Airship vs Attentive (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Attentive grades higher than Airship: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 18, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Attentive grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Airship
Cross-channel push, SMS, email and wallet messaging platform for apps
Paid
Attentive
SMS, email, RCS and push marketing for retail brands, sold by quote
Paid
Which one is for you
Pick Airship if
- Fits if you run a mobile app and want push, SMS and email in one platform
- Works for firms with a team to set up journeys and a budget for a quote
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a price before a sales call
- Not for you if you only need to send texts, since it's heavier than a plain SMS tool
- Watch out: Essentials shows a sign-up button with no price
- Skip it if you want a free plan or trial, as none is listed
Pick Attentive if
- Fits if you're a large retail brand with big text and email lists
- Works for brands that want SMS and email run by one vendor, texting customers in the US and abroad
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to see a price before talking to sales, as none is published
- Not for you if you're a small shop that wants to sign up and start today
- Skip it if your customers would rather chat on WhatsApp or Instagram, which aren't among its channels
- Pricey if you want the AI tools: AI Pro and AI Grow are monthly fees and AI Journeys is per click, amounts not shown
- Watch out: it runs on the web only, with no phone or desktop app on record
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAAirshipWeak | 2.0GPAAttentiveFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published: the full platform is a quote, and Essentials has a sign-up button but no figure. | CNo prices are published at all: every plan is quoted after a demo, based on messages sent, list size, channels and AI tools. So there's no figure for 1,000 customers, and with nothing to compare it sits at C. AI Pro, AI Grow and AI Journeys cost extra on top. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial is listed on its pages, so you pay from the first day. | FNothing free: no free plan and no self-serve trial. Sign-up goes through the sales team. |
| Features | BJourney orchestration, several channels in one place, customer segments, testing and a no-code builder. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job, though services and onboarding are part of the full offer. | BSMS, MMS, RCS, email and push, two-tap sign-up on mobile, journeys for welcome, cart and back in stock, A/B tests, campaign reports and AI tools that write copy and pick segments and send times. That covers the whole text-marketing job. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It's a large platform with journeys to build. | CNo App Store rating on record. You can't just sign up: it starts with a demo and a quote, and then there are sign-up units, journeys and channels to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only on the listing, with no integrations named. | BWeb, with more than 100 integrations including Shopify, Salesforce, BigCommerce, Zendesk and Snowflake, plus APIs, and texts to customers in 20 or more countries. No desktop or phone app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | push, SMS and email for mobile apps | text and email marketing for big retail brands |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Airship and Attentive. How we grade
Where they differ
- Airship also covers a/B testing.
- Attentive also covers popups.
In commonWebPublic APIAI featuresMarketing automationEmail campaignsSMS marketing
At a glance
| Airship | Attentive | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Airship | Attentive Mobile Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Airship
- The pricing page publishes no figures: the full platform is a quote, and Essentials has a sign-up button but no price.
- Strategic services, training and onboarding are described as part of the full platform offer.
- It is built around mobile apps and wallet passes, so it is heavier than a plain SMS tool.
Attentive
- No prices are published: every plan is quoted after a demo, based on messages sent, list size, channels and AI tools.
- AI Pro and AI Grow cost a flat monthly fee and AI Journeys is charged per click, on top of the messaging plan; the amounts are not shown.
- There is no free plan or self-serve trial; sign-up goes through the sales team.
- Messages can reach customers in 20 or more countries, as the site states.
Key features
Airship
- Journey orchestration
- Connects messaging, app and web experiences into flows that guide a customer toward a conversion.
- Channels in one platform
- Push, SMS, RCS and MMS, email, web notifications and mobile wallet passes are managed together.
- Customer data and segments
- Builds dynamic segments from behavior and preferences, and captures preferences through forms and surveys.
- Testing and optimization
- Experiments and automatic tuning of timing, content and channel are described for each campaign goal.
- No-code builder
- Scenes and in-app experiences are built without developers, according to the vendor.
- Airship Essentials
- A self-service edition aimed at growth teams building app and web experiences; its price is not on the pricing page.
Attentive
- Two-tap sign-up
- Sign-up units on the website that collect phone numbers and emails, with Attentive's patented two-tap flow on mobile.
- SMS, MMS and RCS
- Text campaigns with images, and RCS messages that show a branded, media-rich profile on supported phones.
- Email and push
- Email campaigns and triggered emails sent from the same platform, plus push notifications, sold as channel packages.
- Cross-channel journeys
- Pre-built journeys for welcome, cart abandonment, back in stock and price drops, with A/B testing and campaign and segment reports.
- AI tools
- AI Essentials writes copy on every plan; AI Pro, AI Grow and AI Journeys handle segments, send times, sign-up pages and one-to-one journeys.
- Integrations and API
- More than 100 pre-built integrations, including Shopify, Salesforce, BigCommerce and Snowflake, and APIs for custom work.
Plans
Airship
Pricing could not be confirmed. See airship.com.
Attentive
Pricing could not be confirmed. See attentive.com.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Airship or Attentive?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Airship has no price we could confirm, and Attentive has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Airship or Attentive?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Airship nor Attentive has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.