Agentforce is how much?
So how much is it to get started with Agentforce?
Agentforce: Unpacking the Upfront Costs of Salesforce's AI Agent
Salesforce is going big on AI with Agentforce, but understanding the investment required is crucial. While the "$2 per conversation" price tag gets a lot of attention, let's break down exactly what you need to pay upfront to get started with Agentforce and ensure you're not caught off guard later.
The Headline: $2 Per Conversation... But What Do You Pay First?
Yes, Salesforce aims for Agentforce to average around $2 per conversation. However, focusing solely on this number can be misleading. Here’s a realistic look at the initial investment:
Minimum Purchase: Conversations and Einstein Requests (ERs): You can't dip your toe in with just a few conversations. The starting point is a purchase of at least 1,000 conversations. Each conversation comes bundled with 200 Einstein Requests (ERs).
Cost: 1,000 conversations at $2 each = $2,000. Keep in mind this is just the starting point.
The Elephant in the Room: Einstein Request Overage: Each conversation is meant to use ~200 ERs on average. If your conversations are complex and exceed this average in aggregate, you'll be charged extra after exceeding the initial credits, but you still need to purchase the initial blocks of ERs. Think of it like a phone plan: you pay for a data allowance upfront, and then pay for overages if you exceed it.
Potential Overage Cost: $2,000 per 1,000 ERs if you go over your initial 200 ERs per conversation.
Don't Forget Data Cloud Credits: The cost of Agentforce conversations does not include Data Cloud Credits. So, factor in the cost of purchasing these credits upfront, especially if you anticipate needing more than what's included in your Salesforce Foundations entitlements. This is an additional cost on top of the conversation and ER costs.
The Gated Community: Foundational Prerequisites: Before you can even think about Agentforce, you must have the following in place. These are often significant investments.
Service Cloud or Sales Cloud License: This must be Enterprise Edition (EE), Unlimited Edition (UE), or E1E. These licenses are not cheap!
Einstein for Service: A minimum of one license per org is required (only for EE and UE).
Salesforce Foundations: This is a suite of underlying technologies and services.
Salesforce Foundations – Entitlements.
Salesforce Foundations – Segmentation and Activation.
Data Cloud Provisioning.
Additional Einstein Requests (200)
Real-World Scenario: A Hypothetical Example
Let's say you're a mid-sized business looking at Agentforce. Here's a potential upfront cost breakdown:
Salesforce Licenses: Let's assume you need to upgrade to Sales Cloud Enterprise Edition. This could easily be a five-figure investment or more, depending on the number of users.
Einstein for Service: Likely a few thousand pounds per year.
Agentforce (Minimum): 1,000 conversations = $2,000.
Data Cloud Credits: This is highly variable and depends on your data volume and usage. Factor in several thousand pounds at a minimum.
Total Potential Upfront Cost: Realistically, tens of thousands of pounds, or even significantly more, depending on your existing Salesforce setup.
Gaming the System? Nice Try.
Some have wondered if they can "game" the system by keeping conversations open indefinitely. Not so fast! Salesforce has implemented an 8-hour or 24-hour cut-off, depending on the channel. After that period of inactivity, the conversation resets and counts as a new one.
Key Takeaways: Know Before You Buy
Agentforce's "$2 per conversation" is a target price, not necessarily your final price.
Factor in the significant upfront costs of Salesforce licenses and prerequisites.
Carefully estimate your Einstein Request usage to avoid overage charges.
Consider your Data Cloud Credit needs.
Agentforce has the potential to be a game-changer for customer service and sales, but understanding the real costs upfront is essential. Don't let the "$2 per conversation" headline distract you from the bigger picture. Plan carefully, assess your needs, and ensure you're prepared for the full investment required.
Disclaimer: Pricing information is based on the document provided and is subject to change by Salesforce. Contact Salesforce directly for the most up-to-date pricing and licensing information.
Citations:
Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share
Salesforce and Google have announced major expansion
Salesforce and Google have announced a major expansion of their strategic partnership on February 24, 2025, focusing on AI-powered agents and infrastructure integration12. This collaboration aims to provide businesses with more flexibility and choice in building and deploying AI solutions1.
Key aspects of the partnership include:
Agentforce Integration:
Salesforce's Agentforce will incorporate Google's Gemini models, enabling multi-modal capabilities for working with images, audio, and video12.
Agents will benefit from Gemini's two-million-token context window for expanded understanding and reasoning15.
Real-time insights and answers will be grounded in Google Search through Vertex AI18.
Service Cloud Enhancement:
Infrastructure and Deployment:
Data Integration:
This collaboration addresses the rapid evolution of AI technologies, particularly autonomous agents, by offering businesses the flexibility to develop tailored AI solutions without being locked into a single provider19. The partnership is expected to accelerate AI transformations for mutual customers, combining Salesforce's enterprise-grade agentic AI platform with Google Cloud's AI innovation19.
Citations:
https://cloud.google.com/integration-connectors/docs/connectors/salesforce/configure
https://martechvibe.com/article/salesforce-and-google-cloud-bring-gemini-to-agentforce/
Answer from Perplexity: pplx.ai/share