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Which Agentforce Flex Credits Buying Model Should We Sign: PayGo, Pre-Commit, or Pre-Purchase?

Salesforce sells Flex Credits as PayGo, Pre-Commit, and Pre-Purchase. Cash timing, commitment risk, and unused-credit expiry decide the Order Form, not agent features. Start on PayGo until Digital Wallet shows a stable baseline; Pre-Commit needs a named true-up floor; Pre-Purchase only when discount, cash, and no-rollover are accepted on one worksheet.

Jonathan Kvarfordt · Published September 14, 2026 · 9 min read

Why trust this analysis?

The short answer

What is PayGo for Agentforce Flex Credits?

Salesforce describes PayGo as no upfront commitment, pay only for what you use, billed monthly in arrears. Source: https://www.salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing/

Evidence

  • The Proof Gap has a measured size Every GTM function adopted AI faster than it produced revenue. One dataset measures both sides in the same sample.
  • What is Pre-Commit? Commit to a baseline of usage with no upfront payment, billed monthly in arrears, with a true-up at term end if usage is below commitment. Confirm availability on your Order Form. Same URL.

Supporting pages

Last reviewed

Salesforce now sells Flex Credits under three buying models: PayGo, Pre-Commit, and Pre-Purchase. The pricing page and the Flexible Buying Models page describe all three. The decision is cash timing, commitment risk, and unused-credit expiry, not which agent features you get. Source: salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing and salesforce.com/pricing/flexible-buying-models.

This is not Flex Credits versus Conversations. It is not the Foundations free grant. It is not Digital Wallet kill-switch behavior. It is which Flex Credits commercial path you put on the Order Form once you already chose Flex Credits. Sibling forks: Flex vs Conversations, Foundations outgrow, Digital Wallet.

The argument

How this reality check breaks down

A map of the sections ahead, in the order the case is made. Schematic, not a dataset. Source-cited charts live in the research library.

Contents diagram for Which Agentforce Flex Credits Buying Model Should We Sign: PayGo, Pre-Commit, or Pre-Purchase?, listing the sections: The three models in one table (vendor definit…, The unused-credit rule that changes Pre-Purch…, When each model wins for a Director+ team, Worksheet to finish before the AE call, What the sibling decoders already cover (do n…, What to put in writing before you sign.

Competitor SERP already owns the model-choice explainers. Salesforce Ben, MagicFuse, and partner pages rank on PayGo versus Pre-Commit versus Pre-Purchase while our live decoder set covers adjacent meters without publishing the buying-model worksheet. Sources: Salesforce Ben PayGo/Pre-Commit, Salesforce Ben pricing guide, MagicFuse, SP Tech.

The three models in one table (vendor definitions)

Use Salesforce's own language. Call your AE for contracted rates. List is for planning only.

Reality Check

Which Agentforce Flex Credits Buying Model Should We Sign: PayGo, Pre-Commit, or Pre-Purchase?

Schematic, not a dataset. Source-cited charts live in the research library.

Which Agentforce Flex Credits Buying Model Should We Sign: PayGo, Pre-Commit, or Pre-Purchase?. Diagram showing Evidence, Analysis, Decision, Outcome.
  1. PayGo. No upfront commitment. Pay only for what you use when you use it. Billed monthly in arrears. Source: salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing.
  2. Pre-Commit. Commit to a baseline of Agentforce usage with no upfront payment. Billed monthly in arrears. True-up at term end if usage is below commitment. Salesforce notes Pre-Commit is widely available later this year on the Agentforce pricing page, so confirm availability on your Order Form before you forecast it. Same URL.
  3. Pre-Purchase. Buy a set amount of usage for the full contract term and pay upfront. Usage draws down from that balance. Same URL.

All three sit under Digital Wallet for usage visibility. Same URL.

Product scope matters: Salesforce's FAQ says Flex Credits are available for purchase with PayGo and Pre-Commit. Conversation-based pricing, Agentforce add-ons, and Agentforce 1 Editions are not available with those models. Source: salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing.

The unused-credit rule that changes Pre-Purchase math

Salesforce's Agentforce pricing FAQ is blunt: unused Flex Credits do not roll over into subsequent subscription terms. The Flex Credits Rate Card also states Flex Credits must be used by Order End Date. Sources: salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing and Flex Credits Rate Card PDF.

Operating rule: treat Pre-Purchase unused balance as expired cash, not a rainy-day reserve. If Finance cannot name a drawdown plan that empties the pack before Order End Date, Pre-Purchase is a bet, not a discount.

When each model wins for a Director+ team

  1. Start on PayGo until Digital Wallet shows a stable monthly action baseline across the teams that will actually run agents. List price with no commitment is cheaper than guessing volume wrong in month one.
  2. Move to Pre-Commit only when Finance can name the floor they will true-up against at term end, and RevOps can show p50 / p90 monthly burn from Digital Wallet (not a vendor demo). Confirm Pre-Commit is on your Order Form and not still later this year for your account.
  3. Take Pre-Purchase only when (a) the AE discount versus PayGo is written on the Order Form, (b) unused credits expire at Order End Date with no rollover, and (c) Finance accepts the cash outlay and the expiry risk in the same worksheet.
  4. Before any of the three, write who owns the forecast, who owns the true-up or drawdown, and what usage floor makes Pre-Commit or Pre-Purchase cheaper than PayGo after discount. Make the AE put those numbers on the order form.

Sibling decoder for arrears forecasting once you are on Flex Credits: Forecast.

Worksheet to finish before the AE call

  1. Last 30 and 90 days of Digital Wallet Flex Credit burn, split by Agentforce versus Data 360 if both draw the pool. Sibling: Shared with Data 360.
  2. Mean and p90 actions per production conversation for each live agent, with credits-per-action from the current rate card (standard/custom 20 in production, voice 30; sandbox multipliers separate). Sibling: Sandbox.
  3. PayGo monthly cost at list ($500 per 100k Flex Credits) using p50 and p90 burn. Source: salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing.
  4. Pre-Commit proposed baseline, discount versus PayGo, and true-up formula at term end if under-commit. Ask the AE to write the true-up line in plain language.
  5. Pre-Purchase pack size, upfront cash, Order End Date, and unused-credit fate (no rollover per Salesforce FAQ and rate card).
  6. Named owners: RevOps for the burn table, Finance for the journal / true-up / cash timing, Salesforce admin for Digital Wallet alerts. Sibling on org-level wallet with no hard stop: Digital Wallet.
  7. Kill criteria if burn or true-up blows the model: metric, floor, date, consequence. Sibling: AI SDR kill criteria.

What the sibling decoders already cover (do not duplicate)

This page is the commercial path on Flex Credits once those forks are decided.

What to put in writing before you sign

  1. Chosen model: PayGo, Pre-Commit, or Pre-Purchase, with the AE confirming availability on your Order Form.
  2. Discount or commitment numbers versus PayGo list, in writing.
  3. True-up language (Pre-Commit) or Order End Date and no-rollover acknowledgement (Pre-Purchase).
  4. Named forecast owner and true-up / drawdown owner.
  5. Usage floor that makes the commitment cheaper than PayGo after discount, with the Digital Wallet date used for the baseline.
  6. Alert thresholds and disable owner if burn diverges from the model.

Related: Breakeven · Forecast · Foundations · Digital Wallet · Core, Advanced, and Max editions

Take it to the room

The short list this issue leaves you with

Pulled from the argument above, written so you can read it out in a pipeline or board review. Schematic, not a dataset.

Checklist diagram summarising Which Agentforce Flex Credits Buying Model Should We Sign: PayGo, Pre-Commit, or Pre-Purchase?: Chosen model: PayGo, Pre-Commit, or Pre-Purchase, w…; Discount or commitment numbers versus PayGo list, i…; True-up language (Pre-Commit) or Order End Date and…; Named forecast owner and true-up / drawdown owner; Usage floor that makes the commitment cheaper than….

Frequently asked questions

What is PayGo for Agentforce Flex Credits?
Salesforce describes PayGo as no upfront commitment, pay only for what you use, billed monthly in arrears. Source: https://www.salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing/
What is Pre-Commit?
Commit to a baseline of usage with no upfront payment, billed monthly in arrears, with a true-up at term end if usage is below commitment. Confirm availability on your Order Form. Same URL.
What is Pre-Purchase?
Buy a set amount of usage for the full contract term, pay upfront, and draw down from that balance. Same URL.
Do unused Flex Credits roll over?
No. Salesforce's FAQ says unused Flex Credits do not roll over into subsequent subscription terms. The rate card says they must be used by Order End Date. Sources: https://www.salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing/ and https://www.salesforce.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/assets/pdf/agentforce/Flex-Credits-Rate-Card-08.31.2026.pdf
Can Conversations or Agentforce add-ons use PayGo / Pre-Commit?
Salesforce's FAQ says Flex Credits are available with PayGo and Pre-Commit; Conversation-based pricing, Agentforce add-ons, and Agentforce 1 Editions are not available with those models. Source: https://www.salesforce.com/agentforce/pricing/
Which model should we start on?
Start on PayGo until Digital Wallet shows a stable monthly baseline. Move to Pre-Commit only with a named true-up floor. Take Pre-Purchase only when the discount, cash timing, and no-rollover expiry are accepted on one worksheet.

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