Enterprise technology marketplaces are rapidly transforming from simple catalogs into operational centers for AI and automation. Yet many organizations are struggling with fragmented marketplace discovery, complex integrations, and inadequate governance with security risks. These challenges are creating a costly loss in productivity and stalling critical deployments that businesses need to stay competitive. 

Salesforce has been recognized as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Application and Platform Marketplaces 2025 Vendor Assessment. This recognition, we believe, reflects Salesforce’s ability to help customers meet these increasing demands by embedding discovery directly into core systems and accelerating the move from experimentation to scaled deployments with AppExchange. 

As businesses expand AI and applications across the enterprise, Salesforce provides the mature models and trusted infrastructure required to govern, operationalize, and scale innovation across every industry and product suite, as solutions move from build, to marketplace, to production.

AppExchange: Connecting Customers and Partners at Scale

Since launching in 2005, AppExchange has become a leading enterprise cloud marketplace and the foundation of Salesforce’s open ecosystem. Today, AppExchange connects customers with more than 9,000 partner apps and expert listings from more than 9,600 ISV and SI partners, helping organizations securely discover, try, buy, and deploy trusted solutions directly within Salesforce. 

With Data 360-powered search and personalized recommendations, customers receive highly contextual results and apps aligned to their roles and unique business needs, connecting them to the best fit solutions and streamlining the flow of work. And with Slack Marketplace, businesses can discover over 2,600 apps and integrations trusted by millions of daily users. This further brings apps, agents, and data into the conversation where work happens with 350 AI-enabled apps, allowing teams to reduce manual tasks and boost productivity with pre-built integrations and workflows.

“Salesforce AppExchange remains focused on making the ecosystem more accessible, contextual, and intelligent, reflecting a sustained commitment to scalable innovation and trusted partner solutions,” according to the IDC MarketScape. 

The introduction of the AgentExchange marketplace further strengthens Salesforce’s leadership in agentic AI, making it easier for organizations to deploy intelligent automation safely and at scale. Built directly into Salesforce, AgentExchange is a trusted, open marketplace where customers can discover and deploy Agentforce solutions that operate natively within Salesforce workflows and data models. With more than 646 pre-built agentic assets and a growing ecosystem of agent-to-agent (A2A) and Model Context Protocol (MCP) partners, AgentExchange helps organizations build and scale AI agents faster while maintaining enterprise-grade security, governance, and control.

According to the IDC MarketScape, “Salesforce AppExchange continues to evolve as an integrated marketplace for business applications, agentic tools, and third-party solutions tailored around the Salesforce platform.”

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And as intelligence becomes central to how marketplaces operate:

“As AI agents reshape SaaS marketplaces, the true differentiator is not catalog size but how deeply intelligence is woven into the marketplace operational workflows and governance,” said Frank Della Rosa, Research VP of SaaS, Business Platforms, and Industry Cloud at IDC.

What This Means for Customers and Partners

With over 14 million installs and 91% of Salesforce customers using at least one AppExchange app, the marketplace has become a critical engine for customer innovation and time to value. For customers, it means trusted discovery, native deployment, and governance at scale. 

“Bullhorn is a leading ISV in the Salesforce ecosystem for the recruitment industry, and Salesforce AppExchange’s recognition as a leading marketplace reinforces why we’ve committed so deeply to building on this platform,” said Jon Bedard, CMO at Bullhorn. “For our customers, this ecosystem approach means they can scale with confidence, backed by proven best practices, domain expertise, and partnerships that unlock real value.”

For Customers: Find and Use the Right Solutions Faster 

Salesforce AppExchange enables customers with: 

• Embedded Discovery: Find and deploy solutions in app, at the moment of need, without leaving the flow of work in Salesforce. 
• Native Platform Integration: Reduce complexity using built-in platform intelligence, data models, and APIs. 
• Reduced AI Friction: Operationalize agentic AI securely, with built-in lifecycle management, access controls, and governance.
• Procurement Ease: Embedded trials, test drives, and sandbox experiences allow teams to validate solutions before deployment, accelerating implementation while reducing risk.
• Enterprise Trust: Maintain enterprise-grade trust with centralized security, compliance, and certification transparency.

For Partners: Reach Customers and Grow

For partners, AppExchange continues to serve as the gateway to the Salesforce ecosystem. It enables ISVs and SIs to reach a global customer base, launch solutions faster, and grow with trusted standards. 

Improved onboarding, analytics, content tools, and expanding commerce capabilities increase visibility and simplify how partners build and scale their businesses. 

“Salesforce AppExchange remains focused on making the ecosystem more accessible, contextual, and intelligent, reflecting a sustained commitment to scalable innovation and trusted partner solutions,” according to the IDC MarketScape.

Trust, Security, and Governance

Trust, security, and transparency remain at the forefront of AppExchange. The new Trust Center will centralize security, compliance, and certification details with real-time updates visible in the user interface, while Salesforce’s rigorous review process and algorithmic verification help ensure every listing meets strict enterprise standards.

Enhanced test drives, trial templates, and sandbox experiences allow customers to validate solutions before deployment, minimizing risk and accelerating adoption.

Fueling Partner Growth and Ecosystem Innovation

Salesforce continues to focus on partner success, through improved ISV onboarding, unified partner program management, advanced analytics, and content showcase tools that help partners boost visibility and streamline business management for their offerings.

“As customers embrace agentic AI and automation, AppExchange is helping them discover, deploy, and scale innovation faster — with enterprise-grade trust, governance, and security built in,” said Brian Landsman, CEO of AppExchange and EVP of Global Partnerships at Salesforce. “Our teams and partners are working to make AppExchange the most trusted and intelligent marketplace in the agentic AI era.”

As customers embrace agentic AI and automation, AppExchange is helping them discover, deploy, and scale innovation faster — with enterprise-grade trust, governance, and security built in.

Brian Landsman, CEO of AppExchange and EVP of Global Partnerships at Salesforce

Salesforce is also expanding capabilities across procuring, licensing, and reporting, simplifying how customers buy and manage solutions, and creating a more connected, scalable experience for customers and partners alike.

Learn more

• Read the 2025 IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Application and Platform Marketplaces excerpt
• Explore Salesforce AppExchange
• Learn more about AgentExchange

About IDC MarketScape:

The IDC MarketScape vendor assessment model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and service suppliers in a given market. The research utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s position within a given market. IDC MarketScape provides a clear framework in which the product and service offerings, capabilities and strategies, and current and future market success factors of technology suppliers can be meaningfully compared. The framework also provides technology buyers with a 360-degree assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and prospective suppliers.