Smith.ai Chatbot vs. Drift

Compare features and see how your business can better capture leads and serve clients with the fully automated Smith.ai Chatbot.

GET STARTED NOW

The Smith.ai Advantage

Capture leads 24/7
No staff
needed
Free & unlimited chats

Smith.ai: The best alternative to Drift

Smith.ai
Drift
INCLUDED FOR FREE
Unlimited chat conversations
100% bot-answered chats, 24/7
Captures email on every conversation
Captures phone number if desired
Automated lead qualification
Smart Q&A database
Custom AI bot
Pre-chat disclaimer
Mobile-friendly
Custom branding
Public API
Email support
Activity Dashboard
BOOSTED SERVICE
Seats for your staff
0
No seats needed
1</br>More seats with premium plans
Add professional live-chat agents
From $140/mo
Totally optional
X – live chat is available, but has to be staffed by you
Unlimited Q&A and knowledge base
$50/month
X – you'll have to go elsewhere for this feature
Unlimited conversation playbooks
$50/month
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
CRM integrations
$0.50/chat
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
Zapier integration
$0.50/chat
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
White-glove setup option
$150 one-time fee
Totally optional
X – you'll have a CSM for support, but your team will do the work
Custom programming
$200/hr
Totally optional
Available with paid plans starting at $400 per month
Read our reviews
Clutch LogoCapterra Logo

Automated Chatbots vs. Live Chat Software

Automated Chatbot
Live Chat Software
Answers messages w/o extra staff
Yes
No
Quick one-time setup
Yes
No
Responds immediately 24/7
Yes
No
Automates lead qualification & intake
Yes
Sometimes
Triages chats automatically
Yes
No
100% consistency
Yes
No
Screens spam & sales
Yes
No

Smith.ai Chatbot is a fully automatic lead-capture solution. Drift is similar but requires you to program the Chatbot’s AI.

Chatbots are part of a growing trend known as conversational marketing. This is one of the most powerful lead capture tools available, and when you engage the Drift or Smith.ai Chatbot, you’ll automatically capture and qualify the best leads, along with providing people with the chance to get answers, book services, and more.

Smith.ai and Drift are two of the leading tools for conversational marketing, each offering their own perks and features worth considering. And as with all tech tools and integrations, what’s best for your business will depend on your needs specifically, as well as what you hope to accomplish with the addition of a chatbot.

The whole idea of a chatbot is to reduce your workload and provide your audience with more self-service options for their communication needs. Drift and Smith.ai have both created dynamic tools in that vein, but the end result is two highly-qualified products with the scale instantly tipping to Smith.ai for its transparent and affordable pricing, as well as the team of agents that do all the work for you.

The Drift chatbot features a customizable AI framework that lets you build out the perfect conversation tool. However, while the team at Smith.ai will take notes and customize your chatbot for you, Drift requires users to do all the customization and building themselves before the chatbot can be set to task.

Drift offers A/B testing for your bot messages to help you optimize your conversations. Smith.ai’s Chatbot comes with the support of a team that will handle the testing and monitoring for you. Plus, while both platforms offer a free chatbot, Drift’s no-cost option doesn’t have nearly as many extras as what is offered by Smith.ai, and you’ll have to implement most of the extras yourself.

When it comes to paid plans and services, Drift has much more limited options and the lack of transparent pricing is enough to cause concern for some. As you’ll see below, and throughout our site, Smith.ai always offers transparent pricing and has a range of affordable solutions.

The bottom line? Anyone in the market for a solid, customizable, AI-backed chatbot could stand to benefit from either of these tools. However, for the hands-off setup and customization, along with ongoing monitoring and support, and much more predictable (and affordable) pricing, Smith.ai’s Chatbot is becoming the preferred choice of many.

THE BASICS!

Live chat agents on duty 24/7
Real-time lead qualification & intake with CRM integration for complete workflows
Appointment & call-back scheduling with calendar integration
AI technology powers automatic responses, real-time English-Spanish translation, and more.
Payment collection with online billing and invoice links
Instant chat transcripts via email. Contacts and chat conversations logged in your CRM.

What our customers are saying

“Great customer care and functionality. I love using Smith.ai. They do such a great job in following instructions on how I'd like my cases handled. I especially love the fact that I get email transcripts of all chats. I have never had incorrect information obtained (contact info) from any potential clients by Smith.ai. They are very detail oriented!”
Justie Nicol
"Smith allows us to converse with website visitors and turn them into potential clients. They've made it easier for us to be there at all times, even when we're not. We've worked with other vendors in the past and have found Smith.ai among the easiest to use. They're very responsive, they communicate well, and serve as our front lines for client communications."
Scott Peterson
“Simple way to start a great client experience. There are a lot of Chat options available, but this was a no brainer for us because of our great experience with Smith.ai as a company. Everything they do is focused on simplicity. Stuff just works. They make everything easy and have focused on hiring great people, which is evident by the way they treat us as a customer and the people that they chat with on our behalf.”
Brian Waller
“Love Smith.ai Chat! There is no way that I could staff a feature like that in house with my small business. Smith.ai makes the chat feature available around the clock. I am a lawyer and this feature is great for clients who are nervous or shy about making that initial phone call, or who are up thinking about the problem that they need help with outside of business hours. The Smith.ai Website Chat also integrates perfectly with my CRM/case management software. It has really been a boost to my business. I have tried other companies. Smith.ai is the best!”
Nicole G.

Unlimited chats answered 24/7/365

FREE AI
CHATBOT

$0
Per Month
Unlimited
chat conversations
includes
4 q&A and 1 playbook

ADD-on
Pricing

Unlimited playbooks - $50/mo
Unlimited Q&A - $50/mo
CRM Integrations - $0.50/chat
White-glove installation - $150

We integrate with your software

Contacts and chat transcripts are instantly logged in your systems
Clio
Clio Grow
Salesforce
HubSpot
Zapier
PracticePanther
Capsule CRM
Lawmatics
Lead Docket
Wealthbox

Small businesses trust Smith.ai Chatbot to capture more leads