Skip to contentSkip to contact
Sébastien Tang

Note AI in Salesforce

Agentforce or Microsoft Copilot: which one to choose?

Choose by where the work lives. Agentforce fits when the AI must act on Salesforce records. Copilot fits when work runs in Outlook, Teams and Office. Then check licences and governance.

Written for
Sponsors and IT leads at companies running Salesforce who must pick an AI assistant
Author
, Program and Delivery · Seoul
Published
Reading time
5 min

In short

  • Choose by where the work lives. Agentforce fits when the AI must act on Salesforce records. Copilot fits when the day runs in Outlook, Teams and Office.
  • Copilot reaches Salesforce through Sales agent. Installing it takes a Microsoft 365 admin, and users must consent. Both tools follow user permissions.
  • A small company should run one of them first, on one use case with one owner, because one admin cannot govern two AI platforms.
Text

For a company that already runs Salesforce, the choice between Salesforce’s own AI and Microsoft Copilot depends on where the work is done. Which demo looked better does not settle it. If the task changes Salesforce records (a case, an opportunity, a work order), start with Agentforce, which works inside the org. If the task is email, meetings and documents, start with Copilot and connect it to Salesforce. Many companies end up with both. Then the real decision is who governs each one.

Take a sales team that logs opportunities in Salesforce but writes every follow-up in Outlook and holds client calls in Teams. Microsoft’s Sales agent connects CRM data from Dynamics 365 Sales or Salesforce. It drafts emails and follow-ups in Outlook and captures insights and action items in Teams meetings. The service team next door resolves cases in Salesforce all day. Salesforce’s own customer service demos for Agentforce show exactly that work: resolving an open case, drafting a follow-up email, escalating to a specialist. One company gets two answers because its work happens in two places.

What does each one offer that the other lacks?

Salesforce’s AI starts from the record. Salesforce describes purpose-built agents for sales, service, HR and more, with job-specific subagents, prebuilt actions and Salesforce context already in place. It presents Agentforce Coworker as working within the existing Salesforce permissions and business rules. Its pricing page also sells customer-facing agents, billed per conversation or in Flex Credits.

Copilot starts from the Microsoft 365 day. With the Premium add-on licence, Copilot grounds its answers in web and work data (Microsoft Graph and Work IQ) and gives priority access to Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Next, separate what works today from what is only announced. Salesforce’s AIforce page presents Claudeforce, a prebuilt Salesforce MCP server with 37 ready-to-use sales skills inside Claude. It also presents Slackforce and a Headless Toolkit, next to newsroom items that “unveil” and “announce” them. The page does not say which of them are available today. On the Microsoft side, app creation in Copilot Studio is marked as preview, and Microsoft notes that Copilot might not be accessible in certain markets. Before a programme plan depends on any of these, sort them as described in Dreamforce 2026: what is available, what is announced.

When does Copilot fit better?

Copilot fits better in four situations.

  • The work happens in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel, and Salesforce is where the record lives but not where people work. Sales agent brings the CRM into those tools, so sellers do not have to change where they work.
  • Many of the people involved never open Salesforce: finance, management, support functions. They already use Microsoft 365, and Copilot is sold as an add-on to the plan they have.
  • The process crosses several systems. Copilot Studio connects to other data sources through prebuilt or custom connectors and publishes agents to Teams, Microsoft Copilot, websites and mobile apps.
  • The company already runs its access reviews and compliance in Microsoft 365 and wants AI under the same controls.

Copilot fits worse when the agent has to update a case, change an opportunity stage or answer a customer from the service history. Reading Salesforce from Outlook is a different job from acting in the org.

How does the deployment effort differ?

The licence models start from different places. Copilot is an add-on that requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. Microsoft’s list includes Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, E3 and E5, and Microsoft 365 E7 includes Copilot. Salesforce’s pricing page lists:

  • Agentforce add-ons for Sales, Service and Field Service and Operations at $125 per user per month
  • an Agentforce User License at $5 per user per month, which requires Flex Credits
  • Flex Credits at $500 per 100k credits
  • conversations at $2 each

The page says it is for information only and subject to change. Both vendors bill part of the usage as it happens, and Microsoft bills Copilot Cowork that way too. Name someone to own the consumption report, or the first invoice will be the first time anyone reviews usage.

Admin work splits by vendor. Installing Sales agent requires a Microsoft 365 admin role. Data sharing with a third-party CRM stays off until administrators and users consent to connect their Microsoft account to their CRM account. So the Salesforce link needs three things: a Microsoft admin, a Salesforce-side decision on what users may read, and a consent step in the rollout plan. The Salesforce admin sets up Agentforce inside the org.

On both platforms, data access and governance follow user permissions. Microsoft states that Copilot access is scoped by user permissions, and Salesforce says the same of Agentforce Coworker. A field shared too widely becomes an answer shared too widely: a salary field visible to all users can turn up in anyone’s answer. Clean up the sharing model before you switch on either one. For Agentforce, the rules for changes after go-live belong in a written agreement, covered in Agentforce operating model: who owns changes after go-live.

Training differs too. Copilot users learn in the Office apps they already know. Agentforce users learn on the Salesforce screens they already use. The admin is the harder gap. When one admin runs two AI consoles, often neither one ends up governed.

Before signing a Salesforce AI or Copilot licence1. Base plan confirmed: Copilot needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. Agentforce needs the right add-on, user licence or credits. 2. Usage-based billing has an owner: Flex Credits, conversations and Copilot Cowork are billed on use. One person reads the consumption report every month. 3. Sharing model reviewed: Both tools follow user permissions. Fix over-shared fields and files before the AI reads them. 4. Admins named for each platform: Installing Sales agent takes a Microsoft 365 admin role. Agentforce is set up by the Salesforce admin. 5. Consent step planned: Sales agent shares no CRM data until administrators and users connect their accounts. 6. Available, not announced: Every feature the plan depends on is listed as available, not in preview or only announced. 7. Stop owner named: One person may switch the agent off, and users know who that person is. 8. Training per role: Users are trained where they work. Admins are trained on the console they will govern.Base plan confirmedCopilot needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. Agentforce needs the right add-on, userlicence or credits.Usage-based billing has an ownerFlex Credits, conversations and Copilot Cowork are billed on use. One person reads theconsumption report every month.Sharing model reviewedBoth tools follow user permissions. Fix over-shared fields and files before the AI readsthem.Admins named for each platformInstalling Sales agent takes a Microsoft 365 admin role. Agentforce is set up by theSalesforce admin.Consent step plannedSales agent shares no CRM data until administrators and users connect their accounts.Available, not announcedEvery feature the plan depends on is listed as available, not in preview or only announced.Stop owner namedOne person may switch the agent off, and users know who that person is.Training per roleUsers are trained where they work. Admins are trained on the console they will govern.Before signing a Salesforce AI or Copilot licence1. Base plan confirmed: Copilot needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. Agentforce needs the right add-on, user licence or credits. 2. Usage-based billing has an owner: Flex Credits, conversations and Copilot Cowork are billed on use. One person reads the consumption report every month. 3. Sharing model reviewed: Both tools follow user permissions. Fix over-shared fields and files before the AI reads them. 4. Admins named for each platform: Installing Sales agent takes a Microsoft 365 admin role. Agentforce is set up by the Salesforce admin. 5. Consent step planned: Sales agent shares no CRM data until administrators and users connect their accounts. 6. Available, not announced: Every feature the plan depends on is listed as available, not in preview or only announced. 7. Stop owner named: One person may switch the agent off, and users know who that person is. 8. Training per role: Users are trained where they work. Admins are trained on the console they will govern.Base plan confirmedCopilot needs a qualifying Microsoft 365plan. Agentforce needs the right add-on,user licence or credits.Usage-based billing has an ownerFlex Credits, conversations and CopilotCowork are billed on use. One person readsthe consumption report every month.Sharing model reviewedBoth tools follow user permissions. Fixover-shared fields and files before the AIreads them.Admins named for each platformInstalling Sales agent takes a Microsoft365 admin role. Agentforce is set up by theSalesforce admin.Consent step plannedSales agent shares no CRM data untiladministrators and users connect theiraccounts.Available, not announcedEvery feature the plan depends on is listedas available, not in preview or onlyannounced.Stop owner namedOne person may switch the agent off, andusers know who that person is.Training per roleUsers are trained where they work. Adminsare trained on the console they will govern.
Diagram 1 Eight checks that apply to both tools. Each one needs a named owner before the order form is signed.

Which one is more customisable?

Each one can be customised, in a different direction. Copilot Studio is a graphical, low-code studio for agents and workflows. It has prebuilt or custom connectors, and its workflows include built-in testing and human-in-the-loop controls. It reaches wide: many systems, many channels. Salesforce’s tooling reaches deep into the CRM. Agentforce Builder, Prompt Builder and Agent Script are in the free Foundations tier. Salesforce adds Agent Optimizer, plus Multi-Agent Orchestration to coordinate specialised agents across customer journeys.

Actions on Salesforce records point to Agentforce. A workflow that spans Microsoft 365 and other systems points to Copilot Studio. Every customisation is configuration that someone owns, tests and may switch off. A pilot on either side should end in a go, fix-and-retest or stop decision, as set out in Agentforce PoC to production: turn the demo into a decision.

Which one suits a small company?

A small company usually has one admin, sometimes part-time, and cannot run two AI platforms well. Pick the one that sits where staff spend the day, and keep the other for later.

Both vendors let a small team start small. Salesforce Foundations lists Agentforce Builder, Prompt Builder, Agent Script and Agentforce Coworker at $0, to get started “for any use case”. Microsoft’s basic Copilot Chat licence works with web data only. For Copilot Business, Microsoft lists small-business plans: Business Basic, Standard and Premium, Apps for Business, and Teams Essentials. Start with one use case, one owner and a short test set, then decide on paid licences. Run the path below for each use case, not once for the whole company.

Salesforce AI or Microsoft Copilot: where to startIs the feature you need only announced, with no availability on the vendor page? Yes: Do not plan on it. Check the vendor page again at each gate. No: Must the AI update Salesforce records or answer customers from the service history? Yes: Start with Agentforce, inside the org and its permissions. No: Is the work mostly email, meetings and documents in Microsoft 365? Yes: Start with Copilot, and test Sales agent for the Salesforce link. No: Pick one use case, one owner and a test set before buying any licence.Is the feature you need onlyannounced, with no availability on thevendor page?Do not plan on it. Check the vendorpage again at each gate.YesNoMust the AI update Salesforce recordsor answer customers from the servicehistory?Start with Agentforce, inside theorg and its permissions.YesNoIs the work mostly email, meetingsand documents in Microsoft 365?Start with Copilot, and test Salesagent for the Salesforce link.YesNoPick one use case, one owner and a testset before buying any licence.Salesforce AI or Microsoft Copilot: where to startIs the feature you need only announced, with no availability on the vendor page? Yes: Do not plan on it. Check the vendor page again at each gate. No: Must the AI update Salesforce records or answer customers from the service history? Yes: Start with Agentforce, inside the org and its permissions. No: Is the work mostly email, meetings and documents in Microsoft 365? Yes: Start with Copilot, and test Sales agent for the Salesforce link. No: Pick one use case, one owner and a test set before buying any licence.Is the feature you need only announced,with no availability on the vendor page?Do not plan on it. Check the vendorpage again at each gate.Yes →No ↓Must the AI update Salesforce records oranswer customers from the servicehistory?Start with Agentforce, inside theorg and its permissions.Yes →No ↓Is the work mostly email, meetings anddocuments in Microsoft 365?Start with Copilot, and test Salesagent for the Salesforce link.Yes →No ↓Pick one use case, one owner and a testset before buying any licence.
Diagram 2 Run it per use case, not per company. One company can end up with both answers.

Sources

  1. SalesforceAgentforce: The AI Agent Platformconsulted
  2. SalesforceSalesforce Agentforce Pricingconsulted
  3. SalesforceAIforce: Salesforce AI, Wherever You Already Workconsulted
  4. Microsoft LearnWhat is Microsoft Copilot?consulted
  5. Microsoft LearnLicense Options for Microsoft Copilotconsulted
  6. Microsoft LearnOverview - Microsoft Copilot Studioconsulted
  7. Microsoft LearnWelcome to Sales agentconsulted

Contact

Is this on your table?

Tell me where your programme or your team stands, and what you need to decide.

Request a call

WorkshopsTrainer profile

Same module

All notes