Short answer: Agentforce in Slack fits companies whose deals, cases and accounts live in Salesforce and whose Salesforce admins will build the agents. Runbear fits operations and support teams whose work spans Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Linear and Notion, and who want one shared AI agent in Slack and Microsoft Teams. Agentforce in Slack brings agents built in Salesforce into Slack channels and DMs. Runbear is a separate product that a team lead sets up from a chat.
Disclosure: Runbear is our product.
What it takes to run Agentforce in Slack
You build Agentforce agents in Salesforce and then add them to Slack. Members find them in the Agents tab, message them directly, or @mention them in a channel. Setup comes down to four steps (Slack help center):
- Build the agent in Agentforce Builder. Agents for Slack use the Employee Agent type, and there are three Slack templates: Customer Insights, Employee Help and Onboarding.
- Connect your Salesforce org to Slack, together with a Salesforce admin.
- Map each member's Slack account to their Salesforce account. People without a Salesforce account need a provisional Salesforce license. Ask your Salesforce account executive about it.
- Add a Slack connection to the agent in Salesforce. A Slack owner or admin then reviews the agent's permissions and installs it.
Agentforce in Slack is available on every Slack plan, as long as you have a Salesforce Agentforce license. Access to an Employee Agent is assigned from Salesforce permissions. Agents answer with the asker's own Slack and Salesforce permissions, and Slack says they never reply with information the asker cannot access.
What it takes to run Runbear
Runbear is added to a workspace once, from the Slack Marketplace. A team lead then describes the job in plain English. Runbear asks which knowledge sources and tools the new agent may use, and places it in the channel. Runbear does not need a Salesforce org connected to Slack, although Salesforce can be one of the tools it connects to.
Each tool is connected in one of two ways. A shared connection uses one account for everyone. A per-user connection has each member link their own account, so a Salesforce request runs with the asker's own Salesforce login and Salesforce's own permissions apply. Runbear's pricing page shows which plan includes per-user auth. Runbear's home page also says it has SOC 2 Type II in production.
Side by side
| Agentforce in Slack | Runbear | |
| Who builds the agent | Your Salesforce team, in Agentforce Builder | A team lead, by describing the job in a chat |
| What you need first | A Salesforce org connected to Slack, and an Agentforce license | A Slack or Microsoft Teams workspace, and a Runbear plan |
| Where people use it | Slack channels, DMs and the Agents tab. The same agents can also run in Salesforce apps such as Lightning and Mobile | Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord |
| What it reads | Salesforce data, Slack conversations and connected knowledge bases | Notion, Confluence, Google Drive, SharePoint, websites and selected Slack channels, plus live lookups in connected tools |
| What it can do | Salesforce actions such as updating a record or running a flow, and Slack actions such as searching Slack | Actions in 2,000+ tools, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Linear and Jira |
| Permissions | Employee Agent access follows Salesforce permissions | Each tool is connected as shared or per user. Per-user tools act with the asker's own account |
| How you pay | Agentforce licenses and Flex Credits from Salesforce | A Runbear plan with monthly credits |
Where Agentforce in Slack fits better
It starts from your Salesforce data. If deals, cases and accounts already live in Salesforce, the agent is built where that data is. The Customer Insights template, for example, uses Salesforce data to summarize customer information and write customer briefs.
Your Salesforce access model carries over. Admins assign agent access the way they already assign Salesforce permissions.
It is part of a contract you may already have. Teams that already pay for Agentforce licenses or Flex Credits add Slack without adding a vendor.
Agentforce has trade-offs. Every agent is built in Salesforce, every Slack member who uses it needs a mapped Salesforce account or a provisional license, and Salesforce sells it through several pricing models, so the monthly cost depends on which one your contract uses.
Where Runbear fits operations teams better
For operations teams whose work spans Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Linear and Notion, Runbear runs one shared agent that answers from the team's Notion docs and takes actions in Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk and Linear.
Runbear is an AI agent for Slack and Microsoft Teams that a team lead sets up from a chat, connected to Salesforce and 2,000+ other tools. Through its Salesforce connection, an agent can run SOQL queries (Salesforce's query language), update records and opportunities, create cases and send email through Salesforce.
Runbear is also an AI agent builder for Slack automation: you explain the job in your own words, and Runbear triggers start the agent on a schedule, from an incoming webhook, or from an event in a connected app such as Gmail.
Runbear has trade-offs too. It is one more vendor for IT and security to approve. Knowledge is set up per agent, so each agent answers from the sources connected to it. Usage is metered in credits, and agents pause if the balance runs out.
How the pricing differs
Runbear's plans are priced per month, with a yearly option. Team is $99 per month with 20,000 credits and 5 builders, the people who create and manage agents. Business is $399 per month with 100,000 credits and 10 builders. How many credits a task uses depends on the work and the model. When credits run out, agents pause until someone tops up, turns on pay-as-you-go, or upgrades. Runbear's pricing page lists HubSpot and Zendesk on the Business plan.
Salesforce's Agentforce pricing page, checked in October 2026, lists several ways to buy. Flex Credits cost $500 per 100,000, and each Agentforce action uses 20 of them. An Agentforce User License costs $5 per user per month and also needs Flex Credits. Agentforce add-ons cost $125 per user per month for unmetered employee use. Salesforce offers them for Sales, for Service, and for Field Service and Operations. Salesforce notes that pricing can change, so ask your account executive which option covers Agentforce in Slack.
The two kinds of credit are different units. Compare the cost of a typical task, not the credit counts.
Which AI agent to choose
Choose Agentforce in Slack when:
- Your deals, cases and accounts, and their permissions, live in Salesforce.
- Your Salesforce admins will design and own each agent.
- You already pay for Agentforce licenses or Flex Credits.
Choose Runbear when:
- The work spans Salesforce and tools such as HubSpot, Zendesk, Linear or Notion.
- Part of the company uses Microsoft Teams, and one agent should serve both.
- A team lead, not a Salesforce admin, should set up and change the agent.
- The agent should start work on its own, triggered by a timetable, a webhook call or an event in tools outside Salesforce.
Comparing more than two options? Runbear's guide to the best AI agents for Slack covers ten. To try Runbear, add it to Slack and set up your first agent from a chat.
FAQ
What is Agentforce in Slack?
Agentforce in Slack is Salesforce's AI agents for employees, built in Salesforce and used in Slack. People message an agent directly or @mention it in a channel to ask questions and start actions.
Do I need a Salesforce license to use Agentforce in Slack?
Yes. Agents are built in Salesforce, your Salesforce org must be connected to Slack, and Agentforce in Slack needs a Salesforce Agentforce license. A Slack member with no Salesforce account also needs a provisional Salesforce license.
Which Slack plans support Agentforce?
All of them, with a Salesforce Agentforce license.
Can Runbear update Salesforce records from Slack?
Yes. Runbear's Salesforce connection can update records of any object type, update opportunities and run SOQL queries. Connected per user, it acts with the asker's own Salesforce account.
Does Runbear work in Microsoft Teams?
Yes. The same Runbear agents work in Slack and Microsoft Teams, with one set of instructions, knowledge and tools.
Sources
- Slack help, Set up and manage Agentforce in Slack: https://slack.com/help/articles/36218109305875-Set-up-and-manage-Agentforce-in-Slack
- Slack help, Use Agentforce in Slack: https://slack.com/help/articles/36218786859667-Use-Agentforce-in-Slack
- Slack blog, Agentforce for employees in Slack: https://slack.com/blog/news/ai-for-employees-agentforce-slack
- Salesforce, Agentforce pricing: https://www.salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing/
- Runbear pricing: https://runbear.io/pricing
- Runbear home: https://runbear.io/
- Runbear shared AI agents for teams: https://runbear.io/teams
- Runbear Salesforce connection: https://runbear.io/solutions/integrations/slack/mcp/servers/salesforce_rest_api
- Runbear docs, Knowledge overview: https://docs.runbear.io/agents/knowledge/overview
- Runbear docs, Triggers: https://docs.runbear.io/triggers
