April 3, 2024

7 Drift Alternatives for Customer Support

Providing excellent customer support is essential if you want your business to grow. To ensure that potential clients get prompt communication, you can use Drift, a powerful platform designed to harness the power of AI. However, there are a number of disadvantages associated with this live chat software, so finding a substitute may be in your best interest. In this article, we will review and compare the top Drift alternatives to help you find one that best meets your needs. 

Drift Overview 

Drift is an AI-powered live chat marketing platform designed to use machine learning to offer personalized responses to website visitors. By improving the overall user experience, it aims to boost conversion rates and help you maintain a good relationship with potential customers. 

While it does offer powerful features, such as bionic chatbots, site concierge, and more, there are several limitations to choosing this software to boost consumer engagement. Firstly, plans are incredibly costly, and the platform isn’t as user-friendly as many of its competitors. 

Top 7 Drift Alternatives for Improved Engagement

If you are looking for a product that is better able to cater to your needs, then fear not! We have curated a list of the top Drift alternatives to help you find a platform that is better positioned to help you create a good user experience.

#1 Chatway

In first place is Chatway, a pioneer in conversational marketing platforms. With flexible pricing and a host of great features, this Drift alternative is sure to keep site visitors happy and boost conversion rates!

Features

One of the most notable characteristics of Chatway is its comprehensive set of features. With powerful live chat tools, multilingual support, analytics, email and messenger integration, mobile apps, team collaboration, and so much more, it is sure to be your go-to for engaging with your customers.

Pricing Structure

Suppose you are hoping to try out conversational marketing software but don’t want to commit financially. In that case, Chatway is the perfect option, as it is completely free to use! 

See what makes Chatway a good Drift alternative

#2 LiveChat

LiveChat is a well-liked and adaptable messaging platform that can boost sales and assist your staff with managing support tickets. While it does offer a plethora of good features, keep in mind that it is not as affordable as Chatway. 

Features

This software offers access to live chat tools and lets you incorporate various messaging channels. Moreover, you can customize chat widgets and gain access to reports, analytics, and sales data.

Pricing Structure

LiveChat offers a limited free plan. However, to enjoy all its features, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid package. Pricing is as follows:

• Starter – $20 per person per month, billed annually
• Team – $41 per person per month, billed annually
• Business – $59 per person per month, billed annually
• Enterprise – customized pricing

Although LiveChat is far cheaper than Drift, the cost can really add up if you need to have multiple people working on the platform.

#3 Crisp

Crisp is another great software solution that you can use to harness the power of AI to drive user engagement. This platform is budget-friendly and offers great features at an affordable price. Sadly, it does not have some of the tools that competitors possess.

Features

Some of the most notable features include the following: 

• Chat widget
• CRM tools
• Ticketing system
• Extensive knowledge base
• The ability to build chatbots
• A shared inbox
• Campaign tools
• Analytics

Pricing Structure

Crisp is available for free! However, keep in mind that features are limited, so you might have to upgrade. Pricing for the paid options is affordable. The Pro plan costs $25 per month, while the Unlimited package, which gives you access to all features, will set you back $95 per month.

One of the things we liked was the fact that free trials are available for both paid plans. 

#4 Intercom

Intercom is a platform for customer messaging that offers features designed to improve relationships with the end user. This cutting-edge company serves more than 30,000 customers. With this software, you can enhance customer interactions by offering customized, messenger-based experiences for the duration of the customer relationship.

Features

When you invest in this conversational platform, you get access to a myriad of tools. This includes the following: 

• Customizable bots
• Automated answers
• Business messenger
• Help center articles
• Customer data
• Live chat
• Product tours

…and more.

Pricing Structure

Intercom offers free trials on all its plans. However, once this is over, you will need to upgrade to a paid option. The packages are as follows: 

• Essential – $39 per seat per month
• Advanced – $99 per seat per month
• Expert – $139 per seat per month

#5 Tidio

Next on our list of Drift alternatives is Tidio. It features helpdesk and customer support tools to help your business thrive.

Features

This platform provides you access to a range of features, such as email marketing automation, chatbots, and live chat, to enable smooth and seamless interactions with website visitors. 

Businesses can easily install and manage client communication with ease because of its customizable chat widgets and user-friendly interface. Furthermore, Tidio’s AI-powered chatbots facilitate automated responses, guaranteeing that users receive personalized, round-the-clock assistance.

Pricing Structure

Tidio offers four plans. They are priced as follows: 

• Free – $0 per month
• Starter – $31.26 per month
• Growth – $63.59 per month
• Tidio+ – $537.79 per month

Free trials are offered on all paid packages.

#6 Tawk.to

Tawk.to is another free AI-powered messaging platform designed to help drive business growth. Although features are a bit limited, this software is completely free to use.

Features

You can expect to gain access to the following when you sign up for Tawk.to for free: 

• Live chat
• Knowledge base
• CRM tools 
• Chat pages 
• AI Assist

Pricing Structure

This platform is completely free to use!

#7 Chatra

Last but certainly not least on our list of Drift alternatives is Chatra.  With a free plan that offers access to a limited number of features and affordable paid plans, this conversational marketing platform is a great option.

Features

The purpose of Chatra is to improve customer support and engagement. It allows companies to provide personalized service through features such as configurable chat widgets, automatic responses, and real-time user surveillance. 

Furthermore, its connectivity with well-known e-commerce platforms further makes it useful for online merchants looking to increase client satisfaction and revenue.

Pricing Structure

As mentioned previously, Chatra offers a free plan. This will give one agent access to limited features. To access more of its tools, you can upgrade to a paid package. 

The Essential plan costs $18.32 per month, billed annually, and you can expect to pay $24.79 per month when you choose the Pro option.

Choosing the Right Drift Alternative

When choosing the right software for your business, you will need to consider your needs and budget. If you would prefer a free platform that does not compromise functionality, then we highly recommend giving Chatway a try. Tawk.to is another good option to consider.

Then, assess the pros and cons of each software solution and weigh them against your needs. You will also need to ensure that the platform you go for is compatible with your existing systems and workflows. 

Lastly, think about the size of your team. Most of the paid tools mentioned above charge per user per month, so if you have a large team, you will need to make sure that you are using a platform that is most cost-effective.

Final Thoughts

The importance of offering personalized, helpful customer support cannot be stressed enough. If you want your business to grow, then it’s important to get this right. The good news is that you won’t have to spend thousands of dollars on platforms like Drift to help with this. 

There are many other Drift alternatives on the market designed to offer powerful features at a fraction of the cost. After looking at several platforms, we are proud to recommend Chatway as the number one product that you can use to get Drift functionality without the high price tag.

There’s absolutely nothing to lose, so be sure to give it a try to boost customer engagement and conversion rates.  Sign up for FREE here