Everything you need to sit the Salesforce Administrator exam — current name, format, cost, topics, registration, and renewal rules, verified for 2026.
The certification most people still search for as "Salesforce Admin" or "ADM-201" is now officially called Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator. Salesforce renamed 35 certifications in July 2025 when it moved exam delivery from Webassessor to Trailhead Academy, and the Administrator credential was one of them. Nothing about its purpose changed — it remains the standard entry credential for people who configure and manage Salesforce orgs — but the name change matters when you register, because the exam you book on Trailhead Academy is listed under the new name, and older blog posts quoting "ADM-201" details are often out of date.
This guide covers the what, when, and how of the exam as it stands in 2026: the format, the cost, the registration process, the current topic outline, and the renewal rules. If your question is whether the certification is worth the money, or how difficult the exam actually is, those get honest, dedicated answers in is the Salesforce Admin certification worth it and how hard is the Salesforce Administrator exam.
It is Salesforce's core certification for administrators — the people who manage users, security, data, automation, and app configuration inside a Salesforce customer relationship management (CRM) org. Salesforce is the exam provider, and the credential is delivered and managed through Trailhead Academy, the company's training and certification arm. Passing the exam earns you a verifiable credential on your Trailblazer profile that employers can check directly.
The certification sits near the base of the Salesforce credential pyramid. Below it is Platform Foundations (formerly the Salesforce Certified Associate), a shorter, cheaper exam aimed at people with under six months of exposure. Above it sit Platform Administrator II (formerly Advanced Administrator), the consultant certifications, and eventually the architect track. Several higher certifications — including Platform Administrator II and the Agentforce Sales and Service Consultant exams — list the Platform Administrator credential as a required prerequisite, which is a large part of why it is usually the first serious Salesforce exam people take. For how the whole ecosystem fits together, see the overview of Salesforce certifications.
The exam is written for people who can perform day-to-day administration: creating users and permission sets, building reports and dashboards, configuring objects and page layouts, and automating processes with Flow. There are no prerequisites — no required experience, no prior certification, no course purchase. Salesforce's exam guide describes a target candidate with hands-on platform experience, but that is guidance, not a gate. Career changers routinely sit it after self-study on Trailhead, Salesforce's free learning platform.
As of 2026, the official exam guide specifies:
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator |
| Questions | 60 scored multiple-choice, plus up to 5 unscored |
| Time limit | 105 minutes |
| Passing score | 68% (English version); 65% (Japanese) |
| Cost | US$200 registration; US$100 retake (plus applicable taxes) |
| Delivery | Proctored — onsite testing centre or online |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Renewal | Free Trailhead maintenance modules |
A few of these rows deserve expansion, because they are where outdated information circulates most.
Up to five of the questions you see will be unscored items Salesforce is trialling for future exams. You cannot tell which they are, so treat every question as live. Practically, this means you may face up to 65 questions in your 105 minutes — budget your pacing for that, not for a clean 60.
Older versions of the exam guide listed 65% for the English exam, and that figure still dominates search results. The current official guide lists 68% for the English version (65% applies to the Japanese version). On a 60-question exam, 68% means you need roughly 41 correct scored answers. If you have been benchmarking yourself against 65%, recalibrate. What that threshold feels like in practice — and where candidates typically fall short — is the subject of the difficulty breakdown.
As of 2026, registration is US$200, plus applicable taxes, and a retake is US$100 plus taxes. Salesforce also publishes local-currency pricing in some regions (¥30,000 / ¥15,000 in Japan), and tax treatment varies by country, so confirm the exact charge for your region on the official exam guide before budgeting.
Beyond the exam fee, the core preparation path can cost nothing: Trailhead modules, trails, and superbadges are free, and Salesforce provides free developer orgs for hands-on practice. Trailhead Academy sells instructor-led classes separately, but they are optional. Budget realistically for one retake — the US$100 fee is the most common unplanned expense — and note that annual renewal costs nothing (more on that below).
The current outline spans seven domains, and it changed meaningfully with the recent update: an Agentforce domain now accounts for 8% of the exam, reflecting Salesforce's push of AI agents into the platform core. The official weightings:
| Domain | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Data & Analytics Management | 17% |
| Configuration and Setup | 15% |
| Object Manager & Lightning App Builder | 15% |
| Automation | 15% |
| Sales & Marketing Applications | 10% |
| Service & Support Applications | 10% |
| Productivity & Collaboration | 10% |
| Agentforce | 8% |
Two observations worth making at the planning stage. First, no single domain dominates: the top four together cover 62%, so you cannot pass by mastering one area and coasting elsewhere. Second, the Agentforce domain is new enough that older study materials ignore it entirely — check that anything you buy or bookmark covers the current outline. A section-by-section walkthrough of what each domain actually tests lives in Salesforce Administrator exam topics explained, so this guide will not duplicate it.
Registration moved to Trailhead Academy in 2025. The process:
When should you book? A common failure pattern is registering a date before knowing your readiness level. A sensible sequence is to study first, benchmark with a full-length timed practice test, and book once your scores clear a consistent threshold — the practice test strategy article covers how to set that threshold properly.
Whether onsite or online, the exam is proctored and closed-book. You get 105 minutes for up to 65 questions, which works out to about a minute and a half per question. Questions are predominantly scenario-framed multiple choice — a business situation followed by "what should the administrator do?" — rather than pure definition recall. You can mark questions for review and return to them before submitting. Results are available shortly after completion, and a pass adds the credential to your Trailblazer profile, where anyone with the link can verify it.
Not on a fixed cycle, and this is one of the friendlier features of the Salesforce programme compared with vendors that force a paid re-examination every two or three years. Instead, Salesforce ties certification currency to its seasonal product releases. Holders complete a short, free maintenance module on Trailhead — typically about one per year per certification — and the credential stays active. Miss the maintenance deadline, however, and the certification goes inactive on your Trailblazer profile. Sources conflict on exactly how an inactive certification can be restored, so treat the deadline as firm and complete the module when it appears; the official "Maintain Your Salesforce Certifications" trail on Trailhead is the authoritative reference.
This guide deliberately stays in its lane, so here is where the neighbouring questions live:
ADM-201 is legacy shorthand from the Webassessor era, and you will still see it everywhere — including on training providers' course pages. The credential is officially "Salesforce Certified Platform Administrator", and Salesforce lists it by name rather than by the old code. If you hold the certification under its old name, you did not need to do anything: names updated automatically in July 2025.
Yes. Salesforce offers both online proctored delivery and onsite testing centres. Online delivery requires a webcam, a private room, and compliance with proctoring rules; if your home setup cannot guarantee quiet and privacy for 105 minutes, a testing centre is the safer choice.
No. Platform Foundations (US$75) is an optional on-ramp for complete newcomers, not a prerequisite. If you can already navigate Setup and build a report, most candidates go straight to Platform Administrator. If you are choosing your very first credential with zero platform exposure, the trade-offs are weighed in best Salesforce certifications for beginners.
The retake fee is US$100 plus taxes. Salesforce applies attempt limits per release window, but the exact current limits are best confirmed on the official certification site when you book, as they are not consistently documented in third-party sources.
Salesforce revises exam content in line with product releases — the Agentforce domain is the most recent significant addition — and it retired or renamed dozens of other credentials across 2025–2026. The Platform Administrator certification itself is a fixture of the programme, but always download the current exam guide from Salesforce's help site before you start studying, and again before you book.
If you have read this far, you know what the exam is, what it costs, how it is structured, and how to register — which means the open question is no longer "what is this certification?" but "when will I be ready for it?". Answer that empirically rather than by feel: work through the current topic list, study against the official guide, then use full-length timed practice tests to find your weak domains and set a booking threshold you trust. Start with the free Salesforce exam resources on ExamPractice when you want to see where you stand, and confirm every fee and policy detail on Salesforce's official exam guide before you pay — those are the two habits that prevent both wasted money and exam-day surprises.
Exam facts in this guide were checked against official certification-provider pages on . Fees, exam codes and policies change — confirm on the provider’s own site before you book.
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