Drift Is Gone. Here's What B2B Teams Should Use Instead.
Drift was acquired by Salesloft and is being sunset as a standalone product. If you're looking for a replacement, here are your options.
What Happened to Drift
Drift was the original "conversational marketing" platform. It pioneered the idea of replacing contact forms with chat widgets that qualify leads in real time. B2B teams loved it. At its peak, Drift was on thousands of SaaS websites.
Then Salesloft acquired Drift in 2024. The standalone product started getting folded into Salesloft's sales engagement platform. Features disappeared. Pricing changed. The team behind Drift's original vision largely left.
If you're a Drift customer reading this, you probably already know the product isn't what it used to be. You're looking for what's next.
What Drift Was Good At
Before picking a replacement, let's be clear about what you're replacing:
- Website chat widget with lead qualification built in - Chatbot flows that ask qualifying questions (company size, budget, timeline) and route to sales - Meeting scheduling integrated directly into the chat - Account-based targeting — show different experiences to different visitors based on firmographic data - Revenue attribution — track which chat conversations turned into deals
If you used all of this, no single tool replaces everything. You'll need to pick what matters most and find the right fit.
Your Options
If your primary use case was lead qualification:
Qualified.com and Warmly are the closest replacements. They do the same thing Drift did — identify high-intent website visitors, engage them via chat, and route to sales. Qualified starts at $3,500/month. Warmly is cheaper but less feature-rich.
If $3,500/month isn't in the budget, consider using your existing chat tool (Intercom, HubSpot) with bot flows that ask qualifying questions. It's not as polished, but it gets the job done.
If your primary use case was customer support:
Drift had decent support capabilities, but it was always a marketing tool first. For actual support, you're better off with a purpose-built option. Intercom if you want a modern messenger with AI. Help Scout if you want a simple shared inbox. An intent classifier if you want automation that resolves tickets without human involvement.
If your primary use case was meeting scheduling:
Calendly or Cal.com embedded in your chat widget handles this. Most chat tools (Intercom, HubSpot, Crisp) have native calendar booking integrations. You don't need Drift for this.
If you used everything:
You're probably best served by HubSpot Service Hub ($15/seat/month for Starter) plus a scheduling tool. HubSpot gives you the chat widget, bot flows, CRM integration, and basic reporting. It's not as slick as Drift was, but it covers the same ground and it's not going anywhere.
The Budget-Friendly Path
If you're a smaller B2B team and Drift was already stretching your budget:
1. For website chat: Install a support widget with intent classification. Incoming messages get categorized automatically. Sales inquiries route to your sales channel. Support questions get handled by automation. Cost: $20 to $80/month based on volume.
2. For meeting scheduling: Embed Calendly (free for basic, $10/month for Pro) on your website and in auto-responses.
3. For lead qualification: Write 2-3 qualifying questions into your widget's conversation flow. Or just ask "Are you a current customer or interested in learning more?" and route accordingly.
Total cost: $30 to $90/month instead of Drift's $2,500+/month pricing.
You lose the firmographic targeting, the revenue attribution, and the polished "conversational marketing" experience. But if you're honest about how much of that you actually used, the simpler setup might work just as well.
Migrating Off Drift
Export your data first. Pull your conversation history, contact data, and any custom bot flows. Drift's export tools have been inconsistent since the Salesloft acquisition, so do this before your contract ends.
Map your bot flows. Document what your Drift chatbot actually did — which questions it asked, where it routed, what data it collected. You'll need to rebuild these in your new tool.
Redirect your widget. Swap Drift's script tag for your new tool's embed code. This takes 5 minutes.
Notify your team. If your sales reps were getting Drift notifications, set up equivalent alerts in the new system.
The whole migration takes 1-2 days for most teams. The biggest time sink is rebuilding bot flows, not the technical switchover.