Salesforce raising prices next month

Salesforce is increasing its prices by an average of 9% next month, the company announced yesterday. This is the company’s first price hike in seven years.

What will be affected. Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Industries and Tableau are all slated to see increases in August.

Dig deeper: Salesforce: AI is the new UI

The new pricing will go into effect globally for new customers and existing customers purchasing new clouds in August 2023. The new monthly list prices per user will be

• Professional Edition $80 (up $5)
• Enterprise Edition $165 (up $15)
• Unlimited Edition $330 (up $30). 

Similar list price increases will go into effect for Industries, Marketing Cloud Engagement and Account Engagement, CRM Analytics and Tableau.

The rise comes on the heels of Salesforce’s $20 billion investment in R&D and the launch of a slew of AI-powered tools, including AI Cloud, Einstein GPT, Sales GPT and Service GPT.

Maybe a sign of things to come. SaaS, which doesn’t depend on physical goods to produce its products, hasn’t had to increase prices due to inflation. However, many companies — including Microsoft and Apple — have started to raise prices on cloud-based subscriptions. 

Why we care. To be fair, a 9% price increase after seven years doesn’t seem unreasonable. This is especially true when you consider all the improvements Salesforce has made to its products. 

Still, 9% saved is 9% earned, so here are some things to keep in mind. First, if you’re negotiating a deal you may want to move the close date up to lock in the old pricing. Second, review existing contracts to see if any are renewing soon and think about renewing early. Finally, this is the perfect time to re-assess your tech and be sure you need everything you’re paying for.