In today’s digital era, data volumes are exploding faster than ever. According to IDC, global data is projected to reach 181 zettabytes by 2025, a number so large it demands rethinking how businesses store and manage information. Salesforce, the world’s leading CRM platform, isn’t immune to this surge. As businesses grow and adopt Salesforce Big Objects to manage their operations, one of the biggest pain points emerges: limited Salesforce data storage.
Enter Salesforce Big Objects, Salesforce’s big data-based storage system built to support massive datasets natively within the platform. Since its launch in 2018, Big Objects in Salesforce has helped organizations tackle performance degradation, skyrocketing storage costs, and compliance risks. In this blog, we’ll explore everything you need to know about Salesforce Big Objects, their features, limitations, and how DataArchiva, the only native archiving solution powered by Big Objects in Salesforce, solves the pressing archival and compliance challenges enterprises face.
What Are Salesforce Big Objects?
Salesforce Big Objects are massive, scalable storage solutions native to the Salesforce platform. Unlike standard or custom objects, Big Objects in Salesforce are designed to store billions of records without compromising system performance. Whether you’re handling customer history, transactional data, or long-term logs, Big Object storage lets you retain this information seamlessly in Salesforce.
Why and Who Needs Salesforce Big Objects
Salesforce Big Objects are ideal for enterprises that:
- Generate high volumes of historical or transactional data.
- Need cost-effective data archival options.
- Operate in heavily regulated industries requiring data retention (e.g., healthcare, finance).
- Face performance lags due to bulky data tables.
- Must scale storage without adding external infrastructure.
In short, if you’re struggling with costly Salesforce Big Objects pricing or slow CRM performance, Big Objects Salesforce is built for you.
Australian Real-Estate Firm Championed B2B Marketing in Salesforce Big Objects With Effective Data Management
How Salesforce Big Objects Handle, Organize & Retain Massive Data Sets
To search and work with all that data, Big Objects use something called Async SOQL. It’s a special type of query language that works in the background and processes large sets of data in chunks. This means you can run big searches or reports without slowing down your live Salesforce operations. But to make these queries work well, you need to set up custom indexes, like giving directions so Salesforce knows where to look quickly.
Another big benefit? All your data stays safely inside Salesforce. You don’t need to move it to any external app or cloud storage. This is great for industries with strict data rules, like healthcare or finance. By storing everything natively, Big Objects help you stay compliant, keep data secure, and avoid the risks of sending data outside Salesforce.
Classification of Salesforce Big Objects
Salesforce Big Objects fall under two broad categories:
Standard Big Objects
These are predefined by Salesforce and shipped out of the box. One popular example is FieldHistoryArchive, which allows businesses to retain field history for over a decade, crucial for audit compliance and internal investigations. You’ll often find Salesforce big object examples like this in the default Big Objects list available to enterprise users.
These are predefined by Salesforce and shipped out of the box. One popular example
Custom Big Objects
Defined by the user, custom Big Objects in Salesforce can be created via the Metadata API or directly in Setup. Businesses can define fields, indexes, and relationships specific to their use case. This customization allows seamless integration with the existing Salesforce architecture. When planning to expand your Big Objects list, it’s essential to carefully evaluate your indexing strategy.
Let’s compare the two:
| Feature | Standard Big Objects | Custom Big Objects |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Predefined by Salesforce | Defined by users or developers |
| Availability | Comes out-of-the-box | Created using the Metadata API or Salesforce Setup |
| Customization | Limited (fixed structure) | Fully customizable: fields, indexes, and schema |
| Example | FieldHistoryArchive | Archived_Opportunities__b, Old_Leads__b |
| Use Case | Field history tracking, compliance logs | Business-specific archival, historical data storage |
| Index Management | Managed by Salesforce | Must be defined and maintained by the user |
| Integration | Limited to default use | Seamless integration with custom objects & processes |
| Best For | Long-term field history and audit needs | Custom archiving, high-volume storage use cases |
Top Features of Salesforce Big Objects You Should Know
Salesforce Data Storage
Big Object storage gives you a native method to store huge volumes of data in Salesforce, bypassing the high costs of additional storage tiers.
Efficient Salesforce Data Management
By offloading historical records to Salesforce Big Objects, teams can keep their operational data lean and CRM performance high.
Scalability
Designed to scale horizontally, Big Objects Salesforce can support billions of rows, unthinkable for standard or custom objects.
Store Big Data for Historical Analytics
Big Objects in Salesforce are perfect for trend analysis and reporting on long-term data without affecting operational systems.
Reduction of Salesforce Data Costs
Salesforce’s additional data storage can cost up to $125/GB/month. Salesforce Big Objects pricing, on the other hand, offers significant cost savings, especially when paired with archiving tools like DataArchiva.
Salesforce Data Archival: A Big Objects Use Case
So, how do Big Objects Salesforce tie into Salesforce data archival?
Salesforce Storage Limits Are Expensive
Storing data long-term in Salesforce’s standard objects? That’s a costly mistake. Many businesses pay huge premiums to keep years of data they rarely access. This is where understanding Salesforce Big Objects pricing becomes critical.
Performance Degradation
Huge datasets slow down query performance, user workflows, and CRM operations.
Solution: DataArchiva - The Only Native Archiving Solution
DataArchiva is the only 100% native data archiving solution built on Salesforce Big Objects. While Big Objects provides the storage power, DataArchiva turns that power into a smart, fully functional archiving system, without using any external tools or platforms.
The ONLY Native Data Archiving Application for Salesforce with Big Objects.
Here’s what makes DataArchiva stand out:
- 100% Native to Salesforce: No third-party storage, no data leaving Salesforce, perfect for compliance-heavy industries.
- Huge Cost Savings: Reduces Salesforce data storage costs by up to 85% by archiving inactive or historical records into Big Objects.
- Smart Archival with Relationships: Maintains parent-child relationships and object structures during archival, something external tools can't do as easily.
- Easy Access & Restore: Archived data remains accessible from the UI, and you can easily restore records back into standard objects when needed.
- Audit-Ready Compliance: Supports industry data retention policies (like HIPAA, GDPR, SOX) by ensuring secure, long-term, and tamper-proof storage inside Salesforce.
- No Integration Needed: Because it’s native, there’s zero integration complexity; it works directly with your existing Salesforce setup.
In short, Salesforce Big Objects gives you scalable storage, and DataArchiva transforms it into a powerful, intelligent, and cost-effective archiving solution. If you’re looking to make the most out of Big Objects, DataArchiva is your go-to native tool.
Archival at Optimum Cost
Avoiding high Salesforce storage fees? Big Objects in Salesforce are a game-changer. With solutions like DataArchiva, you can archive at a fraction of the cost.
Sustains the Data’s Relational Structure
Unlike external databases, Big Objects Salesforce understands Salesforce’s data model, retaining relationships and object schemas during archival.
360-degree View of the Customer
Centralize customer data, including loyalty, billing, clickstream, and more, into custom Salesforce Big Objects to gain a complete customer profile. This is one of the more practical big object examples used in modern CRM data analytics.
Auditing and Change Tracking
Need to meet GDPR or HIPAA standards? Big Objects Salesforce offers persistent data storage, helping organizations track user activity, field changes, and usage history for over a decade.
Businesses' Advantages of Maintaining Salesforce Big Objects
Horizontal Scaling Approach
Whether it’s 10M or 1B records, Big Objects in Salesforce scale without external platforms, critical for fast-growing companies.
Zero External Dependencies
Everything is stored inside Salesforce, increasing trust and decreasing security risks.
Ideal For Future Storage
Big Object storage is reliable for long-term, future-ready data retention strategies.
High-Volume Transaction Processing
E-commerce, finance, logistics, and any industry with millions of transactions per day benefits from the high-throughput capabilities of Salesforce Big Objects.
Long-Term Trend Analysis
Marketing and sales teams can identify trends, customer behaviors, and seasonal insights over multi-year datasets stored efficiently in Big Objects in Salesforce.
Async SOQL
Even with billions of records, Async SOQL enables fast, scalable querying using familiar SOQL syntax.
Addressing Audit and Compliance Demands
Need to retain 7–10 years of customer records for audit or legal reasons? Big Objects Salesforce fulfills data residency and retention mandates without extra tools, especially when paired with DataArchiva.
Final Thoughts
If you’re struggling with Salesforce’s expensive data storage, slow CRM performance, or regulatory data retention needs, Salesforce Big Objects offers the ultimate native solution. They’re scalable, cost-efficient, and tightly integrated within the Salesforce ecosystem.
But remember, Big Objects in Salesforce are only a storage framework. To turn them into a true archiving solution, you need DataArchiva, the only Salesforce-native tool that archives, optimizes, and retains your data smartly and affordably.
Whether you’re a Salesforce admin looking to stretch your storage budget or a CIO seeking audit-ready archives, Salesforce Big Objects powered by DataArchiva is your go-to strategy.
Explore DataArchiva today and see how native data archiving can redefine your Salesforce performance, compliance, and cost efficiency. Request a Demo Now!
FAQs
- No real-time triggers or workflow support
- Requires Async SOQL (not standard SOQL)
- Custom indexes are mandatory for querying
- UI limitations (no reports or dashboards directly)
These Big Objects Salesforce limitations should be factored into your implementation plan. External tools like DataArchiva can mitigate some of these gaps.
Yes, but it's manual or done via custom logic or batch Apex. Data lifecycle management must be planned carefully.
Salesforce Big Objects can hold billions of records, and they’re optimized for scalability and storage efficiency. Just be sure to manage the Big Objects list and indexes properly.
Looking for a Salesforce native archiving solution?
