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Google Optimize 360 vs Optimizely

Choosing the Right Experimentation Platform

While Google Optimize 360 allows seamless integration with most Google products, Optimizely offers advanced features ideal for large enterprises. Here you can compare them with each other and with VWO to choose the best optimization tool for your business.

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Optimize 360
Optimizely
VWO Logo
7.9
8.3
8.6
Ease of Setup
8.7
8.1
8.5
Ease of Admin
4.8
8.0
8.7
Quality of Support
6.7
7.8
8.7
Ease of Doing Business With
7.7
7.6
8.5
Product Direction (% Positive)
Source
Comparison

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

To truly achieve experimentation-led growth, you need a platform with capabilities that help you meet all your business goals.

Capabilities Optimize 360 Optimizely
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 to level up your optimization program

Let's take a closer look at the important features and benefits offered by Google Optimize 360 and Optimizely to understand which one is better equipped to support your optimization goals.

Customer Data Platform Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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]

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.

Custom event targeting

Target user groups based on custom events that occur on the website.

Campaign Triggers Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Basic and Advanced Triggers

Granular control over when visitors become part of a campaign or see a survey, widget, modal, etc.

24x7 support Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
SSO

Enable single sign-on using any SAML 2.0 identity provider to authenticate members from your organization.

Self Hosting Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Self Hosting

Host library and campaign setting files on your servers, easing your dependency on the platform's servers.

SPA Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
SPA

Single-page apps support

Re-usable Pages Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Re-usable Pages

Classify your web pages into different categories to quickly create, manage and scale experiments specific to them.

API Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
API

Start and pause campaigns programmatically or pull test metrics into other dashboards.

Cross Domain Testing Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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]

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.

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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Elements Library

Library of customizable pre-designed UI elements like list item, content block, buttons, etc.

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.

Widget Triggers

Control when a widget appears, how often it appears, or does not appear when dismissed.

AI-Based Text Recommendations

Generate alternate text recommendations for the existing copy on your website.

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.

Code editor

Make advanced modifications to any aspect of your website using HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and jQuery.

Add / Edit elements

Add new or edit UI elements to your webpage.

Using code editor & extensions
Web testing Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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.

Multivariate Testing

Simultaneously modify multiple variables to test a hypothesis and determine the best-performing combination of variations.

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.

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.

Mobile website testing

Run tests on mobile responsive sites

Multiple domain support

Run tests on multiple domains within user journey, where user tracking and goals can be on one or more domains.

No concurrent test limit

Total number of tests you can run on your account concurrently.

Limited (>100)
Previews Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Conversion Report

Track user drop-offs at different stages of form submission, from landing to interaction to submission.

Dropped Field Report

Percentage of users who dropped off on a field without submitting the form.

Interaction time

Understand how long users spend on a specific field while actively interacting with it.

Hesitation time

Understand how long users spend on a specific field without actively interacting with it.

Refilled Field

Percentage of users who refilled a field on the form.

Ignored Field

Percentage of users who did not interact with a form field and submitted the form.

Dropped Field

Percentage of users who dropped off on a field without submitting the form.

On-page surveys Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Survey Logic

Make your surveys smarter by asking subsequent questions based on the responses given.

Question bank

Choose from a repository of frequently asked questions to select an appropriate question.

Variation targeted surveys

Trigger survey to users when they see a specific A/B test variation.

Custom triggers

Write custom triggers using JavaScript to fire a survey based on an event or a specific user action.

NPS

Run an NPS survey to gauge the likelihood of users recommending the website to others.

Recordings of respondents

Watch recordings of user sessions in which they responded to a survey to understand why they gave specific responses.

Themes and customisation

Add custom CSS to restyle and resize the surveys per your branding guidelines.

Funnels Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Drop-off analysis

Filter reports based on users who dropped off from a funnel.

Heatmaps and Scrollmaps Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Browsable heatmaps

View heatmaps of different pages, interactive elements(such as popups, modals, and menus), and pages behind logins as you navigate your website.

Heatmap of test variations

View the heatmap of a particular A/B test variation.

Heatmap views

Create a heatmap view and quickly access heatmap data for specific pages and user segments without repeating the heatmap configuration.

Clickmaps and area stats

Track clicks on specific elements and compare them to total clicks on a page or area.

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 Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Recordings of variations

Filter recordings based on users who were part of a test campaign or saw a particular test variation.

Page Filters

Filter recordings based on parameters like entry page, exit page, visited page, etc.

Recording views

Create a recording view and quickly access recordings for specific pages and user segments without repeating the recording configuration.

Save recordings

The number of recordings you can store for later viewing.

Funnel Drop-off Filters

Filter recordings based on users who dropped off from a funnel.

Download

Download recordings for offline sharing and viewing.

Server Side Testing Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
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

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

Feature Test Optimize 360 Optimizely VWO Logo
Feature Test

Test multiple variable values for a feature to determine the most optimal value

Comparing features and benefits: Choose the best platform for your business needs

Here are some non-negotiable factors that you must consider before choosing the best optimization platform for your business.

Website loading time

One of the major beliefs around A/B testing is that it tends to slow down your website and causes a flicker effect as the changes load on the page.

Optimize 360 has much lower latency (the time it takes for a page to load) as compared to Optimizely. It also offers an anti-flicker snippet that allows you to prevent flicker by temporarily hiding the page as relevant changes are applied.

While Optimizely has a higher load time than Optimize 360, it offers an ultra-fast Experiment Delivery Network called Performance Edge to boost user experience. This feature allows users to run multiple web experiments with a lower load time.

VWO offers an asynchronous SmartCode that ensures zero impact on your website load time. Moreover, SDK API decisions are executed in less than 50 ms which ensures that server-side experiments are superfast with absolutely no lag in your applications.

Read more

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Behavior analytics

To understand the evolving journey of a customer, you need to constantly monitor customer behavior and analytics. This helps in identifying frictions in your conversion funnel, while also allowing you to discover new opportunities for experimentation.

Although Optimize 360 offers seamless integration with products like Google Ads, it does not offer a Customer Data Platform (CDP).

On the other hand, while Optimizely does provide a Customer Data Platform, you still need to integrate your website with third-party tools to collect customer behavioral insights.

VWO offers a plethora of behavior insight tools like funnels, heatmaps, session recordings, form analytics, etc. These advanced features are designed to boost your testing program without additional integrations with third-party tools such as FullStory or Hotjar. You never have to switch contexts or worry about multiple code snippets with VWO.

Read more

Behavior analytics

Customer support

This is one of the most crucial aspects of choosing an optimization platform for your business. To make the most of your partnership, you should go for a platform that offers constant guidance and support whenever you need it.

While Optimize 360 offers email support, the platform does not offer live chat support.

Optimizely offers various support packages (Standard, Priority, and Priority Plus) with different features. However, 'live phone support' is only available when you upgrade to the Priority Support package.

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.

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Customer Support

Privacy compliances

It is extremely important to respect and protect the privacy of your visitors. Check whether your experimentation platform complies with data privacy regulations and ensure they adhere to the required privacy and security guidelines.

Since Optimize 360 is a Google product, it adheres to the major privacy guidelines the same way Google does.

Optimizely also has an effective compliance program in place to ensure complete data protection. However, it 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.

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International Organization Standardization Certification
International Organization Standardization Certification 27701
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Pricing and plans

Small businesses prefer Google Optimize's free plan.

Optimizely's forte lies in tailoring pricing packages to meet specific business needs.

On the other hand,VWO's transparent pricing plans are well-suited for small, medium, and large enterprises as well. VWO also offers a 30-day free trial that gives you a chance to experience all the features provided by the optimization platform.

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Pricing Plans
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Behavior analytics
Customer Support
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ccpa ready certification
International Organization Standardization Certification
International Organization Standardization Certification 27701
pci dss
Hipaa Compliant Logo
Pricing Plans
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Our customers back our stack too!

A vast majority of our 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 are some success stories in our customers' own words

Trevor Anderson
Teetat Srethbhakdi

Google Optimize Sunset

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

While both of these are popular A/B testing platforms, Google Optimize 360 is more user-friendly and is better suited for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) that are just getting started with their testing journey.

Optimizely, however, offers more robust features and capabilities that are ideal for organizations having advanced testing goals.

Also, Google Optimize 360 shares native integration with Google Analytics, which makes it easier to discover and leverage useful insights. Optimizely, on the other hand, requires third-party integration with various tools and platforms to deliver key insights.

Moreover, Optimizely offers a Customer Data Platform (CDP), which is unavailable with Google Optimize 360. However, the key feature of tracking customer behavioral insights is not offered by either of these optimization platforms.

Both of these platforms are better suited for different business needs. If your business is just getting started with testing or if you are already using quite a few Google products, then Google Optimize 360 is the obvious choice.

If you are looking for advanced testing capabilities, Optimizely is the preferred option. However, since Optimizely is a standalone tool, you will have to rely on various third-party tools like Hotjar to track and analyze important behavior insights.

We recommend that you rely on just one tool for your experimentation needs.

This is because using more than one optimization platform can increase the complexity of your testing process and can easily lead to conflicting data and inaccurate reports.

Additionally, this can also increase the time it takes to implement and analyze experiments.

Yes, it is possible to migrate from Google Optimize 360 to Optimizely or vice versa, but the entire process can be complicated and time-consuming.

Migrating from one platform to another requires a lot of planning and effort as it could have a direct impact on your data, reports, and results.

If you are currently using Google Optimize or Optimize 360, you can migrate to VWO in just 30 seconds.

Before making the final decision between Google Optimize 360 and Optimizely, you should take a step back and understand your testing goals and long-term business objectives.

Also, you should have a closer look at whether these platforms are offering important features like CDP, personalization, program management, and visitor behavior analysis.

Based on this, you can make an informed decision about choosing the best optimization platform for your business.

This is why fast-growing brands across the globe opt for VWO, as the leading experimentation platform allows them to leverage all of the above features and capabilities at a reasonable price. Take a free trial now!

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