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Side-by-side comparison · Sales & Customer Support

Apollo.io vs Gong vs Salesforce Agentforce

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Apollo.io

4.0

From $49/seat/mo

Gong

4.0

Free to start

Salesforce Agentforce

3.3

From $500 per 100

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Best valueEasiest to use

Pick it if: Founders, small sales teams and marketers who need to find B2B contacts and email them.

Gong4.0

Pick it if: Sales leaders running a team of reps who want to coach from real calls and forecast deals more accurately.

Pick it if: Mid-size and larger businesses already on Salesforce that want AI agents handling customer questions and routine sales work.

Overview

AttributeApollo.ioGongSalesforce Agentforce
In one lineB2B contact database with emails and phone numbers, plus sequences to reach them.Records and analyses sales calls and emails to coach reps and forecast deals.Salesforce's AI agents that answer customers and help sales reps inside Salesforce CRM.
Pricing modelFreemiumPaidPaid
Starting price$49/seat/moSee website$500 per 100
Free plan Yes No Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeApollo.ioGongSalesforce Agentforce
Overall rating4.04.03.3
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.5
4.0
2.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
5.0
4.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
3.0
4.5
3.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
4.0
2.5
2.5
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
4.0
3.5

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeApollo.ioGongSalesforce Agentforce
Access & platform
Free plan Yes No Yes
Mobile app Yes Yes Yes
Desktop app–––
Browser extension Yes Yes–
API access Yes Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files–– Yes
Understands images–––
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code–––
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style–– Yes
Works in many languages– Yes Yes
Capabilities score8/ 178/ 1710/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeApollo.ioGongSalesforce Agentforce
Plans

Free

Free

Founders testing outbound.

Platform fee

Custom (billed yearly)

Every Gong customer pays this, scaled to team size.

Salesforce Foundations

Free

Existing Salesforce customers who want to try agents.

Basic

$49/seat/mo billed yearly

Individual sellers doing regular outbound.

Per-user licenceOur pick

Custom per user (billed yearly)

Each rep or manager who records and reviews calls.

Flex CreditsOur pick

$500 per 100,000 credits

Businesses paying per action an agent takes.

ProfessionalOur pick

$79/seat/mo billed yearly

Full-time reps.

Add-ons (Engage, Forecast, Enable)

Custom

Teams that want outreach, forecasting or coaching in Gong too.

Conversations

$2 per conversation

Customer-facing agents where you want a simple per-chat price.

Organization

$119/seat/mo billed yearly (min 3 seats)

Sales teams wanting advanced controls.

Agentforce add-ons

From $125/user/mo

Teams wanting AI help for every rep or agent seat.

Agentforce 1 editions

From $550/user/mo

Large Salesforce customers buying the full bundle.

Which plan to pickStart on Free to check the data covers your market. Basic suits one person prospecting; Professional is worth it if you also call prospects or want AI scoring. Monthly billing costs noticeably more than the yearly prices shown.Start with the core licence for reps who run customer calls and add Forecast or Engage only once the team uses Gong daily. Push back on bundles and multi-year terms during negotiation.Start with the free Foundations tier to prove one agent works, then move to Flex Credits so you pay only for what agents actually do. Per-user add-ons and Agentforce 1 editions are for large teams that have already proven the value.

Key features

AttributeApollo.ioGongSalesforce Agentforce
Standout features
  • Contact database
  • Email sequences
  • Chrome extension
  • Dialer and call recording
  • AI research and scoring
  • Enrichment
  • Call recording and transcripts
  • Deal insights
  • AI summaries and follow-ups
  • Coaching
  • Forecasting
  • Ask anything
  • Ready-made agents
  • Agent builder
  • Works on your CRM data
  • Many channels
  • Hand-off to people
  • Testing and monitoring

Pros and cons

AttributeApollo.ioGongSalesforce Agentforce
Pros
  • Generous free plan for getting started
  • Database and outreach in one tool
  • Much cheaper than ZoomInfo
  • Easy to learn for non-technical users
  • Very accurate call analysis and deal warnings
  • Easy for reps: it records and summarises with no extra work
  • Strong coaching tools for managers
  • Wide range of integrations with CRMs and dialers
  • Works directly on your Salesforce records and permissions
  • Ready-made agents for common service and sales jobs
  • Runs across chat, email, Slack and Salesforce screens
  • Enterprise security and admin controls built in
Cons
  • Bounce rates and out-of-date contacts are common complaints
  • Weaker phone and contact data outside the US
  • Credits run out fast and do not roll over
  • Billing disputes and slow support on lower plans
  • Expensive, with a platform fee on top of per-user licences
  • No public pricing and pressure toward multi-year deals and bundles
  • Renewal price increases are a common complaint
  • Small teams often use only a fraction of the features they pay for
  • Confusing pricing that is hard to forecast and can climb quickly with usage
  • Setup usually needs a Salesforce admin or paid partner
  • Agents are only as good as your data and knowledge articles
  • Little reason to use it if you are not already on Salesforce

Who each one is for

AttributeApollo.ioGongSalesforce Agentforce
Best for
  • Finding business emails and phone numbers
  • Building B2B lead lists
  • Simple cold email sequences
  • Cheaper alternative to ZoomInfo
  • Coaching reps from real call recordings
  • Spotting at-risk deals early
  • Sales forecasting and pipeline reviews
  • Learning why deals are won or lost
  • Salesforce customers adding AI to support
  • Answering common customer questions 24/7
  • Following up and qualifying inbound leads
  • Giving reps AI help inside Salesforce
You'll find it used by
  • Founders
  • Sales development reps
  • Account executives
  • Marketers
  • Recruiters
  • Sales leaders
  • Account executives
  • Revenue operations
  • Customer success teams
  • Customer service teams
  • Sales teams
  • Salesforce admins
  • Enterprises

Questions people ask

Which is better, Apollo.io, Gong or Salesforce Agentforce?

They tie on our overall rating (Apollo.io 4.0/5, Gong 4.0/5 and Salesforce Agentforce 3.3/5). Apollo.io is best for finding business emails and phone numbers and Building B2B lead lists. Gong is best for coaching reps from real call recordings and spotting at-risk deals early. Salesforce Agentforce is best for salesforce customers adding AI to support and answering common customer questions 24/7.

Which is cheaper, Apollo.io, Gong or Salesforce Agentforce?

Apollo.io: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $49/seat/mo. Gong: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote. Salesforce Agentforce: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $500 per 100.

Which is easier to use, Apollo.io, Gong or Salesforce Agentforce?

Apollo.io rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Founders, small sales teams and marketers who need to find B2B contacts and email them.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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