The Drift alternative that sells with citations
Drift qualifies leads for sales teams. HelpShelf is an AI support and sales agent born from your codebase — it answers buyer questions with cited claims, captures visitor-confirmed follow-ups, and makes your product legible to the AI agents buyers research with.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | HelpShelf | Drift |
|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | Free plan — no credit card (Pro from $49/mo) | Enterprise pricing (talk to sales) |
| AI Agent Pricing | Monthly AI-search + AI-chat limits | Enterprise packages |
| Citations on Answers | Every confident answer cites sources | |
| Human Escalation | Visitor-confirmed via verified Telegram | Routed to sales reps |
| Legible to AI Agents | llms.txt, llms-full.txt + public MCP endpoint | |
| Born from Your Codebase | npx helpshelf scans your repo | |
| Self-Serve Signup | ||
| Best For | Product teams, SaaS, indie builders | Enterprise B2B sales teams |
Where HelpShelf differs from Drift
Sales answers with sources, not just lead capture
Drift starts conversations to qualify leads. HelpShelf answers buyer questions in a fixed shape — answer, teach, position, cite, next step. A claim without a source is a claim the agent does not make.
Support and sales in one agent
HelpShelf detects intent: support questions get cited answers, buyer questions get sales-mode responses grounded in your real docs and pricing. One agent, both registers, no enterprise implementation project.
Transparent pricing, self-serve start
Drift doesn't publish pricing — you talk to sales first. HelpShelf starts with a real free plan (no credit card), while Pro is $49/month for 10,000 AI searches and 2,000 AI chats. You can start without a sales call.
Legible to the AI agents your buyers use
Buyers increasingly research through ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. HelpShelf publishes llms.txt, llms-full.txt, and a public MCP endpoint so those agents can read — and recommend — your product with verifiable claims.
Pricing comparison
Published plan limits versus enterprise quotes
Getting started is easy
From Drift to HelpShelf in three simple steps
Gather your content
Collect your FAQs, pricing, and help documentation from any source.
Add your sources
Run npx helpshelf to scan your codebase, or paste URLs. Everything lands in one knowledge base.
Go live
Add one line of code to your site. Your agent answers with citations from day one.
Frequently asked questions
Not exactly. Drift is built to capture and qualify leads for sales teams. HelpShelf is an AI agent that answers both support and sales questions with citations — and when a buyer question carries real intent, it positions your product and points to a next step. It sells by being verifiably useful.
Yes. When a question carries buyer intent, the agent switches into sales mode: answer, teach why it matters, position your product, cite sources, and suggest a next step. And because HelpShelf publishes llms.txt and an MCP endpoint, your product is also legible to the AI assistants buyers use to research.
When HelpShelf cannot verify an answer, it can offer a handoff if your tested Telegram destination is reachable. After the visitor reviews and submits it, Telegram receives the bounded context and acknowledgement options.
Yes — a real free plan with monthly usage included, citations on every confident answer, and visitor-confirmed handoff when verified Telegram is reachable. No credit card required, and no sales call needed.
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