Drift is a robust AI-powered conversational platform that can generate leads and engage customers via website chats, buyer intelligence collection, and meeting bookings. That said, other conversational marketing platforms offer advantages that it cannot quite beat, like better support for teams, broader channel coverage, easier and cheaper setup, and overall more transparent pricing models.
So to determine the best Drift alternatives, we tested many different conversational marketing and live chat platforms. We set up chatbots, messed with live chat widgets, sent test messages, and put the AI capabilities to the test. Based on that, we found our best Drift alternatives.
Our Research Methodology
To determine your best Drift alternatives, we had to look into the performance, features, and overall usability that your support and/or sales teams would most seek. We wanted to look for platforms that not only matched but eclipsed Drift in areas like pricing transparency, easy setup, omnichannel support, and, of course, AI capabilities.
Here are a few categories that really mattered to us when writing this:
- Pricing and Plans: We had to look into what each provider was offering from a pricing structure standpoint to see what was offered at the tiers. We definitely scrubbed into how accessible these were versus Drift’s more enterprise-focused pricing which starts at $2500 monthly per most installations
- Ease of Setup: We also peeked into how quickly teams could get their chatbots and live chat off the ground without fiddling or paying more for technical resources. Special care was taken in looking for templates and visual builders for your non-technical staff
- AI Functionalities: We wanted to make sure AI-powered features like automated responses, chatbot intelligence, agent assist, and intent recognition were included and could deliver automation without inflating your budgets
- Channel Coverage: We determined what channels each platform supports, whether it was WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, SMS, Instagram, Email, or just webchat. This was to ensure your business meets customers where they are
- Integration Options: We understood what each platform did with integration capabilities, whether they connected to help desks, marketing automation tools, e-commerce platforms, and popular CRMs to ensure data flows between your toolkits
- Pricing Transparency: We looked into how platforms provided clear and public pricing information or if they needed you to walk through needs with a sales rep, as Drift requires with its at-times confusing policies
At A Glance: Table Comparison
| Provider | Pricing and Plans | Top Features | Best For |
| Intercom |
|
Fin AI Agent, unified inbox, product tours, outbound messaging, 300+ integrations | Teams needing balanced functionality across marketing, sales, and support with predictable AI costs |
| Crisp |
|
Omnichannel inbox, visual chatbot builder, co-browsing, video calls, unlimited conversations | Startups and small businesses needing professional messaging without enterprise pricing |
| LivePerson | Custom pricing, typically $61,000 to $110,000+ annually | Conversational AI with NLU, intent manager, conversation orchestrator, analytics studio | Large enterprises needing industrial-strength automation at massive scale |
| Aivo |
|
Multilingual support (Spanish/Portuguese), no-code knowledge manager, 72-hour deployment | Companies with Latin American customer bases needing multilingual support automation |
| Freshchat (Freshdesk Messaging) |
|
Freddy AI chatbot, AI Copilot, native Freshworks integration, multilingual support | Teams using Freshworks products wanting unified data flow across help desk and CRM |
| LiveAgent |
|
Unified ticketing, built-in call center with IVR, gamification, knowledge base, 200+ integrations | Customer service teams needing comprehensive ticketing, phone, and email support |
| LiveChat |
|
Product cards, visitor tracking, Text Intelligence AI, chat routing, e-commerce integrations | E-commerce businesses needing fast customer support and sales assistance during shopping |
Best Drift Alternatives
- Intercom: Best for comprehensive customer engagement
- Crisp: Best for budget-conscious teams
- LivePerson: Best for enterprise AI automation
- Aivo: Best for Latin American markets
- Freshdesk Messaging: Best for existing Freshworks users
- LiveAgent: Best for multichannel ticket management
- LiveChat: Best for e-commerce sales teams
Intercom
Intercom is a sweeping customer messaging platform that takes the best of help desk functionality, AI-powered chatbots, live chat, and a proactive approach to outbound messaging to be a one-stop solution. The Fin AI Agent add-on resolves customer questions autonomously with your knowledge base, though it does charge $0.99 for each successful resolution.
Its unified approach to an inbox will take conversations from your email, SMS, social channels, and web chat and put them all in one place. Agents can see the whole store from conversation history to profile data to product usage without switching tools. Built-in assignment rules will ensure the right conversation reaches the best team member based on expertise, custom logic, or availability.
Also noteworthy and included: product tours that guide new users through apps with targeted messages, tooltips, and walkthroughs. Outbound messaging campaigns that target your customer segments based on behavior or lifecycle stages.
Top Features
- Third-Party Integrations: Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe, Slack, Jira, Google Analytics, Segment, Zapier, Shopify, and 300+ more apps
- Fin AI Agent: Autonomous AI assistant resolves customer questions using knowledge base content, charges $0.99 per successful resolution, learns from agent responses
- Unified Customer View: Complete profile with conversation history, product usage data, custom attributes, company information, and event tracking across touchpoints
- Outbound Messaging: Targeted campaigns with behavioral triggers, customer segmentation, A/B testing, message scheduling, multi-channel delivery
Pricing
Intercom offers three main plans: Essential, starting at $29 per seat/month, up to the Expert tier that starts at $132 per seat/month, all billed annually. All plans include the messenger, shared inbox, and ticketing system, and pre-built reports, but you will need to jump up for HIPAA support, SLAs, or more inboxes. The Fin AI Agent charges $0.99 per successful resolution beyond included sessions.
Best For
- Teams needing balanced functionality across marketing, sales, and support departments
- Companies wanting predictable AI costs with pay-per-resolution pricing
- Businesses requiring product tours and in-app messaging alongside chat
Crisp
Crisp is another all-in-one customer messaging solution that combines chatbots, shared inbox, knowledge base management, and live chat into a working living platform. It has a free plan with a very limited scope of features, then paid plans that start at just $25 per month.
What we loved about it was the visual chatbot builder, which will make automated workflows for you, sans code. The shared team inbox takes in email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and chat and puts it all in one place. Built-in knowledge base tools make it easy for teams to create self-service articles. All plans include unlimited conversations with a flat-rate price per workspace, regardless of message volume, a very generous touch.
Top Features
- Third-Party Integrations: Slack, WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, and 50+ apps
- Omnichannel Inbox: Unified interface combining website chat, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, SMS, and Twitter in one workspace
- Visual Chatbot Builder: Drag-and-drop workflow creator with AI-powered automation, conditional logic, variable collection, and human handoff triggers
- Co-Browsing & Video: Screen sharing lets agents view customer screens, video calls enable face-to-face support, both included in higher-tier plans
Pricing
Crisp offers four plans: Free includes basic chat for just two agents, Mini costs $45 monthly per workspace, Essentials at $95 monthly per workspace unlocks chatbots and omnichannel, and Plus at $295 monthly per workspace adds advanced features.
All pricing is per workspace, not per agent. You will need to pay more for seats with the Plus plan, accommodating 20 or more seats. And for AI-powered assistance, you’ll need to start at the Essentials plan with unlimited resolutions unlocked on the highest tier.
Best For
- Startups and small businesses needing professional messaging without enterprise pricing
- Teams wanting flat-rate pricing regardless of conversation volume
- Companies requiring omnichannel support across social media platforms
LivePerson
LivePerson is an enterprise-grade pick for a conversational AI platform that currently powers billions of different interactions customers are having right now on social channels, WhatsApp, SMS, text messaging, and web chats. Its Conversational Cloud platform can take on millions of conversations at once using its proprietary natural language processing techniques.
The internet manager helps you parse customer needs using AI analysis of the conversational data you collect. Conversational AI bots automate responses using prior data and great NLP tech. Though the highlight has to be Analytics studio, which will help you dive deep into customer intent, how effective your conversations are, and your determined operational key metrics.
Top Features
- Third-Party Integrations: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, ServiceNow, Adobe Experience Cloud, Google Analytics, and custom API connections
- Conversational AI: Advanced natural language understanding with intent recognition, entity extraction, sentiment analysis, and multi-turn conversation handling
- Intent Manager: AI-powered discovery tool analyzes conversation data to identify customer needs, emerging trends, and optimization opportunities
- Conversation Orchestrator: Dynamic routing between bots and humans based on intent, sentiment, agent availability, and custom business rules
Pricing
LivePerson uses custom quote-based pricing tailored to company size, message volume, and required features. Based on public statements from customers themselves, costs typically range from $61,000 to $110,000 annually for mid-sized deployments, with enterprise implementations exceeding these amounts. This may be overkill for any small to medium-sized businesses.
Best For
- Large enterprises with significant customer service operations needing industrial-strength automation
- Companies requiring sophisticated AI handling millions of conversations
- Organizations needing deep analytics into customer intent and conversation effectiveness
Aivo
Aivo is a conversational and AI-led platform that’s really solid when it comes to automating the way you handle customer service. It boasts a strong presence and positive reputation in the Latin American markets. AgentBot will take care of customer service questions with both native Portuguese and Spanish language support on top of English support.
We found that the no-code knowledge manager lets non-technical teams build and maintain AI assistants without any prior experience with coding or programming. Omnichannel deployment supports Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, mobile apps, and web chat, which cover a wide range of customers. Better yet is the live agent handoff for when automation can’t cut it. Best of all, the platform says you can deploy bots live within just 72 hours!
Top Features
- Third-Party Integrations: Salesforce, Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and custom API connections for Latin American business tools
- Multilingual Support: Native Spanish and Portuguese language processing with English support, handles regional dialects and local expressions
- No-Code Knowledge Manager: Visual interface for building AI assistants, drag-and-drop conversation flows, template library, bulk content import
- Fast Deployment: Implementation within 72 hours, pre-built templates for common use cases, guided setup process
Pricing
Aivo uses custom pricing based on conversation volume and required features. Research shows that some customers found costs starting at around $99 monthly for basic plans, with enterprise implementations requiring custom quotes.
Best For
- Companies with significant Latin American customer bases needing multilingual support
- Teams wanting fast deployment without lengthy implementation cycles
- Support-focused organizations rather than sales-oriented use cases
Freshchat (Freshdesk Messaging)
Freshchat is the messaging-oriented platform built into Freshworks’ Freshdesk platform. This platform, like the others, will take your chatbots, team inbox, and live chat functionalities and put them under a single roof. The Freddy AI chatbot is Freshdesk’s automation tool that uses machine learning to take on basic questions.
We liked the unified inbox for its aggregation of chat, email, and other social media messaging channels. If you’re already familiar with or bought into the whole Freshdesk help desk and Freshsales CRM ecosystem, you’ll be glad to see a seamless data flow across the Freshworks world. What’s also great is the multilingual support, which lets you address customers worldwide.
Top Features
- Third-Party Integrations: Native Freshworks products (Freshdesk, Freshsales, Freshmarketer), plus Slack, Shopify, WooCommerce, Mailchimp, Zapier, and 1,000+ apps via marketplace
- Freddy AI Chatbot: Automated responses to routine inquiries, learns from past conversations, pulls answers from knowledge base, hands off to agents when needed
- AI Copilot: Provides agents with suggested responses during conversations, summarizes long threads, detects customer sentiment, recommends knowledge base articles
- Freshworks Ecosystem: Unified data across help desk tickets, CRM contacts, marketing campaigns, and chat conversations without custom integration work
Pricing
Freshdesk offers tiered pricing for its base offerings starting at just $15/agent/month. You will need to jump up to at least the Pro+AI Copilot plan, starting at $78/agent/month. You will need to account for any additional needed add-ons to get full functionality, which can lead to unexpected charges and a pricier entry point.
Freshdesk Omni plans’ add-on will tack on omnichannel features, but it will run you an additional $29 per agent/month. On top of that, Freddy AI sessions cost $100 per 1,000 sessions after the initial free allocation.
Best For
- Teams already using or considering Freshworks products for unified data flow
- Companies wanting affordable chat with solid help desk integration
- Businesses needing predictable usage-based AI pricing
LiveAgent
LiveAgent is a help desk platform that takes care of an array of needs while offering live chat, email ticketing, social media integrations, and call center functionality. The unified ticketing system takes account of all of your customer communication channels to forge an omnichannel experience.
Built-in call center functions will take care of IVR, call recording, or click-to-call. Knowledge base and customer portals make self-service a breeze. Real-time visitor monitoring will tell you who browses your website and why they do so, with engagement history and page tracking.
Top Features
- Third-Party Integrations: Slack, Mailchimp, Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Jira, Trello, Pipedrive, and 200+ apps via integrations and API
- Unified Ticketing: Combines chat, email, phone, social media, and contact forms into single ticket interface with conversation history
- Built-in Call Center: VoIP calling with IVR menus, call recording, call transfer, internal calls, click-to-call, and unlimited inbound calls
- Gamification: Agent rewards system with badges, points, leaderboards, performance tracking, and team competitions
Pricing
LiveAgent offers three plans that start at just $15/month/agent and run up to $49/month/agent. However, their website doesn’t quite list transparently what each tier comes with. Additionally, they mention needing add-ons for things like Facebook and Twitter integrations or removing branding to use White Label.
You’ll need to contact their team for more concrete information based on your needs.
Best For
- Customer service teams needing complete ticketing and support functionality beyond chat
- Companies requiring phone support alongside digital channels
- Teams wanting comprehensive features at affordable pricing with free plan available
LiveChat
LiveChat is a customer service platform emphasizing real-time website chat with a strong focus on sales conversion for e-commerce businesses. Product cards let agents share items directly in chat conversations.
Advanced visitor tracking shows browsing behavior, cart contents, and page history. Chat routing assigns conversations based on agent skills, availability, and custom criteria. Canned responses and chat shortcuts enable faster agent replies. Text Intelligence provides AI-powered reply suggestions and conversation summaries. Chat surveys collect customer feedback after conversations end. Targeted messages trigger automatically based on visitor behavior, time on page, or cart value.
Top Features
- Third-Party Integrations: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, WordPress, Facebook, Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Salesforce, HubSpot, and 200+ apps
- Product Cards: Agents share items with images, prices, and purchase links directly in chat, customers add to cart without leaving conversation
- Visitor Tracking: Real-time monitoring of browsing behavior, page views, time on site, cart contents, geographic location, and referral source
- Text Intelligence: AI-powered reply suggestions based on conversation context, automatic conversation summaries, sentiment detection, keyword extraction
Pricing
LiveChat offers three fixed paid (annual billed) plans starting at just $20 per agent/month, going up to $79 per agent/month. For those who anticipate huge volumes and seek a discount, Enterprise plans with custom pricing are available. All plans include 24/7/365 support and Text Intelligence, but to unlock unlimited chat history or campaigns, you’ll need to upgrade.
Additionally, you will need to get the add-on for a ChatBot subscription, which costs $52 monthly for automation. A free 14-day trial is available.
Best For
- E-commerce businesses needing fast customer support during online shopping
- Retail teams wanting product cards and cart tracking in conversations
- Companies seeking straightforward setup with transparent public pricing
Which Drift Alternative Should You Choose?
Choosing the Drift alternative that offers the features and pricing model to meet your needs has to be balanced with the desire of not paying for enterprise complexity you don't necessarily want nor need. Here's a quick breakdown to simplify your search:
- Most Comprehensive Platform: Intercom offers the most complete feature set spanning marketing, sales, and support with transparent tiered pricing instead of custom quotes like the rest which may shock you with surprise charges and necessary add-ons
- Most Budget-Friendly: Crisp delivers professional customer messaging starting free and scaling affordably, perfect for teams Drift's pricing excludes entirely.
- Best Enterprise AI: LivePerson provides top-tier conversation automation for large organizations needing sophisticated AI and at a scale that's just massive, compared to rivals it really does excel here
- Best Multilingual support: Aivo specializes in Spanish and Portuguese markets with customer service automation that just works in the Latin American market and is unbeatable there
- Best Freshworks integration: Freshdesk Messaging makes sense for teams using or considering the broader Freshworks ecosystem who want unified data flow.
- Best Help Desk Focus: LiveAgent combines chat with comprehensive ticketing, phone, and email support for teams needing more than sales conversations.
- Best for E-commerce sales: LiveChat optimizes for online retail with product cards, cart tracking, and fast support making the buying process easy-peasy and friction-free
