A practical guide to the Salesforce AI Builder in 2025

Let's be honest, the push to use AI in CRMs is everywhere. Salesforce, being the giant it is, is right at the front with its Einstein and Agentforce tools. These platforms are definitely powerful, but trying to get started with them can feel like you’ve been handed a puzzle with a thousand pieces, especially when you’re trying to understand the Salesforce AI Builder.

If you're thinking about building an AI agent, you've likely heard of the Agentforce Builder. But what does it actually do? How much will it set you back? And is it even the right choice for your team?

This guide is here to give you a straight-talking, practical look at the Salesforce AI Builder. We'll get into how it works, what its main parts are, the real story on pricing (including the costs they don't advertise), and some big limitations you should know about before you sign on the dotted line.

What is the Salesforce AI Builder?

The Salesforce AI Builder, which you'll officially see called the Agentforce Builder, is the central workshop in Salesforce for creating conversational AI agents. Its whole purpose is to help you automate chats with customers and employees by hooking directly into your company's data and existing processes.

Think of it as a hybrid tool. It has a friendly, low-code interface for getting started, but it also relies on a more complex, pro-code scripting language for anything serious. You can begin by just describing what you want your agent to do in plain English. But for fine-tuned control and predictable results, you’ll have to get your hands dirty with Agent Script, Salesforce's own scripting language.

The main draw of the Agentforce Builder is its deep-rooted connection to everything else Salesforce. It’s built to work smoothly with your CRM data, Salesforce Flows, Apex code, and Knowledge articles, which makes it an obvious choice for companies already living and breathing Salesforce.

Key components of the Salesforce AI Builder ecosystem

Building an AI agent in Salesforce isn't just about using one tool; it's about learning to navigate a whole ecosystem. To really get it, you need to see how all the different pieces fit together.

The Salesforce AI Builder: Agentforce Builder and Agent Script

The Agentforce Builder is the visual canvas where you'll do most of your work. It's a pretty intuitive space where you can use pre-made templates for common tasks like checking order statuses, updating reservations, or answering basic FAQs. You can tell the AI what you want in natural language, and it’ll whip up some starter topics and actions for you.

The catch? As soon as you need to build something specific or make your agent more reliable, you’ll meet Agent Script. This is the code that actually runs the agent. It lets you write out exact logic with conditions, loops, and variables. While talking to the builder in English is a nice starting point, getting your agent to behave exactly as you want usually means writing some code. That can be a real roadblock if you don't have developers ready to jump in.

Connecting your knowledge: Salesforce AI Builder data and integrations

One of the builder’s biggest strengths is how easily it connects to your internal Salesforce data. It can pull context from your CRM, set off Salesforce Flows, run Apex code, and reference your Salesforce Knowledge base without breaking a sweat.

Connecting to tools outside of Salesforce, however, is a different story. It’s usually a much bigger project. To integrate with external systems, you'll likely need to use MuleSoft APIs or other enterprise-level tools, which adds another layer of work and cost.

This can be a dealbreaker for teams whose knowledge is spread out. If your support answers live in old tickets from another helpdesk or in documents scattered across different platforms, you might be better off with a more flexible tool. Something like eesel AI takes a much simpler path with one-click integrations. You can instantly bring together knowledge from places like Zendesk, Intercom, Confluence, and Google Docs without a massive API project.

Customizing AI responses with the Prompt Builder

The Prompt Builder is where you go to tweak the AI-generated responses your agent gives, which Salesforce calls "Service Replies." It lets you create and test different prompt templates so the agent’s tone of voice and accuracy match your brand.

You’ll work with two main types of prompt templates:

• Contextual templates: These create replies based on what's already been said in the conversation.

• Grounded templates: These pull answers straight from your company's knowledge base to give more accurate, fact-based responses.

Grounded replies are much more powerful, but they also take more effort to set up. To make them work, you have to configure an "Agentforce Data Library" and connect it through Data Cloud. It’s just another example of how Salesforce’s ecosystem, while deeply connected, often requires you to jump through a few extra hoops to get things running.

Building and testing agents with the Salesforce AI Builder

Creating an AI agent in Salesforce is a cycle: you build a little, test a little, and tweak things until you feel good about putting it in front of customers. Here’s a rundown of how that process usually goes.

Building with the Salesforce AI Builder: A conversational approach

Salesforce encourages what it calls a "conversational development" workflow. This just means you can start building by telling the Agentforce Assistant what you need in plain English. For instance, you could ask it to create topics, instructions, or actions for handling a certain kind of question.

You manage all this in a visual "Canvas view," which lays out your agent's logic clearly. You can see how topics link together and where actions get triggered, making it easier to spot where you need to make changes.

A closer look at testing and troubleshooting

Salesforce gives you a decent set of tools for kicking the tires on your agents before they go live.

• Manual Testing: The Conversation Preview panel lets you chat with your agent in real-time to see how it responds. Next to it, the plan canvas shows you a step-by-step trace of the agent's thinking, so you can see exactly why it did what it did.

• Automated Testing: For more thorough checks, the Testing Center lets you run batch tests across hundreds or thousands of scenarios at once. You can upload a CSV file with your test cases or even have AI generate some for you.

• Monitoring: Once your agent is live, you can use Enhanced Event Logs to look back at past conversations and find any hiccups or spots for improvement.

The challenge of "probabilistic" AI and ensuring readiness

Even with all these testing tools, one of the trickiest parts is knowing when your agent is actually ready for the real world. Salesforce itself points out that agent testing is "probabilistic," which is a fancy way of saying the same question can get different (but still correct) answers. This built-in unpredictability makes it hard to feel 100% confident before you launch. You can run all the simulations you want, but how do you know if they reflect what will happen with real customers?

This is a problem that a solution like eesel AI is built to solve. Its simulation mode is designed to take the guesswork out of the equation. Instead of testing your agent on made-up scenarios, you can run it on thousands of your actual past support tickets in a safe environment. This gives you real, data-driven predictions on resolution rates and cost savings, so you can launch knowing exactly what to expect.

Salesforce AI Builder pricing and limitations

Before you jump into any new platform, you have to understand the true cost and the potential headaches. The Salesforce AI Builder is a beast, but its pricing and limitations are things you really need to think about.

How much does the Salesforce AI Builder cost?

At first glance, the pricing seems simple. Salesforce says the "Agentforce Builder does not cost anything and is included with the purchase of Agentforce." The problem? There's no public price for the Agentforce license you need to buy. You have to talk to their sales team to get a quote, which makes it tough to budget or compare it to other options.

On top of the license fee, you’ll have usage costs. Running and testing your agents uses up what Salesforce calls "Einstein credits," "Flex Credits," or "Conversation Credits." This means you're on a variable, usage-based model that can be hard to predict. If you have a busy month, your bill could be a lot higher than you expected.

This lack of clear pricing is very different from a platform like eesel AI. With straightforward pricing tiers, you know exactly what you’re paying for. Best of all, eesel AI has no per-resolution fees, so your bill stays predictable and won’t jump just because your AI had a successful month.

This video provides a complete look at the Salesforce AI agent builder's features, limitations, and pricing.

Key limitations to consider

Beyond the cost, here are a few other walls you might run into:

• You're stuck in the Salesforce world: The Salesforce AI Builder is made for companies that have gone all-in on Salesforce. If you use other great tools for customer support like Zendesk, Intercom, or Freshdesk, it's not going to play nice. You're pretty much locked into the Salesforce ecosystem.

• It can get complicated, fast: The starter templates are easy enough, but building custom or advanced automations often requires bringing in specialized developers. The reliance on Agent Script, Apex, and MuleSoft means the real cost to get what you want can climb quickly.

• Bringing in outside knowledge is a chore: The builder is great at using your company's knowledge base, but if your information is in Google Docs, Confluence, or old tickets from another helpdesk, getting it all connected is a much bigger and more time-consuming project.

The takeaway: Is the Salesforce AI Builder right for you?

So, what's the bottom line? The Salesforce AI Builder is an incredibly capable tool for big companies that are already deeply tied to the Salesforce ecosystem and have the technical teams to manage it. If your entire business runs on Salesforce and you have developers comfortable with Agent Script and Apex, it offers connections to your CRM data that are second to none.

For most other teams, however, the vendor lock-in, the complexity of custom builds, and the murky pricing are tough pills to swallow. If you're looking for a solution that's more nimble, self-serve, and works with the tools you already use, there are better options out there.

This is exactly where eesel AI comes in. It’s perfect for teams that want the benefits of a powerful AI agent without the heavy lifting, complexity, or confusing pricing of a massive enterprise platform.

With eesel AI, you can:

• Get up and running in minutes, not months, on a platform you can manage yourself.

• Work with your current helpdesk, whether it's Zendesk, [REDACTED], Freshdesk, or another top tool.

• Connect all your knowledge instantly, from past tickets to documents in Confluence and Google Docs.

• Enjoy transparent and predictable pricing with no surprise fees for a job well done.

If you want the power of a custom AI agent without getting locked into one company's world, it’s worth seeing the difference for yourself. You can get started with eesel AI today.