May 2, 2025
Top 7 Agentforce Alternatives and Competitors for 2026
Agentforce is a solid option for Salesforce teams that want agentic AI inside Customer 360. For many orgs, it is the natural starting point because it is designed to work within the Salesforce platform, with governance and admin controls that fit established Salesforce operating models.
At the same time, plenty of IT leaders and Salesforce admins evaluate other agentic platforms alongside Agentforce. The reason is usually not dissatisfaction. It is fit. Some teams need more flexibility across tools and data sources. Some want a different balance of build effort versus time to value. Others want agentic automation that focuses on a specific workflow like case intake, routing, and summarization, without adding a heavy new layer to maintain.
This guide is intentionally neutral. It is a shortlist of credible options that commonly come up in real evaluations, plus the criteria that help you choose without creating admin pain later.
What this article covers
You will find:
A quick comparison table for the seven platforms below
A practical description of what each platform is good at
A selection checklist tailored to Salesforce admins and IT leaders
Examples for regulated teams like medtech and lending
A quick definition of agentic AI in Service Cloud
Agentic platforms are not just chatbots. The useful ones do three things reliably:
They retrieve the right context, including knowledge and CRM data
They decide what to do next, with clear guardrails
They take action, such as creating or updating records, routing work, and triggering workflows
If you are evaluating Agentforce alternatives, keep this simple standard in mind. If a tool cannot safely take action in your real workflows, it will feel impressive in demos and disappointing in production.
Agentforce alternatives at a glance
Platform | Best for | Salesforce fit |
|---|---|---|
ConvoPro | Salesforce native case triage and automation with flexibility around models and data | Built to run inside Salesforce workflows |
Salesforce native AI (Agentforce and Einstein) | Salesforce aligned agentic and assist capabilities | Native platform integration |
Forethought | Support automation for triage, deflection, and agent assist | Often deployed with Salesforce Service Cloud |
Intercom Fin | Front line customer support automation with a strong optimization loop | Commonly paired with Salesforce depending on your support stack |
Zendesk AI with Salesforce connection | Support teams running Zendesk while maintaining Salesforce as system of record | Best when Zendesk is the operational helpdesk |
Qualified | Agentic inbound conversion for revenue teams | Strong Salesforce centric positioning |
Moveworks | Enterprise automation across employee service and business systems | Often used when the scope extends beyond CRM |
A quick note on “native versus best”: the right answer depends on where work actually happens. If your agents live in the Salesforce console and your workflows are built around Flows, Omni Channel, Entitlements, and case milestones, prioritize solutions that plug into those patterns cleanly.
1. ConvoPro
ConvoPro is designed for workflow first case automation inside Salesforce. For Salesforce admins, the appeal is straightforward: keep the work in Salesforce, improve consistency at intake, reduce case bouncing, and give agents better context so they can move faster without changing their daily workflow.
Where ConvoPro tends to fit best is service organizations that care about triage, routing, summarization, and reliable outcomes inside Service Cloud processes.
Key strengths you would typically evaluate:
Case triage signals that can help standardize classification and priority
Consistent case summaries that reduce time spent rereading long threads
Workflow friendly integration with Salesforce patterns, including field updates and routing logic
Flexibility around how models and data sources are used as requirements evolve
Best for: Salesforce Service Cloud teams that want measurable improvements in triage consistency, summary quality, and routing outcomes, while keeping the agent experience familiar.
2. Salesforce native AI (Agentforce and Einstein)
Salesforce native AI is often the starting point for teams that want platform alignment, centralized governance, and a unified admin model. Native capabilities can support agent assistance, knowledge workflows, and increasingly agentic automation patterns depending on configuration, readiness, and licensing.
Native is a strong path when you want to standardize within Salesforce and build long term capability across the platform.
What to evaluate in practice:
How quickly you can go from enablement to stable production outcomes
How much configuration and data preparation is required for your specific use cases
How you will monitor quality and prevent automation drift as case patterns change
What the operating model looks like for admins and service ops, not just developers
Best for: Orgs that prefer a Salesforce only footprint and have bandwidth to configure, test, and iterate until outcomes match real operational needs.
3. Forethought
Forethought is commonly evaluated for support automation workflows like triage, deflection, and agent assistance. Teams typically look at Forethought when they want better intake classification, faster resolution through recommended answers, and improved consistency across repetitive issue types.
Forethought is especially relevant if your support environment has repeatable patterns and you want automation that learns from existing support content and outcomes.
Key strengths you would typically evaluate:
Ticket and case triage that improves routing and prioritization consistency
Deflection and suggested answers that can reduce workload and improve response speed
A support focused product orientation that maps to service metrics and workflows
A path to measurable outcomes like reduced backlog and improved time to first response
Best for: Teams that want support automation results without building a full agent platform from scratch.
4. Intercom Fin
Intercom Fin is a strong option when your primary goal is customer facing resolution and deflection, with an emphasis on continuous improvement. It is often evaluated by teams that want a fast path to automation on digital channels, plus a disciplined tuning loop.
If you are comparing to Agentforce, the practical question is where the conversation starts. If most customer conversations begin in Intercom, Fin can be the front door while Salesforce remains the system of record.
Key strengths you would typically evaluate:
Front line automation that can resolve common requests quickly
A strong workflow for analyzing performance and improving over time
A customer experience first design that can reduce inbound volume
Clear escalation and handoff patterns when a human needs to take over
Best for: Digital first support teams that want speed to deployment and ongoing optimization, often alongside Salesforce.
5. Zendesk AI with Salesforce connection
Some organizations run support operations in Zendesk while keeping Salesforce as the system of record for accounts, customers, and reporting. In that scenario, the “alternative” is not another Salesforce native agent. It is an AI layer that improves Zendesk operations while reliably updating Salesforce records when needed.
This approach can be effective when Zendesk is deeply embedded operationally and switching helpdesks is not on the table.
Key strengths you would typically evaluate:
How cleanly tickets and customer context map between Zendesk and Salesforce
Whether AI driven triage and routing happens where the agents work day to day
How handoffs, escalations, and ownership changes are synchronized across systems
The administrative burden of maintaining integrations and data consistency
Best for: Teams committed to Zendesk for daily support operations that still require Salesforce data accuracy.
6. Qualified
Qualified is primarily evaluated by revenue teams, not service teams. It focuses on agentic inbound conversion, such as engaging website visitors, qualifying intent, and routing high value conversations into Salesforce with the right context for sales.
If you are an IT leader supporting both service and revenue operations, Qualified often appears in the same “agentic platform” conversation even though the workflows are different.
Key strengths you would typically evaluate:
Inbound conversion and pipeline acceleration tied directly to Salesforce
Automation that supports SDR and sales motions, not just support
A clear integration story for pushing context into Salesforce objects
Measurement against revenue metrics like meetings booked and pipeline influenced
Best for: B2B sales orgs that want more meetings and pipeline from inbound traffic, with Salesforce as the CRM of record.
7. Moveworks
Moveworks is often evaluated by larger enterprises that want a broad automation layer across employee service and business systems, not only customer support. In Salesforce contexts, it is typically used when the scope extends beyond Service Cloud and into internal service, IT workflows, HR requests, and cross system automation.
If your definition of “agentic” is enterprise wide automation, Moveworks can be compelling. The key is to validate how well it supports your Salesforce specific workflows and governance requirements.
Key strengths you would typically evaluate:
Enterprise scale automation across multiple systems and knowledge sources
Strong employee service and internal support use cases
Cross system orchestration that can touch CRM workflows when needed
An operating model oriented toward large enterprise deployments
Best for: Large organizations that want multi system automation and have the change management appetite for a broader rollout.
How to choose an Agentforce alternative without creating admin debt
Most teams do not fail because the model is not smart enough. They fail because the operating model is unclear and maintenance becomes a burden.
Use these questions to keep your evaluation grounded:
Can it take real action in Salesforce, not just suggest next steps
How does it handle identity, permissions, and audit requirements
What does a clean handoff look like across your channels and queues
How much ongoing maintenance will admins own, including monitoring and updates
Can you measure outcomes the business cares about, like time to first response, reassignment rate, backlog age, and SLA performance
If you answer those questions during a pilot, you will avoid most expensive surprises later.
Two grounded examples: medtech and lending
Medtech support teams often need automation that can summarize device history, flag safety or compliance triggers, and route cases based on severity. The best platform in this environment is the one that retrieves the right context quickly and escalates safely when risk flags appear.
Lending teams care about accuracy, record updates, and consistent policy enforcement. The right platform is usually the one that supports strong governance, predictable workflows around sensitive data, and clear audit trails for what the system did and why.
In both industries, “agentic” is only valuable if it is reliable and accountable.
Frequently asked questions
What is Agentforce?
Agentforce is Salesforce’s agentic AI approach for building and deploying AI agents that can respond, reason, and take actions within Salesforce aligned workflows, depending on configuration and governance.
Why do teams look for Agentforce alternatives?
Common reasons include the need for flexibility across tools, differing preferences on build effort versus time to value, and workflow specific requirements like specialized case triage, routing behavior, or support deflection patterns.
Do alternatives integrate with Salesforce?
Many do. The difference is how deeply they integrate and where the workflow actually runs. Some options operate mainly inside Salesforce patterns. Others treat Salesforce as one of several connected systems.
Who benefits most from evaluating alternatives?
Teams that have a clear workflow to improve and a measurable outcome to target. If you can name the specific bottleneck, such as misrouting at intake, slow handoffs, or high agent time spent on rereading case history, you can run a focused pilot and quickly see which approach fits.
A simple next step
If you are shortlisting platforms, run a short proof of value with one workflow that matters. For example: intake, triage, summary, route, and update case fields. Require a clean human handoff and measurable reporting outputs. You will learn more from a small amount of real ticket traffic than from weeks of slideware.
If ConvoPro is on your shortlist, focus the trial on Service Cloud case automation outcomes and admin maintainability, because those are the areas where Salesforce teams typically feel value quickly.
