"How much does a Salesforce admin cost?" The real question is rather: how many hours of administration does your company use, and in what form should you pay for them? Depending on the answer, an employee, a freelancer, a consultancy or outsourced support will be the most economical.
This guide does not give average market salaries or rates. Published figures vary by source and region, and we only publish what we can check. The only prices quoted are ours.
The four ways to pay for Salesforce administration
1. An in-house administrator
You pay a salary, whatever the volume of requests. The real cost goes well beyond the gross salary:
- employer social contributions;
- recruitment (time spent, any agency fees, probation period);
- training and certifications;
- management, while few managers know how to assess a Salesforce administrator;
- absences: holidays, sick leave, departure. Meanwhile, requests wait.
A good fit when requests fill a whole job, every day, and Salesforce is at the heart of your business.
2. A freelancer
You pay a day rate, often for engagements of several days. It's flexible for a well-defined project.
Points to check:
- the minimum billed: many freelancers prefer multi-day engagements to two-hour requests;
- availability: a freelancer working full time for another client won't be able to handle your emergency;
- continuity: who takes over if the freelancer stops?
A good fit when you have a one-off project with a start and an end.
3. A consultancy or implementation partner
You pay person-days or a fixed-fee application maintenance contract. It's the right choice for large projects and complex integrations.
Points to check:
- small requests often go through a heavy process: ticket, estimate, scheduling;
- you talk to a project manager, rarely to the person doing the work;
- maintenance contracts are often designed for large volumes.
A good fit when you launch a major project or an integration with other software.
4. Part-time outsourced support
You pay a monthly plan of hours, or one-off work by the hour. The provider handles your requests as they come in.
As an example, here are our public prices:
| Plan | Price | Included hours | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-off work | €120 excl. VAT / hour | on demand | €120 excl. VAT |
| Monthly support | €460 excl. VAT / month | 4 h | €115 excl. VAT |
| Monthly support | €890 excl. VAT / month | 8 h | €111.25 excl. VAT |
| Ongoing support | €1,590 excl. VAT / month | 16 h | €99.38 excl. VAT |
A good fit when you have regular requests, but not enough to fill a job. Plan details and terms are on the pricing page.
How to estimate your volume of hours
Rather than a rule of thumb, start from your real requests.
- List the requests from the last three months: users to create, permissions, reports, fixes, small changes. Pending requests count too.
- Estimate each one: 15 minutes for a user, an hour for a simple report, two to four hours to fix a Flow. Be cautious: people always underestimate.
- Take the monthly average, and add a margin for prevention: reviewing Salesforce releases, clean-up, documentation.
Fictitious example: an SME with 35 users went through its last three months of requests.
| Request | Per month | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|
| User joiners and leavers | 2 | 0.5 h |
| Permissions or access to adjust | 1 | 1 h |
| Report to build or fix | 2 | 2 h |
| Small change (field, picklist, page) | 1 | 1.5 h |
| Flow to fix | 1 every 2 months | 2 h |
| Prevention (releases, clean-up, documentation) | — | 1 h |
| Total | about 6 requests | 8 h |
Result: about 8 hours a month. That's the volume of a monthly support plan, not an in-house job.
- 3 users created0.5 h
- Support team permissions1 h
- Committee dashboard2 h
- New sales stage1.5 h
- 240 contacts imported1 h
Hours used6 h of 8 h
What the price doesn't tell you
Comparing hourly rates is not enough. Also ask these questions:
- Who replies? The person who does the work, or a go-between?
- What is the first-reply time? And how does it differ from the resolution time?
- What happens during holidays? Who takes over, with what documentation?
- Are unused hours lost?
- How is access to your org secured? Never with a shared password.
The right choice for your situation
| Your situation | The best-suited model |
|---|---|
| Requests every day, Salesforce at the heart of the business | In-house administrator |
| A project with a start and an end | Freelancer or implementation partner |
| A large project or an integration | Consultancy or implementation partner |
| Regular requests, from a few hours to two days a month | Outsourced support |
| The admin has left and requests are piling up | Outsourced support, then hiring if the volume justifies it |
Many companies combine two models: outsourced support for day-to-day work, an implementation partner for projects. What matters is that every request has a clear place to go. If your org also needs monthly checks, read the guide to outsourced Salesforce maintenance. To learn more about the outsourced model, see the outsourced Salesforce administrator page.
Frequently asked questions
Because published figures vary widely by region, experience and source, and we don't want to publish a number we cannot check. For employees or freelancers, look at recent salary surveys for your country.
It depends on the number of users, the pace of change and the state of the org. The method below (listing three months of requests) gives a more reliable estimate than a rule of thumb.
Yes, it's common: outsourced support for day-to-day work, and an implementation partner for one-off projects.