Salesforce Open CTI Sunsetting: Timeline, Impact, and Your Migration Options

Why It Matters

The sunset creates a forced decision on telephony strategy, affecting system reliability, compliance, and cost structures for any Salesforce‑centric sales or service operation.

Key Takeaways

• Open CTI support ends Feb 28 2028.
• Service Cloud Voice requires extra Salesforce licenses.
• Revenue.io dialer offers comparable features at lower cost.
• Migration planning should start now, not later than 2027.
• Pilot testing and data migration are critical steps.

Pulse Analysis

Open CTI has been the backbone of Salesforce‑based telephony for years, allowing third‑party dialers to run inside the CRM via a JavaScript API. Its browser‑only architecture eliminated the need for local adapters, simplifying deployments across distributed sales teams. However, as Salesforce rolls out new Lightning updates and AI‑driven capabilities, the legacy framework cannot keep pace, prompting the company to officially retire it in 2028. Understanding this shift is essential for any organization that relies on seamless call logging, screen pops, and real‑time activity tracking within Salesforce.

Service Cloud Voice represents Salesforce’s vision of a fully native telephony layer, integrating real‑time transcription, Einstein AI insights, and omni‑channel routing directly into the platform. While the feature set surpasses Open CTI, the solution carries a significant incremental licensing fee, which can strain mid‑market budgets. In contrast, third‑party options like Revenue.io’s RingDNA dialer deliver most of the same capabilities—call recording, AI summaries, mobile access—without the additional Salesforce license, making them attractive for cost‑conscious revenue teams. The market is seeing a split where large enterprises embrace the full native stack, while smaller firms prioritize flexibility and lower total cost of ownership.

Given the February 2028 deadline, a structured migration roadmap is critical. Companies should begin with a comprehensive audit of their current Open CTI setup, mapping dependencies on call logs, workflows, and reporting. Next, define core requirements to avoid over‑engineering the replacement. Early evaluation of Service Cloud Voice versus third‑party dialers, followed by a pilot with a representative user group, uncovers integration quirks and training needs. Finally, plan data migration to preserve historical call records and allocate sufficient time—typically six to twelve months—for configuration, user training, and go‑live support. Proactive planning ensures a smooth transition and protects revenue continuity.