Losing Drift? Keep Website Chat Working After January 31, 2027

What stops after January 31, 2027

These are the sunset facts, taken directly from Salesloft's official Drift Sunset FAQ — nothing added, nothing guessed:

• Drift retires on January 31, 2027.
• The website chat widget stops functioning after January 31, 2027.
• Drift Email stops — its functionality ceases on the sunset date.
• Custom API integrations stop — integrations built on the Drift API stop functioning.

Source, checked November 11, 2026: Salesloft — Drift Sunset FAQ. If Salesloft updates that FAQ, this page should be rechecked against it.

The practical meaning for your website is simple: if Drift chat is how visitors ask you questions today, that front door closes on January 31, 2027 unless you replace the widget first.

What you keep, and what you lose

If you replace Drift chat before the deadline, you keep	When Drift stops, you lose
A working chat on your own website — visitors can still ask questions and get answers, day or night	The Drift website chat widget itself — it stops functioning after January 31, 2027
Your inquiries — still captured and qualified on your site and routed to you, instead of ending at a silent page	Drift Email — its functionality ceases on the sunset date
Your website, your domain, and your content — nothing moves and nothing is rebuilt	Custom integrations built on the Drift API — they stop functioning
A chat trained on your real business: your services, prices, hours, service area, and policies	The chat path itself, if you wait — visitors land on your site with no chat to ask, and fall back to a form or leave

One honest boundary: this page replaces website chat only. It does not replace Drift Email, and it does not replace custom API integrations built on the Drift API. Those two need their own separate replacements before January 31, 2027 — anyone who tells you one website chat product replaces all three is not being straight with you.

How a bot on your own site works

There is no dashboard to learn and nothing to configure. Once we build and install your assistant, every inquiry on your website moves through the same steps:

1. A visitor asks. Someone lands on your site — at noon or 2 AM — and types a real question. The assistant answers in seconds, from the information you supplied: your services, pricing, hours, service area, and policies.
2. It works out what they need. A quick answer, a booking request, something urgent, or a lead who needs qualifying first — the conversation follows the path that fits.
3. It qualifies and captures. Name, contact details, what they need, how urgent it is, and whether they are inside your service area — pulled from the conversation itself. No form to fill out, nothing for the visitor to abandon halfway.
4. It alerts and routes. Urgent inquiries are flagged to your designated contact instantly; everything else arrives as a captured lead with the full conversation behind it. Leads export to CSV or Excel, and the Business plan or Connected Systems add-on can wire them straight into your CRM.
5. It takes the next step. Booking requests are taken under your rules for you to confirm — and with Smart Booking or the Business plan, the appointment is booked on the spot, even at 2 AM.

How switching from Drift works

Very little of it is your work, because we do the building:

1. One conversation about your business. We interview you — services, prices, hours, service area, and how you want inquiries qualified and routed.
2. We build and train your assistant on that information, and test it with you before it goes live.
3. We install it on your website. Salesloft's own sunset FAQ advises removing the Drift script from your website and replacing it with your chosen replacement's widget — we handle the new installation; you never touch code.
4. Your chat keeps working — before Drift's widget stops, and after January 31, 2027, because your chat no longer depends on Drift.

Because billing is month-to-month with free setup, switching does not mean unwinding a platform contract first. Do it well before the deadline and there is no gap in coverage.

One flat price

$297/month with free setup for one fully customizable website assistant. Month-to-month, unlimited conversations, and a 14-day money-back guarantee on your first charge. Need more than one site? The Business plan is $997/month flat for five fully customizable assistants across up to five websites.

That is the whole price. Your busiest month costs the same as your slowest, and you will never need a spreadsheet to figure out your bill.

What it won't do

• Answer phone calls — this is website chat, not a phone answering service
• Replace Drift Email
• Replace custom API integrations built on the Drift API
• Take payments in chat
• Replace 911 or dispatch help

Two more things need the honest version rather than a flat no. On the base plan it does not confirm appointments or wire leads straight into your CRM — it takes booking requests for you to confirm, and leads export to CSV or Excel. Those capabilities are add-ons, not absences: Smart Booking books on the spot, Connected Systems wires leads into your CRM, and both are included on all five bots in the $997/month Business plan.

Questions, answered