Honest comparison
Avelto vs Drift
Drift pioneered conversational marketing for B2B sales; Avelto applies the same idea cross-vertical, with BYOK, multi-language out of the box, and a real free tier.
| Feature | Avelto | Drift |
|---|---|---|
| AI auto-reply | AI replies grounded in your knowledge base; per-channel system prompt and BYOK model. | Drift AI / Conversational AI — gated to higher-priced Premium / Advanced plans. |
| Multi-language | Auto-detected per visitor (EN, PL, UK, RU first-class; any LLM-supported language usable). | Multi-language playbooks supported; agent quality biased to English (B2B North-America focus). |
| Channels covered | Web widget, email, Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord — all in one inbox. | Web chat, email, video, voice — primarily B2B sales channels. |
| Pricing per conversation | Flat plan, no per-conversation surcharge. BYOK keeps token cost on your own LLM bill.Drift no longer publishes plan prices; check drift.com or contact sales for live numbers. | Quote-based; pricing not published. Most public reports cite low five-figure annual contracts and up. |
| Free tier | Yes — Starter at $0/mo, 100 conversations/month, no credit card. | No free tier — sales-led onboarding only. |
| Custom domain for widget | Yes on Pro and above — widget loader hosted under your own domain. | Custom domain available; depends on plan. |
| GDPR data export | One-click data export and deletion endpoints; full audit log on Business and Enterprise. | GDPR DSAR process via account team. |
| White-label widget | Full white-label widget on Pro and above; no Avelto badge. | Branding removable on higher tiers. |
| Self-hostable | Yes — Docker compose + Postgres; same image runs in your cloud. | SaaS-only. |
| BYOK LLM | BYOK on every plan: OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. | Closed model selection; no BYOK in public plans. |
Public-information snapshot — competitor plans and inclusions change. Always confirm specifics on the vendor's pricing page before comparing.
Price snapshot