// drift alternative
The Drift alternative
that answers chats by itself.
For Drift users who didn't sign up for Salesloft.
Drift vs Agentbot at a glance
- Drift was acquired by Salesloft and the standalone product has largely been absorbed. If you came to Drift for conversational marketing and don't want to commit to Salesloft's full sales engagement suite, you're shopping for an alternative.
- Agentbot is the AI-first chat surface Drift originally pitched — without the sales-engagement bundle, without the enterprise contract, and free during open beta.
- If you're using Drift today for AI chat / lead capture and you're not the Salesloft persona, Agentbot is the closest spiritual replacement.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Agentbot | Drift |
|---|---|---|
| AI-driven conversation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Standalone product (not bundled in sales suite) | ✓ | no (now Salesloft) |
| Free tier | ✓ | ✕ |
| Self-serve install | ✓ | no (sales-assisted) |
| Knowledge-base RAG | ✓ | ✓ |
| HMAC-signed webhooks | ✓ | ~ |
| Lead routing / meeting booking | partial (via webhooks) | yes (built-in) |
| Tickets filed by AI | ✓ | ~ |
| Multi-site from one dashboard | ✓ | ~ |
| Enterprise sales tooling (cadences, sequences) | ✕ | yes (Salesloft) |
Pricing: Drift's real cost vs Agentbot beta
Drift never had a free tier; pricing was sales-assisted starting around $2,500/month. Post-Salesloft acquisition, Drift's conversational surface is folded into Salesloft's broader sales engagement platform — pricing is now bundled and quoted per-deal. Agentbot is $0 during beta, no sales call, no quoted pricing, no commitment to a sales engagement suite you didn't ask for.
Where Agentbot wins
- Standalone product. Drift's conversational chat is now part of Salesloft's sales engagement platform — you can't buy just the chat surface anymore. Agentbot is just the chat surface, sold standalone.
- Self-serve sign-up. No demo gate, no sales-assisted onboarding, no quoted pricing. Drop the script, the widget is live.
- Free during beta with the AI included. Drift never had a free tier; Agentbot does and the AI is on it.
Where Drift still wins
- If you actually need the Salesloft sales engagement suite — cadences, sequences, opportunity management, deal intelligence — Drift-now-Salesloft is the integrated story. Agentbot is chat; it doesn't replace a sales engagement platform.
- Drift's playbook builder for ABM-style chat targeting (specific messages to specific accounts visiting your site) is more mature than what Agentbot ships. We can do basic targeting via page-match rules; Drift had years of ABM-specific tooling.
Switching from Drift
- Step 1
Export your Drift conversations
Drift Settings → Conversations → Export pulls your transcripts. Your playbooks and Drift Knowledge articles are the more useful items — articles can be re-uploaded as Markdown into Agentbot's knowledge base so the AI is up to speed on day one.
- Step 2
Install Agentbot
One <script> tag from /dashboard/embed into your site head. Configure your AI persona, brand color, and welcome message in Settings. Live in 60 seconds.
- Step 3
Remove the Drift widget
Pull the Drift JS snippet from your site. The widget is gone; if you're mid-Salesloft contract you can keep the rest of Salesloft running and just point the chat surface at Agentbot.
FAQ
Is Drift still a standalone product?
Drift was acquired by Salesloft in 2024 and the marketing site largely redirects into Salesloft now. The chat product still exists but is positioned as part of Salesloft's broader sales engagement platform — you typically can't buy just Drift anymore without committing to the surrounding suite.
Is Agentbot a 'sales engagement' platform like Salesloft?
No — and intentionally not. Agentbot is the chat layer. If you need cadences, sequences, opportunity intelligence, and the full sales engagement workflow, Salesloft is the integrated story and we don't compete there. If you just want the AI-powered chat surface Drift originally offered, Agentbot is the close replacement.
Can Agentbot do meeting booking like Drift?
Not natively today. The pattern that works: the AI hands off to a 'book a meeting' link (Cal.com, Calendly, or your own) when a visitor is sales-ready. Webhooks can also fire on hand-off events so your CRM can react. Native in-widget meeting booking is on the roadmap.
What happens to my Drift playbooks?
Drift playbooks (rule-based message targeting) don't migrate 1:1 — Agentbot doesn't use the same builder model. The Agentbot AI handles most of what a simple playbook does (greet, ask qualifying question, route) automatically. Complex ABM-style playbooks (account-specific messages) are an area where Drift had years of investment we don't try to match.
Is Agentbot cheaper than Drift was?
Substantially. Drift was sales-assisted pricing starting around $2,500/month. Agentbot is $0 during open beta, and the planned post-beta tiers are SMB-friendly (no per-seat tax, no per-resolution charges).
Will Salesloft kill Drift entirely?
We don't know — neither does anyone outside Salesloft. The current trajectory is that Drift's surface is being absorbed into Salesloft's broader platform; if you're a long-tail Drift customer not using Salesloft, the smart play is to have a migration path ready. Agentbot is one option.
Try Agentbot — free during beta.
One <script> tag. No credit card. See all features.
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