Of 78 Marketing Cloud Engagement capabilities we track, 50 are native in Marketing Cloud Next or better, 23 need a rebuild or carry real limits, and 5 still lean on MCE, are only announced, or have no equivalent at all.
Parity score 79%Native and ahead count 1, replaced and partial count 0.5, the rest 0.
- MCN ahead 13MCN does something MCE cannot.
- Native 37Generally available in MCN today.
- Replaced 12Same job, different model. You rebuild into it.
- Partial 11Available, with limits that matter.
- Via MCE bridge 2Works only while you keep MCE licensed.
- No equivalent 3Nothing in MCN and nothing announced.
What these products are
Marketing Cloud Engagement (MCE)
Marketing Cloud Engagement is Salesforce's established marketing platform, built on the ExactTarget stack it acquired in 2013. It runs beside the CRM on its own infrastructure, with its own login, users and API, and stores data in data extensions.
Email Studio, Journey Builder, Content Builder and Automation Studio all belong to it. Salesforce has published no end-of-life, no end-of-sale and no end-of-roadmap date for it.
Marketing Cloud Next (MCN)
Marketing Cloud Next is Salesforce's marketing platform built natively on Salesforce core, generally available since June 2025. It uses Data 360 (formerly Data Cloud) as its data layer, Flow Builder for campaign orchestration, and the same users and permission sets as the CRM.
It covers the Growth and Advanced editions. Since the Winter '27 release notes, Salesforce also calls it Agentforce Marketing. The two names refer to the same product.
What this tracker measures
One row per Marketing Cloud Engagement capability, with what Marketing Cloud Next offers in its place, the release it arrived in, and a link to the source.
Parity counts native and ahead as 1, replaced and partial as 0.5, and bridge, announced and no-equivalent as 0. Announced features score 0 until they are generally available, because announced is not shipped.
The 12 rows that decide your migration
Most capabilities move without drama. These set the budget, the timeline, and whether you can leave Engagement at all. Jump straight to any of them.
- ReplacedData extensions
- ReplacedSubscriber key identity
- ReplacedSQL query activities
- NativeDedicated IPs
- ReplacedContent Builder emails and templates
- PartialAMPscript
- GapServer-side JavaScript (SSJS)
- GapCloudPages code resources and API endpoints
- ReplacedJourney Builder
- BridgeRunning existing MCE emails from MCN
- BridgeSubscription and publication lists
- ReplacedUnsubscribe and suppression
Browse by migration stage
Foundation is what you set up before a single send. Build is what your team makes every day. Run is what happens once campaigns are live.
Foundation
Set up before anything can send. Where migrations actually stall.
Data & identity
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data extensionsdecisive | Replaced by Data 360 data model objects and Marketing Objects. Winter '27 adds a one-step import that copies a data extension's columns, data types, primary keys and records into a Marketing Object, but it is a one-time copy with no ongoing sync, and it needs Unlimited with Marketing Cloud Advanced plus the Engagement connector. Everything else is a remodelling exercise, not a move. | Replaced | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Subscriber key identitydecisive | Data 360 identity resolution collapses source records into a Unified Individual. Suppressions and consent keyed to the old subscriber key have to be re-mapped. | Replaced | GA (Jun 2025)AMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| SQL query activitiesdecisive | No conversion. Each query becomes a Data 360 transform or a Flow. The logic survives, the artifact does not. | Replaced | GA (Jun 2025)AMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Contact Builder data relationships | Relationships are expressed in the Data 360 model and data graphs, resolved before a message renders rather than joined at send time. | Replaced | GA (Jun 2025)AMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| SFTP and File Transfer imports | CSV imports land in Marketing Objects, or through Data 360 data streams for profile data. | Replaced | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Filtered data extensions and audience building | Data 360 segments, plus Actionable Lists when you already know the recipients. Winter '27 sends to Contact and Lead lists without building a segment first. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| One send per person with several email addresses | Contact Point Selection Rules pick a single contact point per individual. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Manual data edits and test records | Winter '27 adds fields and single records directly in Data Explorer, with no CSV round trip. Bulk loads are still CSV. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| CRM data in personalization | The Salesforce record data provider reads CRM objects at send time. No Marketing Cloud Connect sync to debug. | MCN ahead | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Sending & deliverability
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated IPsdecisive | Assigned automatically once you sustain roughly 5 million emails a month, with a second around 10 million and more added as volume grows. Warming is automatic over 0 to 35 days. If the 45-day average drops below the threshold, IPs are reclaimed one at a time; once a single IP is left and volume stays low for 90 days, sending returns to the shared pool. Salesforce publishes these as guidelines, not SLA commitments. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| IP warming | Automatic, over 0 to 35 days. No manual warming plan, and no control over the ramp. Domain warming is still your problem. | Replaced | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Sender Authentication Package and sending domains | DKIM-authenticated domains are mandatory. Engagement+ orgs can share existing SAP and private domains into MCN and keep using them in both. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Reply Mail Management | RMM, with replies forwarded in HTML so you can tell which send they came from. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Email archiving for audit | Archive to the Email Message object, capped at 100,000 a day, attachments excluded. Winter '27 adds Compliance BCC and Azure storage for high volume (Advanced). | Partial | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Deliverability monitoring | Deliverability Health Score from 0 to 100, with alerts and the campaigns affected. Currently needs to be switched on by Salesforce. | Partial | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Relay through your own mail servers | Email relay with bounce, reply and complaint handling. MCE has no equivalent (Advanced only). | MCN ahead | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Sandbox sending | Full and partial sandboxes with a black hole that discards test email, plus a domain allowlist. MCE has never had a sandbox. | MCN ahead | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Org, users & admin
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business units | Up to 150 business units with a shared asset library and per-unit deactivation. Advanced edition only. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Users and permissions | Standard Salesforce users and permission sets. One identity model instead of two. Platform Plus licences gained the ability to run marketing in Winter '27. | MCN ahead | GA (Jun 2025)AMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Deployment and release management | Standard Salesforce metadata and deployment tooling, so marketing changes move through the same pipeline as everything else. Campaigns and communication subscriptions are the exception: they are unavailable in Developer sandboxes and cannot be deployed to production, so they are still rebuilt by hand. | MCN ahead | GA (Jun 2025)AMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| MCP server for AI tooling | MCE got an MCP server in Summer '26 and 40 more tools in Winter '27. MCN's equivalent, Headless Marketing, reached GA in October 2026. At Dreamforce Salesforce showed MCE's server as GA and MCN's as beta. | Native | Dreamforce '26Dreamforce 2026Checked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Guided setup | Salesforce Go covers the whole initial setup, including data streams and identity resolution. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Build
What your team makes every day. Where the rebuild hours go.
Email & content
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content Builder emails and templatesdecisive | Content Builder on Salesforce CMS, with starter templates and locked regions for brand control. Nothing transfers, so every template is rebuilt by hand. | Replaced | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| AMPscriptdecisive | 64 functions are supported. Winter '27 added 23, so rowsets, row lookups, ClaimRow, regular expressions, MD5 and SHA512 hashing and impression regions all work now, alongside the formatting, string, date, maths and content-block functions that carried over at Summer '26. Scripting also reaches SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, push, in-app and landing pages. What still does not port: every write function, the HTTP family, and the CloudPages functions. Growth and Advanced editions. | Partial | Summer '26AMPscript docsChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Server-side JavaScript (SSJS)decisive | No equivalent and nothing announced. Logic moves to Flow, Apex or Data 360. | No equivalent | Not announcedAMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Dynamic content | Rule-based dynamic content in email and on landing pages. Winter '27 builds personalization once and reuses it across SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, push and in-app. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Plain-text version | A plain-text view per email, auto-filled from the HTML on existing emails. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Custom fonts | Custom web fonts in Content Builder, assignable per business unit. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Multi-language emails | Content variations by language. Winter '27 adds language variants with built-in translation that keeps the layout intact. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Attachments (AttachFile) | PDFs under 5 MB from Salesforce CMS. No other file types. | Partial | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Dynamic From and Reply-To | Merge the account or contact owner into From and Reply-To on verified domains, so replies reach a person. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Content approval and brand control | Protected content, so subject lines, headers and legal disclaimers cannot be changed by accident, a Brand Center kit in Winter '27, and required phrases plus character limits for Distributed Marketing templates. | Partial | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Einstein Copy Insights | Agentforce Content Agent generates and refines content for email, SMS, MMS and RCS, grounded in briefs, customer data and brand guidelines. Growth and Advanced editions, with Salesforce Foundations. | MCN ahead | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Unique coupon codes | Coupon lists that assign one unique code per recipient at send time, with ClaimRow available against Marketing Objects. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| View as web page | A secure per-recipient web version on your branded domain, generated at send time. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Update job links after a send | Tracked links can be corrected post-send, but only through a Salesforce Support request. Not self-service. Clicks redirect to the new destination a few minutes after the change, and the edit is recorded in audit history. | Partial | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Content API | Winter '27 adds REST create, modify and search across email, SMS, WhatsApp and mobile content, plus blocks, links and forms. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Block-level engagement tracking | Impression Region Tracking defines a named region inside a message and reports impressions, clicks and click rate per region, across email, SMS, RCS, WhatsApp and mobile app. Engagement has had the same thing for years through BeginImpressionRegion and EndImpressionRegion with Email Studio reports. Needs the Salesforce Foundations add-on. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Landing pages & forms
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| CloudPages landing pages | Landing pages with templates, reusable blocks and dynamic content. Winter '27 adds AMPscript, Handlebars and custom HTML, which closes much of the gap for content pages. | Partial | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| CloudPages code resources and API endpointsdecisive | No equivalent. JSON endpoints, SSJS microsites and API-driven pages need Experience Cloud or an external host. Usually the largest line item nobody estimates. | No equivalent | Not announcedAMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Smart Capture forms | Forms write to Data 360. Winter '27 lets them read and write CRM objects, Marketing Objects and prospect data. | Partial | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Custom preference centre | Branded custom preference pages, and from Winter '27 one page per channel. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Web Collect and behavioural tracking | A Website Connector installs the data streams automatically and can be reused across campaigns, with a customisable consent banner. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Progressive profiling | Announced for Spring '26, then postponed indefinitely before release. A reminder that announced is not shipped. | No equivalent | PostponedRelease notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Journeys & automation
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journey Builderdecisive | Marketing flows in Flow Builder: segment, event, activation-triggered, audience and on-demand. Journeys are rebuilt, not converted, and there is no migration tool. | Replaced | GA (Jun 2025)AMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Running existing MCE emails from MCNdecisive | The Send Marketing Cloud Engagement Email action targets Data 360 segments using existing MCE content. This is the practical migration bridge, and it only works while you keep MCE licensed. | Via MCE bridge | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Automation Studio schedules | No Automation Studio. Segment-triggered flows run hourly, weekdays, weekly, monthly or yearly; imports and transforms move to Data 360. | Replaced | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Decision splits and exit criteria | Decision elements with aggregate functions and 20 date operators. Exit rules on standard and custom events, plus an Exit from a Flow element. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Re-entry settings | Always, after completion, or never, on event-triggered flows. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Path Optimizer | Path Experiment with winner notifications and history. Winter '27 adds machine-learned Personalize Paths per individual (Advanced only). | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Journey-to-journey handoff | The Send to a Flow element passes people into another flow while the first keeps running. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Behavioural triggers | Cart and browse abandonment, price drop, low inventory and back in stock. Winter '27 adds birthday, anniversary, reengagement and replenishment, with inactivity and purchase-exclusion rules. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Transactional Messaging API | Today an on-demand flow triggered by API. Winter '27 adds a Direct Email Send API that sends through a send definition with no flow, and needs High Scale Actions enabled on the tenant. | Partial | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Journey testing | Debug up to 10 records at once, and replay the exact path one individual took. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Journey versions | Flow edit history with restore to any earlier save, without creating a new version. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Distributed Marketing | Native, as Distributed Marketing and Alerts. A paid add-on from $50 per user per month. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| CRM record changes as an entry source | Event-triggered flows start on Prospect, Lead, Contact or related record changes, with no connector sync in between. | MCN ahead | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Run
What happens once campaigns are live.
Channels
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| MobileConnect SMS | Native SMS. Engagement+ orgs reuse their existing US and Canada short and long codes in both platforms. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| MMS | Personalized MMS and virtual contact cards. US and Canada only. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Native, with limited-time offers, stickers and payments in India and Brazil. Winter '27 adds Business-Scoped User IDs for users who hide their number (Advanced). | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 | |
| MobilePush and in-app messages | Push, flash notifications and in-app messages as banner, modal or full screen. Winter '27 Flash Sending does 5M messages in 90 seconds (Advanced). | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| RCS | Native RCS with rich cards. Winter '27 adds 10-card carousels, location and calendar actions, and 17 more countries. | MCN ahead | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Ad Studio audiences | Advertising Studio subscriptions stopped being renewable on 15 August 2026, replaced by Data 360 ad audiences. Salesforce has published no shutdown date, so existing subscriptions run to the end of their order term. This is a retirement on the MCE side, not an MCN gap. | Replaced | Non-renewable Aug 2026Retirement coverageChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Consent & privacy
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription and publication listsdecisive | Communication Subscriptions. Consent Mapping, added in Summer '26, creates a Communication Subscription for each MCE standard or publication list and keeps the two in sync. Mapping matches on email address, not subscriber key, and existing subscriptions cannot be linked to a list after the fact. Until mapped, consent lives in two places. | Via MCE bridge | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Unsubscribe and suppressiondecisive | Handled through Communication Subscriptions against the Unified Individual. Re-keying suppressions from subscriber key to unified profile needs compliance sign-off, not a developer estimate. | Replaced | GA (Jun 2025)AMPscript referenceChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Consent capture from CRM changes | Winter '27 runs the Consent Request action in record-triggered flows, updating Contact or Lead subscription consent automatically. MCE has no CRM-record-triggered equivalent. | MCN ahead | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Web tracking consent | Custom consent banners built in Content Builder, with editable button text. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
Analytics & reporting
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analytics Builder and Intelligence Reports | Marketing Performance Intelligence, Conversion Analytics with first and last touch over a 30-day window, and subscription dashboards. The old Marketing Performance package must be uninstalled first. | Native | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Send log and tracking extracts | Send Logging with a Retain Send Log Data option, including on sends that go out through MCE. | Partial | Summer '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Datorama / Marketing Cloud Intelligence | A separate product, Marketing Intelligence, launched March 2025 and not part of MCN. Dreamforce added Data Guardian for governance and agent-driven budget optimisation, both GA October 2026. Salesforce has announced no end of sale or end of life for Datorama, so the two run in parallel. | Replaced | Dreamforce '26Dreamforce 2026Checked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Engagement history on the CRM record | The Unified Engagement History dashboard on Contact, Lead, Person Account and Account records, built on Tableau Next. Resolved by Unified Individual ID. | MCN ahead | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Bot click filtering | Winter '27 separates human from bot clicks on SMS and can hold a flow until a real person clicks. MCE does this for email with Einstein Metrics Guard. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| B2B pipeline attribution | B2B Analytics for Marketers in Tableau Next: pipeline influence, deal velocity and attribution. Generally available since 10 August 2026. | Native | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
AI & agents
| Capability (MCE) | In MCN today | Status | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| Einstein Send Time Optimization and engagement scoring | Available, and aware of business units. | Native | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Marketing Cloud Personalization (Interaction Studio) | Marketing Cloud Personalization continues as its own licensed product and nothing in MCN replaces it. Salesforce Personalization is the newer on-core, Data 360-backed engine; Dreamforce added account-based recommendations to it, GA October 2026. Neither is included in a Marketing Cloud Next licence. | Partial | Dreamforce '26Dreamforce 2026Checked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Two-way conversational email | Agentforce replies inside threaded email conversations, capturing intent and answering questions (Advanced). | MCN ahead | Spring '26Release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Autonomous campaign decisioning | Agentforce Journey Decisioning picks the next flow (Advanced). Winter '27 adds the Marketing Goals Agent, choosing campaign, channel, content and timing per individual (Advanced); where someone qualifies for several campaigns it depends on Adaptive Campaign Audiences, which is Beta. Dreamforce added a Campaign Agent, GA October 2026. | MCN ahead | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
| Content generation from a brief | Agentforce Content Agent drafts channel content from a brief, customer data and brand guidelines; you review and edit before it publishes to Salesforce CMS. Growth and Advanced editions, with Salesforce Foundations. | MCN ahead | Winter '27Winter '27 release notesChecked 15 Oct 2026 |
What changed
Newest first. Status moves are called out under each entry.
- 15 Oct 2026Correction
Read against the official Winter '27 release notes
We had been working from the developer function reference and from blog coverage. Salesforce's own Winter '27 release notes settle three things we had wrong. AMPscript is 64 functions, not 41: rowsets, LookupRows, ClaimRow, regular expressions, MD5 and SHA512 and impression regions all shipped, and the public function reference simply has not caught up. Impression Region Tracking is live in Next, so it is parity with Engagement rather than a gap either way. And a data extension import does exist, one step, one-time copy with no sync, on Unlimited with Marketing Cloud Advanced only.
AMPscript is 64 functions, not 41
- 14 Oct 2026Correction
Nine rows relabelled, six unsourced figures removed
Winter '27 finished rolling out on 10 October, so nine rows that still said Announced now show their real status. Corrected the biggest error on the page: Engagement has had impression region tracking for years through BeginImpressionRegion and EndImpressionRegion, with reports in Email Studio, so Next is not ahead there. Removed figures we could not trace to a source: a 32-IP maximum, a 90-day shared-IP reversion rule that actually runs on a 45-day average, two consent-mapping dates, and a transactional latency claim. Datorama and Marketing Cloud Personalization rows corrected: neither has been retired. Dropped salesforcedictionary.com as a source because it states Lookup, Row and Field are unsupported in Next, which the official reference disproves.
Impression tracking: we had this backwards
- 13 Oct 2026Review
AMPscript row rewritten against the official function reference
The supported-function list in the Salesforce AMPscript reference holds at 41 for Marketing Cloud Next. RetrieveSalesforceObjects and BuildRowsetFromJson are on it, so Salesforce-record reads and JSON rowsets work. ClaimRow, RegExMatch, MD5, SHA512, BeginImpressionRegion and EndImpressionRegion appear in the Winter '27 notes but are still absent from the reference, so this tracker counts them as announced rather than shipped. Also confirmed that 15 August 2026 is the date Marketing Cloud Advertising stopped being renewable, not a shutdown date.
AMPscript: shipped vs announced now separated
- 9 Oct 2026Correction
AMPscript row corrected against the official reference
We had said the data extension functions do not exist in Next. The Salesforce AMPscript reference marks Lookup, Row, Field and RowCount as supported, so they do. LookupRows and the write functions remain Engagement-only. The new checker on this page reads from the same reference.
AMPscript: gap narrower than we reported
- 29 Sep 2026Dreamforce '26
Dreamforce announcements added
Campaign Agent, Adaptive Web, Headless Marketing (an MCP-powered architecture for MCN), Data Guardian and agent-driven budget optimization are all dated October 2026. Event Management follows in November.
4 rows updated, all still Announced
- 29 Sep 2026Tracker
Restructured into three migration stages
Foundation, Build and Run, so the tracker reads in the order a migration actually happens. Capability count grew from 55 to 78.
- 15 Aug 2026MCE
Advertising Studio stops being renewable
Ad audiences move to Data 360. A rare case of an actual retirement date on the MCE side rather than a gap on the MCN side.
Ad Studio: Replaced
- Aug 2026Winter '27
AMPscript reaches landing pages and mobile channels
Landing pages also accept custom HTML. Server-side JavaScript remains absent, and so do LookupRows, the write functions and everything under HTTP and Sites.
Landing pages stay Partial
- Aug 2026Winter '27
Marketing Object lookups and ClaimRow
Single-row lookups now run against Marketing Objects, so Lookup, Row, Field and RowCount are supported in Next. One-per-recipient coupon codes arrive with ClaimRow.
AMPscript: more ports than first reported
- Aug 2026Winter '27
Direct Email Send API and order events
Transactional sends through a send definition without building an on-demand flow.
Transactional API stays Partial until GA
- Aug 2026Winter '27
Deliverability Health Score and Compliance BCC
A 0 to 100 score with ranked fixes, and an org-wide BCC copy for audit.
Deliverability monitoring: Announced
- Aug 2026Winter '27
MCE's MCP server gains 40 tools
The AI-tooling story is currently stronger on Engagement than on Next, which is the opposite of the usual direction.
MCP server: MCE ahead
- Aug 2026Winter '27
Agentforce Marketing becomes an official name
The release notes now use it for Marketing Cloud Next.
- Apr 2026Summer '26
AMPscript arrives in MCN email
A subset of functions alongside Handlebars, validated in the editor rather than at send time.
AMPscript: No equivalent to Partial
- Apr 2026Summer '26
Marketing Objects
A high-throughput store for personalization data, readable from AMPscript and Handlebars.
Data extensions: Replaced
- Apr 2026Summer '26
Consent mapping and shared sending domains
Engagement+ orgs sync publication lists and reuse SAP domains and SMS codes across both platforms.
Consent: Via MCE bridge
- Apr 2026Summer '26
Business units raised to 150
With deactivation and a shared asset library.
Business units: Native
- Feb 2026Spring '26
Progressive profiling postponed indefinitely
Announced in the Spring '26 notes, then pulled before release. Worth remembering whenever a row says Announced.
Progressive profiling: No equivalent
- Dec 2025Spring '26
Dedicated IPs with automatic warming
Before this, MCN sent only from shared IPs, which ruled out serious B2C volume.
Dedicated IPs: No equivalent to Native
- Dec 2025Spring '26
Business units and custom preference pages
Two long-standing enterprise blockers removed in one release.
No equivalent to Native
- Dec 2025Spring '26
Send MCE emails from MCN flows
Orchestrate in Next, execute through Engagement. The single most useful fact in the whole migration.
Journeys: Via MCE bridge
Questions people actually ask
Short answers, current as of . Every claim traces back to a row in the table above.
Is Marketing Cloud Engagement being discontinued?
No. Salesforce has published no end-of-life, no end-of-sale and no end-of-roadmap date for Marketing Cloud Engagement. Email Studio, Journey Builder, Content Builder and Automation Studio continue to receive updates, and the Winter '27 release added 40 new tools to Engagement's MCP server.
The pressure is not a sunset date, it is where the engineering goes. New capability lands on the Marketing Cloud Next side first. Any article announcing a forced 2026 or 2027 cutover is reading past what Salesforce has actually published.
The two artefacts to check if you want to verify this yourself are the Salesforce Help article "Salesforce Active Product & Feature Retirements" (000381744), which lists no Marketing Cloud Engagement entry, and the Marketing Cloud Notice and License Information document, which carries no sunset language for Engagement, Email Studio, Journey Builder or Content Builder. Winter '27 also added two-way Agentforce conversations in Engagement emails, four new identity resolution matching rules, a security dashboard and 40 new MCP server tools. That is not a product being wound down.
What is the difference between Marketing Cloud Engagement and Marketing Cloud Next?
Marketing Cloud Engagement runs on the ExactTarget stack beside your CRM, with its own login, users, API and data extensions. Marketing Cloud Next runs natively on Salesforce core, using Data 360 for data, Flow Builder for orchestration, and the same users and permission sets as the rest of the org.
That is an architectural difference, not a version upgrade. It is also why migrating is expensive: you are moving to a different platform that shares a brand name.
Does AMPscript work in Marketing Cloud Next?
Yes, and more than it used to. 64 AMPscript functions are supported in Marketing Cloud Next. Winter '27 added 23 of them, which closed most of the gap people were worried about: rowsets, looking up and claiming rows in Marketing Objects, regular expressions, MD5 and SHA512 hashing, and impression regions.
What still does not port is narrower than the reputation suggests: every write function (InsertData, UpsertData, UpdateData, DeleteData and the DE variants), the whole HTTP family, and the CloudPages functions such as CloudPagesURL, RequestParameter and Redirect. Count those in your templates and you have your migration estimate, not the template count.
One warning if you are checking this yourself. The public AMPscript function reference on developer.salesforce.com still marks several of the Winter '27 additions as unsupported in Next. The Winter '27 release note is the newer source and says they work. The checker on this page follows the release note.
What happens to server-side JavaScript and CloudPages?
Server-side JavaScript has no equivalent in Marketing Cloud Next and none has been announced. CloudPages splits in two: content pages are largely covered by Marketing Cloud Next landing pages, which accept custom HTML, AMPscript and Handlebars from Winter '27.
CloudPages code resources and API endpoints have no equivalent. JSON endpoints, SSJS microsites and API-driven pages need Experience Cloud or an external host. This is usually the largest line item in a migration and the one that never appears in the first estimate.
Can data extensions be migrated to Marketing Cloud Next?
Partly, and only on one edition. Winter '27 added a one-step import that copies a data extension's columns, data types, primary keys and records from Engagement into a Marketing Object. It needs Unlimited with Marketing Cloud Advanced and the Marketing Cloud Engagement connector.
Read the limits before you plan around it. It is a one-time copy, not a sync: add rows to the data extension afterwards and the Marketing Object does not see them, and the reverse is also true. Sendable and testable flags, relationships and automation that depended on the data extension do not come across either. For anything beyond a straight lift of static data, the data model is still rebuilt rather than moved.
Is there a migration tool from MCE to MCN?
No. Salesforce has not shipped an automated migration tool for templates, images, journeys or automations, and has not committed to a date for one.
Any migration plan that assumes tooling will arrive to do the boring parts is a plan with a hole in it. Content rebuilds by hand, and every SQL query activity becomes a Data 360 transform or a Flow.
Can Marketing Cloud Next and Engagement run at the same time?
Yes, and for most mid-sized and large B2C estates this is the practical path. The Send Marketing Cloud Engagement Email action, added in Spring '26, lets a Marketing Cloud Next flow target a Data 360 segment while the send goes out through existing Engagement content and settings.
Consent can be kept in step as well: Engagement+ orgs map Engagement publication lists to Communication Subscriptions, through Consent Mapping, added in Summer ’26. Both arrangements require Engagement to stay licensed.
Does Marketing Cloud Next support dedicated IPs?
Yes, since the Spring '26 release. Senders sustaining roughly 5 million emails a month are moved automatically from the shared pool to dedicated IPs.
Warming is automatic over 0 to 35 days, which removes the manual warming plan but also removes control over the ramp. Domain warming is still the sender's responsibility. If the 45-day average falls below the threshold, IPs are reclaimed one at a time; only once a single IP is left and volume stays low for 90 days does sending revert to shared. Salesforce publishes all of this as guidance, not an SLA commitment.
What is Agentforce Marketing?
Agentforce Marketing is Salesforce's other name for Marketing Cloud Next. Salesforce introduced the name at Dreamforce 2025 as portfolio branding and uses it alongside the Marketing Cloud Next product name, not instead of it.
The name reflects where the investment sits. Winter '27 added the Marketing Goals Agent, which chooses campaign, channel, content and timing per individual, and the Content Agent, which drafts channel content from briefs, customer data and brand guidelines.
What does Marketing Cloud Next do that Engagement cannot?
Several things. Sandboxes, which Engagement has never had, though campaigns and communication subscriptions cannot be deployed out of one into production. Standard Salesforce metadata and deployment tooling. Event-triggered flows that start on CRM record changes with no connector sync. Routing outbound mail through your own servers.
Across the ten areas we track, Marketing Cloud Next is ahead of Engagement on AI and agents and on org, users and admin, and level on channels.
How do I work out what an MCE to MCN migration will cost?
Count the things that do not port, not the templates. Search your content and CloudPages for LookupRows, LookupOrderedRows, InsertData, UpsertData, DeleteData, the HTTP functions and the CloudPages functions, list every CloudPage and SSJS block, and count the SQL query activities in Automation Studio.
That list is the migration size, and it is usually either a fraction of what people fear or a multiple of what they hoped. The search takes an afternoon and replaces a year of speculation with a number.
How often is this tracker updated?
It is checked weekly against the Salesforce release notes for Marketing Cloud Next and Engagement, and updated in the same week a release lands. The whole table carries one review date, shown on every row, rather than a separate date per row.
Salesforce ships three major releases a year plus monthly updates, so most weeks nothing moves. The date still tells you the row was looked at.
How this tracker is maintained
Where the data comes from
Salesforce release notes for Marketing Cloud Next and Engagement, plus the Salesforce Help docs and Dreamforce announcements. Anything from pre-release notes is marked Announced until it is generally available.
How often it changes
Checked weekly, updated the same week a release lands. Salesforce ships three major releases a year plus monthly updates, so most weeks nothing moves and the date still tells you it was looked at.
What the statuses mean
Replaced means the job still gets done, by a different model you rebuild into. Via MCE bridge means it works only while Engagement stays licensed. Announced is not shipped: progressive profiling was announced, then pulled.
