Comparison · Education

Salesforce Education Cloud vs Element451

Salesforce Education Cloud and Element451 side by side for education: scores by criterion, native features, and pricing.

Updated September 26, 2026

Education CRM

Salesforce Education Cloud

6.4

Fairout of 10

Enterprise education CRM with published nonprofit seat pricing — recruitment and admissions, student success, academic operations claims, plus a large Salesforce ecosystem (and add-ons).

From $87/user/mo (Sales & Service Core, nonprofit pricing, billed annually)

Read full profile Official site

Higher scoreEducation CRM

Element451

7.1

Fairout of 10

AI-native higher-ed CRM (Element) plus Bolt agents for marketing, admissions, student success, and CE — engagement-first, with a public pricing calculator but no fixed list rate.

Contact for pricing

Read full profile Official site

Criteria where Salesforce Education Cloud wins

Ties

Criteria where Element451 wins

Score by criterion

In green, who wins the criterion. The overall score uses education weights: enrollment & admissions and tuition & billing weigh more.

CriterionSalesforce Education CloudElement451

Enrollment & admissions1.4×
Inquiry-to-enroll pipeline — campus visit, application, review, and decision — without a parallel spreadsheet.
8.0
8.6
Tuition & billing1.1×
Contracts, deposits, tuition plans, or student-account collections in the same product — not only a “won” stage.
5.0
4.0
Retention & re-enrollment1.1×
Student success, attrition risk, or re-enrollment for current families — not only prospecting new applicants.
8.5
8.0
Family outreach0.9×
Native SMS or messaging inbox on the candidate or family record, with team history. WhatsApp Business API also counts. Email-only, portal-only, and school apps do not.
4.0
8.7
Price and transparency0.8×
Public plan in USD, trial, and what sits outside the annual license. Opaque institutional quotes lower the score.
7.0
5.0
Learning curve0.8×
English UI, admissions vocabulary, and time until staff can work without a long implementation project.
5.0
7.5
Overall score
6.4
7.1

Native features

Only what is part of the product counts. Marketplace integrations or third-party apps are out.

FeatureSalesforce Education CloudElement451

Enrollment pipelineYesYes
Online enrollment or admissionsYesYes
Tuition & collectionsNoNo
Retention & re-enrollmentYesYes
Native messagingNoYes
Family portal or appNoYes
SIS / academic opsYesNo
Native marketingNoYes

Compare with another rival

Each pair has its own page. The ranking only highlights the main duels — the rest are here and on each CRM profile.

Compare Salesforce Education Cloud with

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