Data loss is one of the most significant risks facing Salesforce organizations today. According to The Enterprise Strategy Group, 73% of data loss stems from internal incidents—from accidental deletions to malicious employee actions. While Salesforce secures its platform infrastructure, protecting your data is your own responsibility.
Understanding how to backup Salesforce data properly is essential for business continuity, regulatory compliance, and protecting your organization from devastating data loss scenarios. This guide covers native backup methods, their limitations in enterprise environments, and scenarios that call for specialized solutions to protect your business critical data.
What Data Should You Backup in Salesforce?
Before exploring how to backup Salesforce, it is important to understand what needs protection. A complete Salesforce backup strategy must address three distinct data types:
Data Types Requiring Backup
- Records (Data): All information stored in Standard and Custom Objects, including Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Cases, and custom objects unique to your business. Records also store related record relationships which are crucial to maintaining data integrity.
- Metadata: Your Salesforce configuration, including workflows, validation rules, custom code, page layouts, permission sets, Apex code and any other customizations that make your org function. Metadata defines how your Salesforce environment operates.
- Files: Attachments, documents, Salesforce Files, and any binary content stored in your org. As organizations increasingly use Salesforce as a content repository, a robust file backup solution becomes critical.
Regularly backing up all three types of data ensures you can fully recover your Salesforce environment after a data loss incident. Missing any component could potentially expose gaps in your recovery capabilities.
Native Salesforce Backup Methods
Salesforce provides several built-in tools for data protection. Understanding these options—and their limitations—is the first step in building an effective backup strategy.
Method 1: Data Export Service (Weekly/Monthly Exports)
The Data Export Service is Salesforce's primary native backup tool, available in all editions except Developer Edition.
How to backup Salesforce using Data Export:
- Navigate to Setup → Data Export → Schedule Export
- Select objects you want to export and choose encoding
- Schedule frequency (weekly or monthly, depending on your edition)
- Wait for email notification when a data export is ready
- Download CSV files within 48-hour window before they expire
- Store files securely in your own infrastructure
Pros:
- Free and included with Salesforce
- Simple setup for basic data protection
- Suitable for small organizations with straightforward needs
Limitations:
- Maximum frequency is weekly (monthly for some editions)
- Only exports data in CSV format—no metadata or file backup
- Manual download and secure storage management is required
- 48-hour download window creates risk of missing backups
- No automated restore capabilities
- Cannot backup all object types
- Breaks relationships between records during export
- Becomes impractical with Large Data Volumes
Method 2: Bulk API for Custom Backup Solutions
Organizations with technical resources may build custom backup solutions using the Salesforce Bulk API.
How to backup Salesforce via API:
The Bulk API approach involves developing custom integrations that query Salesforce objects, extract data through API calls, and store backups in external systems. This requires:
- Development expertise in Salesforce APIs and data models
- Infrastructure for backup storage and management
- Scripts or applications to orchestrate extraction
- Logic to handle object relationships and dependencies
- Separate processes for metadata and file backup
Pros:
- More flexible than Data Export Service
- Customizable backup frequency and scope
- Programmable for specific business requirements
- Can integrate with existing backup infrastructure
Limitations:
- Requires significant technical expertise and ongoing maintenance
- API call limits become problematic with large data volumes
- Complex relationship handling requires sophisticated development
- Metadata backup requires separate processes (Metadata API)
- File backup requires additional API calls (REST API)
- No built-in restore functionality—requires custom development
- Knowledge loss risk when developers leave
- Ongoing maintenance burden as Salesforce evolves and expands
Method 3: Sandboxes as Backup Strategy
Some organizations consider using Salesforce sandboxes as a backup mechanism by refreshing sandbox copies regularly.
Why sandboxes aren't true backups:
While sandboxes create copies of your production environment, they're designed for development and testing—not backup and recovery:
- Refresh frequency limits (typically 29 days minimum for Full sandboxes)
- Licensing costs for maintaining sandbox capacity
- Complex restore process requires manual data loader operations
- Sandbox refreshes overwrite existing data—can't maintain multiple backup points
- Performance impacts on production during sandbox refresh
- Not suitable for point-in-time recovery scenarios
Sandboxes serve an important role in development workflows but don't meet enterprise backup requirements.
When Native Methods Fall Short: Enterprise Challenges
As Salesforce implementations grow in complexity and business criticality, native backup methods break down. Organizations with Large Data Volumes, typically 10 million or more records,face backup windows exceeding 24 hours, API limit exhaustion, and incomplete backups that leave critical data unprotected. Modern regulations like GDPR, DORA, and SOX Act II require proof of data recoverability with regular testing and validated restore capabilities. Weekly or monthly backups cannot meet sub-hour recovery objectives, and native tools provide minimal audit trails that demonstrate compliance.
The restore reality is even worse. Reimporting CSV files breaks record relationships and requires manual ID remapping—what takes seconds to backup takes days or weeks to restore. Native tools offer no way to test restore readiness without risking production, no granular recovery options, and no straightforward metadata restoration. Organizations discover these limitations during actual data loss incidents, when business pressure is highest and the cost of failure is greatest.
DIY Backup Management vs. Managed Backup Services
Once you've outgrown native Salesforce tools, enterprises face another critical decision: build and manage your own backup infrastructure, or partner with a specialized provider?
The DIY Approach: Building Your Own Backup System
Many organizations initially pursue custom-built solutions using Salesforce APIs and internal infrastructure.
What DIY requires:
- Development team to build and maintain extraction logic
- Infrastructure for backup storage and management
- Ongoing resources to handle Salesforce updates and API limit changes
- Testing framework to validate backup integrity
- Restore tooling and runbooks
- Monitoring and alerting systems
- Documentation and knowledge transfer processes
When DIY makes sense:
- You have dedicated engineering resources with deep Salesforce expertise
- Backup requirements are relatively straightforward
- Your team has capacity for ongoing maintenance
- Budget for specialized tools is constrained
- Data volumes and complexity remain manageable
DIY challenges:
- Hidden costs: Development time, infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance often exceed initial estimates. Organizations underestimate the total cost of ownership when building in-house.
- Expertise requirements: Salesforce data model complexity requires specialized knowledge. Generic backup engineers cannot effectively protect Salesforce without extensive training.
- Resource drain: Building and maintaining backup infrastructure takes engineering focus away from business-differentiating work. Your developers spend time on commodity capabilities rather than competitive advantages.
- Risk during transitions: Knowledge loss when team members leave creates operational risk. Custom backup systems often lack proper documentation.
- Scalability limits: Custom solutions built for 5 million records struggle when your org grows to 50 million. Rebuilding for scale requires significant additional investment.
Managed Backup Services: The Strategic Alternative
Managed backup services provide enterprise-grade data protection without the overhead of building and maintaining custom infrastructure.
What managed services provide:
- Purpose-built backup and restore platform optimized for Salesforce
- Expert team managing backup operations and monitoring
- Proactive issue resolution before problems impact backups
- Regular restore testing and compliance reporting
- Automatic adaptation to Salesforce platform updates
- Proven performance at enterprise scale with Large Data Volumes
- Continuous product innovation and capability enhancement
Addressing Data Security Concerns
The biggest hesitation enterprises have about external backup providers is data security: "How do we maintain control when our most sensitive data leaves Salesforce?"
Modern enterprise backup solutions address this through multiple security layers:
Zero Trust Architecture: End-to-end encryption before data leaves your Salesforce org ensures data remains protected throughout the backup process. No-view provider models mean the backup service cannot decrypt your data—you maintain complete control over AES-256 encryption keys.
Compliance alignment: SOC 2 Type II certified operations, GDPR and HIPAA support, and industry-specific compliance frameworks are built into managed services. Regular third-party security assessments validate controls.
Air-gapped storage: Backups stored separately from production Salesforce environments provide isolation from attacks. Immutable backup copies prevent ransomware from modifying or encrypting historical backups.
Audit trails: Complete logging of all backup and restore and user login operations supports compliance requirements and security investigations.
The reality is that specialized providers often deliver stronger security than DIY solutions because data protection is their core competency. They invest heavily in security infrastructure and expertise that would be cost-prohibitive for individual organizations to replicate.
The Hybrid Approach
Some enterprises start with DIY solutions and transition to managed services as complexity grows:
Common evolution path:
- Phase 1: Start with Data Export for basic needs
- Phase 2: Build custom API-based backup as data grows
- Phase 3: Hit scalability or maintenance limits
- Phase 4: Migrate to managed service to refocus resources on core business
Key decision factors:
Consider managed services when:
- Your Salesforce environment exceeds 10 million records
- Compliance requirements demand proven restore capabilities
- Engineering resources are stretched thin
- Backup or restore performance impacts business operations
- Risk tolerance for data loss and business continuity is low
- You need rapid recovery capabilities
Stick with DIY if:
- You have a dedicated Salesforce infrastructure team
- Backup requirements are stable and well-understood
- Your org maintains deep institutional knowledge
- Data volumes and complexity remain manageable
- You have capacity to maintain custom solutions long-term
Strategic consideration: The question isn't just "Can we build this ourselves?" but "Should we?" Building backup infrastructure means ongoing investment in a non-differentiating capability. Managed services let you redirect those resources toward innovation that advances your business goals.
Best Practices for Salesforce Backup
Regardless of which method you choose for how to backup Salesforce data, follow these best practices:
1. Test Your Restores Regularly
Backups you've never tested are just expensive storage. Schedule regular restore testing—quarterly at minimum—to validate that backups are complete and recoverable. Document restore procedures and train team members before you need them in an emergency.
2. Document RPO and RTO Requirements
Work with business stakeholders to define Recovery Point Objective (how much data loss is acceptable) and Recovery Time Objective (how quickly must data be restored). These requirements drive backup frequency and solution selection.
3. Monitor Data Changes Between Backups
Implement monitoring to track record deletions, modifications, and additions. Change detection helps you identify issues quickly and understand backup coverage.
4. Maintain Backup Retention According to Compliance
Different data types may have different retention requirements based on regulatory frameworks. Ensure your backup solution enforces these policies automatically rather than relying on manual processes.
5. Automate Everything Possible
Manual backup processes fail during emergencies, especially when stress is highest. Automation ensures consistent execution and reduces human error.
6. Separate Backup Storage from Production
Store backups in infrastructure separate from your Salesforce org—preferably within a different cloud provider. This isolation protects against provider-level outages and security incidents.
7. Include Backups in Disaster Recovery Planning
Integrate Salesforce backup and restore procedures into your broader disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Run tabletop exercises that include Salesforce recovery scenarios.
8. Maintain Security Throughout the Backup Lifecycle
Apply the same security controls to backup data that you apply to production. Encrypt backups, restrict access, and monitor for unauthorized activity.
Choosing the Right Backup Approach
How to backup Salesforce data depends on your organization's complexity, risk tolerance, and resources:
Native methods work for:
- Small organizations with under 1 million records
- Simple data models without complex relationships
- Weekly backup frequency meets business requirements
- Manual restore processes are manageable
- No strict compliance requirements
- Limited budget for specialized tools
Enterprise solutions are necessary when:
- Large Data Volumes require optimized extraction and performance
- Compliance or regulations mandates proven recovery and regular testing
- Business requires Recovery Point Objectives under 24 hours
- Restore testing must be regular, automated, and validated
- Multiple use cases need different restore approaches (single record vs. full org)
- Data loss risk carries significant business impact
For organizations running critical operations on Salesforce, data protection isn't just IT housekeeping—it's a business continuity mandate. The question isn't whether to protect your Salesforce data, but how comprehensively you can prove recoverability when regulators audit or disaster strikes.
Understanding your requirements is the first step toward a resilient backup strategy. Whether you start with native tools and grow into enterprise solutions, or implement comprehensive protection from the beginning, protecting your Salesforce data protects your business.
Learn more about enterprise-grade Salesforce backup solutions →
