DriftKayakoDrift vs Kayako

Drift vs Kayako: conversational marketing or help desk

A conversational marketing platform against a help desk: one prints a price and one quotes. Where Drift and Kayako split, and a third option for small teams.

By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below

Try the third optionSellio pricing

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The short answer

Pick Drift if you want a sales chatbot that qualifies visitors and books meetings, not a support inbox. Pick Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $2,500 a month on Drift, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. Drift and Kayako both include website chat in the price; only Kayako has email. Neither Drift nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. For a team of two to ten weighing Drift against Kayako, the third option below puts chat and tickets at one workspace price.

At a glanceDriftDriftKayakoKayako
Built aroundSales conversations · a marketing tool, not a help deskTickets and a customer journey · AI billed per resolution
Entry planFrom $2,500/mo · Premium, yearly contractQuote · Kayako One
Chat in the priceFrom $2,500/mo · one contract for the whole teamQuote · widget included
AI agentBy contract · part of the Salesloft platform$1 per resolution · Kay AI Agent
Copilot for agentsBy contractIn Kay
Free planNone · sales-led, no trialNone · talk to a pricing expert

The six differences that decide it

Everything else on this page follows from these.

  1. 01

    Where a conversation starts

    DriftDrift

    As a chat with a website visitor that Drift tries to qualify and route to a sales rep or a meeting. Kayako raises a ticket where Drift keeps a conversation.

    KayakoKayako

    As a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. Drift has no ticket queue behind its conversations.

  2. 02

    What the seat buys

    DriftDrift

    There are no support seats: one annual contract from $2,500 a month covers the revenue team. $2,500 for five people; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.

    KayakoKayako

    No seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. No figure for five people here; Drift prints $2,500.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    DriftDrift

    AI chat and qualification are part of the Salesloft platform and priced in the contract. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats as well.

    KayakoKayako

    Kay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. Drift meters AI (by contract) above the seats as well.

  4. 04

    Channels in the price

    DriftDrift

    Website chat, email sequences and meeting booking; no WhatsApp, Instagram or ticket queue. Kayako adds email, which Drift lacks.

    KayakoKayako

    Email, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. email is here and not on Drift.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    DriftDrift

    Account-based marketing, playbooks, meeting booking and Salesloft's sales engagement suite. Kayako is a help desk instead.

    KayakoKayako

    A help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. Drift is a conversational marketing platform instead.

  6. 06

    Time to the first reply

    DriftDrift

    Weeks: a sales-led onboarding with playbooks and routing, and Salesloft has said the product is winding down. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

    KayakoKayako

    A sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. Drift is weeks.

Sources: Drift pricing · Kayako pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.

What each one looks like

A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.

The Drift conversation view: a visitor chat with routing to a rep and a meeting booker
DriftDrift. The Drift conversation view: a visitor chat with routing to a rep and a meeting booker
The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it
KayakoKayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside it

Pricing references: Drift pricing page (recorded 2026-09-06; needs verification); Kayako pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.

Drift, Kayako and Sellio, side by side

Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.

FeatureDriftDriftKayakoKayakoSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Annual platform contract from $2,500/mo.
Quote; AI per resolution
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Sales-led only.
None
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The core of the product, aimed at lead capture.
Widget included
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Sales email sequences; not a support inbox.
Included
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Not a channel.
Not offered
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Not a channel.
Messenger and X only
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Not offered
From Mini: paste a bot token; the webhook is set for you
Slack, Discord, Teams (two-way)
Slack notifications for sales alerts.
Slack integration
From Mini: two-way threads; a reply there reaches the customer

AI

AI agent trained on your docs
AI for qualification and booking rather than support answers.
Kay
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
By contract.
$1 per resolution
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Routes to reps.
Escalates free of charge
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
No ticketing.
Ticket-first
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Playbooks for lead routing.
Automation rules
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Pipeline and conversion reporting; no CSAT.
Reporting
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile.
Browser only
Native Windows and macOS apps

Which one, for whom

Pick Drift if

  • You want a sales chatbot that qualifies visitors and books meetings, not a support inbox.
  • You already run Salesloft and want chat inside the same platform.
  • It prints its price ($2,500 a month for five) where Kayako quotes.
  • Time to the first reply is weeks here and a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding on Kayako.

Pick Kayako if

  • You want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee.
  • A ticket view that shows the customer's journey matters to you.
  • You need email in the price, which Drift does not include outright.
  • You need a ticket queue, which Drift does not have.

The third option: Sellio

  • Your team is two to ten people on chat, messaging and email. Weigh workspace pricing against $2,500 a month on Drift, and a quote on Kayako for five people; the billing units and included features differ.
  • You want a ceiling on AI spend: Drift meters AI (by contract) above the seats, Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats, and Sellio stops at the cap you set.
  • You need Telegram and native Windows and macOS apps, which neither Drift nor Kayako includes.

What two, five and ten people pay

Drift: $2,500 a month for five (one annual contract, from $2,500 a month); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Kayako quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $2,455 less than Drift and against a quote on Kayako for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Drift is a conversational marketing platform built around sales conversations; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Neither has a free plan: Drift offers no trial, Kayako no trial. Drift and Kayako both include website chat in the price; only Kayako has email. Neither Drift nor Kayako includes WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Drift (by contract) and Kayako ($1 per resolution) both meter AI above the seats. Kayako has tickets and Drift does not, and neither Drift nor Kayako ships a desktop app. Drift is weeks; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.

What each price leaves out

Drift: AI features are part of the Salesloft platform and priced by contract. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside Drift's by contract and Kayako's $1 per resolution, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.

How these figures were read

Drift does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Drift's pricing page redirects to Salesloft. Published figures come from third-party summaries and Salesloft's own materials; Salesloft has announced the product is being wound down.), so they are marked unverified here beside Kayako's, and Drift's pricing page should be checked before you decide. Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside Drift's, and Kayako's pricing page should be checked before you decide.

How to decide in an afternoon

  1. Step 1

    Count agents and channels

    Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.

    5 people reply5 seats
    Website chat61%
    WhatsApp27%
    Email12%
  2. Step 2

    Price the AI you would use

    Estimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.

    1,200 conversations × 40% AI closes480
    DriftDriftSee vendorNot quoted
    KayakoKayakoSee vendorNot quoted
    Sellio$0.05$19

    Illustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.

  3. Step 3

    Trial the shortlist

    Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.

    DriftDrift · None; sales-led contracts
    KayakoKayako · None printed; book a session
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

    Confirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.

Continue your research

FAQ

Drift vs Kayako: the questions people ask

Drift is a conversational marketing platform built around sales conversations; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Kayako has tickets and Drift does not, and neither Drift nor Kayako ships a desktop app.

  • Entry plan: Drift From $2,500/mo (Premium, yearly contract); Kayako Quote (Kayako One).
  • Chat in the price: Drift From $2,500/mo (one contract for the whole team); Kayako Quote (widget included).
  • Sellio's inbox: WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Drift nor Kayako has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Drift and Kayako on the same rows.

Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.

Or the third option: one price, every channel.

Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.

Get startedRead the docs

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