Drift alternative (2025): What to Choose When You Need Support, Lead Capture, and AI Actions
If you are searching for a drift alternative, you likely want an AI chatbot that handles support questions, captures leads, and completes actions like Shopify order lookup, Stripe subscription management, and scheduling inside chat.
Drift alternative (2025): what to choose when you need support, lead capture, and AI actions
If you are searching for a drift alternative, you are usually trying to solve one of these problems:
- your website chat should help customers and convert leads
- you need a setup your team can maintain without heavy ops
- you want the bot to complete tasks, not just chat
This post is focused on how to evaluate the next tool, and when Guzli is the right fit.
For the broader shortlist, start here: Guzli vs Intercom vs Chatbase
If you are also evaluating live chat style stacks, you may also like our tidio alternative guide.
Quick verdict: drift alternative
- Keep Drift if your priority is website conversations that support marketing and sales workflows, and you are happy with your current support stack.
- Choose a drift alternative when you need an AI chatbot for customer support and lead capture that also runs AI actions like Shopify order lookup, Stripe subscription management, and Calendly and Cal.com scheduling inside chat.
Want to see whether Guzli fits your workflows? Check the “Next steps” section at the end.
Who this is for
- Teams replacing Drift with an AI chatbot that can handle support questions and qualify leads
- SaaS and ecommerce teams that want AI actions for billing, orders, and scheduling
- Lean teams that need a predictable rollout plan and clear analytics
Who this is not for
- Teams that only need a marketing chat layer and already have a separate support platform that is working well
- Teams that do not want to maintain knowledge sources, escalation rules, and workflows
Why teams look for a drift alternative
Most drift alternative searches happen when teams want the chat experience to do more than start conversations.
1) Support and revenue need to share one front door
When your website chat is only sales-first, support questions either get dropped or create extra handoffs.
2) The bot needs to complete the task
For many teams, the highest-volume issues are actions:
- Shopify order lookup
- Stripe subscription management
- Calendly and Cal.com scheduling inside chat
If your bot cannot complete these safely, you still need humans for the same workload.
3) You need analytics that answer, “Is this working?”
A drift alternative should make it obvious:
- what the bot answered
- what it escalated
- what actions it completed
- what leads it captured
For evaluation criteria, use our: AI chatbot for customer support buyer’s guide
Pricing: what to screenshot and compare
Use screenshots to anchor your pricing discussion, then model your own usage.
If you want a simple ROI framework (and a calculator), start here: AI chatbot ROI guide
Dashboard and analytics (what to verify)
Ask for a live walkthrough of:
- unanswered questions and content gaps
- escalation rate and handoff quality
- lead capture attribution and meeting bookings
- action completion reporting (Stripe, Shopify, scheduling)
AI actions: what to test end-to-end
Do not stop at “it integrates.” Validate the full workflow:
- the bot asks for the right inputs
- it handles edge cases and policies
- it confirms what changed
- it escalates cleanly when needed
Migration plan: switch from Drift without downtime
- Keep Drift live while you pilot Guzli on one page (pricing, docs, or order tracking)
- Connect your knowledge sources (help center, policies, product docs) and review answers
- Add 1 to 2 high-volume AI actions first (Shopify order lookup or Stripe subscription management)
- Configure escalation rules and run a short parallel pilot
- Add lead capture and Calendly and Cal.com scheduling inside chat once answers are stable
- Roll out to your highest-traffic pages, then retire Drift when metrics look good
To quantify impact during the pilot, use: ROI calculator
FAQs
What is the best drift alternative for support teams?
Look for an AI chatbot that is support-first, has clear escalation rules, and can complete actions like Shopify order lookup and Stripe subscription management, not just answer questions.
Can I keep Drift and still use Guzli?
Some teams keep Drift for marketing chat while running Guzli on support-heavy pages. If you do this, make sure handoffs are clear and tracking is consistent.
What should I test in the first week?
Pick one workflow that creates real volume, billing, order status, or scheduling. Measure deflection, escalations, and whether actions complete successfully.
