Salesforce Core, Advanced and Max Editions: NZ Small Business Guide

What are Salesforce Core, Advanced and Max, and what do they cost?

They are three new edition tiers for Sales and Service that now sit above Pro Suite on Salesforce's sales pricing page and service pricing page. Industry versions are announced too, with pricing to take effect "later this fall" (the northern autumn). The table uses the sales page, with AUD figures from the Australian pricing page.

Edition	List price (USD per user/month)	Flex Credits included	What is bundled (per Salesforce)	Source
Starter Suite	$25 (AU$35), billed monthly or annually	None listed	Lead, account, contact and opportunity management, built-in sales flows, email marketing	Pricing
Pro Suite	$100 (AU$140), billed annually	None listed	Everything in Starter plus more customisation and automation, quoting, forecasting, AgentExchange access	Pricing
Core	$195 (AU$273), billed annually	500K per org per year	"Everything in Professional Edition plus Momentum and Premier Success", Slack Business+, Tableau Next	Pricing, announcement
Advanced	$395 (AU$553), billed annually	1M per org per year	Everything in Core plus Sales Programs, Backup & Recover, Archive, Data Detect, Security Center, one full sandbox	Pricing, announcement
Max	$550 (AU$770), billed annually	2.75M per org per year	Everything in Advanced plus Agentforce for Sales, Agentforce Coworker, Spiff, Sales Planning, Maps, Slack Enterprise+	Pricing, announcement

Two details the headline hides. The credits are "per org per year", not per user: a 5-user Core org and a 50-user Core org get the same 500,000. And the comparison grid further down the sales page is more cautious than the cards. As at 18 September one Momentum row shows "Coming Soon" on Core and Advanced while another marks it included. Agentforce Account Research is ticked only from Advanced up (the announcement lists it under every tier). And the Agentforce for Sales add-on (from US$125 per user per month) is "Available for purchase" on Core and Advanced, included only in Max. The page disclaimer: "AI can be added to Core and above."

Service editions carry the same three prices with different contents, so read the grid for your cloud line by line.

Did Salesforce raise prices in September 2026?

For new buyers of Core and Advanced, yes; for Max, no; for existing customers, Salesforce says no. Verbatim: "Existing customer pricing on legacy editions remains unchanged."

Salesforce's announcement does not state the old prices, and its sales and service pricing pages no longer list Enterprise or Unlimited. Two secondary sources do. CIO (4 September 2026) reports Enterprise at US$175 and Unlimited at US$350 per user per month, and SalesforceDevops.net (Mehmet Orun, 14 September 2026) gives the same figures, dating them to the August 2025 price rise that Salesforce announced in June 2025 as "an average of 6%".

On those figures, US$195 against US$175 is US$20 more per user per month, about 11%. US$395 against US$350 is US$45 more, about 13%. For a 10-user team, US$20 x 10 users x 12 months is US$2,400 a year more at list. Max "will maintain the same pricing as the Agentforce 1 Edition", which the June 2025 announcement priced from US$550.

Salesforce frames the change as value, not price: Core offers "70% more value than legacy Enterprise Edition", Advanced "more than 50%" over Unlimited and Max "nearly 60%" over Agentforce 1. Those are vendor claims with no published method. Analysts quoted by CIO make the counterpoint: bundled value only counts if your team uses the bundle. Our Salesforce pricing guide predates this change, so use it for Starter, Pro and hidden costs, not for Enterprise figures.

Does Core replace Enterprise Edition, and what happens to my existing contract?

Salesforce has not published a migration path, an end-of-sale date or renewal terms. It calls Enterprise and Unlimited "legacy" editions and measures Core and Advanced against them, and the sales page FAQ now names the plans as "Starter Suite, Pro Suite, Core, Advanced, and Max".

What Salesforce has published: existing customer pricing on legacy editions is unchanged; existing Agentforce 1 Edition customers "can upgrade at no extra cost" to Max; and pricing and packaging "are subject to change". CIO describes Core as replacing Enterprise. Salesforce Ben (3 September 2026) reported that replacement was possible but not confirmed, and that it had asked Salesforce for comment.

What is not published as at 18 September 2026:

• Whether a legacy Enterprise or Unlimited customer can renew on the same edition, and at what uplift.
• Whether seats added mid-term are sold at the legacy price or as Core.
• Any date after which legacy editions stop being sold or supported.

Treat any renewal claim that does not come from Salesforce as unconfirmed, and get the answer for your contract in writing from your account executive. Salesforce's own regional pages are still catching up: the Asia Pacific sales page FAQ still describes an "Agentforce Sales Enterprise plan".

How many Flex Credits come with Core, and what do 500,000 actually buy?

Core includes 500,000 Flex Credits per org per year, which is 25,000 standard Agentforce actions. Salesforce's Agentforce pricing page states that Agentforce "actions are 20 Flex Credits, while Agentforce Voice actions are 30 Flex Credits", and lists credits at US$500 (AU$700) per 100,000.

Edition	Credits per org per year	Standard actions (credits / 20)	Value at list (US$500 per 100K)
Core	500,000	25,000	US$2,500
Advanced	1,000,000	50,000	US$5,000
Max	2,750,000	137,500	US$13,750

Salesforce's worked examples give a sense of scale. A self-service "Where is My Order?" agent handling 20 requests a day uses 24,000 credits a month, which is 288,000 a year: inside Core's pool. Its case management example uses 60 credits per case, 3 cases a day, 20 days a month, for 100 users: 360,000 credits a month. Scale that to 10 users and it is 36,000 a month, or 432,000 a year, which uses most of the Core pool on one use case.

For a small team the numbers nearly cancel: Core's credits are worth US$2,500 per org at list, against the extra US$2,400 a year that 10 users pay over the reported Enterprise price. At 25 users the extra is US$6,000 and the credits are still US$2,500. The announcement does not say whether unused credits roll over; ask. Our Agentforce cost guide covers how credits are consumed.

Is Starter Suite or Pro Suite changing?

No change has been announced. The 3 September announcement does not mention Starter Suite or Pro Suite, the pricing pages still list them at US$25 and US$100 per user per month (AU$35 and AU$140), and CIO reported both as unchanged in features and price.

Salesforce's small business pricing page adds the fine print: Starter is "Billed monthly or annually", Pro Suite is "Billed annually. Contract required." One row of the sales pricing grid matters if integration is your only gap: on Pro Suite the Web Services API is "Additional $25 USD/user/month", so US$125 against Core's US$195. Our Starter vs Pro Suite comparison covers the limits that do force a move.

What does this mean for NZ businesses and nonprofits?

Salesforce publishes no NZD list price for these tiers. The currency selector on its pricing pages offers USD, AUD, GBP, EUR, JPY and SEK only, so treat the figures above as a guide and confirm currency and price on your own quote.

For nonprofits, the nonprofit pricing page shows no sign of the new tiers. As at 18 September 2026 it lists Nonprofit Cloud Enterprise at US$60 and Nonprofit Cloud Unlimited at US$100 per user per month, with no Core, Advanced or Max, and the Power of Us wording says an eligible nonprofit "receives 10 Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud or Sales/Service Cloud licenses, at no cost." The announcement does not mention nonprofits, and Salesforce has not said whether nonprofit editions are part of the Industry Editions pricing due later. Background: Power of Us free licences.

Who should ignore this announcement?

Most small teams can, for now.

• Teams settled on Starter Suite or Pro Suite. Nothing about your edition or price was announced.
• Legacy Enterprise or Unlimited customers mid-contract. Salesforce says your pricing is unchanged. Diary your renewal date.
• Nonprofits on donated Power of Us licences. The announcement does not mention the programme.
• Anyone who will not use Slack, Tableau Next or Agentforce this year. Core's extra value is in that bundle. Without it the question is simply price, and whether Salesforce is worth it for you.

Do not ignore it if you renew within six months, plan to add seats, or are a new buyer who needs included API access, approval processes or a partial sandbox. On the published grid, those start at Core.

What should a small business do this week?

1. Find your edition and renewal date. Both are on your order form or contract.
2. Ask your account executive three questions in writing: can we renew on our current edition, at what price, and what do added seats cost mid-term?
3. List what you already pay for. Slack, Premier Success, backup, analytics. A bundle only saves money where it replaces a line you would otherwise keep.
4. Size your Agentforce use in credits. Actions per day x 20 credits x working days, then compare with 500,000 per org per year.
5. Price the Pro Suite route. If API access is the only gap, US$125 per user may do instead of US$195.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Salesforce Core, Advanced and Max? Core lists at US$195 per user per month and bundles Slack Business+, Tableau Next, Premier Success and 500,000 Flex Credits per org per year. Advanced (US$395) adds backup, archive, Security Center and 1 million credits. Max (US$550) adds the Agentforce for Sales add-on, Slack Enterprise+ and 2.75 million credits.

Did Salesforce raise prices in September 2026? For new Core and Advanced purchases, yes. CIO and SalesforceDevops.net report legacy Enterprise and Unlimited list prices of US$175 and US$350, making Core US$20 and Advanced US$45 more per user per month. Max matches the Agentforce 1 price, and Salesforce says existing customer pricing on legacy editions is unchanged.

Does Core replace Enterprise Edition? Salesforce calls Enterprise and Unlimited legacy editions, and its sales and service pricing pages now list Core, Advanced and Max instead. It has not published an end-of-sale date, a migration path or renewal terms, so ask your account executive for those in writing.

How many Flex Credits come with Salesforce Core? Core includes 500,000 Flex Credits per org per year, not per user. At Salesforce's published 20 credits per standard Agentforce action that is 25,000 actions a year, worth US$2,500 at the list price of US$500 per 100,000 credits. Advanced includes 1 million and Max 2.75 million.

Are Starter Suite and Pro Suite changing? No change has been announced. The 3 September 2026 announcement mentions neither suite, and Salesforce's pricing pages still list Starter Suite at US$25 and Pro Suite at US$100 per user per month (AU$35 and AU$140). CIO reported both as unchanged in features and price.

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SAASKOOL is a New Zealand Salesforce partner. If a renewal or an edition decision is coming up, start with our free Salesforce health check.