Agentforce vs ServiceNow AI Agents: Pricing, Features and Which to Pick
Salesforce's and ServiceNow's agent platforms compared on pricing models, what agents can act on, custom agent building, governance and six buying scenarios, as of October 2026.
By , research by the BestBots team · Updated Oct 19, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
Pick Agentforce for customer facing sales and service agents when your customer data lives in Salesforce: it publishes $0.10 per action pricing and includes the builder at no cost. Pick ServiceNow AI Agents for IT and employee service when your tickets, CMDB and catalog run on ServiceNow: its agents act on those records natively, with AI Control Tower governance included in every tier.
Agentforce4.0From $0.10 per action (20 Flex Credits at $500 per 100,000 credits) (per action (Flex Credits), per conversation, or per user add on)
Visit Agentforce
ServiceNow AI Agents3.8From Quote only (per fulfiller seat tier with a pooled assist allowance)
Visit ServiceNow AI AgentsSide by side
| Spec | Agentforce | ServiceNow AI Agents |
|---|---|---|
| BestBots Score | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| Starting price | $0.10 per action (20 Flex Credits at $500 per 100,000 credits) | Quote only |
| Pricing model | per action (Flex Credits), per conversation, or per user add on | per fulfiller seat tier with a pooled assist allowance |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Free tier | Salesforce Foundations at $0 includes Agentforce Builder and Agent Script; agent usage bills in Flex Credits | No |
| Paid from | $0.10 per action ($500 per 100,000 Flex Credits) or $2 per conversation | Quote only; Foundation, Advanced and Prime tiers |
| Models | Anthropic via Amazon Bedrock, Google Gemini and OpenAI | Not published per tier; Now Assist generative AI |
| Integrations count | Not published; native Salesforce clouds, MuleSoft APIs and MCP servers via AgentExchange | Not published; Workflow Data Fabric with zero copy connectors plus native ServiceNow apps |
| Code option | Agent Script, Apex, Flows and MuleSoft APIs | Low code AI Agent Studio; custom agents on Prime only |
| Self host | No, Salesforce cloud only | No, ServiceNow cloud |
The short answer
Both are platform agents: they are most valuable inside the system that already holds your records.
- Agentforce sits on Salesforce's CRM. Agents qualify leads, answer customers, process returns and update opportunities using records, Flows and Apex.
- ServiceNow AI Agents sit on the Now Platform. Agents resolve incidents, fulfill requests, triage changes and answer employee questions using the CMDB, knowledge and catalog.
They overlap in customer service, where Salesforce Service Cloud and ServiceNow Customer Service Management compete directly. Outside that, the choice is usually obvious from your org chart: the front office picks Agentforce, the IT organization picks ServiceNow.
Pricing
| Line item | Agentforce | ServiceNow AI Agents |
|---|---|---|
| Price list | Published | Not published; quote only |
| Usage unit | Flex Credits, $500 per 100,000; 20 per action ($0.10), 30 per voice action ($0.15) | Assists, drawn from a tenant pool; no published unit price |
| Per conversation | $2, customer facing agents only | Not offered |
| Per user | Add ons $125 per user per month (Industries $150); user license $5 plus credits | AI bundled into Foundation, Advanced and Prime seat tiers |
| Included usage | Max Edition, from $550 per user per month, includes 2.75 million Flex Credits per org per year | Reported 1,500, 3,000 or 6,000 assists per ITSM fulfiller seat per year by tier |
| Free to build | Salesforce Foundations $0 with Agentforce Builder | Configure prebuilt agents on any tier; custom agents need Prime |
| Platform floor | Salesforce Core $195 per user per month billed annually or higher | ServiceNow subscription per fulfiller seat |
Worked comparison
A service desk resolves 5,000 requests a month with an agent workflow of about 6 tool calls each.
- Agentforce: about 6 actions at $0.10 = $0.60 per request, $3,000 a month in Flex Credits. Or $2 per conversation, $10,000, if it is customer facing and you chose Conversations pricing.
- ServiceNow: a 5 to 8 tool call workflow is reported at 50 assists, so 250,000 assists a month, 3 million a year. On Advanced at a reported 3,000 assists per fulfiller seat, that needs the pool of about 1,000 fulfiller seats; a smaller desk would buy top ups at a rate you have to negotiate.
The structural difference: Agentforce bills the work, so you know the cost per resolution. ServiceNow bundles a work allowance with seats, so small agent volumes can be effectively free and large ones depend on top up pricing you cannot see in advance. See Agentforce pricing and the AI Price Index.
Models and features
| Feature | Agentforce | ServiceNow AI Agents |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | Agentforce Builder, Agent Script, Prompt Builder | AI Agent Studio (low code) |
| Orchestration | Atlas Reasoning Engine, multi agent | AI Agent Orchestrator |
| Models | Anthropic via Amazon Bedrock, Google Gemini, OpenAI | Now Assist; per tier model list not published |
| Prebuilt agents | Sales, service and field service agents | AI Agents for ITSM, L1 Service Desk AI Specialist, AI Agent for DEX, AI Voice Agents |
| Data | CRM records, Data 360 | Incidents, requests, CMDB, knowledge, Workflow Data Fabric with zero copy connectors |
| Actions | Flows, Apex, MuleSoft APIs, MCP | Platform workflows and integrations |
| Channels | Web chat, voice, Slack | Virtual Agent, Moveworks conversational layer, voice on Advanced |
| Governance | Einstein Trust Layer, audit trail | AI Control Tower: inventory, quotas per team, kill switch |
| Self host | No | No |
Head to head scenarios
Customer support on a Salesforce org
Winner: Agentforce. Agents identify the customer, check orders and create cases in Service Cloud natively, and the cost per conversation is published. ServiceNow would reach Salesforce data through integrations.
IT service desk
Winner: ServiceNow AI Agents. The L1 Service Desk AI Specialist and AI Agents for ITSM work on incidents, the CMDB and knowledge where they live. Agentforce has no native view of your IT estate.
HR and employee service
Winner: ServiceNow AI Agents. HR service delivery, onboarding and employee requests are ServiceNow's home ground, and the Moveworks layer bundled since April 2026 adds an employee assistant across chat tools.
Building your own custom agent
Winner: Agentforce. Agentforce Builder and Agent Script are included in $0 Salesforce Foundations, so any team can build and test. On ServiceNow, creating net new custom skills and agents requires the top Prime tier.
Forecasting the AI budget
Winner: Agentforce. Every usage price is public, overage bills at your contracted rate with no penalty, and you can model cost per resolution before signing. ServiceNow's tier limits and top up rates come only from sales, and partners described the April launch as unclear on limits.
Governing AI across the whole company
Winner: ServiceNow AI Agents. AI Control Tower, included in every tier, inventories AI assets and agents, sets quotas per team, tracks risk and compliance, and can stop any agent. Agentforce's Einstein Trust Layer governs what reaches the model, but it is scoped to Salesforce.
Privacy
- Agentforce: prompts pass through the Einstein Trust Layer, which masks personal data before it leaves Salesforce; Salesforce states third party model providers never store or train on prompts and responses. Its compliance portal lists ISO 42001 for AI management alongside ISO 27001 family certifications, HITRUST and PCI DSS on Hyperforce.
- ServiceNow: agents run inside your instance under existing roles, and AI Control Tower tracks risk and compliance. ServiceNow does not publish a per tier model list on the pages we could open, so ask which models process your data and where.
Verdict
These are complements more often than competitors. Agentforce is the better platform for customer facing agents in Salesforce companies and the easier one to price and to start building on, with a free builder and published per action rates. ServiceNow AI Agents is the better platform for IT and employee service on ServiceNow, with stronger company wide AI governance, but you buy it blind on price and need Prime for custom agents. If you run both systems, put customer agents on Agentforce and service desk agents on ServiceNow, and connect escalations between them.
Read the full Agentforce review and ServiceNow AI Agents review, or see the ranking in best enterprise AI agent platforms.
Frequently asked questions
Is Agentforce better than ServiceNow AI Agents?
For customer facing sales and service on Salesforce data, yes. For IT service management and employee service on ServiceNow, no; ServiceNow's agents work natively on incidents, the CMDB and the service catalog. Most enterprises choose by which platform is their system of record.
Which is cheaper, Agentforce or ServiceNow?
Agentforce publishes its prices, $0.10 per action or $2 per conversation, so you can calculate the bill. ServiceNow publishes none; AI is bundled into per seat tiers with an assist allowance. If you already pay for ServiceNow Advanced or Prime, its agents may cost nothing extra until your assist pool runs out.
Can Agentforce handle IT tickets?
It can, using Service Cloud cases and integrations, but IT asset data, change management and the CMDB usually live in ServiceNow. Agentforce would act on them through APIs or MuleSoft rather than natively.
Can ServiceNow handle customer service?
Yes, through ServiceNow Customer Service Management, and AI agents apply there too. If your customer records and sales pipeline live in Salesforce, Agentforce is the more direct fit.
What is an assist compared with a Flex Credit?
Both are usage units. A Salesforce Flex Credit costs $0.005 and an action uses 20, so $0.10. A ServiceNow assist has no published price; reported consumption is about 1 for a summary and 25 to 150 for agent workflows, drawn from a pool included with your seats.
Do they work together?
Yes. Many enterprises run Salesforce for customers and ServiceNow for IT and employees. Integrate them so customer escalations that need IT work create ServiceNow tickets, and keep one agent responsible for each step.