DriftWebsite chat that routes high-intent buyers to sales reps, being retired in 2027
vs
Help ScoutThe AI-driven support platform for customer-first brands
Comparison · Live Chat & AI Support · weekly run Nov 3
Drift vs Help Scout
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Help Scout is the stronger AI pick in Live Chat & AI Support: it has a visibility score of 4.7 versus 1.5 for Drift.
Choose Drift if…
- You need SOC 2 Type 2 or ISO 27701 coverage
- You prefer a larger, established vendor (1,001–5,000 employees)
- Deeper real-time engagement features
- Visitor tracking and proactive messaging triggers
Choose Help Scout if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (4.7 vs 1.5)
- AI answers describe it more positively (38% vs 20% positive)
- You need SOC 2 Type II or HIPAA coverage
- Shared inbox with email-like, human feel
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Drift | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 1.5% | 4.7% |
| Change vs last week | up+0.8% | up+2.1% |
| Rank in Live Chat & AI Support | #27 | #14 |
| Share of voice | 0.5% | 2.2% |
| Mentions this run | 3 | 10 |
| Positive in AI answers | 20% | 38% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Drift +0.8pp · Help Scout +2.1pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Help Scout leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
DriftHelp Scout
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Drift ranked higher
0Help Scout ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Drift | Help Scout |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | — | Per seat |
| Entry price | — | Free; paid from $25 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), hosted on AWS in the US | Cloud (hosted on AWS) |
| Integrations | — | 100+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27701 | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA |
| Support | — | Email, Dedicated onboarding specialist, Strategic account manager |
| Founded | 2015 | 2011 |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, US (parent Salesloft) | Boston, MA, United States |
| Employees | 1,001–5,000 | 201–500 |
| Funding | — | Series B1 |
| Best for | Teams still running Drift who need to migrate before the chat widget is retired on January 31, 2027 | Small businesses, growing companies and non-profits that want simple, multichannel customer support |
Plans side by side
Drift
Pricing not available.
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Drift
- Deeper real-time engagement features
- Visitor tracking and proactive messaging triggers
- Strong fit for enterprise sales and ABM
- Included in strongest B2B SaaS shortlists
Help Scout
- Shared inbox with email-like, human feel
- Simple, straightforward support for small teams
- Clean, intuitive interface
- Free plan for small teams
- Free trial with full feature access
- Costs more for extra inboxes and Docs sites
- Free plan limited to 100 contacts per month
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Drift vs Help Scout”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/drift-vs-help-scout, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.