Software host Salesforce.com is offering tools to let third-party software developers take advantage of its platform without requiring their users to pay for a Salesforce subscription.

At its AppForce conference in San Francisco, Salesforce launched AppExchange OEM Edition, a set of development tools that allow others to build hosted applications to sit on its application marketplace. The package comprises code for a common user interface, security model, delivery platform and custom tabs and options.

Users can purchase the resulting applications without needing a Salesforce licence. Previously, users of AppExchange programs required a Salesforce subscription, priced from $65 (£35) per individual user or $995 (£530) per year for five users. With AppExchange, software vendors will pay Salesforce $25 (£14) per user per month.

Salesforce said it wanted to encourage more use of its platform. “It’s broadening AppExchange as the Windows of the business internet,” said Chris Boorman, Salesforce’s marketing vice-president. “Independent software vendors can build on our platform without their customers having to be customers of Salesforce.”

Initial partner products showcased by the firm include a project planner, a loans management calculator and a software lifecycle management tool.

In other Salesforce news, Informatica said that in the next few months it will release PowerCenter Connect software to integrate data between datacentres and Salesforce deployments. The firm said similar programs for other leading hosted platforms will follow.