What is Drift?
Drift was a conversational marketing and website chat product used by B2B teams to engage visitors, qualify leads, route conversations, book meetings and personalize the experience for target accounts. Its chat playbooks could support paths such as a pricing-page conversation, a welcome message, email capture or a target-account experience. Salesloft still hosts official Drift help documentation, but the product is now being retired.
Clari + Salesloft announced the gradual sunset in March 2026 and named 1mind as the successor for Drift chatbot functionality. The current Salesloft Chat Agents page says it has transitioned from Drift to 1mind. Both pages were checked October 30, 2026. This guide is for existing users who need to understand the legacy product and plan a move, as well as buyers comparing replacements.
Drift at a glance
| Question | Current answer |
|---|---|
| Product type | Conversational marketing, website chat and lead qualification. |
| Current status | Being retired by Clari + Salesloft. Official sunset FAQ, checked October 30, 2026. |
| Retirement date | January 31, 2027, or your contract end date if that comes first. Official sunset FAQ, checked October 30, 2026. |
| Current public price | No current public Drift price is shown. Salesloft Chat Agents, checked October 30, 2026. |
| Named chatbot successor | 1mind for chatbot functionality and allGood for Drift Email. Official announcement, checked October 30, 2026. Sunset FAQ, checked October 30, 2026. |
What Drift was used for
Website chat and playbooks
Drift playbooks let teams create visitor experiences for common situations, including general engagement, pricing questions, skipping a form, returning visitors, blog content, welcome messages, target accounts and email capture. The official playbook guide, checked October 30, 2026, describes these types. The best replacement depends on which of these paths generated real value for your team.
Lead routing and meeting booking
Drift could qualify a visitor and route a conversation to a sales representative or booking flow. If this was the main use case, compare routing rules, calendar ownership, CRM updates and human handoff rather than comparing chatbot copy alone.
Account context and revenue reporting
Some Drift workflows used visitor or account context and linked conversations to sales records. Teams should identify which CRM fields, account segments, reports and custom integrations they depend on before they choose a replacement.
What changes now?
The official Drift Sunset FAQ, checked October 30, 2026, says the product will be retired on January 31, 2027. Access ends on that date or at the end of the current contract, whichever comes first. The website chat widget, Drift Email and custom integrations built on the Drift API stop after the retirement date.
For contracts that extend beyond January 31, the FAQ says Drift data will remain offline through April 30, 2027 for export requests. Remaining data is scheduled for permanent deletion on May 1, 2027. If your contract ends earlier, do not assume you will keep online access until the general retirement date. Ask your account manager or support team for the exact deadline that applies to your account.
The separate official restoration guide, checked October 30, 2026, says Drift became accessible again but some functions remain limited. Playbooks and the widget are initially turned off, integrations are being restored in phases, Drift Email is not live, and some report exports remain unavailable. Confirm the current state of your account before relying on an old workflow or assuming every feature is restored.
Explore the Drift guide
- Drift alternatives: compare replacements by workflow and price
- Drift review: strengths, limits and retirement risk
- Drift pricing: current status and sunset costs
- How to use Drift before retirement and export your data
- Drift vs 1mind: legacy chat and the named successor
Who should still use Drift?
Existing customers may need to keep their current setup working while they test a replacement, provided their contract and account access allow it. Avoid making large new investments in workflows that will need to be rebuilt soon. Document the important playbooks, export available records, confirm the contract end date and run a small replacement pilot early.
New buyers should evaluate current tools instead of planning around Drift. The alternatives guide covers 1mind, Qualified, HubSpot, Chili Piper, Intercom, Tidio and Crisp. For wider software discovery, visit Browse Tools by Niche.
Sources and update note
Official sources checked October 30, 2026: Salesloft Chat Agents, Clari + Salesloft and 1mind partnership announcement, Drift Sunset FAQ and Drift Chat Playbooks guide, and Drift Restoration Process and FAQ. No current public Drift price was found. This is documentation-based research, not a hands-on test.