---
schema_version: "1"
id: 2c7fdb94c136f1899e075cbe5f70b364c1d6f82c2f5e38f0e486591b694970f2
title: Choose Which Salesforce Connect Adapter to Use
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/platform_connect_adapters.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.platform_connect_adapters.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 333be93033fd88e354b0313b6ae2fbf3e5647d7d28460dc883098a57958a63cb
description: Salesforce Connect uses a protocol-specific adapter to connect to an external system and access its data. When you define an external data source in your organization, you specify the adapter in the Type field.
products:
  - Salesforce Platform
  - Security
release: "264"
---
# Choose Which Salesforce Connect Adapter to Use

Salesforce Connect uses a protocol-specific adapter to connect to an external system and access its data. When you define an external data source in your organization, you specify the adapter in the Type field.

### Required Editions

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          <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience (not for high-data-volume
            external objects)</td>

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          <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">
            <p>Available in: <strong>Developer</strong> Edition</p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">Available for an extra cost
              in: <strong>Enterprise</strong>, <strong>Performance</strong>, and <strong>Unlimited</strong>
              Editions</p>
          </td>

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These adapters are available for Salesforce Connect.

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          <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d131329e80">Salesforce Connect Adapter</th>
          <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d131329e83">Description</th>
          <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d131329e86">When to Use </th>
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          <td data-label="Salesforce Connect Adapter" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e80 ">Cross-org</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e83 ">Uses the Lightning Platform REST API to access data that’s stored in
            other Salesforce orgs.</td>

          <td data-label="When to Use" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e86 ">To connect data between your Salesforce orgs. For example, provide
            your service representatives a unified view of customer transactions by
            integrating data from different Salesforce orgs.</td>

        </tr>
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          <td data-label="Salesforce Connect Adapter" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e80 ">
            <p>OData 2.0</p>
            <p>OData 4.0</p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">OData 4.01</p>
          </td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e83 ">Uses Open Data Protocol to access data that’s stored outside
            Salesforce. The external data must be exposed via OData
            producers.</td>

          <td data-label="When to Use" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e86 ">To integrate external data sources into your org that support the
            ODATA protocol and publish an OData provider. For example, give your
            account executives a unified data view by pulling data from legacy
            systems such as SAP and Microsoft in real time.</td>

        </tr>
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          <td data-label="Salesforce Connect Adapter" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e80 ">Custom adapter created via Apex</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e83 ">
            <p>Uses the Apex Connector Framework to develop your own custom adapter
              when the other available adapters aren’t suitable for your needs.</p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">A
              custom adapter can obtain data from anywhere. For example, some data
              can be retrieved from anywhere in the Internet via callouts, while
              other data can be manipulated or even generated
              programmatically.</p>
          </td>

          <td data-label="When to Use" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e86 ">To develop your own adapter with the Apex Connector Framework when
            the other available adapters aren’t suitable for your needs. For
            example, when you want to retrieve data via callouts from a REST API.
          </td>

        </tr>
        <tr class="">
          <td data-label="Salesforce Connect Adapter" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e80 ">Salesforce Connect Adapter for Amazon DynamoDB</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e83 ">
            <p>Connects Amazon DynamoDB data sources to Salesforce through external
              objects. </p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">The data stored in Amazon DynamoDB can use the flexible data
              storage option of DynamoDB and Salesforce Platform
              capabilities.</p>
          </td>

          <td data-label="When to Use" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e86 ">To integrate AWS data natively with Salesforce business
            applications.</td>

        </tr>
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          <td data-label="Salesforce Connect Adapter" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e80 ">Salesforce Connect Adapter for SQL</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e83 ">
            <p>Connect Salesforce to external data sources that expose their
              capabilities via REST APIs and offer query and DML operations using
              SQL.</p>
            <p style="margin-bottom:0;">The Salesforce Connect Adapter for SQL supports Snowflake and
              Amazon Athena external data sources.</p>
          </td>

          <td data-label="When to Use" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e86 ">To integrate external data natively with Salesforce and run
            interactive on demand queries using SQL.</td>

        </tr>
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          <td data-label="Salesforce Connect Adapter" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e80 ">Salesforce Connect Adapter for GraphQL</td>

          <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e83 ">Uses GraphQL APIs to provide a modern way to integrate
            applications.</td>

          <td data-label="When to Use" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d131329e86 ">To access and integrate data from external sources that expose their
            capabilities via GraphQL, including Amazon RDS via AWS AppSync.</td>

        </tr>
      </tbody>
    </table>

#### See Also

- [Salesforce Connect Adapters Included per Add-On License](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.platform_connect_license.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Using Salesforce Connect to access external data in an org requires one or more Salesforce Connect add-on licenses.")
- [Salesforce Platform Features Supported by Salesforce Connect](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.platform_connect_considerations.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Salesforce Connect provides seamless integration with the Salesforce Platform and enables users to view, search, and modify external object data.")