Why Social Drift Shut Down & Where You Can Go Now

Instagram growth and automation tools can make the lives of social media marketers much easier. However, these tools are often associated with apps that allow users to buy fake followers and spam others. Even many of the Instagram bots that grow your following using organic techniques violate Instagram’s terms of use. For this reason, Instagram continuously forces social media automation apps to shut down. Unfortunately, this has happened to one of the most popular Instagram bots on the market–Social Drift.

Now that Social Drift has shut down, you’re probably looking for an alternative to this tool. Thankfully, there are plenty of Instagram growth automation services that are still in operation. In this article, I’ll give you the scoop on why Social Drift shut down. I’ll also fill you in on some of the best alternatives to Social Drift.

What People Loved About Social Drift

Before getting into the details of why Instagram shut down Social Drift, I want to share some background information on this fallen Instagram bot.

Artificial Intelligence

Social Drift was a social media automation tool that used artificial intelligence to help users grow their accounts. This artificial intelligence software had the ability to learn and optimize itself over time. If you used Social Drift for a certain amount of time, it would begin to pick up on your personal preferences. This allowed Social Drift’s technology to determine better ways of improving your account’s growth.

Account Safety

Many people are still surprised about the Social Drift shut down because it seemed to remain compliant with Instagram’s rules. Social Drift included a few features that promised to safeguard its users’ Instagram accounts. One of these features was the SecureBoost engine. This feature worked to ensure that its users’ account interactions stayed within Instagram’s interaction limits.

Social Drift was also known for its useful growth reports. If you’re a person who likes to keep up with social media analytics, you would have appreciated Social Drift’s growth reports. Users received these detailed reports weekly and monthly. This information was very useful refining and optimizing your Instagram growth strategies.

Many social media marketers respected Social Drift as one of the safest Instagram bots on the market. This tool had an HTTPS certified URL, which means it kept its users’ information safe. The payment gateways were also complete and up to date.

Easy & Affordable

People also appreciated Social Drift’s clean layout and easy navigation. Social Drift’s dashboard was clutter-free. It was easy to adjust and customize your settings using Social Drift.

Social Drift was also very affordable. This tool was available through two plans. You could pay $13 per week or $39 per month. They also offered discounts and trials from time to time. Overall, this was a pretty inexpensive Instagram growth tool.

Why Social Drift Got Shut Down

With there being so many positive aspects to Social Drift, it can be difficult to understand why it shut down. Although this site made sure to keep its customers safe, it still violated some of Instagram’s policies and guidelines.

Social Drift was shut down in the United States in late 2017. However, it may still be possible to use this tool if you access it from another country or through the use of a VPN. You can attempt to use this tool that way, but you should proceed with caution. This tool is facing legal action from Instagram (Facebook, Inc.), so using this tool poses a great risk to your account.

So, What Happened?

The exact reason why Instagram forced Social Drift to shut down out of all of the Instagram bots on the market is still pretty unclear. For the most part, these tools violate Instagram’s terms of use. Instagram (Facebook, Inc.) can block these tools at any moment. It seems that Instagram begins to go after these tools when they begin to gain a great deal of popularity and users. Other popular Instagram growth services that Instagram has forced to shut down include Social Envy, Instagress, and Luxogram.

As the shut down unfolded, Social Drift offered this brief statement via social media: “Social Drift is not accepting new customers due to operational changes.” Social Drift’s shut down also included the shut down of other affiliated websites. These websites included ViralUpgrade and Instaheap.

Social Drift kept its activity levels low and did its best to stay compliant with Instagram’s user guidelines, but in the end, Instagram shut it down. Depending on the exact reason for Social Drift’s demise, this platform may be able to rebrand and bounce back. However, if this is not a possibility, then Social Drift lovers will have to find an alternative. Thankfully, there are quite a few on the market that should be able to meet your Instagram automation needs.

The Best Alternatives to Social Drift

If you were a fan of Social Drift, the best thing to do is find a comparable alternative to the former Instagram automation service. Thankfully, there are plenty of these services around, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find one that meets your needs. To make this process easier for you, I’ve decided to share a couple of my favorite Instagram automation services. Keep reading to learn more about the best Social Drift alternatives.

KENJI.AI

Like Social Drift, Kenji is an Instagram bot that is powered by machine learning artificial intelligence. Kenji works by targeting users that are likely to have an interest in following or interacting with your Instagram account. This Instagram bot helps you to increase your Instagram profiles following and engagement rate.

How Kenji Compares to Social Drift

When it comes to the many Instagram automation tools that are on the market today, Kenji is the most comparable to Social Drift. The most obvious reason is that both tools run off of the power of artificial intelligence. Like Social Drift, Kenji is able to learn and adapt to your preferences and analytics over time. This enables Kenji to predict which users are the best targets and maximize your growth strategy. Like Social Drift, Kenji becomes more effective the longer you use it.

Speed and Convenience

Another characteristic of Kenji that is comparable to Social Drift is the speed at which it grows your account. According to Social Drift’s biggest fans, this tool delivered fast result to its users’ accounts. Kenji delivers similar results to its users. This Instagram bot works day and night to identify and interact with your target audience. Like Social Drift, Kenji is easy to set up and use. If you’re someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to spend learning how to use an automation tool, then you’ll enjoy Kenji’s easy setup process.

With Kenji, all you have to do is create an account, connect your Instagram account, and set up your targeting preferences. The artificial intelligence tool will take over from there. Kenji can like posts and follow target accounts on your behalf. When you set up your Kenji account, you don’t have to worry about downloading any additional software. You can use this tool with any operating system and any web browser on any device.

Advanced Audience Targeting

Kenji allows you to target potential followers based on information such as:

• The hashtags they use and follow
• Similar accounts that they follow
• Their locations

These settings enable you to connect with relevant users and gain an active following. Increasing your numbers with record speed sounds ideal. However, you want to be sure that the followers that you gain will be actively engaged with your account. It does no good to have a large following that doesn’t interact with you or your brand.

Growth Analytics

Kenji also offers easy to interpret analytics reports like Social Drift. You can view your progress at any time via Kenji’s dashboard. These analytics are useful for understanding your strategy. They can also help you to determine which adjustments to make to your strategy.

Kenji’s Pricing & Plans

If you want to give Kenji a try while you search for the best Social Drift alternative, you can take advantage of its three-day free trial. It’s a great idea to try any Instagram tool before you commit to purchasing a paid subscription. If you like Kenji after the free trial period, you can choose between Kenji’s two subscription plans: the Samurai Plan, and the Shogun Plan. Keep reading to learn more about the details of these plans.

Kenji’s Samurai Plan

Like Social Drift, each of Kenji’s plans are pretty affordable. You can choose to pay for your subscription monthly or annually. Unlike Social Drift, Kenji does not have a weekly plan. You can save 30% by choosing annual billing for your Kenji subscription.

The Samurai plan is only $19 if you choose to the monthly billing structure. To pay for your yearly subscription in full, you’ll pay just $159. As you can see, Kenji is much more affordable that Social Drift. With the Samurai Plan, you can choose to target an unlimited number of hashtags. Samurai plan members are also able to target specific users by location and blacklist users. With this plan, you can grow your account at high speed.

Kenji’s Shogun Plan

Kenji’s upgraded plan, the Shogun plan, is also cheaper that Social Drift’s plans. You can access the Shogun plan and its features for only $29 per month. If you want to save 30% over the course of the year you can pay $243 upfront. For those who were already paying $39 per month for Social Drift, it’s a good idea to stick with Kenji’s Shogun Plan. You’ll enjoy upgraded features at a price that’s still cheaper than Social Drift.

With this plan, you can target users using an unlimited number of hashtags, their location, and the accounts they already follow. You are also able to blacklist users and block negative keywords. Kenji’s Shogun plan also includes its Hypertarget feature. This feature further optimizes your audience targeting strategies. The Shogun Plan grows your account at the maximum speed.

Upleap

This service isn’t as similar to Social Drift as Kenji, but it might be a good alternative for some. Especially those who want to steer clear of artificial intelligence powered bots. If you’re worried about the possibility of using a service that is too similar to Social Drift, Upleap takes a completely different approach.

How Upleap Compares to Social Drift

Rather than being powered by artificial intelligence like Social Drift and Kenji, Upleap uses the power of humans. When you sign up for an account with Upleap, you’ll gain access to your very own dedicated account manager. Your account manager is a real human who will perform automated tasks on your behalf and help you with growing your account.

Although Upleap is very different from Social Drift, the results it delivers are comparable. Upleap can help you grow your account quickly and efficiently. This service uses targeting tools that allow you to target potential followers based on the hashtags they use and the accounts they follow. Depending on which plan you choose, you can also target users based on their locations.

Upleap’s Pricing & Plans

Upleap’s pricing is almost identical to Social Drift. Although Upleap has additional paid plans, its basic plan, Upleap Lite, is $39 per month just like Social Drift’s main plan. Upleap does not offer a weekly plan. If you were paying the weekly cost for Social Drift, then Upleap is a cheaper option especially if you choose to the annual billing structure. For those who are just looking for the basic features that Social Drift offered then Upleap Lite will meet your needs.

If you want access to Upleap’s additional features, then you can choose one of their upgraded plans. With the Standard and Premium plans you can view Instagram stories, target locations, and add negative keywords. You can test out Upleap at no cost with their three-day free trial!

Conclusion

Social Drift’s shut down was an unfortunate event for many Instagram users. The good news is that there is a silver lining to the Social Drift shut down. Many of its previous customers are discovering more affordable tools like Kenji and Upleap.

Although Social Drift will be missed, Kenji is the best alternative to this Instagram growth service. As an A.I. powered growth service, Kenji is the closest thing to Social Drift. It’s also cheaper and includes a few other additional functions. Upleap is a great alternative for those who want to give human-based automation a try.

💡 Related Post: The problem with Socialsteez – a review