In today’s data-driven business landscape, seamless integration of various applications and services is paramount to streamline processes and improve efficiency. Salesforce, as a leading CRM platform, is no stranger to this requirement. Among the plethora of features it offers, Named and External Credentials are two key components that facilitate secure and efficient communication between Salesforce and external systems.

In this blog post, I will focus on the differences between Named and External Credentials in Salesforce, exploring their key features.

What Is Named Credential?

Named Credentials are a way to store and manage authentication information required to call external services, APIs, or other systems from Salesforce. Named Credentials simplify the process of connecting to external services by managing authentication information in a single place, enabling secure storage and reuse of these credentials across multiple integrations.

Key Features of Named Credentials

• Secure storage of authentication information like usernames, passwords, tokens, or certificates.
• Support for various authentication protocols like OAuth 2.0, Basic Authentication, or JWT Bearer.
• Ability to make callouts to external systems using Apex or declarative tools without hardcoding credentials.

What Is External Credential?

External Credentials, on the other hand, are specifically designed to store and manage the authentication information for external identity providers, which can be used in Salesforce for setting up Single Sign-On (SSO) or Social Sign-On. External Credentials enable a user to log into Salesforce using their credentials from an external identity provider, like Google, Facebook, or any SAML-based service.

Key Features of External Credentials

• Secure storage of authentication information for external identity providers.
• Support for different authentication protocols like OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, or SAML.
• Enable Single Sign-On (SSO) or Social Sign-On for Salesforce users by delegating authentication to external identity providers.

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Conclusion

In summary, Named Credentials are used for securely managing authentication information for external services or APIs, while External Credentials are used for securely managing authentication information for external identity providers to enable SSO or Social Sign-On in Salesforce.

Disclaimer

This article is not endorsed by Salesforce, Google, or any other company in any way. I shared my knowledge on this topic in this blog post. Please always refer to Official Documentation for the latest information.