Object Reference for Salesforce and Lightning Platform

Object Basics
Primitive Data Types
Field Types
Compound Fields
API Data Types and Salesforce Field Types
Required Fields
System Fields
API Field Properties
Custom Fields
Custom Object Behavior
External Objects
Big Objects
Define and Deploy Custom Big Objects
Relationships Among Objects
Factors that Affect Data Access
Reference
PDF

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Big Objects

A big object stores and manages massive amounts of data on the Salesforce platform. You can archive data from other objects or bring massive datasets from outside systems into a big object to get a full view of your customers. Clients and external systems use a standard set of APIs to access big object data. A big object provides consistent performance, whether you have 1 million records, 100 million, or even 1 billion. This scale gives a big object its power and defines its features.
Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience
Available in: Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions for up to 1 million records

Additional record capacity and Async SOQL query is available as an add-on license.

There are two types of big objects.
  • Standard big objects—Objects defined by Salesforce and included in Salesforce products. FieldHistoryArchive is a standard big object that stores data as part of the Field Audit Trail product. Standard big objects are available out of the box and cannot be customized.
  • Custom big objects—New objects that you create to store information unique to your org. Custom big objects extend the functionality that Lightning Platform provides. For example, if you’re building an app to track product inventory, create a custom big object called HistoricalInventoryLevels to track historical inventory levels for analysis and future optimizations. This implementation guide is for configuring and deploying custom big objects.

Custom Big Object Use Cases

  • 360° view of the customer—Extend your Salesforce data model to include detailed information from loyalty programs, feeds, clicks, billing and provisioning information, and more.
  • Auditing and tracking—Track and maintain a long-term view of Salesforce or product usage for analysis or compliance purposes.
  • Historical archive—Maintain access to historical data for analysis or compliance purposes while optimizing the performance of your core CRM or Lightning Platform applications.

Differences Between Big Objects and Other Objects

Because a big object can store data on an unlimited scale, it has different characteristics than other objects, like sObjects. Big objects are also stored in a different part of the Lightning Platform.
Big Objects sObjects
Horizontally scalable distributed database Relational database
Non-transactional database Transactional database
Hundreds of millions or even billions of records Millions of records
These big object behaviors ensure a consistent and scalable experience.
  • Big objects support only object and field permissions, not regular or standard sharing rules.
  • Features like triggers, flows, processes, and the Salesforce mobile app are not supported on big objects.
  • When you insert an identical big object record with the same representation multiple times, only a single record is created so that writes can be idempotent. This behavior is different from an sObject, which creates a record for each request to create an object.