DriftWebsite chat that routes high-intent buyers to sales reps, being retired in 2027
vs
SmartsuppSmartsupp combines AI, chatbots and live chat to save your time and help you turn visitors into customers.
Comparison · Live Chat & AI Support · weekly run Nov 3
Drift vs Smartsupp
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Smartsupp is the stronger AI pick in Live Chat & AI Support: it has a visibility score of 1.7 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 Smartsupp if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (1.7 vs 1.5)
- AI answers describe it more positively (33% vs 20% positive)
- You need WCAG 2.1 AA (chat box) coverage
- Highly rated live chat platform in recent user reviews
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Drift | Smartsupp |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 1.5% | 1.7% |
| Change vs last week | up+0.8% | down−0.1% |
| Rank in Live Chat & AI Support | #27 | #23 |
| Share of voice | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| Mentions this run | 3 | 2 |
| Positive in AI answers | 20% | 33% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Drift +0.8pp · Smartsupp −0.19999999999999996pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Smartsupp leads on 2 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
DriftSmartsupp
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
0Drift ranked higher
0Smartsupp ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Drift | Smartsupp |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | — | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | — | Free; paid from $17 / mo |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), hosted on AWS in the US | Web dashboard, with iPhone/iPad and Android apps |
| Integrations | — | 60+ |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27701 | WCAG 2.1 AA (chat box) |
| Support | — | Premium support (Expert plan), Dedicated account manager (Ultimate plan) |
| Founded | 2015 | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, US (parent Salesloft) | Brno, Czech Republic |
| Employees | 1,001–5,000 | 11–50 |
| Funding | — | About 10 million koruna from Reflex Capital, Webnode and Spread Capital, about 15% given up |
| Best for | Teams still running Drift who need to migrate before the chat widget is retired on January 31, 2027 | Online shops and websites, from solo operators to teams with several agents |
Plans side by side
Drift
Pricing not available.
Smartsupp
Free$0month
Solo$17month, billed annually
Plus$25month, billed annually
Expert$83month, billed annually
Ultimate$280month (starts at)
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
Smartsupp
- Highly rated live chat platform in recent user reviews
- Good fit for e-commerce with live chat and visitor session recordings
- Free plan or trial available for website chat
- Advertised discounts offered
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Drift vs Smartsupp”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/drift-vs-smartsupp, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.