexible data storage option of DynamoDB and Salesforce Platform capabilities. |
To integrate AWS data natively with Salesforce business applications. |
| Salesforce Connect Adapter for SQL | Connect Salesforce to external data sources that expose their capabilities via REST APIs and offer query and DML operations using SQL. The Salesforce Connect Adapter for SQL supports Snowflake and Amazon Athena external data sources. |
To integrate external data natively with Salesforce and run interactive on demand queries using SQL. |
| Salesforce Connect Adapter for GraphQL | Uses GraphQL APIs to provide a modern way to integrate applications. | To access and integrate data from external sources that expose their capabilities via GraphQL, including Amazon RDS via AWS AppSync. |
