# Choosing external licenses by access and volume

*Experience Cloud Consultant Study Guide · Sharing, Visibility, and Licensing · Last updated October 24, 2026 · https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant/sharing-visibility-and-licensing/choosing-external-licenses-by-access-and-volume*

How to pick Customer Community, Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, Channel Account, External Apps or External Identity from the objects, sharing, reports, platform capacity and user volume a site needs, and how member-based and login-based licenses are counted and billed.

- Certification: Salesforce Experience Cloud Consultant
- Exam section: Sharing, Visibility, and Licensing
- Study guide: https://www.certifyforce.com/study-guide/experience-cloud-consultant

**Official exam objective:**

> Given a set of requirements, evaluate which external license type(s) to use.

## What the exam expects

- Evaluate which external license type or types fit a set of requirements: the objects users touch, whether they need roles, standard sharing and reports, extra platform capacity, person accounts and the expected user volume.
- Tell a license from the SKU that sells it, especially Partner Community bought through the PRM SKU versus the External Apps SKU.
- Choose member-based or login-based licensing and explain daily unique logins, the 1-to-20 provisioning ratio and annual overage calculation.
- Explain what a license does not do: it isn't tied to one site, legacy portal licenses still work, and internal licenses don't belong to external users.

Key terms: **role-based license** (Customer Community Plus, Partner Community or Channel Account; each user holds an external role); **SKU** (the product Salesforce sells, which contains one or more licenses); **daily unique login** (one login counted per user per day, however many sites they visit); **External Identity** (a standalone license for identity services only); **account role optimization (ARO)** (a shared person role for single-user accounts).

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Leads, opportunities, campaigns | Partner Community and Channel Account only | [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0) |
| Roles and standard sharing, reports | Customer Community Plus, Partner Community, Channel Account | [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0) |
| Person accounts | External Apps, Customer Community, Customer Community Plus; not Partner Community | [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0) |
| Custom objects | 100 for External Apps and Partner Community via External Apps SKU; 10 otherwise | [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0) |
| Channel Account | Priced per partner account, up to 40 pooled users each | [Channel Account Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.users_license_types_partner_based.htm&language=en_US) |
| Recommended users per org | 1+ million role-based; 10+ million with ARO; 100+ million Customer Community or External Apps | [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0) |
| Login-based provisioning | 1,000 monthly logins provision 20,000 login licenses | [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0) |
| Login overages | Measured over 12 months from contract start; entitlements roll over | [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0) |
| Customer Community sharing | Sharing sets, not sharing rules | [Experience Cloud License Limitations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.networks_licenses_limitations.htm&language=en_US&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- Why does account role optimization matter for a role-based license at multi-million scale?
- When should Partner Community be bought through the External Apps SKU rather than the PRM SKU?
- Who must change the account or contact on a case owned by a Customer Community Plus user?
- How many login licenses do 500 monthly logins provision?

## Sources

- [Experience Cloud User Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=users_license_types_communities.htm&language=en_US&type=0)
- [Experience Cloud License Limitations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.networks_licenses_limitations.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Channel Account Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.users_license_types_partner_based.htm&language=en_US)
- [Learn More About Experience Cloud Licenses](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.exp_cloud_plan_licenses.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [Optimize Account Roles to Improve Performance and Scale](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.networks_partners_optimize_roles.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [When to Use an Internal or External License](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.users_internal_external_license_types.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [External Identity License Details](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.users_license_types_external_identity.htm&language=en_US&type=5)
- [External User Access Best Practices](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.networks_access_best_practices.htm&language=en_US&type=5)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 8 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Experience Cloud Consultant pack (USD $19): https://www.certifyforce.com/practice-exams