Drift Alternatives: Strong Options Compared

Drift retires January 31, 2027. Compare the top alternatives: 1Mind, Qualified, Chili Piper, Intercom with Fin and HubSpot, with prices and a migration plan.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-13T13:28:56+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-13T13:28:56+00:00

Drift Alternatives: Strong Options Compared

Drift is retiring. Salesloft will retire Drift, its conversational marketing product, on January 31, 2027. Access ends on that date or at the end of your contract, whichever comes first. The chat widget, Drift Email and custom API integrations stop working after that date. If you run Drift today, you need a replacement. This guide compares the strongest Drift alternatives, with prices checked on vendor pages in November 2026. Salesloft names 1Mind as its recommended replacement for chatbot work and allGood for Drift Email.

What Happens to Drift and When

The timeline comes from Salesloft's official Drift Sunset FAQ. The sunset was announced on March 6, 2026, as Clari and Salesloft moved toward one Predictive Revenue System. Drift is closed to new buyers. Existing contracts stay in force through the contract end date or January 31, 2027. Data stays stored offline through April 30, 2027, so you can request an export. All remaining Drift data is permanently deleted on May 1, 2027. Do not wait until January to move. Migrate in the autumn, while you can run the old and new tools side by side and export your data calmly.

Drift Alternatives at a Glance

1. 1Mind: The Successor Salesloft Recommends

1Mind is the exclusive AI successor named by Clari and Salesloft. It is the closest thing to a sanctioned migration path. Salesloft's own Chat Agents page says it has transitioned from Drift to 1Mind. If your team wants the vendor-blessed route, start here. The catch is pricing. 1Mind does not publish prices. Expect a sales conversation and a quote sized to your traffic. Ask for a migration plan, data import support and a trial on your live site before you sign.

2. Qualified: Best Drift Alternative for Salesforce Teams

Qualified sells Piper, an AI SDR agent that greets website visitors, captures leads and books meetings. It works across text, voice and video, and it is built around Salesforce. Piper handles website and email conversations and schedules meetings instantly. Three plans exist: Premier, Enterprise and Ultimate. Premier covers one agent profile, up to 250,000 web sessions and 2,500 email contacts a month. Enterprise adds human handoff, API access and a Salesforce sandbox. Ultimate adds more agent profiles and a dedicated IP. No plan shows a price. Every tier goes through a demo and a quote. Qualified fits Salesforce-centric teams with high traffic and a real budget. Small teams should look elsewhere.

3. Chili Piper: Best for Booking and Routing

Chili Piper started in meeting scheduling and now sells a platform with chat and AI agents on top. It is the reference for inbound routing. A visitor fills in a form. Rules qualify and route the lead. The right rep's calendar appears. The pricing page lists Growth from $15,000 a year, shown as $1,250 a month, with 15 seats included and 45,000 AI credits a year. Scale starts from $42,000 a year with 30 seats. Enterprise starts from 250 seats with volume pricing. All plans are billed annually. Monthly billing is not available. Choose Chili Piper when booked meetings are the main metric and your pipeline arrives through the demo form.

4. Intercom with Fin: Best for Support-Led Teams

Intercom is a customer service platform with Messenger, a shared inbox, ticketing and a help centre, plus Fin as its AI agent. In 2026 the company renamed itself Fin after the agent, while Intercom stays the name of the service platform. Salesforce completed its acquisition of Fin in September 2026. Seats run from $29 a seat a month on Essential, through $85 on Advanced, to $132 on Expert, billed annually. Fin costs $0.99 per outcome, counted when a conversation is resolved or a workflow completes. Fin for Sales, which qualifies prospects and books meetings, costs $9.99 per qualification. Intercom fits support-led teams that also want sales answers in one inbox. The per-outcome billing needs a budget cap. Set one before launch.

5. HubSpot Chatbot Builder: Best for HubSpot Users

HubSpot's chatbot builder lets you qualify leads, book meetings and answer support questions. It is free to start, with more features in paid Marketing, Sales, Service and Content Hub editions. Its AI agent, Customer Agent, works across chat, email and forms. Sales Hub starts at $7 a seat a month for new customers on Starter. Professional is $90 a seat with a $1,500 onboarding fee. Enterprise is $150 a seat with a $3,500 onboarding fee. If your CRM is already HubSpot, start here. You keep your data in one place and the chatbot is already connected to your contacts and deals.

How to Migrate Off Drift Before the Deadline

Follow these steps in order. First, export your Drift data now, including conversation history, playbooks and lead records. Second, pick the replacement by your main job: meetings, support or Salesforce depth. Third, run the new tool beside Drift for two to four weeks. Fourth, rebuild your top five playbooks in the new tool and test them with real traffic. Fifth, move the widget on a quiet day and watch the first 100 conversations. Sixth, confirm the export is stored safely before May 1, 2027, when unexported data is deleted.

Bottom Line

The best Drift alternative for most B2B teams is 1Mind, because Salesloft recommends it and it is built as the direct successor. Salesforce-heavy teams should price Qualified. Teams that live by booked meetings should price Chili Piper. Support-led teams should look at Intercom with Fin. HubSpot users should start with HubSpot's own chatbot builder, which is free to begin. Whatever you pick, start now. January 31, 2027 is fixed, and the widget stops working after that date.