[Ep019] Agentforce vs Custom Agents: The Real Cost Breakdown (With Numbers)

As AI headlines accelerated through 2025, costing remains one of the hardest areas for leaders to “get grounded” on. In this episode, Greg Banks sits down with Tim and Nancy for a true apples-to-apples comparison: building a customer-facing AI agent using Salesforce Agentforce + Data Cloud versus building a custom AI agent from modular components. Using a realistic vignette—Terrapin Pet Care, a direct-to-consumer pet wellness brand—the team evaluates both approaches across five criteria: solution fit, technical feasibility, procurement complexity, implementation costs, and operational costs. TakeawaysA practical 5-part evaluation rubric for agent platform vs custom build decisions. Why procurement complexity often favors platform approaches (fewer decisions; consolidated SKUs). Why long-run operational costs may favor custom builds (cutting out the “wrapper”/middle layer). How assumptions about your existing stack and team skill sets can change the recommendation.Recommended LinksCirrius Solutions Cirrius BlogTim Harting on LinkedInNancy Roller on LinkedInPydantic AIDocling: Crawl 4 AI: Langfuse: Render: Sentry: Comparison ArtifactGreg Banks on LinkedInJason Fowler MusicFor questions or feedback, please contact us at [email protected]