7 top AI tools every Salesforce developer should know in 2025

Let's be real for a second. Being a Salesforce developer often feels like a constant juggling act. You’re building new features, trying to avoid the maze of governor limits, and wrestling with tricky business logic. All while someone from the business side is asking, "So, is it done yet?"

It’s a lot.

Thankfully, generative AI is finally becoming a real co-pilot, not just another tech buzzword you can ignore. These tools can genuinely speed up your day, handling the grunt work of coding so you can focus on the parts that actually require your brainpower. But with so many options popping up, it's tough to tell which ones actually get the unique headaches of the Salesforce platform.

That's why we put this guide together. We're skipping the hype and giving you a practical look at the top AI tools every Salesforce developer should know, based on what people in the community are actually using. We'll cover tools that write code, help you debug, and even automate the support workflows that inevitably follow a new release.

What are AI tools for Salesforce developers?

So, what are we actually talking about here? AI tools for Salesforce development are basically assistants that help you through the whole development cycle. Think of them as a junior dev who’s an incredibly fast typist and has somehow read every public code repository in existence.

Their main gig is to help you write and manage code. They can spin up Apex, LWC, and SOQL from a simple English prompt, guess the next line of code as you type, draft entire unit tests, explain that messy block of legacy code you just inherited, and even point out potential bugs. The real magic, especially for Salesforce, is context. The best tools understand (or can be taught) the specific quirks of Salesforce's architecture, its languages, and, most importantly, its limits.

Our criteria for choosing the top AI tools

Not all AI tools are built the same, especially when you drop them into the weird and wonderful world of a Salesforce org. A tool that’s amazing for writing Python scripts might completely fall apart when you ask it to write an Apex trigger that respects bulkification. So, here’s what we looked for when picking the tools for this list:

• Salesforce-specific context: How well does the tool actually get Salesforce? Does it know Apex syntax, standard objects, and the ever-present governor limits? Or does it just spit out Java-flavored Apex that won’t even compile?

• Integration and workflow: Does it plug right into your IDE like VS Code, or are you stuck copying and pasting from a browser tab all day? The less you have to switch contexts, the better.

• Code quality and accuracy: How often does it generate code that looks right but is secretly full of hallucinations or subtle bugs? Reliability is everything.

• Developer efficiency: Does this thing actually save you time? We’re looking for tools that cut out boilerplate, make test creation easier, and make debugging less of a nightmare.

• Community adoption and feedback: What are other Salesforce devs saying? We spent time on forums and threads to see which tools people are genuinely happy with and which ones are just causing frustration.

A quick comparison of the top AI tools

Here’s a quick table to help you compare the coding assistants we'll cover. We’ll get into the gritty details next.

Feature	Einstein for Developers	GitHub Copilot	Cursor	Codeium	General LLMs (ChatGPT/Gemini)
Best For	Native Salesforce Integration	General Code Completion	AI-Native Development	Cost-Effective Alternative	Brainstorming & Debugging
Salesforce Context	High (trained on Salesforce metadata)	Medium (general model)	High (with context sources)	Medium (with context)	Low (no live context)
IDE Integration	VS Code, Code Builder	VS Code, JetBrains, etc.	Standalone IDE	VS Code, JetBrains, etc.	Web browser (API available)
Key Feature	Secure, context-aware generation	Ubiquitous code suggestions	Built-in chat & context features	Fast, multi-language support	Versatile, conversational interface

The 5 best AI tools for Salesforce developers

Alright, let's dive in. Here are the top AI coding tools that Salesforce developers are using to get their work done faster.

1. Einstein for Developers

A screenshot of the Einstein for Developers landing page, one of the top AI tools every Salesforce developer should know.

Description: This is Salesforce's own AI assistant, built directly into a VS Code extension. It’s powered by Salesforce's own CodeGen model and designed from the ground up to be the most secure and context-aware tool for the platform. It all happens within the Salesforce Trust Layer, which is a pretty big deal for enterprise security.

Why it's on the list: Its superpower? It has a direct line to your org's metadata. This means when you ask it to generate code for a custom object, it knows what My_Custom_Object__c is and what fields it has. This cuts down on the weird hallucinations and bad code you might get from more generic tools.

Use cases: Perfect for generating Apex classes and triggers from a simple prompt, creating accurate unit tests that actually cover your code, and getting smart, inline code suggestions for Apex and LWC that understand your specific org.

Pros:

• It's secure by design; your company’s code and data never leave the Salesforce trust boundary.

• It's highly aware of your org’s unique schema, including all those custom objects and fields.

• It can generate entire test classes with a single click, which is great for hitting those coverage targets.

Cons:

• It's one of the newer tools on the scene, so it's still evolving and getting new features.

• It’s completely focused on the Salesforce ecosystem, so it won’t help you with any side projects.

Pricing: The good news is that Einstein for Developers is included at no extra cost with Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Platform licenses in Enterprise Edition or above.

2. GitHub Copilot

A screenshot of the GitHub Copilot landing page, another one of the top AI tools every Salesforce developer should know.

Description: GitHub Copilot is probably the most famous AI coding assistant out there. Backed by OpenAI's models, it plugs into just about every popular IDE and gives you real-time suggestions as you type. It’s basically autocomplete on steroids.

Why it's on the list: Its speed and knack for churning out boilerplate code are fantastic. While it isn't specifically trained on Salesforce, its model has seen a ton of public Apex and LWC code, so it has a pretty good handle on the syntax and common patterns.

Use cases: Great for quickly scaffolding LWC files (HTML, JS, CSS), writing common Apex utility methods, and generating simple SOQL queries based on comments you write.

Pros:

• Excellent at cutting down on the repetitive typing for boilerplate code.

• Supports a huge range of languages, so it's useful for more than just Salesforce work.

• Has a massive user base and strong community support.

Cons:

• It can confidently suggest code that completely ignores governor limits or uses wrong SObject/field names because it has no live context of your org.

• You have to "babysit" it a bit for complex Salesforce logic to make sure it doesn't do something silly.

Pricing: GitHub Copilot's pricing is pretty straightforward. The Pro plan starts at $10/month (or $100/year) for individuals and offers unlimited suggestions and chat. There’s also a free tier with limited monthly completions and chat requests.

3. Cursor

A screenshot of the Cursor landing page, an AI-first code editor and one of the top AI tools every Salesforce developer should know.

Description: Cursor goes about things a little differently. Instead of just being an extension, it's a complete IDE (a fork of VS Code) built around AI-powered development. It feels just like VS Code, so there's no learning curve, but the AI is much more deeply woven into the experience.

Why it's on the list: Cursor's real strength is how it handles context. You can easily point the AI to specific files, documentation, or your entire codebase just by typing "@Codebase". This helps it generate code and answer questions with a much better understanding of your project, which is a huge help for complex Salesforce apps.

Use cases: Refactoring a huge Apex class to be more efficient, debugging an LWC by having a conversation with the AI about your code, and generating new components that actually match the style of your existing codebase.

Pros:

• Better context management leads to more accurate and relevant suggestions.

• The familiar VS Code interface means you can pick it up and go.

• Features like "Fix & Diff" let you see and apply AI suggestions with a single click.

Cons:

• It's a standalone application, so you can't just add it to your current VS Code setup.

• It relies on third-party models from OpenAI and Anthropic, so you're still tied to their performance and policies.

Pricing: Cursor offers a few tiers. There's a free Hobby plan with limited usage. The Pro plan, at $20/month, gives you unlimited Tab completions and higher limits on AI requests. Team plans start at $40/user/month.

4. Codeium

A screenshot of the Codeium landing page, a fast and free AI tool for Salesforce developers.

Description: Codeium has quickly become a developer favorite as a fast, powerful, and (for individuals) free alternative to GitHub Copilot. The product was recently acquired by Cognition and is now part of the Windsurf family of tools, but it still offers fantastic autocomplete, an in-editor chat, and support for a ton of languages.

Why it's on the list: It gives you a feature set similar to the paid tools but without the price tag for individual developers. This makes it super accessible. Users often say its code completion is just as fast as its competitors, if not faster.

Use cases: Autocompleting Apex methods and variables, quickly generating docstrings and comments, and using its chat to explain a piece of old Visualforce code you're trying to migrate.

Pros:

• It’s completely free for individual developers.

• The code suggestions are incredibly fast.

• Offers self-hosting options for companies that are extra cautious about data privacy.

Cons:

• Like Copilot, its knowledge is general and not specific to your Salesforce org, so you always need to double-check its output.

• Its chat feature is useful, but not as context-aware as what you get with Cursor.

Pricing: It's free for individual use. Windsurf offers paid plans for teams starting at $30/user/month, which come with more advanced features and centralized management.

5. General LLMs (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude)

A screenshot of the ChatGPT landing page, a versatile LLM that is one of the top AI tools every Salesforce developer should know.

A screenshot of the Gemini landing page, a powerful LLM from Google that Salesforce developers can use.

A screenshot of the Claude landing page, another excellent LLM for Salesforce developers.

Description: This category is for the big three: ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. While they don't live in your IDE (unless you rig up a custom integration), they're incredibly useful as a "second brain" you can keep open in a browser tab.

Why they're on the list: They are unbeatable for brainstorming, planning out architecture, talking through logic errors, and translating business requirements into pseudocode. Their conversational style lets you explore a problem from different angles before you write a single line of code.

Use cases: Pasting a complex SOQL query and asking for optimization tips, describing a business process to get a high-level design for a Flow or Apex trigger, or debugging an abstract logic error that isn't just a simple syntax mistake.

Pros:

• Incredibly versatile and can help with almost any conceptual task you throw at them.

• Excellent for high-level planning and working through abstract logic.

• All have very capable free versions that are easy to access.

Cons:

• You're constantly switching contexts and copy-pasting code back and forth.

• They have zero knowledge of your codebase, which means a higher risk of getting incorrect or incomplete code.

• You have to be very careful not to paste sensitive or proprietary code into the public versions.

Pricing: All three have generous free tiers. Paid plans typically start around $20/month for individual pro versions (ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Google One AI Premium for Gemini Advanced) which get you access to more powerful models and higher usage limits.

Beyond code: Using AI to automate workflows

But let's be honest, writing the code is only half the job. Once you build and ship an application on Salesforce, someone has to support it. This usually means support teams get buried under the same questions over and over, and developers get pulled in to build and maintain complex automation with Flows or Apex triggers. It’s a huge time-drain.

This is where you can think beyond just code generation and look at workflow automation. A smarter way to handle this is with a dedicated AI platform that can manage these user-facing interactions for you.

That's exactly what eesel AI does. It's a no-code AI platform that plugs directly into helpdesks like Salesforce Service Cloud. It learns from your existing knowledge, like past tickets, Confluence pages, or Google Docs, and automates frontline support. It can answer common questions, triage tickets, and even take custom actions, all without you having to write a single line of custom code.

A screenshot of the eesel AI landing page, a no-code AI platform for automating support workflows.

For developers, this is a massive win:

• Go live in minutes: Instead of spending weeks on a custom automation project, you can set up eesel AI with just a few clicks. It’s a self-serve platform that lets you get started right away without needing to talk to a salesperson.

A flowchart showing how eesel AI's self-serve implementation allows developers to go live in minutes, a key feature of the top AI tools every Salesforce developer should know.

• Powerful simulation: You can safely test how the AI will behave on thousands of your historical tickets before it ever interacts with a real user. This lets you see how it will perform and fine-tune it without any risk, which is perfect for anyone used to a proper QA cycle.

The eesel AI simulation dashboard shows how the AI will perform on historical tickets, allowing for risk-free testing and fine-tuning.

• Custom actions and API calls: eesel AI can be set up to do things like look up order information or update ticket fields. It gives you the flexibility of a custom tool without the headache of building and maintaining it yourself.

The eesel AI platform allows for deep customization of actions and API calls, providing flexibility without the development overhead.

This video provides a deep dive into how top AI tools can make Salesforce developers more efficient and productive.

How to choose the right AI tool

So, with all these options, how do you actually pick one? Here are a few practical tips.

• Start with your biggest time-drain: If you're tired of writing boilerplate code, start with GitHub Copilot or Codeium. If you spend more time debugging weird logic, a conversational tool like Cursor or ChatGPT might be more your speed.

• Think about security and context: If you're in a highly regulated industry or have a very complex, custom Salesforce org, the security and metadata awareness of Einstein for Developers is a huge advantage that’s hard to pass up.

• Don't be afraid to mix and match: Most developers don't stick to just one tool. A common setup is using GitHub Copilot for the moment-to-moment autocomplete and having a ChatGPT or Cursor window open for bigger-picture problem-solving.

• Consider the whole picture: Remember that your job isn't over when the code is deployed. If you're also on the hook for the health of the systems you build, a tool like eesel AI can save you countless hours by automating the repetitive support requests that would otherwise turn into your next development ticket.

Your new workflow with AI tools for Salesforce development

AI is changing what it means to be a Salesforce developer. It's shifting the job away from manual, repetitive typing and toward more creative, strategic problem-solving. These tools aren't here to take your job; they're here to augment your skills and free you from the boring stuff.

The best tool for you really depends on what you’re trying to do, whether that’s scaffolding an LWC, refactoring an Apex class, or automating an entire support queue. By embracing these AI co-pilots, you won't just get more done, you'll get to spend more of your time on the big, interesting challenges that made you want to be a developer in the first place.

Ready to automate the support workflows around your Salesforce applications? eesel AI integrates seamlessly to handle repetitive tickets, freeing up both your support team and your development resources. Try it yourself in minutes.