Salesforce

Salesforce runs one of the largest vendor certification programs in tech, with dozens of credentials organized into admin, developer, consultant, marketer, designer, and architect tracks on Trailhead. The catalog was reshaped in 2025: Salesforce renamed 35-plus certifications effective July 21, 2025, so Salesforce Certified Administrator is now Platform Administrator, Advanced Administrator is Platform Administrator II, and the entry-level Associate credential is Platform Foundations. The other big shift is AI, with the Agentforce Specialist (AI-201) credential and Agentforce content now written into the core admin exam itself.

The typical order runs Platform Foundations ($75, never expires, no maintenance) into Platform Administrator, then a fork: Platform Administrator II and Business Analyst for admins, Platform App Builder and Platform Developer for builders, or an Agentforce consultant credential (Sales or Service) and other cloud consultant credentials once you know your specialty. Core exams cost $200 with a $100 retake, architect domain exams run $400 with a $200 retake, the Certified Technical Architect evaluation is $1,500, and the review board is $4,500. Renewal is where Salesforce differs from most providers: instead of paid recertification exams, you complete one free maintenance module per certification per year on Trailhead, tied to the Spring, Summer, and Winter release cycles, and the credential expires if you skip it.

CertCompanion carries 13 Salesforce practice banks spanning the main tracks: Platform Administrator and Platform Administrator II (Plat-Admn-301) for admins, Platform App Builder and Platform Developer (Plat-Dev-201) for builders, Agentforce Specialist (AI-201) for the AI track, Business Analyst (BA-201), Agentforce Sales Consultant (Sales-Con-201), Agentforce Service Consultant (Service-Con-201), Experience Cloud Consultant, and four Marketing Cloud banks including Marketing Cloud Engagement Specialist (MC-202). Every bank includes 30 free questions, so you can gauge difficulty before committing.

If you are testing in 2026, study from current material: the official Platform Administrator exam guide now aligns to the Summer '25 release and includes an Agentforce domain worth 8 percent of the exam. Data and Analytics Management is the heaviest domain at 17 percent, a signal that Salesforce expects admins to govern data quality for AI agents, not just manage users and page layouts.