Drift made website chat a sales channel. Darwin picks up that idea and adds a chat that keeps testing its own openings. Here's how the two compare, including where Drift stands after the March 2026 sunset announcement.
DarwinAI website chat focused on answering buying questions, booking meetings, and improving chat openings.Best for
Less suited to
Enterprise account-based marketing programs.
DriftConversational marketing and sales chat from Clari + Salesloft, now in a gradual sunset.Best for
Less suited to
New buyers, given the announced gradual sunset.
| Side by side | Darwin | Drift |
|---|---|---|
| Self-improvementHow each product improves the openings that start sales conversations. | ||
| Self-improves to book more meetings | Yes Creates tests. Promotes qualifying winners. Tests again. 1 With automation enabled, on eligible pages within your plan. Tests need enough traffic; a lift is not guaranteed. | Manual A/B tests Manual A/B tests; an autonomous opening loop is not documented. 2 A/B testing needs the Advanced or Enterprise plan. The operator builds both flows, starts the test and picks the winner. |
| Writes new openings for each page | Yes Creates opening variants from page context. 1 For pages with automation enabled and sufficient traffic to run an experiment. Every plan includes unlimited optimized pages. | Manual setup Playbook messages and A/B flows are written by the operator and targeted by URL. 3 Targeting conditions decide where a playbook fires; the copy itself is authored in the flow builder. |
| Tests and keeps better openings | Yes Tests opening variants and can promote a better performer. 1 Requires enough evidence; an experiment may have no winner. | Manual selection Ending an A/B test shows the stats and asks the operator to choose the winning flow. 3 The selected flow becomes the playbook's flow; automatic promotion is not described. |
| Starts the next test automatically | Yes The next opening experiment builds from the current winner. 1 Automation must be enabled and the page eligible. This does not guarantee improving results. | Not documented An automatic cycle of generating, testing and replacing openings is not documented. 34 Restarting a test is a manual Edit and restart action. Bionic Chatbots improve answers through operator feedback, which is not an opening experiment. |
| OnboardingWhat the product prepares for you before you go live. | ||
| Learns from your website | Yes Darwin discovers the relevant pages on your website and prepares its knowledge base from them. 5 Initial setup selects key pages for speed; more pages can be imported later. | Content Library Bionic Chatbots use content the operator uploads to the Content Library. 67 Site Concierge Intelligent Search can search the website, but it is a paid add-on. |
| Drafts your sales settings | Yes Prepares business information and assistant settings from the website. 5 The user can review and refine the generated draft. | Not documented Automatic drafting of business settings or a sales playbook from the website is not documented. 8 The operator writes the AI responses prompt and builds the playbook flow. |
| Matches chat to your brand | Colors & fonts Extracts brand colors, fonts and assets for the chat design. 5 Brand detection is a draft: available fonts, contrast and source-site access affect the result. | Not documented Automatic import of brand colors or fonts is not documented. 9 Colors, font and icon style are set manually in widget settings. |
| Writes your first chat opening | Yes Drafts the first chat opening from the business context. 10 Drafted during assisted setup; approve it, edit it (120-character limit) or ask Darwin for a revision. | Manual setup The welcome message and playbook message nodes are written by the operator. 39 An automatically drafted first opening is not described. |
| Review before going live | Yes The assistant draft can be reviewed and refined before installation. 10 Calendar connection, testing and website installation remain separate completion steps. | Yes Test bot, Driftlink and AI Response Testing let the operator review before publishing. 38 Publishing takes a playbook out of draft; Bionic responses can be tested first. |
| PricingUSD, before tax. Darwin publishes its prices and bills per booked meeting or qualified request. Drift is sold by quote, and no price has been published. | ||
| Lowest monthly platform fee | $0/mo Free has no monthly subscription fee. 11 No card needed to start; credits are charged after the first five free ones. A credit is one booked meeting or qualified request. | Not documented Drift publishes no prices; its plans are quoted. 121314 Salesloft no longer has a public pricing page (salesloft.com/pricing redirects to Talk to Sales), and the help center names tiers without prices. |
| Introductory offer | 5 free credits The first five credits are free, once. 11 A credit is one booked meeting or one request that passes your fit rules. Not a monthly allowance; a card is needed once all five are used. | Not documented No free plan or trial is listed; Salesloft no longer publishes a pricing page. 1214 salesloft.com/pricing now redirects to a Talk to Sales page, and Salesloft's chat page says it has transitioned from Drift to 1mind. Existing Drift clients are referred to 1mind. |
| Paid plans start at | $299/mo Growth is $299 per month on monthly billing. 11 Includes 10 credits a month. Annual billing is two months free ($2,990 a year); credits and extra-credit charges stay monthly. | Not documented Drift publishes no prices; its plans are quoted. 121314 Salesloft no longer has a public pricing page (salesloft.com/pricing redirects to Talk to Sales), and the help center names tiers without prices. |
| Included on paid plans | 10–25 credits/mo Growth includes 10 credits a month; Agency includes 25, pooled across up to 200 client workspaces. 11 Unused included credits roll over for one month. Growth can also be bought with 35, 60 or 110 credits a month, and Agency with 50, 75, 125, 275 or 525. | Not documented Included usage is not published; plan features are listed by tier without prices or allowances. 15 Premium, Advanced and Enterprise are described by feature, not by included conversations or meetings. |
Your first five meetings or requests are free. After that each is $30, or Growth is $299 a month with 10 included.
Facts checked Oct 5, 2026 to Oct 20, 2026. Plans and integrations can change. Not documented means the reviewed sources don’t establish a capability; it doesn’t prove the feature is missing. Sources and method
Eighty-five seconds on what Darwin does: learns your business from your site, books the meeting inside the chat, and keeps rewriting the opening until more people talk.
Published by Darwin, using the official documentation linked below. This is a comparison of documented capabilities, not a hands-on benchmark. “Not documented” means the reviewed sources do not establish that capability; it does not prove absence. Drift's help articles remain online while Clari + Salesloft winds the product down, so check current availability and terms directly. Darwin bills for booked meetings; Drift never published a price. Setup means preparing a draft, not automatically installing it.
Source access and fact-check dates are recorded separately for each source below.
Darwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05.
Explains automatic launch, automatic promotion and the next test starting from a winning opening.
Fact checked · Review dueCreates opening variants from page context.
Fact checked · Review dueTests opening variants and can promote a better performer.
Fact checked · Review dueThe next opening experiment builds from the current winner.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments the website opening optimization loop.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Covers the flow builder, Book a Meeting skill, A/B testing (Advanced and Enterprise), bot settings and knowledge-base lookups. Last modified July 25, 2024.
Describes Create A/B test, a 50/50 visitor split, Start A/B test and End A/B test with Choose winner.
Fact checked · Review dueBook a Meeting skill drops a rep's default meeting and asks for an email if unknown.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Covers the flow builder, Book a Meeting skill, A/B testing (Advanced and Enterprise), bot settings and knowledge-base lookups. Last modified July 25, 2024.
Message nodes and A/B flows are authored by the team; targeting uses playbook conditions.
Fact checked · Review dueEnd A/B test offers Choose winner, which opens performance stats for the operator to pick from.
Fact checked · Review dueEdit and restart is an operator action after an A/B test ends.
Fact checked · Review dueMessage nodes greet visitors with operator-written text.
Fact checked · Review dueTest bot and Driftlink testing precede publishing.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Describes improvement through operator thumbs-up and thumbs-down feedback in the Message Inspector.
Retraining is triggered by thumbs-up and thumbs-down feedback in the Message Inspector.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. URL updated 2026-10-19: the docs page moved (the old address redirects here).
Discovers relevant website pages and prepares the knowledge base.
Fact checked · Review duePrepares business information and assistant settings from the website.
Fact checked · Review dueExtracts brand colors, fonts and assets for the chat design.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Bionic Chatbots answer from the Content Library; the operator writes the AI responses prompt and tests responses before launch.
Requires relevant content uploaded to the Content Library before building a Bionic Chatbot.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Add-on with content recommendations, Intelligent Search, a meetings app for ICP-matched visitors and its own reporting.
Intelligent Search searches the website and content repositories; Site Concierge is an add-on.
Fact checked · Review dueThe Site Concierge meeting app lets ICP-matched visitors book a meeting.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Bionic Chatbots answer from the Content Library; the operator writes the AI responses prompt and tests responses before launch.
The operator configures the initial prompt and builds out the playbook manually.
Fact checked · Review dueAI Response Testing is recommended before turning on a Bionic Chatbot.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Lists widget customization options and the Premium-and-above requirement to remove Drift branding.
Lists manual customization of colors, font and icons; no automatic import is described.
Fact checked · Review dueThe welcome message is turned on and edited by the operator.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
URL updated 2026-10-19: the docs page moved (the old address redirects here).
Darwin prepares the opening from your website and shows it in a card to approve (Looks good), edit (120-character limit) or revise by message; the page no longer says it uses the experiment writer's requirements.
Fact checked · Review dueThe assistant draft can be reviewed and refined before installation.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Darwin's own pricing page after the move to credits (Free, Growth, Agency): plan fees, credits included, extra-credit prices, add-ons, annual billing and what uses a credit. Read from the live page; the release script checks the page before it records the access time.
Free has no monthly fee; its first 5 credits are free, then each credit is $30.
Fact checked · Review dueThe first 5 credits on Free are free, once; a card is needed after that.
Fact checked · Review dueGrowth is $299 a month, or $2,990 a year, with 10 credits a month included.
Fact checked · Review dueGrowth includes 10 credits a month and Agency 25, pooled; unused credits roll over one month.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments Free's five free credits, the credit price, what uses a credit and when a card is needed.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. No dollar prices are published; Drift appears only as a login link. No free plan or trial is listed.
No dollar prices are published.
Fact checked · Review dueNo free plan or trial is mentioned.
Fact checked · Review dueNo dollar prices are published; Drift appears only as a login link.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05. Names the Premium, Advanced and Enterprise tiers and which features each adds. No prices are listed.
Tiers are listed without prices.
Fact checked · Review dueNames three billing tiers and their features without prices.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
salesloft.com/pricing redirects to /see-it-live, a Talk to Sales form; no public prices.
No public pricing page; requests go to sales.
Fact checked · Review dueNo public pricing page; requests go to sales.
Fact checked · Review dueNo public pricing page; requests go to sales.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Names the Premium, Advanced and Enterprise tiers and which features each adds. No prices are listed.
Lists features per tier without any included usage or price.
Fact checked · Review duePremium, Advanced and Enterprise are still described as conversational sales and marketing tiers with chat bots, lead routing and the Drift for Salesforce app.
Fact checked · Review dueDarwin · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-05.
Describes the visitor-to-meeting flow.
Fact checked · Review dueDocuments public booking links, inline contact collection, embed limitations and confirmation-tracking requirements.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Built-in reports: dashboard, chat playbooks, conversations, meetings, site coverage and Salesforce-influenced sales results.
The Reporting Guide (17 Sep 2025) still documents playbook, meeting and Salesforce-influenced pipeline reports.
Fact checked · Review dueDetails the dashboard, chat playbook, conversation, meetings and sales results reports.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Last modified 22 September 2026: Drift will be retired on January 31, 2027; access ends then or at the end of the current contract, whichever comes first; remaining data is deleted on May 1, 2027. Recommended replacement for the chatbot: 1Mind.
Drift Sunset FAQ (22 Sep 2026): Salesloft retires Drift on 31 January 2027, or at contract end if earlier, and the chat widget stops working after that date.
Fact checked · Review dueRetirement on January 31, 2027; data deleted May 1, 2027.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-06. Rechecked 2026-10-05. Press release announcing the gradual sunset of the Drift conversational marketing solution and naming 1mind as successor for existing Drift clients.
Published 5 Mar 2026 under the Clari + Salesloft name; announces the gradual sunset of Drift, with existing clients referred to 1mind.
Fact checked · Review dueStates the gradual sunset of the Drift conversational marketing solution and the referral of existing clients to 1mind.
Fact checked · Review dueSalesloft · Accessed
Rechecked 2026-10-06. drift.com redirects to salesloft.com/platform/drift, then /platform/chat-agents, headed: We've transitioned from Drift to 1mind.
drift.com now forwards to this page, which says Salesloft has transitioned from Drift to 1mind.
Fact checked · Review due
