Salesforce revenue grew year over year in its fiscal first quarter of 2026, but it also marked the third consecutive Q1 in which revenue did not grow quarter over quarter.

That’s just the third time since its fiscal Q1 2021 (which ended in 2020) that Salesforce revenue did not grow quarter over quarter.

“Q1 is always a high risk quarter,” co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff told investors on the software company’s earnings call.

Despite the drop from Q4, Salesforce had its second-highest revenue in a quarter during Q1. Additionally, Q1 was the sixth time Salesforce revenue exceeded $9 billion.

“We saw very strong growth in our small and medium market business,” Benioff told investors. “It really surprised us. Both of them achieved really strong double-digit new bookings growth.”

In North America, 76 of the Top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. In 2024, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $136.116 billion in web sales. The Top 2000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.

Salesforce revenue drivers in Q1

In Q1, Salesforce total revenue grew to about $9.83 billion. That’s up 8% from $9.13 billion the prior year.

Subscriptions and support accounted for the vast majority of that, bringing in nearly $9.30 billion in Salesforce Q1 revenue. That’s up 9% from about $8.59 billion a year earlier.

Nearly 60 of Salesforce’s top 100 deals in the quarter included investments in both AI and its Data Cloud, Benioff said. And Data Cloud and AI have reached annual recurring revenue of more than $1 billion, growing more than 120% year over year, Salesforce said.

More than five of its top 10 deals in the quarter included six or more of Salesforce’s cloud offerings, chief operating and financial officer Robin Washington told investors on the earnings call. Additionally, Salesforce closed more than 30 net new deals in Q1 worth more than $1 million that include both data and AI services, she said.

Salesforce’s Tableau was part of more than 70% of deals worth over $1 million, while MuleSoft was in nearly half of the deals over $1 million.

Among the AI growth drivers is Agentforce, the software provider’s agentic artificial intelligence (AI) offering, which Benioff said reached more than $100 million in average order value. It reached the feat “much faster” than any other product Salesforce offers, Benioff said. Salesforce said it has closed more than 8,000 deals since launching Agentforce, half of which are paid.

And at a time when many leading retailers are lowering or reaffirming their fiscal guidance for the remainder of the year as a result of tariffs and other ongoing trade disputes, Salesforce is raising its guidance by $400 million. Salesforce’s guidance ranges from $41 billion to $41.3 billion for its fiscal 2026. For Q2, specifically, Salesforce expects to cross the $10 billion mark for revenue — a first for the company.

Benioff said it was “kind of even a shock” for him that it’s delivering guidance that high.

Recent Salesforce acquisitions

A day before the earnings call, Salesforce had announced a definitive acquisition deal for Informatica, a data management company. The companies plan to close the deal, worth $8 billion, in Salesforce’s fiscal 2027, which begins Feb. 1, 2026.

“We view this acquisition as a key enabler for Salesforce’s next phase of AI-driven growth and believe it will amplify our market differentiation,” Washington said on the earnings call.

Earlier in May, Salesforce also announced its plans to acquire Convergence.ai, a London-based startup focused on AI agents.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s our last quarterly update on Salesforce revenue.

Do you rank in our databases? 

Submit your data and we’ll see where you fit in our next ranking update.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the online retail industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News. Follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.