Softwr

Email Marketing · head to head

Attentive vs Drip

Attentive logo

Attentive

Email Marketing

Enterprise SMS and email marketing for retail brands, sold on quarterly minimum spend commitments

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Drip logo

Drip

E-Commerce

Ecommerce email marketing and automation priced purely on contact count

From
$39/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Attentive minimum spend commitments are use it or lose it: if quarterly usage falls short, the shortfall is invoiced anyway, which makes Attentive expensive for any brand whose sending is seasonal rather than even.; Drip drip SMS is closed to new accounts and was US-only when it was open, so the multichannel positioning that competitors offer is not actually available to a new customer.
  • They diverge on capability: Attentive covers SMS-first journeys, Drip covers Ecommerce data sync.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Attentive and Drip actually diverge.

Attributes where Attentive and Drip differ
AttributeAttentiveDrip
Starting priceOn request$39/month
Pricing modelquotePer month by contact count
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, API
CategoryEmail MarketingE-Commerce

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Attentive

  • SMS-first journeys
  • Two-tap sign-up units
  • TCPA compliance tooling
  • Email channel
  • Revenue attribution
  • Concierge
  • Identity resolution
  • Negotiated order form rates

Only in Drip

  • Ecommerce data sync
  • Visual workflow builder
  • Behavioural segmentation
  • Onsite forms and popups
  • Unlimited sends
  • No feature gating
  • Product recommendations
  • A/B testing

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Attentive

  • A direct-to-consumer brand where SMS is the primary revenue channel and needs cart abandonment triggered within minutes of a sessionnot Drip
  • A retailer capturing in-store phone numbers at the till and needing TCPA-compliant consent records to go with themnot Drip
  • A consumer brand running SMS and email from one audience so subscribers are not messaged twice for the same promotionnot Drip
  • A high-volume merchant with predictable year-round send patterns that can commit to a quarterly minimum and negotiate rates down against itnot Drip

Drip

  • A Shopify retailer wants abandoned cart, winback and post-purchase automation without the tier-by-tier feature gating that makes Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign quotes unpredictable.not Attentive
  • A store with a mid-sized list finds Klaviyo expensive for the volume it sends and wants a comparable ecommerce data model at a lower monthly cost.not Attentive
  • A marketer needs onsite capture forms and popups included rather than paying separately for a popup tool alongside the email platform.not Attentive
  • A team sends high email volume to a modest list, such as daily deals or frequent restocks, where unlimited sends on a contact-based price is materially cheaper than send-metered plans.not Attentive

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Attentive

  • Minimum spend commitments are use it or lose it: if quarterly usage falls short, the shortfall is invoiced anyway, which makes Attentive expensive for any brand whose sending is seasonal rather than even.
  • No rates are published anywhere, so a buyer cannot benchmark a quote before entering a sales process, and the effective per message cost is only visible once an order form is drafted.
  • Contracts commonly run six to twelve months, so a brand that finds performance disappointing after two months still owes the balance of the term.
  • Total cost combines a platform fee, per message SMS and MMS charges and carrier pass-through fees, and MMS at two to five cents per message means image-heavy campaigns cost several times what the SMS rate suggests.
  • It is priced and built for established consumer brands, and the entry commitment puts it out of reach of small merchants that Postscript and similar tools serve on usage-based plans with no floor.

Drip

  • Drip SMS is closed to new accounts and was US-only when it was open, so the multichannel positioning that competitors offer is not actually available to a new customer.
  • Pricing scales on total contacts regardless of engagement, so an unpruned list of lapsed subscribers costs the same as an active one and list hygiene becomes a direct budget item.
  • Analytics and revenue attribution are thinner than Klaviyo, with no predictive lifetime value or churn scoring, so a data-led ecommerce team hits the ceiling on measurement before it hits it on sending.
  • The integration catalogue is far smaller than Klaviyo or Mailchimp, and outside the main ecommerce platforms and Zapier you will often be writing against the API yourself.
  • It sits inside Leadpages rather than being an independent company, and as the smaller of the two products its roadmap is subject to a parent whose primary business is landing pages rather than ecommerce email.

Pricing, plan by plan

Attentive

On request
  • Attentive$undefined/year
    • No public rate card; rates are set in an individual order form
    • Platform fee plus per message SMS and MMS charges
    • Contracts commonly six to twelve months

Drip

$39/month
  • Up to 2,500 contacts$39/month
    • Unlimited email sends
    • All workflows and segmentation
    • Onsite forms and popups
  • Up to 5,000 contacts$89/month
    • Identical feature set
    • Unlimited email sends
  • Up to 10,000 contacts$154/month
    • Identical feature set
    • Unlimited email sends
    • Price continues to scale with contact count above this

Which should you pick?

Choose Attentive if

  • You need sms-first journeys.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want two-tap sign-up units.
Attentive review

Choose Drip if

  • You need ecommerce data sync.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want visual workflow builder.
Drip review

Questions people ask

Is Attentive or Drip better?
Neither clearly leads. Attentive starts at On request and Drip at $39/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Attentive or Drip?
Attentive starts at On request and Drip at $39/month.
Does Attentive or Drip run on more platforms?
Attentive runs on Web, iOS, Android. Drip runs on Web, API.
What is Attentive best used for?
Attentive is most often used for a direct-to-consumer brand where sms is the primary revenue channel and needs cart abandonment triggered within minutes of a session, a retailer capturing in-store phone numbers at the till and needing tcpa-compliant consent records to go with them, a consumer brand running sms and email from one audience so subscribers are not messaged twice for the same promotion, a high-volume merchant with predictable year-round send patterns that can commit to a quarterly minimum and negotiate rates down against it. Of those, a direct-to-consumer brand where sms is the primary revenue channel and needs cart abandonment triggered within minutes of a session and a retailer capturing in-store phone numbers at the till and needing tcpa-compliant consent records to go with them are not what Drip is typically brought in for.
What can Attentive do that Drip cannot?
Attentive covers SMS-first journeys, Two-tap sign-up units, TCPA compliance tooling, Email channel. Drip covers Ecommerce data sync, Visual workflow builder, Behavioural segmentation, Onsite forms and popups.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Attentive: How much does Attentive cost?

It does not publish rates. Costs are a platform fee plus per message charges set in your order form, with minimum spend commitments commonly around 2,000 to 3,000 USD per quarter.

Drip: Does Drip do SMS?

Not for new customers. Drip SMS is closed to new accounts and was only ever available in the United States, so treat Drip as an email and onsite platform.

Attentive: What happens if I do not use my minimum?

You are invoiced for the shortfall at the end of the quarter. Unused commitment is not carried forward.

Drip: How is Drip priced?

Entirely by contact count, from 39 US dollars a month for 2,500 contacts. Email sends are unlimited and no features are held back on lower tiers.

Attentive: How long is the contract?

Typically six to twelve months, billed monthly or quarterly.

Drip: Who owns Drip?

Leadpages, which acquired it in 2016. Drip retains its own name, site and product.

Attentive: Does it do email as well as SMS?

Yes, with shared audiences and journeys, though the product was designed SMS-first and that remains its strength.

Drip: How does it compare to Klaviyo?

Cheaper at small and mid list sizes with a similar ecommerce data model, but weaker on analytics, predictive segmentation and the breadth of its app ecosystem.

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