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Drift vs Okteto

Drift logo

Drift

Technology

The Conversation Cloud

From
$2500/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Okteto logo

Okteto

Developer Tools

Runs production-like development environments on your own Kubernetes cluster

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Okteto has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Drift product is being sunset by Salesloft with successor service (1mind) recommended; Okteto two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.
  • They diverge on capability: Drift covers Live chat, Okteto covers Cluster development environments.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Drift and Okteto actually diverge.

Attributes where Drift and Okteto differ
AttributeDriftOkteto
Starting price$2500/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownquote
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web
CategoryTechnologyDeveloper Tools
Founded2015Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Drift

  • Live chat
  • AI chatbots
  • Meeting scheduling
  • Email sequences
  • Visitor intelligence
  • Conversation routing
  • Mobile app
  • Analytics dashboard

Only in Okteto

  • Cluster development environments
  • File synchronisation
  • Development containers
  • Environment catalogue
  • Preview environments
  • Bring your own cloud

What people use each for

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

Drift

  • Lead qualificationnot Okteto
  • Meeting bookingnot Okteto
  • Customer supportnot Okteto
  • Account-based marketingnot Okteto
  • Sales accelerationnot Okteto

Okteto

  • A microservices estate where no developer can run the full dependency graph on a laptopnot Drift
  • Giving each pull request a working environment reviewers can click rather than describenot Drift
  • Letting coding agents build and test against real databases and queues instead of mocksnot Drift
  • Removing a fleet of local Kubernetes installations that drift from production and produce false test resultsnot Drift

Where each one falls short

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

Drift

  • Product is being sunset by Salesloft with successor service (1mind) recommended
  • Mandatory bundling within Salesloft increases cost
  • No free tier available
  • Customer support and knowledge base have been deprioritized
  • Limited to enterprise B2B pipeline generation focus

Okteto

  • Two of the three plans publish no price at all, with no currency and no billing period stated anywhere, so any budget above five seats requires a sales conversation before you can even compare it with an alternative.
  • The Apache-2.0 CLI is restricted to the development section of the manifest, so build services, user management and observability all require the commercial platform and the open licence provides very little continuity insurance.
  • The last disclosed funding round is a 15 million US dollar Series A from February 2022 with nothing announced since, and the contributor base is dominated by company employees, which is concentrated risk for something embedded in every developer daily loop.
  • You must bring and pay for the Kubernetes cluster, so node cost, capacity planning and version upgrades stay with your platform team on top of the licence fee.
  • The 2026 repositioning towards AI agents means the classic developer inner loop is no longer what the marketing leads with, so a buyer purchasing that use case should confirm roadmap commitment rather than assume it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Drift

$2500/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Drift review.

Okteto

Free
  • StarterFree
    • 5 seats included
    • Self-hosted deployment into your own cluster
    • Community support
  • Scale$undefined/year
    • Contact sales, no price, currency or billing period published
    • More seats and environments than Starter
    • Self-hosted deployment
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Contact sales, no price published
    • Bring your own cloud deployment
    • Available through Google Cloud and AWS marketplaces

Which should you pick?

Choose Drift if

  • You need live chat.
  • You also want ai chatbots.
Drift review

Choose Okteto if

  • You need cluster development environments.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web.
  • You also want file synchronisation.
Okteto review

Questions people ask

Is Drift or Okteto better?
Neither clearly leads. Drift starts at $2500/month and Okteto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Drift or Okteto?
Okteto has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $2500/month for Drift and Free for Okteto.
Does Drift or Okteto run on more platforms?
Drift runs on Web. Okteto runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, CLI, Kubernetes, Web.
Can I use Okteto for free?
Yes. Okteto has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Drift starts at $2500/month.
What is Drift best used for?
Drift is most often used for lead qualification, meeting booking, customer support, account-based marketing. Of those, lead qualification and meeting booking are not what Okteto is typically brought in for.
What can Drift do that Okteto cannot?
Drift covers Live chat, AI chatbots, Meeting scheduling, Email sequences. Okteto covers Cluster development environments, File synchronisation, Development containers, Environment catalogue.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Drift: What is the current status of Drift in 2026?

On March 6, 2026, Clari and Salesloft announced the gradual sunset of Drift's conversational marketing solution, with 1mind named as its exclusive AI successor. Drift remains available but its future is limited.

Source
Okteto: Is Okteto open source?

The CLI is Apache-2.0, but the README states it supports only the development section of the manifest. Everything operationally interesting, including builds, user management and observability, is in the commercial platform.

Drift: How much does Drift cost?

Drift pricing starts around $2,500/month ($30,000/year) for Premium chat-only capabilities, with Enterprise plans exceeding $80,000/year. Drift is bundled within Salesloft and billed annually only.

Source
Okteto: What does it cost?

Only the free Starter tier with five seats is published. Scale and Enterprise are both contact sales, with no price, currency or billing period disclosed on the pricing page.

Drift: What features come with Drift Premium?

Premium plans include live chat widget, custom chatbot flows, meeting scheduling with calendar integration, basic playbooks, email sequences, and standard integrations.

Source
Okteto: Do I need my own Kubernetes cluster?

Yes. Okteto installs into a cluster you provide and pay for, so capacity, upgrades and node costs remain your responsibility in addition to the licence.

Drift: Does Drift offer a free plan?

No, Drift no longer publicly advertises a free plan as of 2026. All plans require annual billing through Salesloft.

Source
Okteto: How is this different from running Kubernetes locally?

Environments run against the same managed databases, queues and service mesh as production, so a class of failures that only appears in a real cluster is caught before merge rather than after deploy.

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