Published at: 2026-09-17
Big object overview
This article introduces the basic concepts, applicable scenarios, and core differences between Big Objects and regular objects in the ShareCRM PaaS platform.
Overview
A Big Object is a simple object structure based on distributed data storage provided by the ShareCRM metadata layer. It is designed for scenarios such as large-scale data archiving, log storage, and unstructured data extension. This document covers the value proposition, applicable scenarios, and feature set of Big Objects, as well as the core differences from regular objects in terms of storage, field types, and permissions.
Value proposition
A Big Object is a simple object structure provided by the ShareCRM metadata layer. Compared with regular objects, Big Objects use distributed data storage, offer a reduced feature set, and provide only basic functional permissions and data permissions.
Applicable scenarios
- Business data archiving
- System log data storage
- Data storage that does not require report analysis or transactional business data
- 360° customer view: storing unstructured data to extend the data model
- Auditing and tracking: maintaining a long-term view of product usage for analysis or compliance purposes
- Historical archiving: retaining access to historical data for analysis or compliance while optimizing core CRM or platform application performance
Features
You can archive data from other objects or import large-scale datasets from external systems into a Big Object.
Differences between Big Objects and regular objects
| Big Object | Regular object |
|---|---|
| Horizontally scalable distributed database | Relational database |
| Non-transactional database | Transactional database |
| Hundreds of millions to billions of records | Millions of records |
Limitations compared to regular objects
- Supports only basic field types: single-line text, multi-line text, single select, multi-select, date, time, date/time, number, currency, percentage, phone, email, URL, image, attachment, Boolean, and Lookup Relationship
- Does not support optional features: Global Search, Follow-up Activity, Related Team, or Modification History
- Primary attribute type: does not support the Auto Number field type
- Does not support mask display configuration (no Big Object fields support masking)
- Does not support field display settings
- Object filtering does not support “like” operators (contains, starts with, ends with, and similar filter operators)
- A Big Object can have a Lookup Relationship to a regular object, but Roll-Up Summary Fields on Big Objects are not supported
- A regular object can have a Lookup Relationship to a Big Object, but Reference Fields to Big Objects are not supported
- Does not support: approval flows, workflows, or business flows