Last Updated on April 15, 2023 by Alex Birkett
Google Optimize trained a generation of marketers, product managers, and other business functions on A/B testing.
Like Google Analytics, they offered a limited free tier with an intuitive user interface. And people ate it up.
Now, Google Optimize (as well as Google Optimize 360) will no longer be available as of September 30, 2023. Sorry, folks, we’ve got to look for a Google Optimize alternative.
Look, even if Google Optimize wasn’t going away, it had severe limitations. Now is a good time to replace Google Optimize with a much stronger option.
What is Google Optimize?
Google Optimize is (was) a free tool from Google that allows you to create and run A/B tests on your website.
Google Optimize has been incredibly popular, racking up easily the largest user base of any experimentation platform. I even used it briefly at HubSpot as well as at Workato when I ran experimentation there.
However, even before it was deprecated, it had severe limitations.
These limitations didn’t stop large companies (public companies that are revered for their growth teams!) from using this limited, free product, though. Some of its limitations included:
- It was horrible when it came to writing custom javascript.
- The flicker effect was always an issue.
- You were capped at 5 experiments per container on the free plan.
- You could only have 3 goals at a time
- You could only test websites, not apps
- Tests could run for 35 days maximum
Additionally, it had several limitations with the personalization product, essentially being limited to Google Analytics dimensions and events (unless you invest a ton in custom setups).
The statistics engine was a black box, and used a weird (and opaque) mixture of users and sessions to calculate the statistics.
On the plus side, it was incredibly easy to use for beginners. It also integrated natively with Google Ads, Google Analytics, and other Google products. And of course, it was free!
Editor’s note: I’m going to use some affiliate links when possible to try to earn some revenue from my content. These don’t change the opinions espoused in the content nor the style in which they are written. If I think a product sucks, I’m not going to say otherwise. This is just a bonus and a way to fund the whole operation. Anyway, enjoy the article!
The 11 Best Google Optimize Alternatives
- Convert
- VWO
- Optimizely
- AB Tasty
- Kameleoon
- StatSig
- LaunchDarkly
- CrazyEgg
- Conductrics
- Adobe Target
- SiteSpect
1. Convert
Convert is a powerful A/B testing tool, one of my personal favorites that I’ve used a ton in the past, that offers a range of features for website optimization.
With Convert, you can create A/B tests, multivariate tests, and personalization campaigns. The platform also offers a visual editor that allows you to make changes to your website without any coding knowledge (though it’s still suggested to use code instead of the WYSIWYG editor).
Convert perfectly balances power with simplicity.
I’ve trained teams on using this platform, and it’s always been relatively easy to teach people how to use the platform. The Convert team also has amazing customer success employees to help you implement and get the most use out of the platform.
While they don’t have a free plan, they are one of the most affordable Google Optimize alternatives, starting at $99 per month (for 50,000 uniques).
Some more great features include:
- Over 90 integrations (including Shopify, WordPress, HubSpot, WooCommerce)
- Flicker-free testing
- 4x faster customer support team than industry average
- Bayesian & Frequentist stats engines
- Advanced targeting & goal engines (with 40+ filters)
Overall, one of my favorite A/B testing tools.
G2 Score: 4.7/5
Price: Starts at $99/mo and goes up from there.
2. VWO
VWO (Visual Website Optimizer) is another popular A/B testing tool, as well as a comprehensive all-in-one tool kit for conversion rate optimization.
VWO has been around since the early days and is one of the biggest names in conversion optimization. I remember using them and Optimizely when I first got started in the space.
They’ve got it all – heat maps, session replays, form analytics, customer surveys, on-site surveys, A/B testing, multivariate testing, personalization, mobile apps, and more.
Fun fact: they have a free tier now that includes:
- A/B Testing
- Split URL Testing
- Mobile Website Testing
- Unlimited Concurrent Experiments
This makes VWO Testing an extremely appealing Google Optimize alternative.
I believe VWO only uses Bayesian statistics, which may or may not be a downside for you.
Otherwise, great platform and team.
G2 Score: 4.3/5
Price: They have a free plan with some limitations, and then plans start at $200 per month, billed annually
3. Optimizely
Optimizely is probably the biggest name in experimentation.
They were the first tool I ever used, back when they offered a free plan and were a relatively simple platform.
It’s been a long time since those days. They’ve since been acquired and have built a comprehensive digital experience management platform.
This platform now includes a content marketing platform, digital asset management, feature flags (and a feature management platform), product and web experimentation, advanced personalization, recommendation engines, and experimentation program management.
I used to recommend Optimizely all the time, but nowadays, it seems to have lost its luster. The platform is incredibly expensive without much feature differentiation. It’s still a great product, but I feel like many other platforms now offer the same or better tools, at a lower price point.
Still, Optimizely web experimentation taught us all how to run experiments in the early days and is clearly one of the strongest Google Optimize competitors.
G2 Score: 4.2/5
Price: Not available (need to talk to sales team)
4. AB Tasty
AB Tasty is a powerful A/B testing platform and Google Optimize alternative that has over 1,000 brands using the platform.
Like Optimizely, they also offer client-side as well as server-side experimentation, as well as product recommendation engines, personalization, and feature flags.
All in, it’s a much more powerful platform than Google Optimize ever was. Of course, you can do all the normal stuff like multi page tests, run multiple experiments simultaneously, and build personalized customer experiences.
Like others on this list, they integrate directly with Google Analytics as well as Adobe Analytics, Heap, Amplitude, and Segment.
Solid split testing tool.
G2 Score: 4.5/5
Price: Not available (request a demo and contact sales team)
5. Kameleoon
Kameleoon is a Google Optimize alternative that provides A/B testing and personalization solutions for websites.
It offers a range of features, including advanced segmentation, AI powered automation for personalization, and real-time analytics.
Kameleoon’s core differentiators include its ability to create personalized experiences for users based on their behavior and preferences, as well as its intuitive user interface.
Like other A/B testing tools on this list, it also includes full stack experimentation (server-side testing and feature flags).
My favorite part of Kameleoon is the ability to create a personalized customer experience based on real time visitor behavior and user behavior.
G2 Score: 4.7/5
Price: Unavailable (request demo and contact sales team)
6. StatSig
StatSig is a newer tool on the market and a lesser known Google Optimize alternative.
They’re a growth platform with advanced features like warehouse-native analytics, holdouts, dynamic configs, and metrics.
They also include all the Google Optimize alternative features you’d expect like experimentation (including multivariate experiments), personalization (AI powered personalization platform using bandit algorithms), and feature management.
This tool is probably not for beginner CROs, but for well-resourced and sophisticated product and web teams with technical knowledge.
G2 Score: NA
Price: Free feature flags, and then event-based pricing.
7. FigPii
FigPii is also a newer tool that I’ve only recently heard of. But I’m impressed, especially given the price point compared to other Google Optimize alternatives listed here.
They’re a multi-faceted conversion optimization platform with heat maps, session recordings, A/B testing, and polls.
They start out for free up to 75,000 visitors per month. Pretty wild! The next pricing tier begins at $99/month, making it one of the most affordable platforms out there.
It’s definitely not as powerful as others on this list, but the learning curve is super light. Very few advanced features to speak of, but it will get your basic A/B testing and customer engagement and research done.
Includes a visual editor as well as code editor for more complex tests.
Set it up with Google Tag Manager and integrate with your analytics stack.
G2 Score: 5/5 (but only 3 reviews)
Price: Free for 75k visitors a month (only includes testing, not other features) and then $99.99 /month for the full feature set (but capped at 30k visitors a month)
8. Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg is largely a legacy brand name from the early 2010s that is a suboptimal solution for A/B testing as well as heat maps and session recordings.
When it launched, it was great. It was novel. There were only a few of its kind in the market.
Now, there are dozens of more powerful tools and several that beat its price points.
If I’m being completely honest, I wouldn’t use Crazy Egg as a replacement for Google Optimize. It will function just fine; but there are better solutions on this list.
However, if you’re intent on using Crazy Egg, here’s what you need to know:
They’re an “all-in-one” optimization platform with heat maps (their initial tool), session replay videos, lightweight behavioral analytics, surveys, and A/B testing.
Also, their blog and website is now functionally an affiliate business:
G2 Score: 4.2/5
Price: $29/mo (but this is paid annually – all plans are annual, which they very subtly note on their pricing page).
9. Conductrics
Conductrics might be my personal favorite experimentation platform, but it’s not for everyone.
They were doing AI before AI was cool.
With the full set of basic features like A/B tests, multivariate tests, and the like, they also have dynamic personalization that runs on reinforcement learning. This essentially suggests segments of your target audience to run personalization marketing campaigns in real time.
Conductrics probably has the most advanced features of any platform I know. They were the first and best to do AI powered automation.
For a Google Optimize alternative, it might be overkill. But if you want an experience optimization platform that can do pretty much anything, this is it. Beautiful tool, great founders and awesome team. Big fan.
G2 Score: NA
Price: Contact sales
10. Adobe Target
Adobe Target is the O.G. enterprise experimentation and digital experience platform.
Part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud (Adobe Experience Cloud), it’s part of a complete set of tools to manage all of your marketing campaigns and digital activities. This includes Adobe Analytics, one of the most powerful analytics tools.
What can I say? This is one of the biggest names in web experimentation and has always been the big competitor to Optimizely web experimentation.
It’s definitely one of the top Google Optimize alternatives, but I will say, it might be overkill (especially for those on the free tier).
Still, it’s a great platform and remains one of the top names in the space today.
G2 Score: 4/5
Price: Talk to sales my friend
11. SiteSpect
SiteSpect is an underrated and amazing experimentation platform.
They were one of the first to build out a server-side testing service as well as many of the advanced features that are commonly used today to boost conversions.
SiteSpect enables uses to run multiple tests (including A/B, multivariate, redirect tests, same page, multiple web pages, etc.), do web personalization, improve website performance, and do product recommendations.
It’s a full suite of tools to boost that conversion rate (and integrates with the analytics platform of your choice).
G2 Score: 4.3/5
Price: custom pricing (talk to sales mi amigo)
Conclusion
Many will be affected by the decision to sunset Google Optimize, but fret not – tons of other tools out there.
There are a few other tools I didn’t mention, like Dynamic Yield, that are fantastic web personalization platforms. Others are more focused on landing pages, like Unbounce, Instapage, and Elementor.
Also, A/B testing has been built into so many marketing products today, like OptinMonster, HubSpot, etc. But it’s not the core feature, so I didn’t include it.
Overall, my favorite top Google Optimize alternatives are Convert and VWO.
These two tools offer the most comprehensive set of features at the best price. They’re easy to use. They’re powerful platforms.