Every year, more businesses are adopting conversational marketing tools and strategies to build relationships with customers, save customer service representatives time, and quickly meet questions and needs.
A variety of software platforms have been introduced to fulfill these goals. Two of the leading conversational marketing software solutions are Drift (now part of Salesloft) and HubSpot. How do you choose between them?
This article offers an in-depth look at Drift vs HubSpot, including side-by-side comparisons of important features and commentary from business professionals who have experience with both.
We’ll also introduce Jotform, a popular alternative that can meet a host of business needs — read to the end to learn more.
Introduction to Drift
Drift, now part of the Salesloft platform, is a buyer engagement platform designed to convert website visitors into leads and accounts.
It can automatically key into buying signals to create personalized engagement experiences. The platform recognizes qualified leads and recommends customized, AI-generated communications based on their activity, with personalized chats and emails, conversational landing pages, and live chat support.
“We use Drift mainly for its conversational marketing capabilities,” says Dan Tabaran, head of marketing at Influencity, an influencer marketing hub. “Our team uses Drift’s chatbots to engage with website visitors in real time, qualifying leads and routing them to the right sales reps.”
Tabaran continues, “The advanced targeting options, like using Clearbit data to personalize interactions, have effectively improved our engagement rates. We also value Drift’s live chat interface, allowing our sales team to transition smoothly from automated chatbot conversations to human interactions without losing context.”
Introduction to HubSpot
HubSpot is an AI-powered customer platform. It offers a range of marketing, sales, and customer service tools and integrations.
HubSpot is intended to serve as a single, central platform that integrates marketing, sales, and customer service. While it’s not primarily a conversational marketing solution like Drift, it has conversational marketing functionality, including an AI chatbot for websites, personalized customer insights, and support for multichannel messaging.
“HubSpot is central to our marketing efforts at Influencity. Thanks to its seamless integration with the HubSpot CRM and Marketing Hub, we use HubSpot Conversations for inbound marketing,” says Tabaran.
“This integration allows us to track customer interactions across multiple touchpoints and create detailed profiles that inform our strategies. The connection of chatbots to our workflows has streamlined lead nurturing, making it easier to move prospects through the sales funnel. HubSpot’s reporting tools also offer valuable insights into our campaign performance, aiding data-driven decision-making,” Tabaran says.
Key features of Drift
Designed primarily for conversational marketing, Drift includes numerous powerful features that help organizations engage with their customers. Features include
- Custom chatbots
- Automated email inbox sorting
- Automated CRM cleanup
- Conversational landing pages that recommend relevant content
- Meeting scheduling
- Real-time lead qualifying
“Drift’s standout feature is undoubtedly its conversational AI and chatbot capabilities,” says Kayden Roberts, CMO at Camgo, a SaaS that blends modern dating with engaging digital experiences.
“The AI-driven chatbots are adept at engaging visitors in meaningful conversations, qualifying leads based on predefined criteria, and even booking meetings with our sales team,” Roberts continues.
“The seamless real-time chat functionality allows instant communication and a more personalized customer experience. Additionally, Drift’s ability to integrate with various CRM and marketing automation tools enhances its flexibility.”
Salesloft acquired Drift in early 2024. Drift’s capabilities are now part of the larger Salesloft sales platform. Together, their features are intended to streamline the path from website visitor to sales account.
Key features of HubSpot
HubSpot’s features cover a number of sales, marketing, and customer service functions. Some standout features related to conversational marketing include
- Free CRM
- AI chatbots
- Multichannel customer support messaging
- AI-powered content writing
- Personalized email marketing
- Online form building
- Ad campaigns
- Automated customer service capabilities
“HubSpot excels with its all-in-one platform approach. Its robust — and free — CRM offers features that many other platforms charge for,” says Roberts.
“The powerful marketing automation tools allow sophisticated workflows, email marketing, and social media management. HubSpot’s CMS [content management system] is also highly effective for creating and optimizing website content. The depth of analytics and reporting tools in HubSpot is another significant advantage, providing comprehensive insights into all aspects of the customer journey.”
Drift vs HubSpot features
Drift is a specialized conversational marketing platform and HubSpot is an all-in-one sales, marketing, and customer service tool. HubSpot’s focus is on serving as a comprehensive customer platform, while Drift is focused on buyer engagement as part of a larger sales platform — Salesloft, which describes itself as a revenue orchestration platform.
“Both Drift and HubSpot offer live chat and chatbot functionalities. However, Drift specializes in conversational marketing and excels in real-time customer engagement,” says Roberts.
“While it includes chat features, HubSpot provides a broader range of marketing, sales, and service tools, making it a more comprehensive platform. Drift’s primary strength lies in enhancing the visitor experience and lead qualification through real-time interaction, whereas HubSpot provides an extensive marketing and CRM management suite.”
Plans and pricing
How much can organizations expect to pay for Drift vs HubSpot?
“ . . . HubSpot’s free tier offers some basic chatbot scripting, making it a good choice for small businesses just getting into conversational marketing,” Tabaran says. “When you need more advanced features, you’ll have to go for Drift’s higher-tier plans, which can get pricey but come with powerful tools like sophisticated lead routing and enriched data targeting.
“HubSpot’s paid plans . . . provide a wider range of integrated tools across marketing, sales, and service. This can be more cost-effective for businesses already using HubSpot’s platform, as it ties everything together seamlessly.”
Drift plans and pricing
Drift’s pricing isn’t public. Contact Salesloft’s sales team for information about pricing.
HubSpot plans and pricing
Note that HubSpot offers separate pricing tiers for each of its hubs, or services (sales, marketing, content, etc.). The pricing shown here is for the Service Hub product.
| Plan | Features | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | – Up to five users – Free tool offerings | |
| Service Hub Starter | $20 per user, per month or $180 per user, per year | – Free tools with increased limits – Live chat – Route conversations – Payment support – Automated simple tickets |
| Starter Customer Platform | $20 per user, per month or $180 per user, per year | – Service Hub Starter – Sales Hub Starter – Marketing Hub Starter – Content Hub Starter – Operations Hub Starter |
| Service Hub Professional | $100 per user, per month or $1,080 per user, per year and one-time $1,500 onboarding fee | – Starter features – Service analytics – Customer portal – Feedback surveys – Customer service resource library – Up to 300 workflows |
| Service Hub Enterprise | $150 per user, per month and one-time $3,500 onboarding fee | – Professional features – Custom data records – Single sign-on support – Manage notifications – AI-powered conversation insights – Permissions management – Up to 1,000 workflows |
User reviews
You can get a better idea of what a software solution is like by taking a look at customer reviews. Drift has an overall user rating of 4.4/5.0 on G2 and 4.5/5.0 on Capterra. HubSpot’s Service Hub product has an overall user rating of 4.4/5.0 on G2 and 4.5/5.0 on Capterra.
The bottom line: Drift vs HubSpot
Here’s a comparison table of Drift vs HubSpot to give you a quick snapshot of the differences.
| Drift | HubSpot | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Paid plans | Contact sales for more information | Five Service Hub plans |
| Key functionality | AI-powered chatbots for conversational marketing | A range of sales, marketing, and customer service tools to engage customers |
| User ratings | 4.4/5.0 on G2 4.5/5.0 on Capterra | 4.4/5.0 on G2 4.5/5.0 on Capterra |
| Integrations | Salesloft has over 200 integrations | HubSpot has over 1,000 apps listed on its app marketplace |
“I think Drift and HubSpot both have good features that are suitable for different types of organizations based on needs and existing tech stack,” says Tabaran. “Drift is great for advanced conversational marketing features, especially in lead routing and enriched data targeting. It’s also ideal for businesses seeking a dedicated conversational marketing tool.”
Tabaran continues, “On the other hand, HubSpot’s strength lies in its integration within its ecosystem, making it better for businesses already using HubSpot’s tools. HubSpot’s unified approach to marketing, sales, and service interactions is a great solution for streamlining various business processes.”
For many organizations, the decision comes down to pricing. “Drift and HubSpot have different pricing structures reflecting their functionalities,” says Roberts. “Drift’s pricing can be higher for advanced features, particularly its AI and chatbot functionalities.
“HubSpot offers a free CRM and tiered pricing for its Marketing, Sales, and Service Hubs. The free tools in HubSpot provide significant value, especially for smaller teams or those just starting. However, as needs grow, HubSpot’s paid tiers can become quite expensive, particularly if multiple hubs are required.”
An alternative to Drift and HubSpot: Jotform
Drift and HubSpot are both excellent solutions in their own right. Another tool to consider that could support your conversational marketing efforts as well as your broader marketing, sales, and customer service needs is Jotform.
Jotform is a powerful form-building platform with a range of tools that can help you collect and analyze customer data, automate workflows, create customer support hubs, and integrate your tech stack.
Forms are valuable for a multitude of business functions, but with Jotform, you can also turn them into conversational marketing tools. Jotform allows you to create conversational forms that mimic real-time dialogue.
Using conditional logic, this type of form serves up one question at a time to keep respondents engaged. You can embed these forms on your website to capture incoming leads and gather prospect data. You can easily create this kind of form from scratch or customize one of Jotform’s thousands of templates.
And while Jotform is great for all types of marketing and customer support needs, its rich functionality can also help other areas of your business, such as creating reports, managing large amounts of data, and building mobile apps.
Your specific needs and use case should determine which conversational marketing tool you ultimately choose, whether Drift, HubSpot, or Jotform.
If you’re looking for a conversational marketing tool only, Drift may be the right choice. If you’re looking for a broader customer relationship management platform, HubSpot may be the one.
If you’re in need of a powerful suite of form-building tools that can help you connect with customers and run your business, Jotform may be right for you.
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
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