Intercom vs Drift: An Honest Comparison for 2026

Let's talk about your options

If you're reading this, you're probably knee-deep in researching customer support platforms. Maybe you're frustrated with your current setup. Maybe your team is scaling and your tools aren't keeping up. Or maybe you're just starting out and want to make the right choice from day one.

Either way, you've likely come across both Intercom and Drift. They're frequently mentioned in the same breath, which makes comparing them important if you want to make an informed decision.

Intercom (2011) positions itself as “Customer Platform” — All-in-one customer communication platform.

Drift (2015) takes a different approach: “Revenue Acceleration” — Conversational marketing and sales platform.

We've spent significant time with both platforms. Here's what we honestly think.

Who should actually consider each option?

Before we dive into features and pricing, let's be real about who each platform is actually built for. Not every tool is right for every team, and that's okay.

What each platform does well

Let's start with the positives. Both platforms have been around for years and have real strengths.

What we like about Intercom

Intercom has built a solid reputation over the years, and for good reason:

• Complete customer platform (support + engagement)
• Excellent help center and knowledge base
• Product tours and onboarding
• Fin AI for support automation
• Better for ongoing customer relationships
• More versatile overall

What we like about Drift

Drift brings its own set of strengths to the table:

• Purpose-built for sales conversations
• Excellent meeting scheduling
• Account-based marketing features
• Revenue attribution
• Better visitor intelligence
• Integrates well with sales tools

Where each platform falls short

No software is perfect. Here's where each platform will likely frustrate you.

Our frustrations with Intercom

After spending time with Intercom, these issues stood out:

• Less focused on sales/lead gen
• Basic meeting scheduling
• No ABM features
• Expensive
• Sales routing is basic

Our frustrations with Drift

Drift isn't without its problems either:

• Weak customer support features
• Limited help center
• No product tours
• Very expensive
• Not for post-sale support
• AI is sales-focused, not support

Feature-by-feature breakdown

If you're the type who wants to see exactly what you get with each platform, here's the detailed breakdown. We've highlighted the features that we think matter most.

Let's talk money

Pricing is often the deciding factor, so let's break down what you'll actually pay. Keep in mind that both platforms love to hide costs in add-ons, so the sticker price rarely tells the whole story.

What Intercom will cost you

What Drift will cost you

So, which one should you choose?

After all this analysis, here's our honest take: Intercom wins for most companies as a versatile customer platform. Drift only wins if sales chat is your primary use case and you have the budget.

Choose Intercom if you need customer support, engagement, and some sales chat. Choose Drift only if you're a B2B company where chat-driven lead generation is critical to revenue. For pure support, consider Open.

Common questions

Here are the questions we hear most often from people comparing these platforms.