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Pricing Models

Per-user subscription (like SaaS). Per-agent-interaction (usage-based). Per-outcome (pay per resolved case, qualified lead, or successful collection). Hybrid (subscription with usage above a committed floor). Each has buyer-acceptance and revenue-predictability tradeoffs that matter when forecasting revenue and negotiating with the procurement teams who write the check.

Model            Revenue predictability   Buyer acceptance   Best fit
-----            ----------------------   ----------------   --------
Per-seat         High                     High               Productivity copilots
Per-interaction  Medium                   Medium             Service deflection
Per-outcome      Low (high upside)        Very high          AR collections, lead-gen
Hybrid floor     High                     High               Mixed-volume customers

The market is consolidating around outcome-based pricing for the categories where outcomes are objectively measurable (resolved cases, booked meetings, dollars collected). Per-seat works for copilot-style products where every employee gets one. Per-interaction fits high-volume narrow-scope agents but creates buyer anxiety about runaway bills.

Distribution

AgentExchange handles discovery, billing, payment processing, sales tax, dunning, and refunds. Revenue share with Salesforce is built in. Price-listed (transactable) versus enterprise-quoted tiers — partners can support both on the same listing. Direct sales for deals over a published threshold (commonly $50k ACV); self-serve for SMB. Salesforce co-sell credits retire AE quota when the listing is sold into an account that already has a Salesforce AE relationship, which materially shortens the sales cycle.

Revenue Share

Salesforce takes a platform cut — varies by partner tier, volume, and specific deal type. Standard rates: 15% for free-with-paid-platform-prerequisite listings, 25% for paid listings sold through AgentExchange checkout, lower negotiated rates for high-volume Premier partners. Agentforce-specific per-call platform consumption is billed through to the customer at cost-plus, transparent in the partner’s billing console. Net margin on agent sales typically matches or beats traditional SaaS once scale is achieved, because the marginal cost (model tokens) is variable and passes through.

Certification Premium

Salesforce Certified agents (vetted for security, performance, documentation, and observability) command a price premium of 10–25% versus uncertified equivalents in the same category. Enterprise buyers pay for the badge because it reduces their evaluation work and shortens InfoSec review by 4–8 weeks. Worth the certification investment for any ISV chasing enterprise revenue. Certification has three tiers: Listed, Certified, and Trust Layer Verified — each adds compliance artefacts and unlocks higher placement in semantic search.

Cost Considerations

Model token cost is the largest variable cost for most agents. Build a unit-economics model before pricing:

Per-resolution cost stack (illustrative):
  LLM tokens (Claude Sonnet 4.5)   $0.018
  Retrieval (Data Cloud)            $0.004
  Apex callouts (avg 2 per turn)    $0.001
  Trust Layer + audit               included
  Salesforce platform fee           per contract
  ---------------------------------------------
  Cost of goods                     ~$0.025
  Suggested floor price              $0.10-$0.30

Margins below 60% are a flag — either your prompt is too verbose or your retrieval is over-fetching.

What to Do This Week

Pick one pricing model for your top SKU, build the unit-economics sheet, and pressure-test it against the per-call cost shown in Agentforce Command Center for a 30-day window.

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