By Jatin Modi, founder of Renaissance Group · Published 22 October 2026 · Updated 22 October 2026
How do Agentforce and Hastings differ in what you buy?
Agentforce is a platform. Salesforce describes it as an AI agent platform for autonomous support at enterprise scale, and the sales agents on its page include a sales development representative agent that engages prospects and books meetings, a Sales Coach and a Buyer Agent. They draw on CRM data, work within set guardrails and escalate to human agents (Salesforce, Agentforce, read 19 October 2026). Your team configures the agents, the guardrails and the data they use.
Hastings is a service. A senior team from Renaissance Group connects your sources, builds the knowledge base, runs the jobs you pick from a library of 27 use cases and delivers the finished work into your tools for a person on your team to approve (Hastings pricing, read 22 October 2026).
| Salesforce Agentforce | Hastings | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A platform of agents, credits and licenses | A managed service that runs agreed jobs |
| Who builds and maintains the agents | Your administrators and builders, with Salesforce | A senior team from Renaissance Group, with your people approving |
| Where the work shows up | Inside Salesforce and the channels you configure | In Outlook, Teams and Salesforce |
| Pricing meter | Flex Credits per action, a fee per conversation, or a fee per user per month | A flat monthly fee set by the number of jobs, plus one setup fee |
| Prices published | Yes, in US dollars, subject to change | Yes, in euros, on the pricing page |
| Human gate | Agents act within guardrails and escalate to humans, per Salesforce | A person on your team approves everything that goes out |
| Fits best | Salesforce-standardized teams with administrator capacity | Companies of 50 to 1,000 people without spare builders |
What does Agentforce cost for a mid-market sales team?
Salesforce publishes four prices that matter here (Salesforce, Agentforce pricing, read 22 October 2026; the page says prices are for information and subject to change). Flex Credits cost $500 per 100,000 credits, and each Agentforce action uses 20 credits. Conversations cost $2 each. A user license costs $5 per user per month and requires Flex Credits. Sales, Service and Field Service add-ons cost $125 per user per month. An org cannot use Flex Credits and Conversations together, and unused Flex Credits do not carry into later subscription terms.
| Volume | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 agent actions in a month | 10,000 x 20 credits = 200,000 credits, at $500 per 100,000 | $1,000 |
| 1,000 conversations in a month | 1,000 x $2 | $2,000 |
| 25 users on the Sales add-on | 25 x $125 per month | $3,125 a month, $37,500 a year |
The add-on figure is the add-on alone. Salesforce lists it separately from base licenses and credits, so ask what it attaches to.
Hastings charges a one-time setup of €10,000, then a flat monthly fee set by the number of jobs: €4,500 a month for a 90-day pilot with two jobs, €6,000 a month for up to three jobs, €11,000 for up to eight, and from €15,000 for every job (Hastings pricing, read 22 October 2026). The fee does not change with headcount. A first year on the three-job plan, setup plus twelve months at €6,000, is €82,000.
The currencies differ and the meters measure different things. Count the actions or conversations you expect in a month, price both options at that volume and at twice that volume, and compare the two totals.
What do Agentforce reviewers report?
Gartner Peer Insights shows Agentforce at 4.3 out of 5 from 72 ratings, with 40% five-star, 50% four-star and 10% three-star (Gartner Peer Insights, read 22 October 2026; the page also refers to 84 reviews). The listed pros center on the native fit, since Agentforce lives inside the Salesforce ecosystem and needs no external data syncs, and on a low-code builder with a drag-and-drop interface.
The cons center on setup and customization. One reads “Complex customizations in enterprise solutions may be overwhelming for AI agent to resolve”, and complex deployments need initial support from the vendor team. A senior manager at an IT services company gave 5.0 on 15 June 2026 under the title “Fast automation within Salesforce, but advanced setup can be challenging”. A quality engineering director at a bank gave 3.0 on 13 May 2026 under a title that names challenges in customization.
Our reading: reviewers value the native fit and report that the effort sits in setup. Both points favor Agentforce for a team with Salesforce builders, and both point to extra cost for a team without them.
What does independent research say about agentic AI projects?
Gartner expects more than 40% of agentic AI projects to be canceled by the end of 2027, citing rising costs, unclear business value and inadequate risk controls, and estimates that about 130 of the thousands of agentic AI vendors offer real agentic capability (Gartner press release, 25 June 2025).
That forecast covers every agentic product, Hastings included. It argues for the same three safeguards with either choice: agree the measure of success before the contract starts, cap the first commitment, and keep a person approving what leaves the company. The Hastings pilot sets success measures on two jobs over 90 days. With Agentforce the equivalent is a capped Flex Credits purchase tied to one agent and one measure.
Which sales teams should pick Agentforce, and which should pick Hastings?
Agentforce suits a team that runs its pipeline in Salesforce, has administrators or developers with time to build and maintain agents, and wants agents that act on live CRM data next to the records they update. It also suits a company that wants to decide agent by agent and pay by usage.
Hastings suits a company of 50 to 1,000 people that has the commercial work (meeting briefs, CRM updates, tender responses, proposals, competitor watch) and no spare builders, and wants one monthly fee and a team that operates the system with it (all 27 use cases). It delivers into Salesforce, so the two can run together: Agentforce for tasks inside the CRM, Hastings for work that crosses email, meetings and documents.
The proof Hastings has on record is 160+ agents in production in the marketing organization of a global industrial major operating in more than 100 countries (hastings.ai). That is one company's marketing function, so ask any vendor, us included, for a reference at a company of your size.
Which questions should you ask either vendor?
| Question | A good answer |
|---|---|
| Which meter prices the job I am buying? | A monthly figure at your expected volume and at twice that volume, in writing. Salesforce lists actions, conversations and seats as separate meters. |
| What happens to unused capacity? | Salesforce states that unused Flex Credits do not carry into later subscription terms. Hastings plans include set volumes, and going above them moves you up a plan (Hastings pricing FAQ). Get the rule for your plan in the contract. |
| Who maintains the instructions after go-live? | A named owner, on your side or the vendor's, with a response time. |
| What measure ends the contract early? | One number, agreed on day one, with the date it is checked. |
| What does a person approve? | A list of the outputs that leave the company only after a named person approves them. |
Where to read next
Other Hastings comparisons: for the software-or-people question see AI SDR tool or hired SDRs. For a general-purpose assistant see Hastings and ChatGPT Enterprise. Plans and company facts: pricing and About Hastings.
Questions buyers ask
Is Salesforce Agentforce better than Hastings for a mid-market sales team?
It depends on who will build and maintain the agents. Agentforce fits a team that already runs on Salesforce and has builders to configure agents. Hastings fits a team that wants the commercial work delivered and operated for a flat monthly fee (Salesforce pricing; Hastings pricing).
How much does Salesforce Agentforce cost?
Salesforce lists Flex Credits at $500 per 100,000 credits with 20 credits per action, $2 per conversation, $5 per user per month for the user license and $125 per user per month for the Sales add-on (read 22 October 2026, Salesforce pricing). The page says prices are subject to change.
How much does Hastings cost?
Setup is €10,000 once. The monthly fee is €4,500 for a 90-day pilot with two jobs, €6,000 for up to three jobs, €11,000 for up to eight, and from €15,000 for every job (Hastings pricing, read 22 October 2026).
What do Agentforce reviewers complain about?
Setup and customization. A listed con reads “Complex customizations in enterprise solutions may be overwhelming for AI agent to resolve”, and complex deployments need initial vendor support (Gartner Peer Insights, read 22 October 2026).
Can Hastings and Agentforce run together?
Yes. Hastings delivers its work into Salesforce, Outlook and Teams, so a company can run Agentforce agents inside the CRM and Hastings for work that crosses email, meetings and documents (hastings.ai).
Sources
Salesforce, Agentforce pricing (read 22 October 2026; page metadata dated 19 October 2026).
Salesforce, Agentforce (read 19 October 2026).
Gartner Peer Insights, Salesforce Agentforce (read 22 October 2026).
Gartner, Over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by end of 2027 (25 June 2025).
Hastings, pricing (read 22 October 2026) and the managed AI operating system.
Disclosure: Hastings publishes this page and sells a competing service. Every Salesforce fact was read from the source linked above on the date shown. Prices change, so check the source before you buy. Salesforce and Agentforce are named only to identify the product. This page is rechecked each quarter against its research file, and sooner if Salesforce changes its prices.