Salesforce is no stranger to a name change. In fact, Data 360, its current major data offering, has changed names five times, and Agentforce 360, its proprietary artificial intelligence platform, has been renamed four times.
This time around, the SaaS leader has let go of a product name it has held onto for two decades, renaming its dedicated app store AppExchange to AgentExchange. But why change it after all this time, and how is the community feeling about it?
The History of the AppExchange
Salesforce launched the AppExchange in 2006 as a dedicated one-stop shop for partner solutions for the platform. It then got upgraded in 2017, and by that point, nearly 90% of Salesforce customers were using apps from the AppExchange, and its popularity only grew over time.
At this year’s TrailblazerDX event, Salesforce announced that it would be unifying the AppExchange, AgentExchange, and Slack Marketplace into a “single destination”, with this refreshed version bringing together more than 10,000 Salesforce apps and experts with the Agentforce ecosystem of over 1,000 pre-built agents, sub-agents, tools, and MCP servers.
Not only that, but more than 2,600 Slack apps and agents from leading technology companies would be available too.
The goal behind this is simple: minimize the need for switching between platforms by offering all of these solutions in one place, making procurement, installation, and activation faster and more consistent across Salesforce and Slack. By merging the platforms, Salesforce can also apply Data 360 semantic search, conversational discovery, and intelligent comparisons across all solutions – not just Salesforce apps or Slack apps in isolation.
The Weight of the Name
On the surface, it may seem like this name change is unremarkable and fits within the renaming behaviour that Salesforce has become known for. However, the AppExchange idea – and indirectly the naming of it – was initially influenced by Apple co-founder and Marc Benioff’s mentor Steve Jobs around the time he was creating the App Store.
This largely feels like another AI-fuelled marketing decision designed to emphasize Salesforce’s AI mission, with all roads leading back to Agentforce and agents. This is something that we have observed ever since Agentforce went GA, and it is evidence that the company has pivoted its entire strategy to bulldoze forward in this direction.
However, the AppExchange has years and years of history behind it, so how is the community reacting to the repackaging and renaming?
The Main Question: Why?
When I reached out last month to ask Salesforce professionals what they wish others knew about the platform, SF Ben Technical Writer Tim Combridge brought up the cloud giant’s renaming habit. “It’ll make you dizzy!” he said.
It appears that initial sentiments follow this thinking when it comes to the new AgentExchange.
Over on LinkedIn, Scott Strong, a Salesforce Architect, put it very simply: “Some things just don’t need a rename.”
Matt Pieper, a long-standing voice in the ecosystem, brought up a question on whether this merger meant that non-agentic offerings had a place anymore. “So all those apps that aren’t agents are what exactly?” he wrote.
Although the new AgentExchange combines agentic and non-agentic solutions, it is clear which of the two Salesforce is pushing.
Aside from that, this latest renaming has also got community members debating on which big rename is coming next, with Salesforce CTO Nicolas Vuilamy placing his bets on Salesforce becoming Agentforce.
On Reddit, feelings seem to be fairly similar. A thread on r/Salesforce features the top comment simply asking “why?”, with others critiquing Salesforce’s choice to rename rather than just repackage.
“Is this an out-of-season April Fool’s joke?” one commenter wrote.
However, one commenter highlighted that this confirmed Salesforce’s plans for the future.
“It is all a clear sign that the future is not human for Salesforce,” wrote Salesforce coach Vuk Stajić. “It’s agentic.”
He wrote that when Salesforce was just a CRM rather than some kind of agentic SaaS solution, the name made sense. Now, with Salesforce seemingly far away from its humble beginnings, perhaps it is time for its core marketplace to reflect its newfound AI direction.
Another commenter noted that this change was likely a long time coming, with Salesforce initially announcing the AgentExchange as its own offering in March 2025. This merge and rename has likely happened now due to timing, especially as Salesforce has announced its own future is “headless”.
Final Thoughts
It seems that for many Salesforce professionals, there is some confusion around the merge and subsequent renaming of the AppExchange. Long-considered a pillar for partner-led solutions for the platform, it is likely going to take some time for the community to be on board with the change (let alone remember it!)
In practice, though, this change should not come as a surprise. Salesforce has shown us time and time again that its MO is Agentforce and the Agentic Enterprise, and this move sits firmly within that realm. Now we can only bet on what name change is coming next, and I reckon Nicolas might be on to something.
