How to Connect Claude or ChatGPT to Salesforce: What Works Today and What Your Edition Allows

Yes. Salesforce's hosted MCP servers have been generally available since April 2026, for "every Enterprise Edition org and above" in Salesforce's words, and both assistants connect to them: Claude as a custom connector, ChatGPT through developer mode. Salesforce in Claude, the Claudeforce plugin, is with pilot customers now, with an open beta expected in September 2026.

Everything below is as at 12 September 2026 and does not re-explain what Agentforce is.

What can Claude or ChatGPT actually do with Salesforce today?

Through the hosted MCP servers an assistant can query, create, update and delete records and run your flows and Apex actions, as the person who signed in. Salesforce's May 2026 developer post: "you can run SOQL queries, modify records, and execute actions directly from a third-party agent."

What a user can do depends on the server the admin enables. The servers reference separates "SObject Reads - Read and query only, no mutations" from SObject Mutations, SObject Deletes and SObject All (full CRUD). Two limits: invoking Agentforce agents through MCP is "soon" per the GA post, and the security guide allows "no autonomous operation outside of user context".

What is the Salesforce hosted MCP server, and which editions get it?

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is how AI assistants call outside tools. A hosted MCP server is one Salesforce runs at api.salesforce.com: nothing to deploy, you enable it in Setup and point the assistant at it. The GA post says what "started as a pilot last spring and beta last October" is now "a production-ready capability for every Enterprise Edition org and above."

That is the only official edition statement, and it needs a caveat. On 3 September 2026 Salesforce announced "new Core, Advanced, and Max editions", and as at September 2026 its sales pricing page lists them above Pro Suite. That announcement says only that Max keeps Agentforce 1 pricing and that "Existing customer pricing on legacy editions remains unchanged."; there is no published mapping for Enterprise or Unlimited, and the help.salesforce.com pages for hosted MCP now redirect to the developer docs, so there is no "Available in" line. Do not take anyone's word, ours included, for which new edition qualifies: open Setup, API Catalog, MCP Servers. If the Salesforce Servers tab is there, your org has it.

How do you connect Claude or ChatGPT to Salesforce?

The GA post says "The setup takes less than 30 minutes." and gives three steps; you need "System Administrator or equivalent permissions" per the setup overview.

1. Enable a server in Setup, API Catalog, MCP Servers. Salesforce's advice: "try the platform/sobject-reads server in a sandbox. It's read-only, risk-free, and immediately useful."
2. Create an External Client App with the mcp_api and refresh_token scopes ("Connected Apps aren't supported", per the app guide; see our Winter '27 integrations post). Require PKCE, set the callback URL (https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback for Claude; ChatGPT's is in Advanced settings), and gate access with a permission set, since "By default, any user in your org can authenticate through the External Client App." Salesforce recommends "Refresh Token Validity: 30 days or less".
3. Connect the client: "Postman for testing, then Claude, ChatGPT, or similar for everyday use". In Claude (guide): Customize, Connectors, "Add custom connector", the server URL (https://api.salesforce.com/platform/mcp/v1/platform/sobject-reads for production) and the consumer key as OAuth Client ID. In ChatGPT (guide): Settings, Apps, Create App, a user-defined OAuth client, the same consumer key.

Which plans? Anthropic's support article: "Custom connectors using remote MCP are available on Claude, Cowork, and Claude Desktop for users on Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans." and "Free users are limited to one custom connector." On Team and Enterprise only Owners add connectors (docs). As at 12 September 2026 Claude's connector directory had no Salesforce listing and claude.com/connectors/salesforce returned a 404, so you add this yourself. For ChatGPT the only verified plan statement is OpenAI's developer mode page: "Available to Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise, and Education accounts on the web."

What are Claudeforce, Salesforce in Claude, Agentforce Coworker and Claude Tag, and which are still beta?

Every cell below comes from the linked page.

Capability	What it does	Status as at 12 Sep 2026	Salesforce edition stated	Claude or ChatGPT requirement	Source
Hosted MCP servers	Read and write records, run flows and Apex actions, as the signed-in user	Generally available (April 2026)	"every Enterprise Edition org and above"	Claude: custom connector, Free (one only) to Enterprise. ChatGPT: developer mode	GA post, Claude plans
Salesforce in Claude (Claudeforce)	Plugin with "37 prebuilt sales skills" over MCP	Pilot now; open beta expected September 2026	Not stated	Plugins: paid Claude plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise)	Press release, Plugins
Agentforce Coworker	Salesforce's assistant; "Ask Mode" answers from CRM data	GA per the 4 Aug 2026 blog; Claude and ChatGPT surfaces "coming later this year"; help still labels it Beta	Not stated; help FAQ requires "an A4X / A1E plan" or "Flex Credits allocated for usage-based metering"	Not stated	Blog, Help FAQ
Claude Tag Salesforce connection	Reads accounts, contacts, opportunities and cases, writes if granted, via an integration user	Public beta	Not stated	Admin-added; plan not stated	Docs
ChatGPT custom MCP via developer mode	Read and write MCP client; writes confirmed by default	Available; no beta label	As for hosted MCP	"Available to Pro, Plus, Business, Enterprise, and Education accounts on the web."	OpenAI, Salesforce guide

Claudeforce is the partnership Salesforce announced on 26 August 2026. Its first product, Salesforce in Claude, is "a Plugin with 37 prebuilt sales skills"; status, verbatim: "Salesforce in Claude is available to select pilot customers now and expects to launch in open beta in September 2026." On the Claudeforce page only the Sales card is marked Beta; every other card is "COMING SOON". No Claude plan or price is stated.

Agentforce Coworker is Salesforce's assistant. Its 4 August 2026 blog says "Agentforce Coworker is Generally Available." and, on the same page, "Agentforce Coworker is in beta for Salesforce today, with web, Microsoft Teams, ChatGPT, Claude, and desktop app coming later this year." Help still titles its articles "About Agentforce Coworker (Beta)".

Claude Tag is an admin-governed Claude agent; its Salesforce connection uses "the OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow" through "a dedicated integration user", and its docs carry the label "Claude Tag is in public beta."

Is it safe: whose permissions apply, where does the data run, and is it used for training?

Permissions. Per the security guide: "Every MCP tool call runs with the same permissions as the user who authorized the connection" and "There are no service accounts, no machine-to-machine flows, and no autonomous operation outside of user context." Field-level security and sharing rules apply, and "If the agent updates a record, that person's name appears in the audit trail." Event logs show the traffic "by filtering for records where API_CLIENT_CATEGORY = SALESFORCE_HOSTED_MCP."

Where the data runs. Not inside Salesforce. Per Anthropic, "Claude connects to your remote MCP server from Anthropic's cloud infrastructure, rather than from your local device", so records the assistant reads leave Salesforce and are processed by Anthropic or OpenAI. The Einstein Trust Layer's zero-data-retention policy does not cover that path; its help article states "Einstein Trust Layer capabilities apply only to generative AI and Agentforce features." The AI vendor's terms govern that data.

Training. Anthropic's privacy page: "By default, we will not use your inputs or outputs from our commercial products to train our models." On Free, Pro and Max it is a setting each user controls in Privacy Settings, per the August 2025 update. For ChatGPT we could not fetch OpenAI's help centre or privacy pages, so check the terms for your plan there first. Our security settings checklist covers the Salesforce side.

What can Starter Suite and Pro Suite customers do instead?

Salesforce has not published whether Starter Suite or Pro Suite can enable hosted MCP servers. The GA post names Enterprise Edition and above, and the July 2026 API access article lists the editions with API access without naming the Suites. The AP sales pricing page's disclaimer: "AI can be added to Core and above."

What the Suites have is built in. The Suites setup article reads "Available in: Free Suite, Starter Suite, and Pro Suite Editions." Salesforce's 17 March 2026 post: "Small and growing businesses can activate the Employee Agent, your team's AI assistant, in Starter and Pro Suites with no setup or extra costs." The step up is Core; what that buys in agent terms is in our Agentforce cost guide.

What does it cost?

On the Salesforce side, no hosted MCP page or the GA post mentions a price, a Flex Credit rate or an API allocation for MCP calls. Treat that as not stated, not as free. Salesforce Foundations, the "$0 add-on" per its Foundations page, includes a Flex Credit allowance that differs between Salesforce's own pages, so confirm yours in Digital Wallet. Claudeforce carries no published price.

On the Claude side, claude.com/pricing as at 12 September 2026 lists, in USD: Free $0; Pro $17 a month annual or $20 monthly; Max from $100 a month; Team Standard $20 a seat annual or $25 monthly; Team Premium $100 annual or $125 monthly; Enterprise $20 a seat plus usage at API rates. For ChatGPT, check OpenAI's pricing.

What should a small business do first?

1. Look in Setup. API Catalog, MCP Servers. Present means you can start; absent means the Suites AI or an edition conversation.
2. Sandbox, read-only, one person. Enable platform/sobject-reads in a sandbox, gate the app with a permission set, and ask pipeline questions for a week before granting writes.
3. Fix the data first. Our AI-ready data checklist is the pre-flight.
4. Pick the Claude plan for the data. Team or Enterprise puts the org under Anthropic's commercial terms, with Owners controlling connectors.
5. Set the guardrails once. PKCE, refresh tokens at 30 days or less with rotation, an event-log filter on SALESFORCE_HOSTED_MCP.
6. Wait for the plugin if you want skills. Salesforce in Claude's open beta is expected this month; Coworker in Claude and ChatGPT is undated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Claude update Salesforce records or only read them? Both, depending on which server the admin enables: SObject Reads is read and query only, while the Mutations, Deletes and All servers add writes. Every call runs as the signed-in user, and Salesforce recommends starting read-only in a sandbox.

Do I need Enterprise Edition to connect Claude to Salesforce? Salesforce's GA post names every Enterprise Edition org and above; its pricing pages now list Core, Advanced and Max, with no published mapping for Enterprise or Unlimited. The reliable check is Setup: look for MCP Servers under API Catalog.

Is my Salesforce data used to train Claude or ChatGPT? Anthropic's published default for commercial products (Team, Enterprise, API) is no training on inputs or outputs; on Free, Pro and Max it is a user setting. Salesforce's Einstein Trust Layer does not cover data pulled out through MCP. For ChatGPT, check OpenAI's help centre for your plan.

What is the difference between Salesforce in Claude and connecting Claude to Salesforce with MCP? The MCP route is generally available and generic: enable a server, create an external client app, add a custom connector and write your own prompts. Salesforce in Claude is a Claudeforce plugin with 37 prebuilt sales skills, in pilot now with open beta expected in September 2026; its plan and price are not published.

Does connecting Claude to Salesforce cost extra? Salesforce has published no price or Flex Credit rate for hosted MCP calls, so treat it as not stated. Custom connectors are on every Claude plan, Free included (one connector); plugins need a paid plan. No Claudeforce price is published.

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SAASKOOL is a New Zealand Salesforce partner. For help with the sandbox setup or the permission model, see our AI and Agentforce service.