Live chat is essential for customer service. These tools can help you drive sales, improve satisfaction, offer immediate support, engage clients, and gather insights. However, choosing the right app can be challenging. 

In this comparison, we will focus on Drift vs Tawk.to.

Drift is a sales and conversational marketing platform. Companies can engage their visitors in real-time. Ultimately, it focuses on customer engagement and lead generation through chatbots and live chat.

Tawk.to, on the other hand, offers a free live chat solution. Businesses can focus on customer engagement and support by using essential tools. 

The comparison today will focus on each platform’s features, pricing, customer support, learning resources, and reviews from others. Let’s get started.

Drift vs Tawk.to : Feature Comparison 

Below, we will discuss the many features available for Tawk.to and Drift.

User Interface and Ease of Use

If you want a modern design, Drift is an excellent choice. The dashboard is organized so that you can find chat interactions, change settings, and access analytics quickly. This platform is also easy to use, though you may have to explore the more advanced features before getting started.

Alternatively, Tawk.to offers an easy-to-navigate design. On the dashboard, you can see visitor information, tickets, and active chats. Plus, you won’t have to configure the settings before using it, allowing you to jump in and get started.

Overall, Drift is more sophisticated, so it can be confusing for new users. On the other hand, Tawk.to focuses on ease of use and simplicity, so it’s great for small businesses and everyone who wants a straightforward live chat solution.

Core Features

Both live chat platforms offer various key features. For example, Drift includes:

• Chatbots
• Live chat
• Analytics
• Email/video messaging
• Various integrations
• Chat customization
• Chat routing

With Tawk.to, you’ll enjoy these features:

• Live chat
• Unlimited agents
• Canned responses
• Chat monitoring
• A ticketing system
• Basic analytics
• Chat widget customization

To learn more about each live chat solution, check out the table below:

Integration and Compatibility

Drift integrates with various CRM systems, marketing tools, and eCommerce platforms, such as:

• Salesforce
• Pipedrive
• HubSpot
• Marketo
• Google Analytics
• Mailchimp

Plus, Drift will work on all web browsers. There’s also a dedicated app available for chat management.

Tawk.to also offers integrations for website builders and social media. These include:

• WordPress
• Wix
• WooCommerce
• Joomla
• OpenCart
• Drupal
• Cloudflare

Ultimately, Tawk.to is compatible with various third-party tools and platforms.

Drift vs Tawk.to : Customization and Branding

Customization is crucial, and Drift allows you to change the widget’s appearance with different fonts, colors, and positioning. Likewise, the chatbots are personalized and can include various greetings.

If you want to change the branding, Drift allows custom domains to reinforce your identity across all platforms. Plus, you can create customized URLs and remove the company’s information after selecting a premium plan.

You can also customize the chat widget’s appearance in Tawk.to. Likewise, there are pre-chat forms and personalized agent profiles available.

However, the free version of Tawk.to includes the company’s own branding. Still, you can pay to have it removed and include you own logos within the chat interface.

Drift vs Tawk.to : Performance and Reliability

With Drift, you’ll enjoy both reliability and performance, including:

• Fast loading times
• Scalability as your company grows
• Management of various inquiries simultaneously
• Routine updates
• Various customer support options
• High uptime numbers

Likewise, Tawk.to offers great performance and reliability, such as:

• Fast loading speeds because of its lightweight design
• Ability to handle numerous chats simultaneously
• Real-time capabilities
• Occasional outages

Drift vs Tawk.to : Pricing and Value for Money

Let’s take a look at the pricing options for both Tawk.to and Drift.

Pricing Plans

Because Drift has partnered with Salesloft now, you must contact the company to learn about prices. However, you can request a demo for free.

Tawk.to promises to be forever free, but it does offer optional add-ons you can pay for. These include:

Value Proposition

Overall, Drift appeals more to businesses focused on marketing and sales, so it has many advanced integrations and features. Alternatively, Tawk.to is suitable for more cost-conscious brands that want a straightforward live chat solution.

Customer Support and Resources

Companies have many customer support options to consider, but live chat should always be a prevalent choice. Tawk.to and Drift offer assistance when you need it, but they use different methods:

Support Channels

With Drift, you can access a help center, email, and live chat to get assistance. High-tier plans offer dedicated account managers.

On the other hand, Tawk.to offers live chat support that might not be available 24/7, the ability to email questions and tickets, and community forums for self-help needs.

Documentation and Learning Resources

You’ll find many learning resources available at Drift, such as webinars, tutorials, a help center, and a community forum. 

Similarly, Tawk.to has a community forum, video tutorials, and an organized knowledge base.

It’s important to understand that, with Tawk.to, most of your support comes from the knowledge base. You must look up the information yourself. Since it’s a forever-free live chat solution, this makes sense.

If you own a large company, Drift might be better since it helps with onboarding and can provide a dedicated account manager.

Drift vs Tawk.to : User Feedback and Reviews

Most people say that Drift offers powerful automation, a user-friendly interface, and excellent integrations. They also mention great support systems and effective lead generation. 

However, customers often complain about the pricing, with some saying that the cheapest plan starts at $2,500 per month. There’s no way to confirm this without calling and requesting a quote. Likewise, people often say that there’s a stiff learning curve because the features are so complex.

Alternatively, people typically say that Tawk.to is a cost-effective live chat solution because it has a forever-free plan. It’s also easy to use, so you won’t require technical expertise. Similarly, the mobile app is responsive and functional.

Complaints often come from customization issues. People like that they can change fonts and colors, but they must pay to remove the Tawk.to branding. Likewise, there aren’t many advanced features, and customer support can take longer to receive a response.

An Alternative Chat App : Chatway live chat

While Drift and Tawk.to are two popular live chat options, Chatway is an alternative you should consider. It offers these features:

• Live chat support in real-time
• Visitor insights to understand customer needs
• Customizable chat widgets to match your branding
• Canned responses to provide quick responses
• Reporting and analytics tools to track user engagement and performance
• Mobile apps for on-the-go management
• Various integrations
• Segmentation and tags to categorize conversations
• Multilingual support and live translation to provide support to a global audience

As a company owner, you know how important it is to talk to your customers. Though phone support is essential, live chat has paved the way for communication where visitors are (on your website). Chatway offers two plans:

• The free version is for a small team with one customer service representative. You’ll have unlimited conversations, canned responses, a 30-day history for chats, Facebook messenger integration, widget customization, and mobile apps for iOS and Android.
• Upgrade to the Pro plan for $9/agent/month to have unlimited CSRs, private reminders/notes, unlimited chat history, email integration, no Chatway branding, custom data and segments, and more.

Conclusion

Many companies are now focusing on using AI to enhance the customer’s experience. Live chat apps and chatbots are crucial now and will continue to improve in the future. 

Choosing a live chat app can be challenging, especially when you have two powerful options, such as Drift and Tawk.to. 

Overall, Drift is suitable for marketing and sales teams in medium and large businesses. If you’re focused on conversions and lead generation, this is the tool for you. 

Still, Tawk.to is mainly for small and medium-sized businesses that require a cost-effective live chat solution. 

Whereas Drift has advanced chatbots and detailed analytics, Tawk.to offers basic live chat functionality.
We recommend trying both Drift and Tawk.to because they offer free trials or demos. However, don’t forget about the popular alternative, Chatway. It allows you to add multiple agents, add the live chat widget to multiple websites, engage in conversations on the go with mobile app, and much more.

Get started with Chatway today