“Yes, Salesforce can accept payments. Businesses can accept credit card and ACH payments in Salesforce through several approaches, including Salesforce products such as Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Payments, as well as Salesforce partner solutions available through AgentExchange, such as Kulturra. The right solution depends on your payment workflows, required features, preferred payment processors, and billing needs.”
Before exploring the different options, it helps to understand how payment processing works. Salesforce is primarily a CRM platform, not a traditional payment processor. To accept credit card or ACH payments, you’ll typically need a payment provider that can securely authorize and process transactions between your customers, their financial institutions, and your business.
Some of the most popular payment processors include Stripe, Authorize.net, and CardConnect. Once you have an account with a payment processor, you can typically accept payments through their own platform or website.
If you want to accept payments directly within Salesforce, you’ll also need an integration that connects Salesforce to your payment processor. Fortunately, you don’t have to build this integration yourself. Salesforce offers its own products for certain payment scenarios, and there are also AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange) solutions that provide pre-built integrations with a variety of payment processors and additional capabilities.
What are the Salesforce payment products?
Salesforce offers several ways to accept payments, but the available features depend on which Salesforce products your organization uses.
Commerce Cloud
If you’re using Salesforce Commerce Cloud, you’ll have access to robust payment capabilities designed for ecommerce. Customers can securely complete purchases online, and Commerce Cloud integrates with supported payment providers to handle payment authorization, capture, refunds, and order management. For organizations selling products through an online storefront, Commerce Cloud provides a comprehensive payment experience out of the box.
Salesforce Payments
If you’re not using Commerce Cloud, Salesforce Payments serves as Salesforce’s built-in payment solution. It enables businesses to generate and share secure online payment links while automatically linking transactions to relevant Salesforce records, keeping all payment tracking within your CRM.
Salesforce Payments works well for organizations with basic payment needs, but its main limitation is processor flexibility. Because it supports a significantly narrower selection of payment gateways compared to AgentExchange solutions, businesses with specific merchant processing preferences may find it restrictive.
While it handles simple payment links just fine, organizations needing freedom of processor choice, or those managing specialized billing structures, typically turn to AgentExchange for broader gateway compatibility and greater flexibility within Salesforce.
What are the AgentExchange Solutions
Beyond Salesforce’s own payment products, businesses can also explore Salesforce AgentExchange. Here you’ll find payment applications built by Salesforce partners that extend the platform with additional capabilities.
These solutions can connect Salesforce to popular payment processors, automate payment workflows, support recurring payments, generate invoices, collect ACH and credit card payments, and provide industry-specific functionality that may not be available with Salesforce’s own products.
Because every organization has different requirements, there isn’t a single “best” payment solution. The right choice depends on your business processes and long-term goals.
When evaluating AgentExchange payment solutions, consider the following questions:
Does the solution support my business processes?
Start by identifying your must-have requirements. For example:
- Do you need one-time payments, recurring billing, or payment plans?
- Will you be accepting both credit card and ACH payments?
- Do you need online payment portals or payment links?
- Does the solution support multiple payment processors?
- Can it automate invoicing, payment reminders, and payment reconciliation?
- Does it work with the Salesforce objects and workflows you already use?
Does the pricing fit my budget?
Compare more than just the subscription price. Consider implementation costs, usage fees if any, support plans, and the time your team will spend managing the solution.
What level of support does the vendor provide?
Payment processing is a business-critical function. If an issue arises, you’ll want a vendor that is responsive and experienced. Review customer ratings in the AgentExchange and understand what support channels are available before making a decision.
How does the vendor approach security?
Security should be a top priority when evaluating any payment solution. Choose vendors that follow industry standards like tokenization and offer clear transparency into their compliance practices. Reviewing a vendor’s SOC 2 report is a great way to verify how they handle your sensitive data.
Does the solution have experience with organizations like mine?
Many payment solutions are designed with specific industries or use cases in mind. Reviewing customer success stories can help you understand how the product performs in organizations similar to yours.
For example, Kulturra is a Salesforce-native payment solution built to give you the freedom to bring your preferred payment processor by integrating with a wide range of gateways. For organizations constrained by the strict processor limitations of Salesforce’s built-in tools, Kulturra offers the gateway flexibility you need while letting you manage invoicing, recurring billing, and payment workflows entirely within Salesforce.
Ultimately, the best AgentExchange solution is one that fits your specific business requirements and integrates with your preferred payment processor, while giving your organization the long-term support to grow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Salesforce process credit card payments?
Yes. Salesforce can accept credit card payments through Salesforce products such as Salesforce Payments and Commerce Cloud, or through partner solutions available on AgentExchange.
Can Salesforce accept ACH payments?
Yes. ACH support depends on the payment solution and payment processor being used.
Can Salesforce handle recurring payments?
Some Salesforce products and partner solutions support recurring payments. Organizations with subscription billing requirements should evaluate which solution best fits their workflow.
Does Salesforce store credit card information?
Most payment solutions use tokenization so sensitive payment details are handled securely by payment providers rather than stored directly in Salesforce.
What is the best payment solution for Salesforce?
The best Salesforce payment solution depends on your business requirements. Salesforce Payments may be suitable for organizations with straightforward payment collection needs, while AgentExchange solutions such as Kulturra may be a better fit for businesses that need multiple payment processor options, advanced workflows, recurring payments, payment plans, or additional automation.
