VWO emerged as the dominant player in the A/B testing landscape in G2’s Spring 2023 Report.
Key advantages of each platform in delivering holistic customer experiences
Comparing platform capabilities to decide which one is better equipped to serve as the foundation of your entire optimization program.
Capabilities | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Behavioral Insights | |||
Targeting and Personalization | |||
Project Management | |||
Customer Data Platform | |||
Robust Statistical Engine and Reporting |
You can explore all the above capabilities for free on VWO. Learn more about VWO’s 30-day free trial.
Choosing the right A/B testing solution - Detailed feature comparison
Find the best platform that offers a wide variety of features to support your end-to-end optimization needs.
Customer Data Platform | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Custom Events and Properties Configure any kind of user event and event properties |
- | Cannot define event properties | |
Advanced Metrics Create metrics based on events and their properties with complex aggregate functions such as first value, last value, average, sum, etc. |
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Campaign targeting | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Advanced Targeting Logic Use brackets to create logic of targeting with multiple conditions. For example - [Users in USA OR Users in India] AND [New Users OR iOS Device] |
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Behavioral targeting Target based on user behavior and actions taken by the user. For example - user clicks a button, time spent on page, page scroll etc. |
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Custom event targeting Target user groups based on custom events that occur on the website. |
Campaign Triggers | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Basic and Advanced Triggers Granular control over when visitors become part of a campaign or see a survey, widget, modal, etc. |
24x7 support | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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24x7 support The availability of our support team to respond and resolve your queries irrespective of the timezone. |
Only for priority support package | Enterprise plans |
SSO | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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SSO Enable single sign-on using any SAML 2.0 identity provider to authenticate members from your organization. |
Self Hosting | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Self Hosting Host library and campaign setting files on your servers, easing your dependency on the platform's servers. |
SPA | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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SPA Single-page apps support |
Re-usable Pages | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Re-usable Pages Classify your web pages into different categories to quickly create, manage and scale experiments specific to them. |
API | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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API Start and pause campaigns programmatically or pull test metrics into other dashboards. |
Cross Domain Testing | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Cross Domain Testing Run tests on multiple domains within user journey, where user tracking and goals can be on one or more domains. |
Limited & based on plan | Unlimited |
Campaign Reports | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Advanced Reporting Logic Use brackets to create logic of filtering reports with multiple conditions. For example - [Users in USA OR Users in India] AND [New users OR iOS Device] |
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Bayesian reporting Get accurate test reports powered by a Bayesian statistics engine |
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Heatmap of Variation See how the users of a variation behaved with the help of heatmaps |
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Dimension Level Reporting Make use of visitors' unique attributes to analyze test performance |
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Compare User Segments Simultaneously visualize and compare two or more user segments in reports for far more comprehensive insights and decision-making. |
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Download Detailed CSV Download detailed user reports in .csv format with complete segment data, goal completion and custom dimensions. |
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Intuitive reporting dashboard See the results of your experiments on our Bayesian-powered reporting dashboard. |
Data unavailable publicly |
Editor | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Elements Library Library of customizable pre-designed UI elements like list item, content block, buttons, etc. |
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Save elements to library Use the click-and-save feature to store UI elements, such as text blocks, buttons, banners, and pop-ups, in the library for future reuse. |
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Widget Triggers Control when a widget appears, how often it appears, or does not appear when dismissed. |
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AI-Based Text Recommendations Generate alternate text recommendations for the existing copy on your website. |
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Widgets library Create customizable banners, pop-ups, and other web page elements with images and forms, directly within the visual editor, without coding. |
Using code editor & extensions | ||
Test inside Shadow DOM Shadow DOM is a web API that can attach a hidden DOM to a DOM element. |
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Visual Editor Utilize the powerful WYSIWYG point-and-click visual editor to create and edit variations with ease, eliminating the dependency on IT. |
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Code editor Make advanced modifications to any aspect of your website using HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and jQuery. |
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Add / Edit elements Add new or edit UI elements to your webpage. |
Using code editor & extensions |
Web testing | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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3rd party Integrations Seamlessly integrate with third-party tools. |
- | 3rd party analytics, DMP, CRM, tag manager | 3rd party analytics, eCommerce platforms, CMS, tag manager |
A/B Testing Build and compare variations of your website to analytically determine the better performing version. |
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Multivariate Testing Simultaneously modify multiple variables to test a hypothesis and determine the best-performing combination of variations. |
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Split URL testing Compare various versions of your website hosted on multiple URLs by distributing website traffic among them to determine the highest-performing variation. |
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Multi page testing Easily apply the same experience to multiple pages with a single click, eliminating the need for manual duplication of changes across pages. |
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Mobile website testing Run tests on mobile responsive sites |
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Multiple domain support Run tests on multiple domains within user journey, where user tracking and goals can be on one or more domains. |
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No concurrent test limit Total number of tests you can run on your account concurrently. |
Upto 5 concurrent tests |
Previews | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Cross browser screenshots Conduct a quality review of the variations by previewing them to verify that all modifications have been applied to the website before going live. |
Multi armed bandit testing | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Multi armed bandit testing Expose the better performing variation to more users long before the test reaches statistical significance thus reducing the opportunity cost. |
Mutually exclusive campaigns | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Mutually exclusive campaigns Ensure that a user doesn't participate in two or more running tests to eliminate result noise, bias, and test inter-play. |
Form Analytics | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Conversion Report Track user drop-offs at different stages of form submission, from landing to interaction to submission. |
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Dropped Field Report Percentage of users who dropped off on a field without submitting the form. |
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Interaction time Understand how long users spend on a specific field while actively interacting with it. |
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Hesitation time Understand how long users spend on a specific field without actively interacting with it. |
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Refilled Field Percentage of users who refilled a field on the form. |
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Ignored Field Percentage of users who did not interact with a form field and submitted the form. |
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Dropped Field Percentage of users who dropped off on a field without submitting the form. |
On-page surveys | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Survey Logic Make your surveys smarter by asking subsequent questions based on the responses given. |
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Question bank Choose from a repository of frequently asked questions to select an appropriate question. |
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Variation targeted surveys Trigger survey to users when they see a specific A/B test variation. |
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Custom triggers Write custom triggers using JavaScript to fire a survey based on an event or a specific user action. |
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NPS Run an NPS survey to gauge the likelihood of users recommending the website to others. |
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Recordings of respondents Watch recordings of user sessions in which they responded to a survey to understand why they gave specific responses. |
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Themes and customisation Add custom CSS to restyle and resize the surveys per your branding guidelines. |
Funnels | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Drop-off analysis Filter reports based on users who dropped off from a funnel. |
Heatmaps and Scrollmaps | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Browsable heatmaps View heatmaps of different pages, interactive elements(such as popups, modals, and menus), and pages behind logins as you navigate your website. |
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Heatmap of test variations View the heatmap of a particular A/B test variation. |
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Heatmap views Create a heatmap view and quickly access heatmap data for specific pages and user segments without repeating the heatmap configuration. |
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Clickmaps and area stats Track clicks on specific elements and compare them to total clicks on a page or area. |
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Element list Displays a list of both visible and hidden elements with their types and show clicks on each from highest to lowest. |
Visitor Recordings | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Recordings of variations Filter recordings based on users who were part of a test campaign or saw a particular test variation. |
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Page Filters Filter recordings based on parameters like entry page, exit page, visited page, etc. |
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Recording views Create a recording view and quickly access recordings for specific pages and user segments without repeating the recording configuration. |
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Save recordings The number of recordings you can store for later viewing. |
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Funnel Drop-off Filters Filter recordings based on users who dropped off from a funnel. |
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Download Download recordings for offline sharing and viewing. |
Server Side Testing | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Multiple Environments Supported Configure multiple environments under each project to run tests in simulated environments. Ensure your changes are of production-ready quality and roll out changes confidently |
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3rd party Integrations Seamlessly integrate with third-party tools. |
- | Web analytics, CRM, DMS, CMS, eCommerce | |
User Whitelisting Ensure certain users are always served a specific variation by whitelisting the users based on their userID |
- | ||
Scheduling Schedule tests at specific time/date or create recurring schedules to run tests |
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Feature Test | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Feature Test Test multiple variable values for a feature to determine the most optimal value |
Observations | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Plugin Make quick observations and audit webpages while on them, all with a handy browser plug-in. |
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Observations with Automatic Snapshot Automatically capture snapshots of the reports as you log observations. |
Hypothesis | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Hypotheses Prioritization + Custom Workflows Prioritize ideas based on importance, complexity and ease of implementation and customize your workflow to visualize progress. |
Idea factory | Google Optimize | Optimizely |
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Idea factory Take inspiration from hundreds of ideas, case studies, and other resources to develop your own strategy. |
Comparing crucial features and benefits:
Choose the right platform
Here are some non-negotiable factors when choosing a platform to accelerate your optimization journey.
Website loading time
Google Optimize offers an anti-flicker snippet that can be used to hide a page temporarily while changes are being made, thus preventing page flicker.
The ease of use on Optimizely is compromised by the frequent need to switch between snippets and mini snippets to access different products. This also causes delayed loading time when multiple scripts load successively.
VWO offers an asynchronous smart code that works across all your key web pages and powers the entire experimentation and personalization suite. Our server-side experiments are blazing fast with SDK API decisions made in under 50 ms, ensuring no lag in your applications.
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Google Optimize
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Optimizely
Behavior analytics
Google Optimize natively integrates with Google Analytics, giving data on visitor behavior on websites. However, it lacks capabilities that can provide in-depth behavioral insights through heatmaps, clickmaps, and session recordings.
Meanwhile, Optimizely requires third-party integrations with Full Story and Hotjar to track visitor journeys.
VWO is a comprehensive platform that connects behavioral insights to testing to understand changing visitor journeys and create tailored experiences for your users accordingly.
![Behavior analytics](png/user-analytics%402x.png)
Customer support
Google Optimize offers support documentation and encourages users to find assistance in the Optimize help community. Free support is only available to Google Ads customers.
Optimizely offers three support packages - Standard, Priority, and Priority Plus - with specific offerings and designated response times for each.
VWO offers global consultancy, on-demand implementation service at full scale, and comprehensive training for onboarding and enablement. We stand out for offering 24x5 unlimited support to enterprise accounts without additional charges.
Privacy compliances
Optimize shares native integration with Google Analytics which adheres to the major privacy compliances.
In contrast, Optimizely is not HIPAA and ISO/IEC 27701 Compliant.
At VWO we continuously update our security controls to attribute privacy well ahead of any regulations changes.
Pricing and plans
Beginners in A/B testing have a preference for Google Optimize because it is available for free, while Optimizely's specialty lies in tailoring pricing packages to meet specific business needs.
VWO offers a 30-day free trial and free testing and insights plans. Our pricing is transparent, and you can choose any paid plan based on your needs.
Our customers back our stack too!
A vast majority of our 2500+ customers purchase a set of VWO products to achieve their goals. While our industry-leading G2 ratings and benchmark CSAT scores are evidence enough, here’s sharing some success stories in our customers’ own words
In my opinion, VWO checks all the boxes and is much more robust than Google Optimize and is free of the antiquated, buggy, and overpriced bloat of Optimizely.
Mason FurrSenior Performance Marketing Manager
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VWO is competitively priced and has a good product offering. It has offered the team here at Digital NRG a great level of insight into customer behavior on our client websites and has allowed us to run a great number of tests. They also have a very responsive team, who are very helpful and take feedback on board when it is needed.
Freya GayCRO Lead
![Jenny Hughes](png/mason-furr%402x97489748.png)
![Loef Kleinmeijer](jpg/freya%402x9748-29748.jpg)
GO sunsetting and the next steps
Google Optimize will be discontinued on September 30th, 2023. If you're a current Google Optimize user, there's good news. You can quickly migrate to VWO in just 30 seconds for uninterrupted and free testing for up to 50k monthly visitors. If your experimentation and personalization needs are more sophisticated, take VWO's all-inclusive trial for free with no commitment for 30 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Google Optimize is a free testing tool that could be a good choice for companies just starting to A/B test and want something easy to try before moving on to a more advanced tool. However, it allows you to run basic A/B tests and offers a handful of features like a visual editor, page visit goals, and reporting dashboard.
Optimizely, on the other hand, is a sophisticated platform offering several features to help run different kinds of tests, starting from simple website testing to more complex server-side testing. Given the range of features it provides, Optimizely charges handsomely and is preferred by enterprise businesses.
When you use Optimizely, you can leverage features that support server-side testing, feature rollout, and feature testing. None of these features are available on Google Optimize. While GO offers you the basic split URL testing features, it doesn’t support adding customizable widgets, unlike Optimizely, which lets you do so using the code editor and extensions. Optimizely lets you add different types of goals, but you can track fewer goals on GO. Google Optimize also doesn’t offer a CDP, unlike Optimizely.
The constant need to switch between snippets and mini snippets to access different product offerings reduces the ease of use and delays loading time when you’re using Optimizely. Further, Optimizely doesn’t offer built-in user behavioral analytics unless you’ve integrated third-party tools to uncover user insights. Optimizely is relatively a more expensive choice for small and medium businesses. Google Optimize, on the other hand, is available free of cost and offers some level of user insights due to GA integration. However, it is missing several advanced features, as clearly mentioned in the above comparison tables.
If you don’t wish to compromise on loading time and want to dive deeper into user insights, you can try VWO. We offer you a free trial for 30 days, free testing and insights plans, and different pricing plans as per your needs.
Google Optimize is available for free. Optimizely offers customized pricing based on customers’ needs.
Optimizely comes with advanced features and capabilities and could be a good choice for businesses with mature experimentation needs. Also, given the high price point of Optimizely, it may not be a feasible option for SMEs.
Google Optimize is a good free-of-cost tool for beginners in testing but lacks more sophisticated offerings. Moreover, its sunsetting is approaching soon.
Therefore, if you want to leverage top-notch features and capabilities (even better than that of Optimizely) within your budget, VWO should be your ultimate choice. Take a free trial now!