Drift vs Intercom: Who will win the battle in 2022

It is amazing that live chat apps or live talk apps allow thousands of online businesses to interact with their customers in a variety of ways. Also, these apps intercept customers where they are and drive them into the right experience. All this starts with just a chat i.e. real-time communication.

We all know Drift and Intercom are two popular live chat and in-app messaging tools that needs no introduction. These customer communication platforms are transforming businesses like never before.

Without much delay, before head starts to Drift vs Intercom, let’s have a quick glance at the overview of both Drift and Intercom live chat apps.

What is Drift?

Drift is a popular cloud-based application that adds live chat to websites to assist businesses in automating their sales processes and improving client loyalty. It was founded in 2015. The software allows chat representatives to communicate with website visitors in real time in order to generate leads and increase sales opportunities.

What is Intercom?

Intercom live chat is a conversational platform for sales, support, and marketing. It was founded in 2011 aimed at helping all businesses in building good relationships with customers and is the first platform that offers a chatbot in live chat.

Though both the tools are popular worldwide, they both have a flip side too. Then how to choose the best one between them? How to decide which suits your business?

Let’s compare both tools from features to pricing!

We have researched these two solutions based on their pricing and features to help you decide between Drift and Intercom. Walk with us through this article so that you can identify the perfect live chat solution for your growing business.

Let’s get started!

Intercom Live Chat Vs Drift Live Chat: A Debate!

Now, let’s compare both Drift and Intercom in various aspects from their features to functionality to integrations to pricing.

1. Interface: Drift vs Intercom

Drift has a simple UI/UX and its setup is easier with visual flow builder and chatbot flows. On the other hand, Intercom has a less intuitive user interface than Drift and it is complex to set up.

The winner: DRIFT. Because the interface of Drift is easier to use than Intercom.

2. Features: Drift vs Intercom

Drift features include live chat, Knowledge base, Email management software, Customization, branding, Shared inbox, Offline forms, Meeting scheduler, Chatbots, Video messaging, etc.

Intercom has a rich feature set that includes Business Messenger, Customizable bots, Automated answers, Product Tours, Outbound Messages, Inbox, Help Center Articles, Account Based Marketing, Management Tools, Apps + Integrations, Customer data, Live Chat, Mobile Apps, Mobile Carousels, Series, Transactional Messaging, Surveys, Switch, and SMS.

The winner: DRIFT/INTERCOM. Because Drift’s features of more sales-oriented whereas Intercom features suit tasks related to sales, support, and marketing. Based on your business needs (sales, support, marketing), you can choose the best one.

3. Chatbot elements: Drift vs Intercom

These are the best support automation solutions as a chatbot is available in both tools. However, the elements in Drift chatbots and Intercom chatbots vary. Intercom offers more elements than Drift and offers a superior chatbot experience.

The winner: Intercom.

4. Integrations: Drift vs Intercom

Drift provides 50 + integrations such as Salesforce, Marketo, Slack, Google Calendar, Facebook Pixel Tracking, Google Analytics, Google Sheets, etc.

Intercom software allows 300+ integrations. They include CRM, Messenger apps, Outlook, Zendesk, Shopify, Zoom Webinars, Hubspot, Salesforce, Jira Cloud, etc.

The winner: DRIFT/INTERCOM. Based on your business type and need for integrations, you can choose the right one. If you want more integrations, Intercom is the ideal choice. Otherwise, Drift.

5. Pricing: Intercom vs Drift

Intercom pricing is a bit unclear and complicated. It has no free trial but has a free live chat app plan with limited access to features. For small businesses, there is only one plan named Starter ($74/month when billed annually). And WhatsApp ($9/month/seat), Surveys ($49/month), Product tours ($199/month) come as add-ons. And there are other plans such as Support, Engage, and Convert. Businesses need to contact the team of the Intercom for detailed pricing for each category. In addition, there is a plan for Enterprises. Intercom charges even more for Enterprises.

On the other hand, Drift pricing won’t be disclosed. It has 4 pricing models- Free, Premium, Advanced, and Enterprise. And businesses need to contact the sales team for Drift’s subscription, exact cost, and negotiation. Drift’s free plan provides basic live chat functionality.

The Winner: No one. Because, both the Intercom subscription
and drift subscriptions have a similar cost which is said to be expensive and unclear.

6. Analytics: Intercom vs Drift

Intercom provides in-depth analytics. Its analytics dashboard includes the details related to User input, User retention, Sent messages, Open rate, Click rate, Conversion rate, and Fall back rate.

When compared to Intercom, Drift provides less analytics. It shows the overview of the number of site visitors, user demographics, number of conversations, and performance of chatbots. However, we can’t analyze the user input which is not understood by the bot. With Intercom it is possible.

The winner: Intercom.

7. Support: Intercom vs Drift

Intercom provides support to its users through tutorials, documentation, live chat, and email.

On the other hand, Drift Insider provides video tutorials, extensive documentation, email, live chat, webinars, and videos related to sales and marketing.

The winner: DRIFT and INTERCOM.

Intercom Vs Drift: Comparison Table

Verdict: Which is the best live chat software for customer communications?

No tool is said to be perfect so there will be no winner. The right in-app messaging solution for your business can be selected based on your business requirements and budget.

When to choose Intercom?

• Intercom is the best live chat app for SaaS.

• As it is an expensive option, it is the best live chat tool for large enterprises.

• If you want more integrations and in-depth analytics.

• It best suits e-commerce businesses.

When to choose Drift?

• Choose the Drift app if you don’t need many integrations.

• It best suits medium and large enterprises.

While Intercom is slightly superior to Drift, it is still the best.

Looking for the Drift and Intercom alternatives? Give Click2magic a try!

Click2magic can be a good alternative to both Intercom and Drift. You can leverage the benefits of both drift software and the Intercom app with Click2magic. It is one of the best all-in-one and free live chat apps for sales, marketplaces, and support.

You can get all essential features such as Canned responses, Widget settings, File transfers, Rating & Tagging, Automation, CRM integration, Categories, Set permissions, Chat transcripts, Tracking, and Analytics free of cost. And you can integrate this live chat for websites and apps. Moreover, you can integrate office chat or instant messaging tools like Troop Messenger into your live chat for a richer customer experience. In addition, we can build customized live chat solutions for you if you want an app like Drift or an app like Intercom.

Read our previous articles here:

• For detailed information, you can read our previous post on how can Click2magic can be an Intercom alternative.

• Also, if you are in a dilemma on whether to leverage chatbot for your business or not, walk through our article live chat vs chatbot.