Drift Alternative for E-commerce: Beyond B2B Chat

Why Drift Doesn't Work for E-commerce

Drift is good at what it does. The problem is what it does—conversational marketing for B2B sales teams—isn't what e-commerce businesses need.

Since [Salesloft acquired Drift in February 2024](https://www.salesloft.com/company/newsroom/salesloft-acquires-drift), the platform has doubled down on enterprise sales workflows. The integration creates an "AI-Powered Revenue Orchestration Platform" designed for B2B sales cycles, qualification workflows, and account-based marketing.

For Shopify stores, WooCommerce sites, and DTC brands, this creates a fundamental mismatch.

E-commerce needs chat that answers "Where's my order?", recommends products, handles returns, and reduces support tickets. Drift optimizes for "Book a meeting with sales", qualifying leads, and pipeline acceleration.

This guide explains why Drift's B2B focus creates gaps for e-commerce, what features retail businesses actually need, and which platforms deliver them.

Understanding Drift's B2B Position

Before comparing alternatives, let's clarify what Drift actually is in 2025.

What Drift Does Well

Drift pioneered "conversational marketing"—using chat to replace lead forms and accelerate B2B sales. The platform excels at:

• Lead qualification: Chatbots that ask qualifying questions and route high-value prospects to sales reps
• Meeting booking: Integrated calendar scheduling for sales calls
• Account-based marketing: Targeted playbooks for specific companies visiting your site
• CRM integration: Deep connections with Salesforce and HubSpot for B2B workflows

The [acquisition by Salesloft](https://www.forrester.com/blogs/what-saleslofts-acquisition-of-drift-means/) reinforced this positioning. Drift now sits within a broader sales engagement platform designed for enterprise B2B selling.

The Pricing Reality

[Drift's pricing starts at $2,500/month](https://www.gptbots.ai/blog/drift-chatbot) for the Premium plan, with Advanced and Enterprise tiers requiring custom quotes.

That's not a typo. The minimum investment is $30,000 annually.

According to [G2 reviews](https://www.g2.com/products/drift/reviews), 44.2% of Drift users come from companies with 501-5,000 employees, and another 12.93% from enterprises with 10,001+ employees. It's built for mid-market and enterprise with budgets to match.

Who Drift Actually Serves

The ideal Drift customer is a B2B SaaS company or enterprise technology provider where:

• Average contract value exceeds $10,000
• Sales cycles involve multiple stakeholders
• Website visitors are evaluating competing solutions
• Shortening time-to-demo directly impacts revenue

For a DTC skincare brand or Shopify store selling to consumers, these assumptions don't apply.

The E-commerce Gap

The mismatch between Drift's design and e-commerce needs shows up across critical features.

1. Product Recommendations

What e-commerce needs: AI that understands product catalogs, suggests items based on browsing behavior, and increases average order value through intelligent recommendations.

Modern [e-commerce chatbots](https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/e-commerce-chatbots-use-cases-benefits-explained) can recommend products through natural conversation, ask qualifying questions about preferences, and upsell complementary items based on cart contents.

What Drift provides: Lead qualification playbooks designed to segment B2B prospects, not recommend SKUs.

Drift doesn't integrate with product catalogs in the way Shopify-native apps do. It won't suggest "customers who bought X also liked Y" because it's not designed to.

2. Order Tracking

What e-commerce needs: Instant order status lookups that pull live data from Shopify, WooCommerce, or other platforms. [Customers asking "where is my order"](https://www.sobot.io/article/ai-chatbot-ecommerce-automates-support-recommendations-tracking/) expect real-time tracking numbers and delivery estimates without contacting support.

What Drift provides: No native order tracking capabilities.

You can't connect Drift to your order management system to automatically answer shipping questions. This is the single most common e-commerce support inquiry, and Drift doesn't address it.

3. Cart Abandonment Recovery

What e-commerce needs: Proactive messages when customers leave items in cart, personalized incentives to complete purchase, seamless path from chat to checkout.

What Drift provides: Conversational landing pages designed to capture B2B leads, not recover shopping carts.

While Drift excels at proactive messaging for B2B (targeting specific accounts with personalized offers), it lacks the Shopify/WooCommerce cart integrations that make e-commerce cart recovery work.

4. Returns and Refunds

What e-commerce needs: Automated RMA processes, return policy explanations, refund status tracking.

What Drift provides: Generic chat workflows not connected to e-commerce backends.

Handling returns requires integration with your order system to verify purchases, generate return labels, and track refund status. Drift's B2B focus means these integrations don't exist.

5. 24/7 Support Economics

What e-commerce needs: Round-the-clock availability without staffing overnight shifts. [AI chatbots that resolve 95%+ of common inquiries](https://www.zipchat.ai) automatically while escalating complex cases to humans.

What Drift provides: AI features focused on lead qualification during business hours, not comprehensive support automation.

The economics differ fundamentally. E-commerce support is cost-center efficiency—handle maximum volume at minimum cost. B2B sales is revenue optimization—convert maximum prospects into pipeline.

Drift's pricing ($2,500/month minimum) assumes the latter. For e-commerce businesses where chat supports existing sales rather than generates them, that math doesn't work.

What E-commerce Actually Needs

Understanding the gap helps clarify requirements:

Core E-commerce Chat Features

1. Platform Integration: Native connections to Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento 2. Order Visibility: Real-time access to order status, tracking numbers, delivery estimates 3. Product Catalog Access: Understanding SKUs, inventory, pricing, and product details 4. Cart Integration: Seeing what customers have in cart, recovering abandoned sessions 5. Support Automation: Handling FAQs, returns, exchanges, and policies automatically 6. Multichannel Support: Website, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp 7. SMB Pricing: $50-200/month range instead of $2,500/month enterprise minimums

The Economics Difference

A Shopify store doing $500K annually can't justify $30K for chat software. The ROI calculation is different:

• B2B use case: Drift helps close one extra $50K deal, pays for itself
• E-commerce use case: Chat handles 1,000 support inquiries, saves human agent time

Same tool category, completely different value proposition.

E-commerce-Focused Alternatives

These platforms were built for retail, not adapted from B2B sales tools.

1. Gorgias

Best for: Shopify and Magento stores wanting comprehensive e-commerce CRM.

[Gorgias](https://www.customerly.io/blog/drift-competitors) is a CRM designed specifically for e-commerce platforms. Over 7,200 brands use it to improve customer support, retention, and conversion.

Pricing: Starting at $10/month, scaling with ticket volume and automation needs.

What you get:

• Deep Shopify/BigCommerce/Magento integration
• Order management within chat interface
• Product recommendation capabilities
• Return and refund automation
• Social media sentiment analysis
• Loyalty program integration

Versus Drift: Built for e-commerce from the ground up. Instead of qualifying B2B leads, Gorgias focuses on support ticket resolution and customer retention. The pricing model scales with support volume, not enterprise contracts.

Limitations: Less sophisticated for pure marketing automation. If you want proactive outbound campaigns beyond cart abandonment, you'll need additional tools.

2. Tidio (with Lyro AI)

Best for: Small to mid-size e-commerce businesses wanting accessible AI automation.

Tidio combines live chat, chatbot builder, and [Lyro AI (powered by Claude)](https://helpcrunch.com/blog/drift-alternatives) in a package designed for businesses without enterprise budgets. Over 300,000 businesses use it.

Pricing:

• Free: Basic features, 50 Lyro conversations
• Starter: $29/month
• Growth: $59/month
• Lyro AI add-on: $39/month (300 AI conversations)

What you get:

• Lyro AI learns from FAQ and website content to answer customer questions
• Visual chatbot builder for automated flows
• Multichannel support (website, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, email)
• Shopify and WooCommerce integrations
• Product recommendation capabilities

Versus Drift: Dramatically different price point—$98/month for full features versus $2,500/month minimum. Tidio prioritizes ease of use over enterprise complexity.

Limitations: Lyro's conversation limits require monitoring. Heavy AI usage burns through monthly allotments. Less sophisticated than Drift for complex qualification workflows, but that's rarely what e-commerce needs.

3. Freshchat

Best for: E-commerce businesses wanting robust multilingual support and no-code workflows.

[Freshchat integrates smoothly](https://salespanel.io/resources/freshchat-vs-drift/) with e-commerce systems including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Stripe for enhanced customer interactions.

Pricing (per agent/month):

• Free: Up to 10 agents, basic features
• Growth: $15
• Pro: $39
• Enterprise: $69

What you get:

• Native e-commerce platform integrations
• Multilingual support across 30+ languages
• No-code conversation flows
• IntelliAssign for smart routing
• Mobile SDK for in-app messaging

Versus Drift: Base pricing starts 165x lower ($15/agent vs. $2,500 base). The e-commerce integrations are first-class features, not afterthoughts.

Limitations: Chat experience isn't as polished as Drift's. The platform is part of Freshworks' broader suite, so you might be encouraged toward other products.

4. Chatra

Best for: Small e-commerce businesses wanting cart visibility and simple setup.

[Chatra was built specifically](https://helpcrunch.com/blog/drift-alternatives/) for e-commerce and small businesses. It was acquired by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) in 2023.

Pricing:

• Free: Basic live chat
• Essential: $21/month
• Pro: $29/month

What you get:

• Agents see customer shopping cart contents in real-time
• Visitor page tracking shows browsing behavior
• Triggered messages based on cart activity
• Offline messaging when team unavailable
• Facebook and Instagram integration

Versus Drift: The real-time cart visibility is specifically designed for e-commerce use cases Drift doesn't address. Pricing is accessible for small businesses.

Limitations: Less sophisticated AI capabilities than Lyro or enterprise platforms. More focused on live agent efficiency than full automation.

5. Rep AI

Best for: Shopify stores wanting AI-powered shopping assistance.

[Rep AI](https://www.hellorep.ai/) positions itself as an "eCommerce Shopping AI Agent" designed specifically for Shopify.

Pricing: Custom based on monthly visitors and AI interactions.

What you get:

• Behavioral AI that engages shoppers based on browsing patterns
• Product recommendation engine
• Conversational product search
• AI that learns from product catalog
• Abandoned cart recovery automation

Versus Drift: Built exclusively for e-commerce conversion, not B2B lead generation. The AI understands products, not sales qualification.

Limitations: Shopify-focused, less useful for other platforms. Newer company with smaller customer base than established alternatives.

6. Zipchat AI

Best for: E-commerce businesses wanting high automation rates.

[Zipchat claims](https://www.zipchat.ai) to automate 95%+ of common support inquiries while delivering 24/7 coverage.

Pricing: Tiered based on monthly visitors, starting around $49/month.

What you get:

• AI trained on product catalog and policies
• Order tracking automation
• Returns and cancellation handling
• Product recommendations
• Multi-language support
• Shopify, WooCommerce, and platform integrations

Versus Drift: Designed for support volume automation with e-commerce-specific features. The pricing scales with traffic, not enterprise contracts.

Limitations: Smaller ecosystem than established players. Less customization than building workflows in Drift (though most e-commerce businesses don't need that complexity).

Comparison Matrix

| Feature | Drift | Gorgias | Tidio | Freshchat | Chatra | Rep AI | |---------|-------|---------|-------|-----------|--------|--------| | Base pricing | $2,500/mo | From $10/mo | From $29/mo | From $15/agent | From $21/mo | Custom | | E-commerce focus | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Order tracking | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes | | Cart visibility | No | Yes | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Product recommendations | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | Yes | | Platform integrations | Limited | Shopify, Magento, BC | Shopify, WC | Shopify, WC, Stripe | Multiple | Shopify | | B2B qualification | Excellent | No | Limited | Limited | No | No | | Target customer | Enterprise B2B | E-commerce | SMB | Mid-market | SMB | E-commerce | | Setup complexity | High | Medium | Low | Medium | Low | Low |

Decision Framework

Use Drift if:

• You're actually a B2B company selling software or services
• Average transaction value exceeds $10,000
• Sales cycles involve demos and multiple stakeholders
• You have $30K+ annual budget for chat software
• Lead qualification ROI justifies enterprise pricing

Switch to Gorgias if:

• You're on Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento
• Support ticket volume is growing faster than team capacity
• You want customer data and order details in chat interface
• You need comprehensive e-commerce CRM features
• Budget allows for feature-rich solution

Switch to Tidio if:

• You're a small to mid-size e-commerce business
• Budget is under $100/month for chat software
• You want accessible AI without enterprise complexity
• Setup simplicity matters more than advanced features
• Multichannel support (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp) is priority

Switch to Freshchat if:

• Multilingual support is critical for your market
• You prefer per-agent pricing over platform fees
• No-code workflow builders match your technical comfort
• You want established platform with proven track record

Switch to Chatra if:

• You're a small business just starting with chat
• Real-time cart visibility would improve conversion
• Budget is tight and you want free/low-cost option
• Simple live chat matters more than full automation

Switch to Rep AI or Zipchat if:

• Support automation rate is your primary metric
• You want AI-first approach to e-commerce chat
• Product recommendation and discovery are priorities
• You're comfortable with newer platforms

Why the Mismatch Happens

The Drift situation illustrates a common software pattern: successful B2B tools marketed to e-commerce without fundamental redesign.

Drift started in 2015 targeting B2B companies. Every feature, integration, and pricing decision optimized for that market. The conversational marketing category Drift pioneered makes sense for B2B where:

• Conversations create qualified leads worth hundreds or thousands of dollars
• Sales cycles justify significant software investment
• Personalization targets companies, not individual shoppers
• "Booking a meeting" is the primary conversion goal

E-commerce operates differently:

• Conversations support transactions happening through checkout, not sales calls
• Margins are tighter and software must prove ROI quickly
• Personalization targets individual preferences across thousands of products
• "Completing a purchase" or "resolving a question" are primary goals

Same category name—"conversational marketing" or "chatbot"—but fundamentally different jobs to be done.

This explains why [Drift's reviews](https://www.tidio.com/blog/drift-review/) note it "was never good at customer support, was never the best Direct-To-Consumer or Ecommerce chat platform." It wasn't designed to be.

Making the Switch

If you're currently using Drift for e-commerce and considering alternatives:

1. Audit Your Actual Usage

Look at what you're actually using:

• If it's mostly live agent chat for support → Gorgias, Freshchat, or Chatra fit better
• If it's AI automation for common questions → Tidio, Rep AI, or Zipchat are purpose-built
• If you barely use the advanced features → You're overpaying for capabilities you don't need

2. Calculate True Costs

Drift at $2,500/month = $30,000/year

E-commerce alternatives range from free to ~$100/month. Even feature-rich options like Gorgias typically cost $1,200-2,400/year at small to mid-size scale.

The question isn't "Is Drift better?" but "Is Drift $28,000/year better?"

3. Test E-commerce Integrations

The e-commerce-focused platforms offer trials. Test the features Drift doesn't provide:

• Pull up an actual order in the chat interface
• Test product recommendations based on your catalog
• Try automated responses to "where's my order?" questions
• Verify cart abandonment workflows

These aren't features you're missing in Drift. They're features Drift wasn't built to provide.

4. Migration Planning

Moving from Drift to an e-commerce platform:

Export what you can: Conversation history and contact data (check Drift's export capabilities)

Rebuild workflows: Your Drift playbooks won't transfer directly, but e-commerce platforms often have templates for common flows (cart abandonment, order tracking, product questions)

Train your AI: If you've customized Drift's chatbot, you'll retrain in the new platform. Most e-commerce tools make this easier by auto-importing from FAQs and product catalogs

Communicate the change: Update your team on new tools, notify customers if widget appearance changes significantly

5. Measure What Matters

B2B metrics from Drift (leads qualified, meetings booked) don't translate to e-commerce.

Track e-commerce-specific KPIs:

• Support tickets deflected
• Order tracking inquiries resolved automatically
• Cart abandonment recovery rate
• Average response time
• Customer satisfaction scores
• Cost per conversation

The Honest Assessment

Drift built something impressive for B2B conversational marketing. The platform's strengths in lead qualification, account-based targeting, and sales workflow integration make sense for enterprise technology companies.

But e-commerce needs different tools. [The challenges DTC brands face](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/five-traps-to-avoid-the-long-game-of-dtc-and-e-commerce)—rising customer acquisition costs, tight margins, logistics complexity, and scaling support efficiently—aren't problems Drift was designed to solve.

The alternatives listed above were built specifically for retail:

• They integrate with Shopify, WooCommerce, and e-commerce platforms natively
• They understand product catalogs and order management
• They automate support inquiries like shipping questions and returns
• They price for e-commerce margins, not enterprise software budgets

If you're a B2B company selling software, Drift might be exactly right. If you're running an online store, you need e-commerce chat software.

The good news: better-fitting alternatives exist at 10-20% of Drift's cost. The question is which trade-offs match your specific needs—comprehensive CRM features, maximum simplicity, AI automation rates, or multilingual support.

Pick based on what your e-commerce business actually requires, not what works for B2B sales teams.

Sources

• [2025 Drift AI Chatbot Full Review: Features, Cons & Pricing](https://www.gptbots.ai/blog/drift-chatbot)
• [Drift Pricing 2025](https://www.g2.com/products/drift/pricing)
• [Drift Reviews 2025: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2](https://www.g2.com/products/drift/reviews)
• [Salesloft Acquires Drift](https://www.salesloft.com/company/newsroom/salesloft-acquires-drift)
• [What Salesloft's Acquisition Of Drift Means](https://www.forrester.com/blogs/what-saleslofts-acquisition-of-drift-means/)
• [Salesloft Acquires Drift: The Race To AI Powered Revenue Orchestration](https://www.warmly.ai/p/blog/salesloft-acquires-drift)
• [Top 12 Drift Competitors & Alternatives to try in 2025](https://www.customerly.io/blog/drift-competitors)
• [Freshchat vs Drift: In-Depth Pricing and Feature Analysis](https://salespanel.io/resources/freshchat-vs-drift/)
• [8 Top-Tier Drift Alternatives to Consider in 2024](https://helpcrunch.com/blog/drift-alternatives/)
• [Zipchat AI | Best AI Chatbot for Ecommerce](https://www.zipchat.ai)
• [Rep AI: eCommerce Shopping AI Agent](https://www.hellorep.ai/)
• [Ecommerce Chatbots: Use Cases & Benefits Explained for 2024](https://www.bloomreach.com/en/blog/e-commerce-chatbots-use-cases-benefits-explained)
• [What Is an AI Chatbot for Ecommerce and How Does It Work](https://www.sobot.io/article/ai-chatbot-ecommerce-automates-support-recommendations-tracking/)
• [Five traps to avoid: The long game of DTC and e-commerce | McKinsey](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/five-traps-to-avoid-the-long-game-of-dtc-and-e-commerce)
• [Drift Software Review: Pros, Cons, Features, and Pricing (2025)](https://www.tidio.com/blog/drift-review/)