DriftWebsite chat that routes high-intent buyers to sales reps, being retired in 2027
vs
LiveAgentHelp desk and live chat with AI agents
Comparison · Live Chat & AI Support · weekly run Nov 3
Drift vs LiveAgent
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
LiveAgent is the stronger AI pick in Live Chat & AI Support: it has a visibility score of 8.5 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 LiveAgent if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (8.5 vs 1.5)
- AI answers describe it more positively (39% vs 20% positive)
- You need GDPR coverage
- Strong ticketing and help-desk depth
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Drift | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 1.5% | 8.5% |
| Change vs last week | up+0.8% | down−1.5% |
| Rank in Live Chat & AI Support | #27 | #10 |
| Share of voice | 0.5% | 2.7% |
| Mentions this run | 3 | 14 |
| Positive in AI answers | 20% | 39% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Drift +0.8pp · LiveAgent −1.5999999999999996pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
LiveAgent leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
DriftLiveAgent
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Drift ranked higher
0LiveAgent ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Drift | LiveAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | — | Per seat |
| Entry price | — | $15 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | — | No · 30-day trial |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), hosted on AWS in the US | Cloud only |
| Integrations | — | 200+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27701 | GDPR |
| Support | — | 24/7 AI chatbot with human escalation, Email support, In-app live chat (Mon–Fri), Dedicated account manager (Business from 20 agents, Enterprise) |
| Founded | 2015 | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, US (parent Salesloft) | Bratislava, Slovakia |
| Employees | 1,001–5,000 | 51–200 |
| Funding | — | Bootstrapped |
| Best for | Teams still running Drift who need to migrate before the chat widget is retired on January 31, 2027 | Small and growing support teams that want email, chat, phone and social in one inbox |
Plans side by side
Drift
Pricing not available.
LiveAgent
Starter$15agent/month, billed monthly (offer; regular $19)
Team$26agent/month, billed monthly (offer; regular $35)
Business$44agent/month, billed monthly (offer; regular $59)
Enterprise$3,999month, flat fee, 80 agents included, billed monthly
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
LiveAgent
- Strong ticketing and help-desk depth
- Fast implementation with multi-channel routing and live chat
- 30-day free trial without a credit card
- Good value as a budget help desk
- Chat and ticketing in one suite
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Drift vs LiveAgent”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/drift-vs-liveagent, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.