Drift Alternatives: 10 Options Compared for 2026

Drift Alternatives: 10 Options Compared for 2026

Short answer: if you ran Drift for enterprise account-based marketing, look at Qualified first. If you want chat tied to a free CRM, HubSpot is the easy start. Intercom is the pick when chat and support share one inbox, Tidio and Crisp suit small teams on a budget, and Chatwoot is the open-source route.

Why is everyone searching for this now? Clari + Salesloft announced the gradual sunset of Drift in March 2026 and said it will refer existing Drift customers to 1mind as the successor. Salesloft's own Drift page now reads "We've transitioned from Drift to 1mind." No end date is published there, so if you're still on Drift, get your timeline and exit terms from your account contact in writing. You can see 1mind's current offering on its site.

This guide covers ten tools, from enterprise AI sales agents to free live chat. We opened each vendor's pricing page for this post, and where a page showed no numbers we say so.

We've covered nearby searches too: Intercom alternatives, LiveChat alternatives and AI chatbot vs live chat.

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TL;DR: Quick Picks for 2026

Need	Top pick	Price
Conversational ABM with an AI SDR agent	Qualified	Pricing on request
Chat plus a CRM, starting free	HubSpot	Free (2 users), paid from $7 to $20/seat/mo
Chat, support and AI agent in one tool	Intercom	Seats from $19 to $29, Fin from $0.99 per outcome
Small business chat and bots	Tidio	Free, Starter $24.17/mo
Chat priced per workspace	Crisp	Free, Mini $45/mo
Straightforward live chat per agent	LiveChat	$19/user/mo annual
Website visitor signals for SDRs	Warmly	From $10,000/year
No-code conversational flows	Landbot	Free, Starter €32/mo annual
Open-source support inbox	Chatwoot	Free (2 agents), Startups $19
Budget chat with 10 free agents	Freshchat	Free, Growth $19/agent/mo annual
Chat with visitor tracking, Zoho ecosystem	Zoho SalesIQ	See vendor site
Chat screens inside your own product	Help Desk Kit	$131 one-time

Prices are as shown on each vendor's pricing page in November 2026. Billing periods are noted where the vendor states them.

What Drift Did Well

Drift popularized conversational marketing for B2B. A visitor lands on a pricing page, a bot qualifies them in a few messages, and a rep gets a meeting booked without a form. For sales-led teams with decent web traffic, that beat a "contact us" page.

It also tied chat to account data, so reps could see which target accounts were on the site and route them quickly. If that was your use case, the closest replacements are Qualified and Warmly. If you mostly used Drift as a website chat widget, almost any tool below will do the job for less money.

When to Leave Drift

1. The product is being phased out. With the sunset announced, you'll have to move at some point. Doing it on your own schedule beats doing it at the end of a contract.
2. Your needs changed. Many teams now want an AI agent answering product questions, not a scripted playbook. Intercom, Qualified, Tidio and Crisp all lead with AI agents.
3. You were paying enterprise rates for a chat widget. If the account-based features sat unused, a per-agent live chat tool is a far smaller bill.

1. Qualified

The closest fit for enterprise conversational ABM.

Strengths:

• Built around an AI SDR agent that talks to site visitors by text, voice or video
• Salesforce CRM integration and account segmentation with enrichment
• Meeting booking from the conversation
• Plans scale by monthly web sessions

Weaknesses:

• No public prices, so you'll go through sales
• Aimed at larger B2B teams
• Heavier to set up than a chat widget

Pricing: Premier, Enterprise and Ultimate plans, all on a "Contact us" basis. Premier includes 250K monthly web sessions, Enterprise 2M and Ultimate 5M. Pricing on request.

Best for: Mid-market and enterprise B2B teams on Salesforce that want to replace Drift's account-based plays.

2. HubSpot

Chat that comes with a CRM, and a free place to start.

Strengths:

• Live chat is available on the free plan, with HubSpot branding
• Chatbots, tickets and help center in the same system as your CRM
• Branding can be removed on paid plans
• Huge integration marketplace

Weaknesses:

• Customer Service Hub Professional requires a one-time $1,500 onboarding fee
• Chatbot features on Free and Starter are limited
• Costs climb quickly as you add hubs

Pricing: Free for up to 2 users. Starter starts at $7/seat/month (the page also shows $20/seat/month for other billing options), Professional starts at $90/seat/month (also shows $100), Enterprise starts at $150/seat/month with a $3,500 onboarding fee. The page doesn't label which figure goes with which billing option, so check the toggle when you buy.

Best for: Teams already on HubSpot, or small teams that want chat, a CRM and email in one tool.

3. Intercom

Chat, helpdesk and an AI agent in one product.

Strengths:

• Fin AI Agent answers customer questions and works with your existing helpdesk
• Shared inbox, ticketing and a public help center
• Mature messenger with proactive messages
• 14-day free trial, no card required

Weaknesses:

• Fin is billed per outcome, so spend moves with volume
• Seat prices rise quickly from Essential to Expert
• Less focused on account-based marketing than Drift was

Pricing: Seats: Essential $19 or $29 per seat/month (the page shows both without labelling billing), Advanced $85, Expert $132. Fin AI Agent starts at $0.99 per outcome, with a minimum monthly commitment. Copilot is $29 per agent/month.

Best for: Companies where support and sales conversations should live in one inbox. More in our Intercom alternatives guide.

4. Tidio

Chat and AI for small businesses.

Strengths:

• Free plan with 50 billable conversations and 10 seats
• Lyro AI agent as a paid add-on from $32.50/month
• Visual flow builder for bots
• Quick to install

Weaknesses:

• Plans are metered by conversations
• Plus starts at $300/month plus usage
• Light on account-based features

Pricing: Free $0. Starter $24.17/month, Growth from $49.17/month, Plus from $300/month plus usage, Premium on request. The page offers an annual toggle with 2 months free.

Best for: Small ecommerce and service sites that want a chatbot without a sales process.

5. Crisp

Flat workspace pricing instead of per-seat.

Strengths:

• Free forever plan with 2 agents and a chat widget and shared inbox
• Paid plans are priced per workspace, not per user
• Mobile apps and contact forms included
• Additional agents are $10/month each

Weaknesses:

• AI runs on credits, and the free plan has none
• Annual prices aren't on the pricing grid
• Fewer sales-routing features than Drift

Pricing: Per workspace, billed monthly: Free $0, Mini $45, Essentials $95, Plus $295, Enterprise custom. Mini includes 4 agents and 5,000 customer profiles.

Best for: Small teams where a per-seat bill would grow too fast.

6. LiveChat

Plain, reliable live chat with AI add-ons.

Strengths:

• Clear per-user pricing and a 14-day trial with no card
• AI agents and resolutions built into plans
• Unlimited chat history on Growth
• Workflow rules and proactive campaigns

Weaknesses:

• Essential caps AI resolutions at 10 a month
• Chat history is 60 days on Essential
• No account-based marketing

Pricing: Essential $19/user/month billed annually ($25 monthly). Growth $79 annually ($99 monthly). Enterprise custom. Extra packs of 50 AI resolutions are $49.50.

Best for: Support-leaning teams that mostly need a good chat widget. See our LiveChat alternatives if it isn't quite right.

7. Warmly

Visitor signals and chat for outbound-minded sales teams.

Strengths:

• Web visitor identification and AI chat in one package
• Plans are credit-based, from 10K credits a month
• Add-ons for signals and video chat
• Good for SDR-led follow-up

Weaknesses:

• Starts at $10,000 a year
• No free plan on the pricing page
• Overkill for a basic site widget

Pricing: AI Web-Deanonymization from $10,000/year, Inbound Chat from $20,000/year, AI Inbound Autopilot from $30,000/year (annual billing, with quarterly options). GTM Signals Package and Warm Experiences are $10,000/year each.

Best for: B2B teams that want to act on who is on the site.

8. Landbot

No-code conversational flows.

Strengths:

• Visual builder for lead capture and qualification bots
• Free plan with 100 chats a month
• WhatsApp can be added on Professional
• 14-day trial of paid plans without a card

Weaknesses:

• Chats are metered, with overage at €0.05 each
• Smaller seat counts on lower plans
• It builds flows, not a full support inbox

Pricing: Free €0. Starter €32/month billed annually (500 chats, 100 AI chats, 2 seats). Professional €80/month billed annually (2,500 chats, 300 AI chats, 3 seats). Business custom.

Best for: Marketers who want to build qualifying flows without developer help.

9. Chatwoot

The open-source choice.

Strengths:

• Open source, with cloud plans if you don't want to host it
• Free Hacker plan for up to 2 agents with 500 conversations a month
• Captain AI credits on paid plans
• Startups plan is free for open source projects

Weaknesses:

• Hacker is live chat only, with 30-day retention
• Automation and teams start on Business
• Fewer sales features than Drift

Pricing: Cloud, per agent per month: Hacker $0, Startups $19, Business $39, Enterprise $99. Extra Captain credits are $20 per 1,000. The pricing page links to separate self-hosted plans.

Best for: Engineering-led teams that want control over their data.

10. Freshchat and Zoho SalesIQ

Two budget-friendly options from larger suites.

Freshchat strengths:

• Free plan with up to 10 agents
• Growth at $19/agent/month billed annually
• 14 days of Enterprise access on sign-up

Freshchat weaknesses:

• The page shows only annual rates
• Freddy AI Agent sessions are an add-on ($49 per 100 on Growth)
• Day passes and connector tasks add cost

Freshchat pricing: Free $0. Growth $19, Pro $49, Enterprise $79 per agent/month billed annually.

Zoho SalesIQ: Strong if you already use Zoho CRM. The free plan includes 3 operator licenses, 10K visitors a month and 100 operator chat sessions a month, and there's a 15-day free trial of paid plans. Paid plan prices: See vendor site.

Best for: Teams already in Freshworks or Zoho.

Build Your Own: The Help Desk Kit

If chat is a feature of your product and not something you rent, a template can save months. The Help Desk Kit ships a live chat interface with conversation threads, typing indicators, a customer context panel and queue management, plus tickets, a knowledge base, SLA tracking and agent analytics. 110 screens, Next.js 16, Tailwind CSS v4 and shadcn/ui.

It's frontend only. There's no backend, no WebSocket or real-time messaging layer and no AI logic, so you'd connect your own services. If you'd rather have that wired up for you, our workflow automation services cover connecting chat to your CRM and other tools. Price: $131 one-time, or every kit through All UI Kits.

Recommendation by Profile

If you are...	Pick
Enterprise B2B on Salesforce	Qualified
Outbound-led team that wants visitor signals	Warmly
Already on HubSpot	HubSpot
Support and sales sharing one inbox	Intercom
Small business, tight budget	Tidio, Crisp or Freshchat
Marketer who wants no-code flows	Landbot
Engineering team that wants open source	Chatwoot
Product team building chat into an app	Help Desk Kit

Pricing at a Glance

Tool	Free plan	Paid from	Billing
Qualified	No	Pricing on request	n/a
HubSpot	Yes (2 users)	$7/seat/mo shown	Varies by option
Intercom	Trial	$19 to $29/seat/mo	Not labelled
Tidio	Yes	$24.17/mo	Monthly
Crisp	Yes (2 agents)	$45/mo per workspace	Monthly
LiveChat	Trial	$19/user/mo	Annual
Warmly	No	$10,000/year	Annual
Landbot	Yes	€32/mo	Annual
Chatwoot	Yes (2 agents)	$19/agent/mo	Not labelled
Freshchat	Yes (10 agents)	$19/agent/mo	Annual
Zoho SalesIQ	Yes (3 operators)	See vendor site	n/a

Prices shown were checked on each vendor's own pricing page in November 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Drift shutting down?

Clari + Salesloft announced the gradual sunset of Drift in March 2026 and said it will refer existing customers to 1mind. The announcement didn't set a global end date, so ask your account contact for your own timeline in writing.

What is the best free alternative to Drift?

HubSpot's free plan includes live chat for up to 2 users. Crisp's free plan covers 2 agents, Freshchat's free plan allows up to 10 agents, and Chatwoot's Hacker plan is free for up to 2 agents. None of them replicate Drift's account-based features.

What is the closest replacement for Drift's ABM features?

Qualified is the nearest for conversational ABM, with Salesforce integration and account segmentation. Warmly is the other option if your team works from visitor signals. Both are priced for B2B sales teams.

Should I use a chatbot or live chat?

Most teams use both: a bot answers common questions and routes the rest to a person. Our AI chatbot vs live chat guide walks through when each wins.

Is there an open-source alternative?

Chatwoot is open source and also offers cloud plans. It's closer to a support inbox than a sales tool.

Can I build my own chat instead?

Yes. A template like the Help Desk Kit gives you the screens, and you add messaging infrastructure and business logic yourself.

Our Take

Drift's end is a good excuse to match the tool to the job. Enterprise teams doing account-based plays should talk to Qualified and Warmly. Everyone else will likely do better with a simpler chat tool tied to the CRM or helpdesk they already use. Whichever you pick, export your conversation history and playbooks before your Drift access ends.