Understand Licensing in the Go-To-Market App

Traditional Package Licensing

Traditional package licenses are the standard mechanism associated with first-generation (1GP) and second-generation (2GP) managed packages. When a user is assigned a package license, they are granted broad access to your app. All seats within a subscriber org are treated equally and reside in a single pool.

This licensing model is ideal if:

• You want a simpler, single-tier access control strategy.
• You require seat utilization visibility in your Partner Business Org (PBO).

Keep in mind that access control granularity only exists at the package level. Without technical enforcement for specific features, you must rely on contractual agreements and your customer's manual administration to make sure users only access the features they purchased.

Permission Set Licensing

Permission Set Licenses (PSLs) represent a modernized, feature-based licensing model designed specifically for 2GP packages. Rather than granting blanket access, PSLs allow you to programmatically gate functionality and create modular, tiered access models within a single managed package. PSLs embed access controls directly into the package using custom permissions and custom object CRUD. This allows you to sell different levels of access at different price points, and restrict access based on the assignee's user license type.

This licensing model is ideal if:

• Your product strategy requires feature-level access control and flexible pricing tiers.
• You want automated technical enforcement of your apps and services.
• You’re building new 2GP packages.
• You’re comfortable designing feature gating using custom permissions.