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Commonly confused · Business Platforms & EA

Salesforce Lookup vs Master-Detail Relationship: What's the Difference?

A lookup relationship loosely links two objects, and the child record can exist independently with its own owner and sharing. A master-detail relationship tightly couples them: the detail record inherits sharing and ownership from the master and is deleted when the master is deleted.

Lookup Relationship

Full definition
vs

Master-Detail Relationship

Full definition
Lookup RelationshipMaster-Detail Relationship
CouplingLooseTight
Child required to have parent?Optional by defaultYes, always required
Cascade deleteNo by default (options vary)Yes, deleting master deletes details
Ownership and sharingChild has its own owner and sharingDetail inherits from master, no owner field
Roll-up summary fieldsNot natively availableSupported on the master
Limit per objectUp to 40 relationships totalUp to 2 master-detail relationships
Remember it

Lookup is a friendship; master-detail is parent and dependent.

Exam tip

If a requirement asks for a roll-up summary field or child records to be deleted with the parent, choose master-detail. Two master-detail relationships on one object create a junction object for many-to-many.

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