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Compare Einstein Activity Capture and Lightning Sync
Both Einstein Activity Capture and Lightning Sync help sales reps stay productive by syncing your Microsoft® or Google email, events, and contacts with Salesforce. Compare features, access, and support to understand what you get when you move to Einstein Activity Capture.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience |
| Available with Einstein Activity Capture Standard in Sales in Starter, Pro Suite, Professional, and Enterprise Editions |
| Available with Unlimited Edition, Einstein 1 Sales Edition, and Agentforce 1 Edition |
| Available with Einstein for Sales, which is included in Einstein 1 Sales Edition and available for an extra cost in Enterprise and Unlimited Editions |
| Available with Sales Engagement, which is included with Sales in Performance and Unlimited Editions, and available for an extra cost in Professional and Enterprise Editions |
| Available with Revenue Intelligence, which is available for an extra cost in Enterprise and Unlimited Editions |
Starting in Winter ‘21, Lightning Sync isn’t available to new Salesforce customers. Use Einstein Activity Capture to sync events, contacts, and emails between your connected account and Salesforce.
If you have Lightning Sync, use the migration tool to move to Einstein Activity Capture before Lightning Sync retires in April 2027.
If you use Lightning Sync with Microsoft Office 365 and Exchange Web Service (EWS) as your authentication method, complete your migration by August 2026 to avoid service disruption. In October 2026, Microsoft retires EWS for Microsoft 365 and replaces it with Microsoft Graph API. After migrating to Einstein Activity Capture, upgrade to the Microsoft Graph authentication method. See Upgrade Microsoft Office 365 Authentication Method to Microsoft Graph in Einstein Activity Capture.
This change affects all orgs except those using Government Cloud.
Microsoft Integrations with Salesforce
| Feature or Requirement | Einstein Activity Capture | Lightning Sync |
|---|---|---|
| Supported servers |
|
|
| Connection credentials | Exchange 2019, 2016, and 2013: You can use a user-level connection or provide credentials to a service account in Salesforce. Exchange Online with Office 365: You can select a user-level connection, an org-level connection, or a service account. See Connect Email and Calendar Accounts to Einstein Activity Capture. |
Exchange 2019, 2016, and 2013: Your Microsoft admin can provide credentials to a service account in Salesforce that gives Salesforce impersonation access user-by-user. Exchange Online with Office 365: You can grant an org-level connection by giving Salesforce access to your Exchange tenant using OAuth 2.0. A Salesforce admin or a Microsoft admin can provide tenant credentials to a Microsoft site that admins are directed to from Salesforce. See Choose and Configure a Method for Connecting to Microsoft® Exchange. |
| Who completes the setup | Salesforce admins follow prompts to create a configuration and define settings. If using OAuth, Salesforce admins partner with their Microsoft admins. For a user-level connection method or if you have Salesforce Inbox, users connect their own accounts after a Salesforce admin completes the initial setup process. See Set Up Einstein Activity Capture for Your Team. | Exchange 2019, 2016, and 2013: Microsoft admins are required to complete an advanced setup from your server environment. Next, Salesforce admins can enable features and roll out Lightning Sync to users from Salesforce Setup. Exchange Online with Office 365: Salesforce admins can complete setup from Salesforce with some minor guidance from Microsoft admins. See See the Big Picture for Setting Up Lightning Sync for Microsoft® Exchange. |
| Supported Salesforce user interfaces |
|
|
| Supported licenses | Einstein Activity Capture Standard is available to users on the Standard Salesforce license with Sales purchase. Users with an add-on license get additional Einstein Activity Capture features.
Users with Performance and Unlimited editions can access Einstein Activity Capture features without an add-on license. |
With the purchase of Sales, Service, or Lightning Platform, Lightning Sync supports users working from these Standard licenses only. *Does not include Lightning Platform Starter or Lightning Platform Plus **Contact sync isn’t supported for Lightning Sync customers working from the user license Lightning Platform - One App. Lightning Platform - One App doesn’t include the Contacts object. |
| Supported editions |
|
|
| Sync | Syncs emails, contacts, and events, including:
Doesn’t automatically remove contacts that are deleted from the other calendar application. |
Syncs contacts and events, including:
Doesn’t automatically remove contacts that are deleted from the other calendar application. |
| Event sync directions |
|
|
| Configuration assignments | Salesforce admins create one or more Einstein Activity Capture configurations and assign individual users or profiles to one configuration, managing settings for everyone from the same place. Developers can assign large groups of users to a configuration using the API. |
Salesforce admins can assign users to sync configurations by individual user and by user profile. |
| Capture | Any emails and events that sales reps send and receive from Microsoft applications are automatically associated with related account, contact, contract, lead, opportunity, and quote records in Salesforce. Admins can select a setting that relates synced events to Salesforce records so that those events are available for reporting and other Salesforce platform capabilities. Learn More |
No capture functionality is available. Admins can select a setting that relates synced events to Salesforce records so that those events are available for reporting and other Salesforce platform capabilities. Learn More. |
| Reporting | Use standard Salesforce reports. | Standard Salesforce reporting is available. |
| Storage | Synced data is stored in Salesforce. Captured data is stored using a public cloud provider. See Einstein Activity Capture Data Retention and Deletion. | Synced data is stored in Salesforce. See Lightning Sync Design and Security. |
| Einstein Email Insights | Surface contextual insights on users’ emails to help prioritize urgent items. With an add-on license, you can create custom email insights for users. See Differences Between Einstein Activity Capture Editions | Not available. |
| Recommended connections on contacts and leads | With an add-on license, build relationships with customers using the recommended connections feature. See Differences Between Einstein Activity Capture Editions | Not available. |
Google Integrations with Salesforce
| Feature or Requirement | Einstein Activity Capture | Lightning Sync |
|---|---|---|
| Supported servers | Basic, Business, and Enterprise editions of Google Workspace. | Basic, Business, and Enterprise editions of Google Workspace. |
| Connection credentials | You can choose a user-level connection or a service account. |
Google admins create a private key to your company’s G Suite account and upload it to Salesforce. No user-level credentials required. |
| Who completes the setup | Salesforce admins follow prompts to create a configuration. Then users complete a few steps to connect their accounts. See Set Up Einstein Activity Capture for Your Team. | Google admins are required to complete an advanced setup from their Google API Console. Next, Salesforce admins can enable features and roll out Lightning Sync to users from Salesforce Setup. See See the Big Picture for Setting Up Lightning Sync for Google. |
| Supported Salesforce user interfaces |
|
|
| Supported licenses | Einstein Activity Capture Standard is available to users on the Standard Salesforce license with Sales purchase. Users with an add-on license get additional Einstein Activity Capture features.
Users with Performance and Unlimited editions can access Einstein Activity Capture features without an add-on license. |
With the purchase of Sales, Service, or Lightning Platform, Lightning Sync supports users working from these Standard licenses only.
*Does not include Lightning Platform Starter or Lightning Platform Plus **Contact sync isn’t supported for Lightning Sync customers working from the user license Lightning Platform - One App. Lightning Platform - One App doesn’t include the Contacts object. |
| Supported editions |
|
|
| Sync | Syncs emails, contacts, and events, including:
Doesn’t automatically remove contacts that are deleted from the other calendar application. |
Syncs contacts and events, including:
Doesn’t automatically remove contacts that are deleted from the other calendar application. |
| Event sync directions |
|
|
| Configuration assignments | Salesforce admins create one or more Einstein Activity Capture configuration and assign individual users or profiles to one configuration, managing settings for everyone from the same place. Developers can assign large groups of users to a configuration using the API. |
Salesforce admins can assign users to sync configurations by individual user and by user profile. |
| Capture | Any emails and events that sales reps send and receive from Google applications are automatically associated with related account, contact, contract, lead, opportunity, and quote records in Salesforce. Admins can select a setting that relates synced events to Salesforce records so that those events are available in reporting and other Salesforce platform capabilities. |
No capture functionality is available. Admins can select a setting that relates synced events to Salesforce records so that those events are available in reporting and other Salesforce platform capabilities. Learn More. |
| Reporting | Use standard Salesforce reports. | Standard Salesforce reporting is available. |
| Storage | Synced data is stored in Salesforce. Captured data is stored using a public cloud provider. See Einstein Activity Capture Security. | Synced data is stored in Salesforce. See Lightning Sync Design and Security. |
| Einstein Email Insights | Surface contextual insights on users’ emails to help prioritize urgent items. With an add-on license, you can create custom email insights for users. See Differences Between Einstein Activity Capture Editions | Not available. |
| Recommended connections on contacts and leads | With an add-on license, users build relationships with customers using the recommended connections feature. See Einstein Activity Capture Data Retention and Deletion | Not available. |
