With a company as indomitable as Salesforce, although it has taken some hits, it almost seems as if nothing will truly knock it down. Its stock has sunk and clawed back up before sinking again. Its products, direction, and community dedication have all been questioned. Its own CEO has been criticized by many of its community members.
Yet despite all of this, Salesforce remains a largely successful, multi-billion dollar tech giant. Wall Street may have its hesitations, but an avid interest still remains. And as Agentforce slowly matures, maybe the only way is up for Salesforce after an extended period of hesitancy… if it can compete with the growing number of vibe-coded alternatives.
I’ve Heard This Story Before…
If you’re reading this and thinking that it sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Last week, I wrote a piece surmising that a select number of SMBs (small- to medium-sized businesses) were ditching Salesforce’s CRM capabilities in favor of creating their own customized, cheaper options using tools like Claude Code.
There are two sides to this story. One shows how accessible artificial intelligence is becoming for the masses, allowing them to theoretically cut their tech spending in half by vibe coding the solutions themselves. The other beckons us all to question whether vibe coding entire CRM solutions is a sustainable idea, as it leaves room for errors that become increasingly difficult to iron out the more complex the solution becomes.
This story also has an update. Last week, it was also revealed that US coffee giant Starbucks is now developing in-house tools using AI that could replace some software applications it now buys from companies such as Microsoft and IBM. This is particularly pertinent as Starbucks spends around $400M a year on software alone; the potential to slash these costs significantly could greatly improve margins for the company.
However, as we’ve covered previously here at SF Ben, vibe coding does not come without its risks. Largely considered unsustainable for large, complex projects or projects expected to be maintained over time, vibe coding can seem attractive due to a low initial cost, but the mistakes that often pop up down the line can quickly become both expensive and difficult to handle.
Build vs. Buy
Although Starbucks’ situation doesn’t directly link to Salesforce, it once again puts a spotlight on the longstanding “build vs. buy” debate. On the buy side, you have a solution like Salesforce that comes out of the box, allowing you to customise an existing ‘template’ of sorts. On the build side, you have tools like Claude Code, presenting you with an entirely blank canvas if you so wish, allowing you to fully tailor exactly what you want your final solution to look like.
Brody Ford, a Reporter at Bloomberg News, told SF Ben that the ‘build vs. buy’ debate is by no means new, but that AI has transformed its playing field.
“AI is making a lot of teams say ‘hey, maybe we could build this ourselves. Maybe we don’t actually need to keep paying this vendor who we maybe don’t want to be paying’,” he said.
“The Starbucks [case] was so interesting because it was one of the first examples of a real big enterprise coming out and saying ‘yes, this is our intention’. Largely, it’s been these SMB voices with lower complexity.”
“CIOs tell me if they see one or two like real successful large companies doing it, it very much could open the floodgates.”
Salesforce’s AI Problem
Salesforce finds itself having to tackle a three-pronged problem. This involves:
- Navigating its community’s AI exhaustion: Growing adoption numbers is only one small part of Salesforce’s game plan – it also needs to consider how its community is coping with the onslaught of new products, tools, and technologies, not only from itself but the wider tech market too.
- Pleasing its activist investors and Wall Street: Salesforce can’t just hope for the best with its AI rollout – it has to guarantee ROI for its investors and long-term growth for Wall Street.
- Competing against builder solutions: AI coding agents have undeniably changed the AI game, which means Salesforce also has to compete with AI leaders like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Cursor.
For the last point, this doesn’t mean that Salesforce isn’t able to compete. In fact, it actively is; Salesforce offers both Agentforce as a “buy” solution and Agentforce Vibes as a “build” solution. The option is there for either type of business. However, Salesforce’s main problem lies with its cost.
Agentforce’s pricing, which has been a historically confusing subject, is credit-based and pay-per-resolution. It is $500 per 100K credits and $2 per conversation. You need to pay for Agentforce to get access to Agentforce Vibes, and if a company doesn’t want to fret about AI token usage, they can choose to pay $125 per user per month.
Claude’s pricing, on the other hand, ranges from free to $90 a month, with different prices associated with specific token usage. Plus, it comes in several forms – a webpage, app, and command-line tool, for example – providing that ease of access for businesses that may seem less daunting for some businesses.
Starbucks will not be the only company that ditches traditional software vendors in favor of vibe-coded solutions. As other companies begin to reconcile with their software costs alongside growing demands and scaling efforts, they too will consider which option is best for them.
“Most vendors are trying to capture this energy,” Brody explained. “Most vendors are trying to find a way to make sure the users stay within their platform, and that they can build apps on top of that rather than abandoning them. They want to have [users] who are excited to build their own solutions, but they’ve got to keep them in the ecosystem.”
That’s why this period is so crucial for Salesforce. Its last financial results report indicated that it is on the path up with its AI technology, but now it has to make it stick. Because Salesforce doesn’t just grow independently in the market – its competitors will grow right alongside it. Now, the SaaS giant’s key to survive, and even thrive, is solidifying itself as the number one choice for both enterprise and SMB customers over vibe-coded options.
Final Thoughts
Navigating the evolving AI market was never going to be easy. With so many considerations at play, Salesforce continues to fight an uphill battle, but if it comes out the other side, the potential will likely be nothing short of legendary.
