DriftLiveChatDrift vs LiveChat

Drift vs LiveChat: conversational marketing or live chat

A conversational marketing platform against a live chat software: LiveChat is $2,255 a month cheaper for five people. What decides between Drift and LiveChat, 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 LiveChat if website chat is the channel and you want the most refined console and widget available. For five people, LiveChat is $2,255 a month cheaper than Drift ($2,500 a month on Drift against $245 on LiveChat), before AI. Sellio Mini is $45, $200 under LiveChat. Drift and LiveChat both include website chat in the price. Neither Drift nor LiveChat includes email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between Drift and LiveChat for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.

At a glanceDriftDriftLiveChatLiveChat
Built aroundSales conversations · a marketing tool, not a help deskThe chat console · help desk and chatbot sold separately
Entry planFrom $2,500/mo · Premium, yearly contract$19/agent/mo · Starter: 60-day history
Chat in the priceFrom $2,500/mo · one contract for the whole team$49/agent/mo · Team
AI agentBy contract · part of the Salesloft platformChatBot from $52/mo · a separate product
Copilot for agentsBy contractIncluded · Text Intelligence
Free planNone · sales-led, no trialNone · 14-day trial

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. LiveChat has no ticket queue either.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    As a chat in the agent console, with the visitor's page and typing shown live; tickets go to the separate HelpDesk product. Drift has no ticket queue either.

  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, against $245 on LiveChat.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    $19 buys the console with 60 days of history. Team at $49 keeps the history and adds reports. $245 for five people, against $2,500 on Drift.

  3. 03

    How the AI is billed

    DriftDrift

    AI chat and qualification are part of the Salesloft platform and priced in the contract. LiveChat meters AI (ChatBot from $52/mo) above the seats as well.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    Text Intelligence assists are included; an AI answering customers means the separate ChatBot product from $52 a month. 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. The same set as LiveChat.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    Website chat, Messenger, Apple Messages, WhatsApp and email in the console; SMS via integration. The same set as Drift.

  5. 05

    Beyond the inbox

    DriftDrift

    Account-based marketing, playbooks, meeting booking and Salesloft's sales engagement suite. LiveChat is a live chat software instead.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    A large marketplace, and sibling products for chatbot, help desk and knowledge base at their own prices. 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. LiveChat is an hour.

    LiveChatLiveChat

    An hour: paste the snippet, invite agents, answer. Drift is weeks.

Sources: Drift pricing · LiveChat 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 LiveChat agent console: the chat list, the conversation and the visitor details
LiveChatLiveChat. The LiveChat agent console: the chat list, the conversation and the visitor details

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

Drift, LiveChat 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.

FeatureDriftDriftLiveChatLiveChatSellio

Pricing

Pricing model
Annual platform contract from $2,500/mo.
Per agent; ChatBot is a separate product.
Per workspace; seats and channels are plan limits
Free plan
Sales-led only.
14-day trial.
2 seats, 1 channel, 1 AI agent, no trial clock

Channels

Website live chat
The core of the product, aimed at lead capture.
The core product.
One script tag; guides for HTML, React, Next.js and more
Email in the inbox
Sales email sequences; not a support inbox.
Via marketplace integration.
From Mini: forward your support address; reply from the thread
WhatsApp
Not a channel.
Via marketplace integration.
From Mini: WhatsApp Business API, several agents on one number
Instagram DMs
Not a channel.
Via marketplace integration.
From Mini: Instagram DMs beside web chat
Telegram
Not a channel.
Not listed.
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.
ChatBot, a separate subscription.
Crawl your site, upload PDFs and FAQs; answers only from those
How AI is billed
By contract.
From $52/mo for ChatBot; copilot included.
Metered from an included credit, with caps you set
AI hands off to a person
Routes to reps.
ChatBot transfers to agents.
On low confidence, a keyword, or a teammate taking over

Support operations

Tickets
No ticketing.
HelpDesk is a separate product.
On Plus: raise from any chat; customer, back-office and tracker
Visual workflow automation
Playbooks for lead routing.
Routing rules; flows live in ChatBot.
From Mini: 11 triggers, 18 actions, no code
Analytics and CSAT
Pipeline and conversion reporting; no CSAT.
Reports and ratings.
From Essentials: response times, resolution, CSAT; topics and email reports on Plus

Apps

Desktop app (Windows, macOS)
Browser and mobile.
Mac and Windows apps.
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.
  • Time to the first reply is weeks here and an hour on LiveChat.
  • Its pricing model suits you better than LiveChat's: 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.

Pick LiveChat if

  • Website chat is the channel and you want the most refined console and widget available.
  • You need Apple Messages for Business.
  • Five people cost $2,255 a month less than on Drift ($245 against $2,500), before AI.
  • You want native desktop apps, which Drift does not ship.

The third option: Sellio

  • Two to ten of you answer chat, messaging and email. Compare Sellio's workspace plans with $2,500 a month on Drift against $245 on LiveChat for five people, including each product's limits.
  • The AI invoice should be known in advance: Drift meters AI (by contract) above the seats and LiveChat meters AI (ChatBot from $52/mo) above the seats, where Sellio's credit is included and capped by you.
  • You need Telegram and a free plan with no trial clock, which neither Drift nor LiveChat 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. LiveChat on Team: $98, $245 and $490 a month for two, five and ten people, before AI. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, $2,455 less than Drift and $200 less than LiveChat for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included. At ten people, Essentials at $95 is $395 under LiveChat.

Where the two agree, and where they split

Drift is a conversational marketing platform built around sales conversations; LiveChat is a live chat software built around the chat console. Neither has a free plan: Drift offers no trial, LiveChat 14 days, no card. Drift and LiveChat both include website chat in the price. Neither Drift nor LiveChat includes email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram outright. Drift (by contract) and LiveChat (ChatBot from $52/mo) both meter AI above the seats. Neither Drift nor LiveChat has a ticket queue, and only LiveChat ships desktop apps. Drift is weeks; LiveChat is an hour.

What each price leaves out

Drift: AI features are part of the Salesloft platform and priced by contract. LiveChat: Text Intelligence (copilot, suggestions, summaries) included. The ChatBot product is separate, from $52 a month yearly. Beside Drift's by contract and LiveChat's ChatBot from $52/mo, 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 LiveChat's, and Drift'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
    LiveChatLiveChatAssumed $0$0
    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
    LiveChatLiveChat · 14 days, no card
    Sellio · Free plan, no card

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

Continue your research

FAQ

Drift vs LiveChat: the questions people ask

Drift is a conversational marketing platform built around sales conversations; LiveChat is a live chat software built around the chat console. Neither Drift nor LiveChat has a ticket queue, and only LiveChat ships desktop apps.

  • Entry plan: Drift From $2,500/mo (Premium, yearly contract); LiveChat $19/agent/mo (Starter: 60-day history).
  • Chat in the price: Drift From $2,500/mo (one contract for the whole team); LiveChat $49/agent/mo (Team).
  • Sellio: one inbox for every channel: email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Telegram, which neither Drift nor LiveChat has outright, plus the rest of the five, on every paid plan.

The shared inbox page puts Sellio beside Drift and LiveChat 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.

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