What is Pricebook?

A Price Book (API name Pricebook2) in Salesforce is a named list of products with their prices. Every Salesforce org has one mandatory Standard Price Book (the master price list) and can have many custom Price Books for different markets, customer tiers, currencies, or sales channels. Prices live in PricebookEntry records — one per Product per Price Book.

The model: Product + Price Book = Price

Product2 (what)
   │
   │ 1:M
   ↓
PricebookEntry (how much in which book)
   ↑
   │ 1:M
   │
Pricebook2 (which book)

A Product doesn’t carry a price directly. The price is in the junction between Product and Price Book — PricebookEntry.

The Standard Price Book

Every org has exactly one Standard Price Book. It’s the master:

• Every Product must have a PricebookEntry in the Standard Price Book before it can be added to any other Price Book.
• Sales reps without a more specific price book see Standard prices.
• It cannot be deleted.
• Best practice: Standard Price Book holds your list price (MSRP); custom price books hold discounted prices for specific contexts.

Custom Price Books

You create custom Price Books for any business reason:

Each Price Book is a list of products, each with its own price in that book. The same product can have $99 in Standard, $89 in EMEA, $79 in Government, etc.

Multi-currency Price Books

If multi-currency is enabled in your org:

• A single Price Book can hold prices in multiple currencies — each PricebookEntry has its own CurrencyIsoCode.
• Or you can split into Price Books per currency (some orgs prefer this for clarity).

Using a Price Book on an Opportunity

1. The Opportunity has a Pricebook2Id field.
2. When the rep adds products, only products in the selected Price Book appear.
3. Once the rep adds the first product, the Price Book is locked for that Opportunity — you can’t change it without removing all line items first.

Pricebook2 fields

You can also add custom fields like Region__c, EffectiveDate__c, EffectiveEndDate__c to manage time-bounded or geo-bounded books.

PricebookEntry fields

A product can be marked UseStandardPrice = true in a custom price book — making it always equal to the Standard Price. Convenient for the “this product is at MSRP in EMEA” case.

Permissions

• Customize Application to create/edit Price Books and Pricebook Entries
• Marketing User or Read access to Price Books for sales reps to use them
• Sharing on Price Books is role-hierarchy-based and respects manual sharing

Pricing strategy patterns

Pattern 1: Standard + Discount Books

• Standard Price Book = MSRP
• “2026 Standard Discount” = MSRP minus 10%
• “Strategic Account” = MSRP minus 20%

Sales rep picks the right book based on customer tier; line items default to that book’s price.

Pattern 2: Region-Currency Books

• “US USD”
• “EMEA EUR”
• “APAC JPY”

Each region’s reps default to their book.

Pattern 3: Time-Limited Promos

• “Q4 2026 Promo” — active Oct-Dec, products at discounted price
• Validation: Opportunity must close within the book’s effective dates

Pattern 4: Bundle Books

• “Starter Bundle” — only the products that make up a starter offering
• Limits what reps can add for that flavor of deal

When CPQ replaces Price Books

For complex pricing — volume discounts, configurable bundles, percentage discounts, subscription terms, contracted prices — Salesforce CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote, separately licensed) goes well beyond Price Books. CPQ still uses Pricebook2/PricebookEntry under the hood but adds rules engines, quote line items, discount schedules, and quote document generation.

For straightforward catalog selling, plain Price Books are sufficient and free.

Bottom line

A Price Book is a named list of products with prices. Standard Price Book holds your master prices; custom Price Books hold variations for markets, currencies, tiers, channels. Opportunities pick one Price Book; line items draw their prices from that book’s PricebookEntries.

Verified against: Salesforce Help — Price Books. Last reviewed 2026-05-17.