Salesforce Winter ’27: Compare Fields in SOQL with FORMULA()

Salesforce developers often face a simple problem: you need to filter records based on a value calculated from two fields.

Traditionally, you might create a formula field, query the records, or perform the calculation inside Apex after retrieving the data.

Salesforce is introducing another option: FORMULA() in the SOQL WHERE clause.

This capability allows arithmetic calculations between supported fields directly during query filtering. Salesforce currently documents it as a beta capability, subject to the Beta Services Terms.

What is FORMULA() in SOQL?

FORMULA() allows you to perform supported arithmetic calculations inside a SOQL WHERE clause.

The basic pattern is:

WHERE FORMULA('FieldA - FieldB') > value

For example:

SELECT Id, Name, Revenue__c, Cost__c
FROM Order__c
WHERE FORMULA('Revenue__c - Cost__c') > 250

This query finds orders where:

Revenue - Cost > 250

Instead of retrieving a larger set of records and performing the calculation in Apex, the calculated condition becomes part of the query itself. Salesforce’s developer documentation and engineering blog describe this as useful for reducing unnecessary formula fields and post-query filtering.

Why is this useful?

Before FORMULA(), developers commonly had three options.

Option 1 — Create a formula field

For example:

Profit__c

with:

Revenue__c - Cost__c

Then query:

SELECT Id, Name
FROM Order__c
WHERE Profit__c > 250

This works, but it changes the Salesforce data model.

Option 2 — Query and calculate in Apex

You could query the records first:

List<Order__c> orders = [
    SELECT Id, Revenue__c, Cost__c
    FROM Order__c
];

for (Order__c order : orders) {
    Decimal profit = order.Revenue__c - order.Cost__c;

    if (profit > 250) {
        // Process order
    }
}

The problem is that Salesforce has already returned records that you ultimately don’t need.

Option 3 — Calculate inside SOQL

With FORMULA():

SELECT Id, Name, Revenue__c, Cost__c
FROM Order__c
WHERE FORMULA('Revenue__c - Cost__c') > 250

Now the calculation becomes part of the filtering condition.

This can make the intent much clearer:

Query → Calculate → Filter

instead of:

Query everything → Apex calculation → Filter

Salesforce specifically highlights the ability to keep calculated filtering logic close to the data-access layer.

A practical example

Imagine an Order__c object containing:

Suppose we want to find orders where profit is greater than $250.

We can write:

SELECT Id,
       Name,
       Revenue__c,
       Cost__c
FROM Order__c
WHERE FORMULA('Revenue__c - Cost__c') > 250

The calculation happens as part of the query’s filtering logic.

What data types are supported?

According to the current Salesforce documentation, the supported data types include:

• Double / Decimal
• Integer
• Currency
• Date
• DateTime

There are also restrictions around mixing date and datetime values.