When we launched the Salesforce certification program over 20 years ago, the vision was clear: Create a shared standard of excellence that unites every Salesforce professional around the same skills, the same knowledge, and the same commitment to success. This vision remains true today and is even more critical as we navigate changes in the technology landscape, including the rise of artificial intelligence. AI is reshaping how businesses operate, how professionals work, and what expertise looks like. The pace of that transformation is only accelerating, and our certification program has to move just as quickly. Let’s take a look into how we build, maintain, and evolve our certification portfolio to keep up with the pace of change.
Build your Salesforce certification portfolio
At Salesforce, we build our certification portfolio around your career success and the high-impact skills you need to excel. We continuously expand our offerings to align with market demand, emerging business trends, and strategic priorities, like Agentforce.
As Salesforce evolves with product rebranding, it’s essential that your certifications reflect the platform as it exists today, not as it did years ago. That’s why, as part of our ongoing commitment to relevance, we’re updating the names of 16 certifications, effective July 24, 2026, to align with the latest Salesforce product portfolio.
For the complete list of the upcoming name changes and commonly asked questions, visit the Salesforce Certification Name Changes FAQ.
Maintain the relevance of your certifications
Salesforce products are constantly changing. With three releases a year, it’s important that people managing a Salesforce solution are familiar with the Salesforce certification maintenance process. As a certified individual, you’re required to complete annual Trailhead maintenance badges to keep your certifications active and your skills up to date. These badges become available during one of our three release cycles (Spring, Summer, and Winter) and validate your expertise reflects the most recent product features.
Speaking of keeping current, we periodically retire older certifications, so our catalog aligns with the evolving Salesforce ecosystem. This proactive approach provides a high-impact collection of certifications that represent today’s most valuable skills. Read on to understand the retirement process and your next steps.
Evolve alongside our certification catalog
In order for the Salesforce certification program to deliver the most value, we retire certifications that no longer reflect the most in-demand skills in today’s marketplace.
By retiring outdated certifications, we ensure that every Salesforce certification remains a high-priority achievement that boosts your value in the market.
You may be wondering: will your retired certification still be valid? Rest assured—retired certifications remain on your Trailblazer profile record so your past achievements are never lost. However, retired certifications will not show on the certification verification page.*
It’s important to note: A retired certification is still a valid certification. It demonstrates your knowledge of the product and your commitment to building expertise in that area. Retirement simply means Salesforce is no longer actively maintaining or evaluating those skills as part of our current catalog—it does not invalidate the work you put in or the knowledge you gained.
We also provide guidance on continued learning through resources on Trailhead and Partner Learning Camp (PLC) (partner-exclusive). Individuals can actively evolve their skills and knowledge through these resources, ensuring their Salesforce expertise remains up-to-date and competitive.
For the full list of retiring exams, next steps, and key deadlines, review the 2027 Certification Retirements FAQ.
Maximize the value of your certifications
As Salesforce evolves, so does our certification program. We continuously evaluate our portfolio to ensure it reflects the latest platform innovations and the skills that matter most in today’s ecosystem. This means thoughtfully expanding our catalog to recognize emerging roles and technologies, maintaining existing certifications to keep content accurate and up to date, strategically renaming certifications to better reflect what you know and what employers expect, and retiring certifications that no longer represent the current state of the platform. Together, these efforts ensure your verified skills remain relevant, competitive, and aligned with where Salesforce—and the industry—is headed.
*Update: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that retiring certifications continue to be verifiable on the certification verification page. The text has been updated to reflect the accurate information.
