How long is a beta?

A tour · How long is a beta?

How long is a beta?

Dark mode reached more editions while still in beta; big objects changed their key structure during the pilot. Following a feature to general availability means following what Salesforce changed along the way, as well as how long it took.

Lit: notes Jev, the classification model, reads as pilot or beta. Separate terms apply to these pre-release features.

Traced by title

Often the next release

Of the features we can follow by title, 68% reached GA in the next release. This is a selected group: a feature must keep the same title for us to connect its pilot, beta or preview to a GA announcement.

The strand highlights examples that began in 2021 and 2022. Each dot in the figure is a feature we could follow by title.

Winter ’16 to Summer ’16

Restricted picklists, a stage per release

Restricted picklists moved from pilot to beta to GA in consecutive releases. The pilot only worked for new fields. The beta still required Salesforce to enable it outside Developer Edition and sandboxes; by GA, admins could also convert eligible existing fields.

Depth shows the stage Jev assigned to each note: pilot at the back, then beta, then general availability.

• The pilot · Winter ’16Eliminate Picklist Clutter with Restricted Picklists (Pilot)
• The beta, a release later · Spring ’16Eliminate Picklist Clutter with Restricted Picklists (Beta)
• Generally available, a release after that · Summer ’16Eliminate Picklist Clutter with Restricted Picklists (Generally Available)

Summer ’15 to Winter ’20

Big objects and packaging took longer

Big objects and second-generation managed packaging each took seven releases from pilot to GA. During that wait, Salesforce replaced big objects’ auto-generated IDs with developer-defined composite keys. The packaging beta still barred its new package types from production orgs.

Both changed title on the way. We linked these features by reading their notes; matching titles misses them.

• Big objects, in pilot · Summer ’15Keep All Your Customer Data with BigObjects (Pilot)
• Big objects, generally available · Winter ’18Manipulate Millions (or Even Billions!) of Records with Custom Big Objects (Generally Available)

Summer ’22 to Summer ’26

Field Service betas reached GA together

Appointment Insights reached GA about four years after its first beta note, the longest wait we can trace by an unchanged title. Salesforce marked five related scheduling features GA in that release, including controls to keep important appointments scheduled during optimization.

The strand also includes third-party web components in LWC, whose GA announcement appears in the Winter ’27 preview notes.

• The scheduling tool’s first beta note · Summer ’22Get Scheduling Recommendations with Appointment Insights (Beta)
• Generally available, four years on · Summer ’26Get Scheduling Recommendations with Appointment Insights (Generally Available)

Winter ’26 to Winter ’27 preview

Dark mode expanded while still in beta

Dark mode started in Starter Suite. Salesforce added Enterprise and Developer editions, then Performance and Unlimited, while keeping the beta label. The GA announcement still warned that Setup, reports and dashboards were not fully optimized for dark mode.

Salesforce changed the title of each announcement, so title matching misses this sequence.

• The first beta, in Starter Suite · Winter ’26Customize Your Themes with Dark Mode (Beta)
• GA, with limits, in the Winter ’27 preview notes · Winter ’27Give Your Users the Option of Dark Mode (Generally Available)

Winter ’26 to Spring ’26

A beta can end in retirement

Salesforce added Gemini 3 Pro as a beta model, then announced its retirement in the next release. Salesforce ruled out GA and automatic rerouting; its recommended replacement, Gemini 3.1 Pro, was also a beta.

• Gemini 3 Pro arrives as a beta model · Winter ’26Use Gemini 3 Pro on the Einstein Platform (Beta)
• The retirement note · Spring ’26Gemini 3 Pro (Beta) Is Retiring

The gaps in this history

Most waits cannot be traced by title

We can link 16% of pilot, beta and preview titles to a later GA announcement. Title matching misses big objects and dark mode, including some long waits. The quick turnarounds in this selected sample may make betas look shorter than they are.

Other gaps may be ongoing betas, retirements or GA notices missing from this archive.