Salesforce Foundations Explained: What Is Free and Who Can Turn It On

What is Salesforce Foundations?

Foundations is a free upgrade layered on an existing Sales Cloud or Service Cloud subscription, not a product you buy. Salesforce announced it on 5 September 2024 and made it available to "Sales Cloud and/or Service Cloud Enterprise Edition or higher customers as of September 17, 2024."

Salesforce's small-business blog (30 July 2026) puts it plainly: "Starter Suite is a standalone product for businesses just getting started with a CRM. Foundations is a free upgrade layered on top of an existing Sales Cloud or Service Enterprise subscription".

Adding it also provisions Data 360 (formerly Data Cloud) and is how Agentforce credits are metered: Salesforce's help article on Flex Credits billable usage states that "To use Flex Credits, Salesforce Foundations is required."

Is Salesforce Foundations really free?

The add-on is free. What runs on it is metered. Salesforce's own Foundations FAQ answers the question "Is Foundations really free?" with: "Yes, Foundations is a $0 add-on that gives your org access to more functionality. Limits and terms do apply", and then lists them:

• "Data 360 and Agentforce functionality consumes credits when used."
• "Overage fees will apply. Usage can be tracked in Digital Wallet."
• "Commerce payment solutions, including Pay Now payment links and Storefront (U.S. Only), are subject to usage-based fees."
• "Marketing emails are limited to 2,000 email sends per org per month. Additional emails can be purchased through your account or your account executive."

So: free to switch on, free to use lightly, and billable once an agent or a Data 360 job burns through the included credits. Watch Digital Wallet in the first month.

Which editions can turn on Foundations?

Enterprise Edition and above, on Sales Cloud, Service Cloud or Industries; the Suites are out. Salesforce's help article Supported Editions for Salesforce Foundations lists exactly four editions: "Enterprise Edition, Unlimited Edition, Einstein 1 Sales Edition, Einstein 1 Service Edition", and three clouds that give free access: "Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Industries."

Source (read 23 Sep 2026)	Who it says can use Foundations
Help: Supported Editions	Enterprise, Unlimited, Einstein 1 Sales, Einstein 1 Service; Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Industries
Help: Flex Credits billable usage	Activation "Requires Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, or Developer Editions"; on an Agentforce 1 Edition "Salesforce Foundations is included and active"
Sales pricing page, Core description	Core includes "APIs and Agentforce with the free Salesforce Foundations add-on"
2024 announcement	"Government Cloud and Industry Clouds are not eligible" (the help article now lists Industries)

None of those pages names Starter Suite or Pro Suite. On a Suite, the AI you get is what is built in: Salesforce's post on AI in the Suites says record summaries and Draft with AI are in Free, Starter and Pro, and the Employee Agent can be activated "in Starter and Pro Suites with no setup or extra costs."

What do you get with Foundations?

A lighter version of each cloud, all switched on from one setup page. The US Foundations page lists these on its feature cards:

Cloud	What the Foundations page lists (23 Sep 2026)
Agentforce	Builder, Agent Script, Prompt Builder, Service Agents, Sales Agents, Employee Agents, Agentforce Coworker
Sales Cloud	Deal Management, Quoting, Meetings, Sales Console, Invoicing
Marketing Cloud	Drag-and-drop email builder, segmentation with Fit, Engagement and Web Tracking scores, built-in email analytics, LinkedIn social posting and campaign monitoring, 2,000 monthly email sends
Commerce Cloud	1 D2C Digital Storefront (marked U.S. only), Managed Checkout, Merchandising Tools, Commerce Cloud Analytics
Data 360	Unified profiles, 1 TB of data storage
Platform	A login licence for infrequent users: "600 annual logins with 30,000 credits"

Two caveats on the same page: "Availability varies by region", and the storefront is US only. The Implement Salesforce Foundations help article adds that Sales features need no setup on a supported edition, Invoice Management is a switch, and Service, Marketing and Data 360 each need permission set groups assigned first.

How many Flex Credits come with Foundations?

Salesforce publishes four different numbers, and we are not going to pick one for you. Here is every figure on a Salesforce-owned page as at 23 September 2026:

Where it is stated	Agentforce Flex Credits	Data 360 credits
US page, feature cards	"450k Flex Credits included for Agentforce and Data 360"	Not stated separately
US page, FAQ	"200K Agentforce Flex credits"	Links to the Free Data 360 article
Australian page and Asia Pacific page, feature cards	"200K free credits to get started"	"250K Data Services Credits"
Australian and Asia Pacific pages, FAQ	"100K Agentforce Flex credits"	"10,000 Data 360 Segmentation and Activation credits"
Trailhead quick look	"100K free Flex Credits"	Not stated
Small-business blog, 30 July 2026	"200,000 Agentforce Flex credits"	"10,000 annual segmentation credits"
Help: Allocations	"1,000 agent conversations and 200,000 Einstein requests"	Not stated

The Asia Pacific page, the one served to New Zealand visitors, contradicts itself between its cards and its FAQ. The 250K Data Services Credits figure does line up with a separate help article, Free Data Cloud Account, which says Data 360 Provisioning "includes 250,000 Data Services credits; 1 TB of data storage" for Enterprise Edition and above.

What the range means in practice, using Salesforce's Agentforce pricing page, which states "Agentforce actions are 20 Flex Credits" and prices additional credits at US$500 (AU$700) per 100,000:

Figure	Standard actions (credits divided by 20)	Value at list
100K	5,000	US$500
200K	10,000	US$1,000
450k	22,500	US$2,250

Even the lowest figure covers a proof of concept, not a year of a customer-facing agent; treat it as a trial budget. Our Agentforce cost guide walks through the per-action maths.

What happens when the credits run out?

You pay for more at the published rate. Salesforce's FAQ says "Overage fees will apply", and the pricing page lists Flex Credits at US$500 per 100,000 (AU$700), an Agentforce User License at US$5 per user per month (AU$7) that "Requires Flex Credits", and a per-conversation model at US$2 (AU$2.80).

The controls are simple: track the balance in Digital Wallet; build the first agent in a sandbox; and tidy the data first, because an agent answering from duplicates and empty fields burns credits on wrong answers. Our AI-ready data checklist is the pre-flight.

How does Foundations relate to Core, Advanced and Max?

They are different things that overlap. Foundations is an add-on to an edition; Core, Advanced and Max are editions that arrived on 3 September 2026 and carry their own credits.

Salesforce's editions announcement says "Core Editions now include 500,000 Flex Credits, Advanced Editions include 1 million Flex Credits, and Max Editions include 2.75 million Flex Credits", per org per year, and never mentions Foundations. On the sales pricing page, however, the Core description still reads "APIs and Agentforce with the free Salesforce Foundations add-on", and a grid footnote says "Limited Flex Credits and Data 360 Credits included in Foundations."

Our reading: a Core, Advanced or Max org gets the Foundations feature set with the edition and the edition's credit pool; a legacy Enterprise or Unlimited org activates Foundations the old way and gets its region's Foundations figure. If a renewal involves moving to Core, ask in writing which pool you get. Our guide to Core, Advanced and Max covers the prices and the unknowns.

How do you activate Foundations?

From Setup, by adding four $0 products to your contract, then doing the admin setup. The Foundations page gives the steps: "Log into your Salesforce account", go to Setup, select "Salesforce Foundations" and click "Add to my Contract". The FAQ names the products that go into the cart:

1. Salesforce Foundations - Entitlements - Flex Credits (required).
2. Data 360 Provisioning (required if your account does not already have Data 360).
3. Salesforce Foundations - Data 360 Segmentation and Activation (required).
4. Salesforce Platform - Login and Dev Provisioning (optional, for the platform login licences).

Then, per the FAQ, "Data 360 will be automatically provisioned. Salesforce admins will need to perform additional setup steps to activate the other feature sets." Those steps live on the Foundations setup page, "powered by Salesforce Go" per the help article, and include assigning the General User or Service User permission set groups. Agentforce is a separate switch: Setup, type "Agent" in Quick Find, Agents, Turn On.

One trap for early adopters: orgs that added Foundations "prior to December 17, 2024" must add the newer Flex Credits product to get both Sales and Service agent skills. And because Foundations widens what users can reach, review permissions first; our seven security settings checklist is a good half hour.

Should a small business bother?

If you are on Enterprise or above, yes, with a plan. The email builder and its 2,000 sends a month, quoting, invoicing and the service console are features many small orgs pay other tools for, and the credits are a free way to find out whether an agent is worth budgeting for.

Skip it, for now, if:

• You are on Starter Suite or Pro Suite: you cannot add it.
• Your data is untidy: every Foundations feature answers from the records you have.
• Nobody owns the org: Foundations adds surfaces someone must configure and govern.
• Your region's page says a feature is unavailable; the storefront, for one, is US only.

For a legacy Enterprise org in New Zealand, our suggested sequence: activate in a sandbox, assign the permission set groups to a pilot group, run one agent against clean data, watch Digital Wallet for a month, then decide whether paid credits, or a move to Core, are worth it. Our pricing guide has the licence figures.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Salesforce Foundations? Salesforce Foundations is a $0 add-on that Salesforce launched in September 2024. It layers Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce, Data 360 and Agentforce features onto an existing Sales Cloud or Service Cloud subscription, with a starter pool of Flex Credits and a 2,000-email monthly marketing allowance. It is switched on from Setup, not bought.

Is Salesforce Foundations free? The add-on itself is free. Salesforce's own FAQ says it is a $0 add-on with limits and terms, including that Data 360 and Agentforce features consume credits, that overage fees apply once the included credits are used, that Pay Now payment links carry usage-based fees, and that marketing emails are capped at 2,000 sends per org per month.

Can Starter Suite or Pro Suite customers use Foundations? No. Salesforce's help article lists Enterprise, Unlimited, Einstein 1 Sales and Einstein 1 Service editions, and its small-business blog describes Foundations as a free upgrade layered on an Enterprise subscription. Starter and Pro Suite have their own built-in AI, including the Employee Agent, at no extra cost, but not Foundations.

How many Flex Credits does Foundations include? As at 23 September 2026 Salesforce publishes four different figures: 450k on the US page cards, 200K in the US FAQ and on the Australian page cards, and 100K in the Australian FAQ and on Trailhead. Its help article uses different units altogether, 1,000 agent conversations and 200,000 Einstein requests. Check Digital Wallet after activation for your real balance.

Does Salesforce Core include Foundations? Salesforce's sales pricing page describes Core as including APIs and Agentforce with the free Salesforce Foundations add-on, and Core carries its own 500,000 Flex Credits per org per year. The 3 September 2026 editions announcement does not mention Foundations, so confirm the entitlement on your own contract.

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SAASKOOL is a New Zealand Salesforce partner. If you want a second opinion on whether Foundations, a Core edition, or neither is the right way to try Agentforce in your org, see our AI and Agentforce service.