Mika vs Drift
Drift (now part of Salesloft) is an enterprise B2B conversational marketing platform. Mika is an AI chat widget built for small local businesses. They are not competitors. They are different tools for completely different types of companies. This page explains which one you actually need.
Free
Mika starts at
5 min
Setup time
Yes
Self-learning AI
Zero
Staff required
At a Glance
A side-by-side look at how Drift and Mika compare. These products serve different markets, so many categories do not have a clear "winner." They have a different right customer.
| Category | Drift | Mika |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | B2B conversational marketing and sales platform | AI chat widget for local business websites |
| Target market | Mid-market and enterprise B2B | Small local businesses (salons, contractors, dentists) |
| Pricing | Custom quotes, previously $2,500+/mo | Free tier, paid from $9.99/mo |
| Setup | Sales call + onboarding + CRM integration | Self-serve, 5 minutes, one script tag |
| CRM required | Yes (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.) | No CRM needed |
| Sales team required | Yes (routes leads to reps) | No team needed |
| AI chat | Yes (enterprise-grade) | Yes (built for small business) |
| Meeting scheduling | Yes (sales meetings) | Yes (appointments with calendar invites) |
| Account-based marketing | Yes (buyer intent, company ID) | No |
| Pipeline management | Yes | No |
| Languages | English primarily | 8 languages with auto-detection |
| Contract | Annual contracts typical | Month-to-month, cancel anytime |
| Self-learning | No. Real-time scoring but no learning over time. | Yes. PsychIQ tracks what converts, classifies visitor types, and adapts in real time. |
Who Drift Is Built For
Drift was built for B2B companies with sales teams. Specifically, mid-market and enterprise SaaS companies, technology firms, and professional services companies that sell to other businesses. The product assumes you have a pipeline of target accounts, a CRM full of contacts, and sales reps who need to be notified the moment a high-value prospect visits your website. That is the problem Drift solves: getting the right lead to the right sales rep at the right time.
Drift's core features reflect this focus. Account-based marketing (ABM) identifies which companies are visiting your site using IP lookups and intent data. Buyer intent signals tell your sales team when a target account is researching your product. Playbooks automate conversation flows that qualify leads and route them to the correct rep based on company size, industry, or deal stage. Meeting scheduling connects qualified prospects directly to a sales rep's calendar. Pipeline management tracks deals from first conversation to close.
In 2024, Salesloft acquired Drift and folded it into their broader sales engagement platform. Pricing is no longer publicly listed. Previously, the Premium plan with AI features started at approximately $2,500 per month, with higher tiers for enterprise features. Custom quotes are now required through Salesloft's sales team. This is a product designed for companies that spend tens of thousands of dollars per month on sales tools and expect a measurable return through closed deals.
Who Mika Is Built For
Mika is built for the small local business that does not have a sales team. The dentist, the salon owner, the HVAC contractor, the personal injury attorney, the car dealership. These businesses do not have a CRM, do not run ABM campaigns, and do not have sales reps waiting to take a meeting. They have a website that gets visitors, and too many of those visitors leave without making contact.
Mika solves one problem: turning website visitors into leads through natural conversation. It sits on your website as an AI chat widget, learns your business by scanning your site during onboarding, and answers visitor questions 24/7 in 8 languages. When the conversation reaches the right moment, Mika captures the visitor's name and contact information naturally, without forms or pop-ups. It can also book appointments directly in the chat and send calendar invites to both parties.
The setup takes about 5 minutes. You sign up, enter your website URL, and Mika scans your site automatically to learn your services, hours, and business details. Then you paste one script tag into your website and you are live. There is no sales call, no onboarding process, no CRM integration to configure. Mika is designed for business owners who want results from their website without hiring a sales team or learning enterprise software.
The Pricing Gap
Drift no longer publishes pricing. Since the Salesloft acquisition, all pricing is custom and requires a conversation with their sales team. Before the acquisition, Drift's pricing was publicly known: the Premium plan started at approximately $2,500 per month, the Advanced plan was higher, and the Enterprise plan was fully custom. The AI chatbot features (the part most comparable to Mika) were not available on lower tiers.
Mika's pricing is transparent and published on the website. The free tier includes ~20 conversations per month with no time limit and no credit card required. The Core plan is $9.99 per month for ~95 conversations. The Plus plan is $19.99 per month for ~250 conversations with custom personality and brand colors. The Pro plan is $39.99 per month for unlimited conversations with full widget customization. There are no per-seat fees, no overage charges, and no annual contracts.
To put the gap in perspective: Mika's most expensive annual plan (Pro at $39.99/mo) costs $479.88 per year. That is less than one month of what Drift used to charge before they stopped listing prices. For a local business doing $10,000-30,000 per month in revenue, Drift's pricing was never in the conversation. Mika's pricing is designed for businesses at that scale.
Drift (Salesloft)
$2,500+
per month (previously published)
- ✓AI chatbot + live chat
- ✓Account-based marketing
- ✓Pipeline management
- ✓CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot)
- ✓Buyer intent signals
- ✗Custom quote required (no public pricing)
Mika
$0
free tier, paid from $9.99/mo
- ✓AI-powered website chat
- ✓Conversational lead capture
- ✓Appointment booking with calendar invites
- ✓8 languages, auto-detection
- ✓5-minute self-serve setup
- ✓Month-to-month, cancel anytime
What Drift Does That Mika Does Not
Drift is an enterprise platform, and its feature set reflects that. It identifies which companies are visiting your website using reverse IP lookup and intent data, then scores those accounts based on buying signals. If a decision-maker from a target account visits your pricing page, Drift can alert a specific sales rep and route that visitor to a personalized chat experience. This is account-based marketing, and Mika does not do it. For B2B companies with named target accounts, this capability is genuinely valuable.
Drift integrates deeply with enterprise CRMs and marketing automation platforms. Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, 6sense, and Outreach are all supported. Conversations sync to CRM records, deal stages update automatically, and sales reps get context from the CRM before they join a conversation. Mika is a standalone product with no CRM integrations. If your sales workflow depends on CRM data flowing between systems, Drift (via Salesloft) handles that, and Mika does not.
Drift also offers live chat with human handoff. An AI bot qualifies the lead, and when the conversation reaches a certain point, it routes the visitor to a live sales rep for a real-time conversation. This requires a team of reps staffing the chat during business hours. Mika is fully AI-driven with no live chat or human handoff capability. For businesses with dedicated sales teams, the live handoff feature is important. For businesses without a team, it is irrelevant.
What Mika Does That Drift Does Not
Mika has a free tier with no time limit. You can put Mika on your website and handle ~20 conversations per month at zero cost, indefinitely. Drift has never offered a free tier. Even before the Salesloft acquisition, the cheapest Drift plan required a significant monthly commitment. For a small business that wants to test AI chat on their website before spending any money, Mika lets you do that without risk.
Mika supports 8 languages with automatic detection. When a visitor starts chatting in Spanish, Mika responds in Spanish. When a visitor switches to Portuguese, Mika follows. This is native multilingual support, not translated responses. Drift was built primarily for English-speaking B2B markets. For local businesses in diverse communities where multilingual service is a competitive advantage, Mika has a clear edge.
Mika requires no CRM, no sales team, and no technical knowledge to set up or operate. The entire product is self-serve. You sign up, Mika scans your website, and you paste one script tag. There is no onboarding call, no integration project, and no training required. Drift requires a sales team to manage conversations, a CRM to integrate with, and technical resources to configure playbooks and routing rules. Mika is designed for the business where the owner does everything, and it needs to work without adding complexity to their day.
Mika is informed by psychology research to make conversations feel natural. Visitors never feel like they are being routed through a sales funnel or qualification workflow. The conversation captures leads at the right moment, without aggressive pop-ups, forced forms, or "talk to sales" buttons. For a local business where trust and approachability matter more than lead scoring, this approach converts more visitors into contacts.
Choosing the Right Fit
This is not a close comparison. Drift and Mika are built for entirely different types of businesses. The right choice is obvious once you identify which category your business falls into. If you are a B2B company with a sales team, a CRM, and an enterprise budget, Drift (via Salesloft) is the appropriate tool. If you are a local business that needs an AI chatbot on your website, Mika is what you need.
Choose Drift if you...
- Are a B2B company selling to other businesses
- Have a dedicated sales team that handles inbound leads
- Use Salesforce, HubSpot, or another enterprise CRM
- Run account-based marketing campaigns
- Need buyer intent signals and lead scoring
- Have budget for $2,500+ per month in sales tools
Choose Mika if you...
- Run a local business (salon, dentist, contractor, law firm, dealership)
- Need a website chatbot for lead capture and appointment booking
- Do not have a sales team or CRM
- Want transparent pricing starting free
- Need multilingual support for diverse communities
- Want to be live today with a 5-minute self-serve setup
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Drift, Salesloft, and how Mika compares for small businesses.
Is Drift the same as Salesloft now?
Yes. Salesloft acquired Drift in 2024. The Drift product has been folded into the Salesloft platform as part of their broader sales engagement suite. The conversational marketing features still exist, but they are now part of a larger enterprise sales tool rather than a standalone product. Pricing is no longer publicly listed and requires a custom quote through Salesloft sales.
Can a small business use Drift?
Technically, yes. Practically, no. Drift was designed for B2B companies with dedicated sales teams, CRM integrations, and enterprise budgets. The pricing historically started at $2,500 per month for AI features, and now requires a custom quote through Salesloft. The platform assumes you have sales reps to route leads to, a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot to integrate with, and an account-based marketing strategy. If you are a salon, dentist, or contractor, Drift is not built for your use case.
Is Mika a direct replacement for Drift?
No. Mika and Drift solve fundamentally different problems. Drift is an enterprise B2B conversational marketing and sales platform. Mika is a lead conversion platform and sales assistant for small business websites. If you are a B2B SaaS company with a sales team and need pipeline management, buyer intent signals, and CRM integrations, Mika is not the right tool. If you are a local business that needs a sales assistant to capture leads and book appointments on your website, Mika is purpose-built for that.
Why would a small business be looking at Drift?
Usually because Drift was one of the first well-known names in conversational marketing. When small business owners Google terms like "website chat" or "conversational marketing," Drift often appears in search results and listicles. The problem is that Drift was never designed for small businesses. It is designed for mid-market and enterprise B2B companies. If you landed on this page searching for a Drift alternative, Mika is likely what you actually need.
How much does Drift cost compared to Mika?
Drift no longer publishes pricing since being acquired by Salesloft. Previously, Drift's Premium plan started at $2,500 per month, and the AI features were on higher tiers. Custom quotes are now required. Mika has a free tier (~20 conversations per month), and paid plans start at $9.99 per month. The most expensive Mika plan is $39.99 per month. Even at the top tier, Mika costs less per year than a single month of what Drift used to charge.
Does Mika have CRM integrations like Drift?
No. Mika is a standalone product that does not require or integrate with a CRM. Drift integrates deeply with Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, 6sense, and other enterprise tools. If CRM integration is a hard requirement, Drift (via Salesloft) or a similar enterprise platform is the better choice. Mika captures leads and sends email notifications. For a small business without a CRM, this is all you need.
Does Mika support account-based marketing like Drift?
No. Account-based marketing (ABM) is a B2B strategy where you target specific companies with personalized outreach. Drift identifies which companies are visiting your site, scores them based on intent signals, and routes high-value accounts to the right sales rep. Mika does not do any of this. Mika treats every website visitor equally and focuses on capturing their contact information through natural conversation. ABM is an enterprise B2B concept that does not apply to local businesses.
Can I switch from Drift to Mika?
If you are currently paying for Drift as a small business, switching to Mika would save you thousands of dollars per month. The switch is simple: sign up on Mika, enter your website URL, paste one script tag, and remove the Drift widget code. Mika is live in about 5 minutes. You can try it for free before canceling Drift. However, if you are a B2B company that relies on Drift's pipeline management, ABM, and CRM integrations, Mika is not a replacement for those capabilities.
Does Drift learn from conversations?
No. Real-time scoring but no learning over time. It uses the same approach for every visitor regardless of how they behave. Mika's PsychIQ engine is different. It reads visitor behavior in real time, classifies visitor types, detects resistance patterns, and adapts its conversation strategy mid-conversation. We researched 15 chatbot platforms. None of them do real-time behavioral self-learning.
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