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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Analytics

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Analytics is perhaps the best-known web analytics product and, as a free product, it has massive adoption. Although it lacks some enterprise-level features compared to its competitors in the space, the launch of the paid Google Analytics Premium edition seems likely to close the gap.

    $0

    per month

    Optimizely Web Experimentation

    Score8.7 out of 10
    N/AWhether launching a first test or scaling a sophisticated experimentation program, Optimizely Web Experimentation aims to deliver the insights needed to craft high-performing digital experiences that drive engagement, increase conversions, and accelerate growth.N/A
    Pricing
    Google AnalyticsOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Editions & Modules
    Google Analytics 360
    150,000
    per year
    Google Analytics
    Free
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google AnalyticsOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google AnalyticsOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Google Analytics
    I've spoken pretty extensively already about how Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics compare, but again it's not really close between the two tools. Again, there may be some use cases where GA makes more sense (primarily if you are trying to cut down on the expenses of the …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Analytics
    Google Analytics provided all the tools that we needed. We found that the other tools were a little more difficult to use and create reports. Additionally, the integrations that Google Analytics provided was a lot more efficient in terms of what we were looking for. Very …
    Incentivized
    Optimizely
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    The ability to do A/B testing in Optimizely along with the associated statistical modelling and audience segmentation means it is a much better solution than using something like Google Analytics were a lot more effort is required to identify and isolate the specific data you …
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    It's a lot more, well, site stacked, it's way better than that. Adobe Target. I think the UI is easier to use on Optimizely. The one thing that I would say comparatively is our analytics talking to each other. Obviously Adobe, we use Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target, so they …
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Google Optimize was much less flexible for our program needs and requires Google Analytics for analysis and metrics tracking. Optimizely Web Experimentation lets you build any number of metrics which can be much more complex than standard GA goals. Optimizely Web …
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    I'm new to Experimentations. This is the only product that I've used.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Best-in-Class Experiment Design compared to platforms like VWO and Convert. Optimizely offers a more polished and intuitive UI for setting up experiments. It feels purpose-built with lots of concurrent tests. Features like traffic allocation, audience targeting, and variation …
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    This is a platform that was already implemented when I started with my current company.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    None of them have a best in class stats engine and live within an ecosystem of marketing technology products the way that Optimizely does, so the scalability of using any one of those tools is limited as compared to using Optimizely Web Experimentation.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Optimizely is more user-friendly and cost-effective, ideal for experimentation-focused teams, while Adobe Target excels in advanced personalization and seamless integration within the Adobe ecosystem, making it better suited for large enterprises.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    We haven't used other Optimizely products apart from Web Experimentation.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Optimizely Web Experimentation has more robust product for experimentation specialists than VWO
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Better tools but more expensive
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Marketing mostly focuses on small changes to static sites, which is well suited to Optimizely.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    The choice was made by the organisation prior to my joining.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    It's slightly more complicated to use, but in my experience, it has more capabilities. Also, Google Optimize was depreciated, so this is definitely the next best platform.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    More complex
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Less development required once the tool is fully implemented and easier to scale
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Optimizely has better customer service if you need to talk to a person and a great library of documentation if you run into issues and want to troubleshoot yourself. Web Experimentation has allowed for our testing capabilities to grow as our research program develops. …
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Google Optimize was great, but our organization already had contracts with Optimizely Web Experimentation for their other tools. unbounce wasn't really an option either mainly because it was only a landing page testing tool and had to use their platform to host the tests. We …
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Optimizely is an integrated solution that supports all the performance areas and does the analytics while working on all other areas. The products I use were a lot more simple, they helped me but in a limited way so I came to search for software and tool which fitted really well.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Optimizely is ok and cost effective compared to other tools. In general the industry keeps lowering the value of tools as they broaden the audience.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    We have evaluated Optimize every year against Optimizely. I am a google fan, but their product is not up to the level of Optimizely. They do not offer multi-page tests, and a lot of our changes sometimes span the whole funnel. For that reason alone, it's currently unusable.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    None
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Optimizely is the leader but Google Optimize and Adobe Target are up and coming given their ability to integrate with those marketing stacks.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    96%
    Would buy again
    101 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    89 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    100 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    69 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    104 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    77 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    52 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    87 Answers
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    58 Answers
    Features
    Google AnalyticsOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Web Analytics
    Comparison of Web Analytics features of Google Analytics and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Google Analytics
    8.4
    11 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    -
    Ratings
    Lead Conversion Tracking8.210 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bounce Rate Measurement8.410 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device and Browser Reporting9.211 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pageview Tracking9.111 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event Tracking8.411 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting in real-time7.810 Ratings00 Ratings
    Referral Source Tracking8.610 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Dashboards7.910 Ratings00 Ratings
    Testing and Experimentation
    Comparison of Testing and Experimentation features of Google Analytics and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Google Analytics
    -
    Ratings
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    8.0
    163 Ratings
    5% below category average
    a/b experiment testing00 Ratings9.0163 Ratings
    Split URL testing00 Ratings8.5135 Ratings
    Multivariate testing00 Ratings8.4139 Ratings
    Multi-page/funnel testing00 Ratings7.9126 Ratings
    Cross-browser testing00 Ratings8.197 Ratings
    Mobile app testing00 Ratings8.075 Ratings
    Test significance00 Ratings8.4147 Ratings
    Visual / WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings8.1133 Ratings
    Advanced code editor00 Ratings7.9125 Ratings
    Page surveys00 Ratings6.217 Ratings
    Visitor recordings00 Ratings8.418 Ratings
    Preview mode00 Ratings7.6145 Ratings
    Test duration calculator00 Ratings7.9112 Ratings
    Experiment scheduler00 Ratings8.2112 Ratings
    Experiment workflow and approval00 Ratings7.890 Ratings
    Dynamic experiment activation00 Ratings7.574 Ratings
    Client-side tests00 Ratings7.896 Ratings
    Server-side tests00 Ratings7.250 Ratings
    Mutually exclusive tests00 Ratings8.280 Ratings
    Audience Segmentation & Targeting
    Comparison of Audience Segmentation & Targeting features of Google Analytics and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Google Analytics
    -
    Ratings
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    8.2
    152 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Standard visitor segmentation00 Ratings8.4147 Ratings
    Behavioral visitor segmentation00 Ratings7.6122 Ratings
    Traffic allocation control00 Ratings9.1144 Ratings
    Website personalization00 Ratings7.8111 Ratings
    Results and Analysis
    Comparison of Results and Analysis features of Google Analytics and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Google Analytics
    -
    Ratings
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    8.3
    149 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Heatmap tool00 Ratings9.313 Ratings
    Click analytics00 Ratings8.833 Ratings
    Scroll maps00 Ratings8.517 Ratings
    Form fill analysis00 Ratings8.072 Ratings
    Conversion tracking00 Ratings8.744 Ratings
    Goal tracking00 Ratings8.2127 Ratings
    Test reporting00 Ratings7.9137 Ratings
    Results segmentation00 Ratings7.7103 Ratings
    CSV export00 Ratings7.9102 Ratings
    Experiments results dashboard00 Ratings8.049 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google AnalyticsOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Small Businesses
    Matomo Analytics
    Score9 out of 10
    Google Optimize
    Score6.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Lead Forensics
    Score8.9 out of 10
    AB Tasty
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Chartbeat
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Google Content Experiments (discontinued)
    Score7.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google AnalyticsOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (193 ratings)
    8.7
    (254 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (51 ratings)
    9.5
    (51 ratings)
    Usability
    7.4
    (19 ratings)
    10.0
    (58 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (7 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (42 ratings)
    10.0
    (16 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    3.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (11 ratings)
    Configurability
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (163 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google AnalyticsOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Analytics is particularly well suited for tracking and analyzing customer behavior on a grocery e-commerce platform. It provides a wealth of information about customer behavior, including what products are most popular, what pages are visited the most, and where customers are coming from. This information can help the platform optimize its website for better customer engagement and conversion rates. However, Google Analytics may not be the best tool for more advanced, granular analysis of customer behavior, such as tracking individual customer journeys or understanding customer motivations. In these cases, it may be more appropriate to use additional tools or solutions that provide deeper insights into customer behavior.
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    I think it can serve the whole spectrum of experiences from people who are just getting used to web experimentation. It's really easy to pick up and use. If you're more experienced then it works well because it just gets out of the way and lets you really focus on the experimentation side of things. So yeah, strongly recommend. I think it is well suited both to small businesses and large enterprises as well. I think it's got a really low barrier to entry. It's very easy to integrate on your website and get results quickly. Likewise, if you are a big business, it's incrementally adoptable, so you can start out with one component of optimizing and you can build there and start to build in things like data CMS to augment experimentation as well. So it's got a really strong a pathway to grow your MarTech platform if you're a small company or a big company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Multiple reports to see website use and behavior
    • Allows you to customize reports with days, weeks, months, and years
    • You can build out a dashboard to easily view stats from multiple websites in one place
    • You can share analytics reports via the dashboard, automatically emailed PDFs or in other formats
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    • The Platform contains drag-and-drop editor options for creating variations, which ease the A/B tests process, as it does not require any coding or development resources.
    • Establishing it is so simple that even a non-technical person can do it perfectly.
    • It provides real-time results and analytics with robust dashboard access through which you can quickly analyze how different variations perform. With this, your team can easily make data-driven decisions Fastly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • Data sampling is somewhat inaccurate on the free tier - this is addressed in premium but is expensive.
    • Some of the UI is very similar in naming when presenting different data, some in-situ information might be useful.
    • Gotchas around filtering and data validation.
    • Implementation can be tricky, it can take a lot of time and expertise to get a full, accurate picture of your metrics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    • JavaScript is hard to implement sometimes especially for JQuery elements
    • ROI reporting should be part of the overall experimentation reporting
    • CMP integration: where we can easily show status of test on the HPT request
    • CMS integration
    • More widgets like social proof banners, etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    We will continue to use Google Analytics for several reasons. It is free, which is a huge selling point. It houses all of our ecommerce stores' data, and though it can't account for refunds or fraud orders, gives us and our clients directional, real time information on individual and group store performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    I rated this question because at this stage, Optimizely does most everything we need so I don't foresee a need to migrate to a new tool. We have the infrastructure already in place and it is a sizeable lift to pivot to another tool with no guarantee that it will work as good or even better than Optimizely
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    Google Analytics provides a wealth of data, down to minute levels. That is it's greatest detriment: find the right information when you need it can be a cumbersome task. You are able to create shortcuts, however, so it can mitigate some of this problem. Google is continually refining Analytics, so I do not doubt there will be improvements
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    Optimizely Web Experimentation's visual editor is handy for non-technical or quick iterative testing. When it comes to content changes it's as easy as going into wordpress, clicking around, and then seeing your changes live--what you see is what you get. The preview and approval process for sharing built experiments is also handy for sharing experiments across teams for QA purposes or otherwise.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    We all know Google is at top when it comes to availability. We have never faced any such instances where I can suggest otherwise. All you need is a Google account, a device and internet connection to use this super powerful tool for reporting and visualising your site data, traffic, events, etc. that too in real time.
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    I would rate Optimizely Web Experimentation's availability as a 10 out of 10. The software is reliable and does not experience any application errors or unplanned outages. Additionally, the customer service and technical support teams are always available to help with any issues or questions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Google
    This has been a catalyst for improving our site's traffic handling capabilities. We were able to identify exit% from our sites through it and we used recommendations to handle and implement the same in our sites. We have been increasing the usage of Google Analytics in our sites and never had any performance related issues if we used Analytics
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    I would rate Optimizely Web Experimentation's performance as a 9 out of 10. Pages load quickly, reports are complete in a reasonable time frame, and the software does not slow down any other software or systems that it integrates with. Additionally, the customer service and technical support teams are always available to help with any issues or questions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Google
    The Google reps respond very quickly. However, sometimes they can overly call you to set up an apportionment. I'm very proficient and sometimes when I talk to reps, they give beginner tutorials and insights that are a waste of time. I wish Google would understand my level of expertise and assign me to a rep (long-term) that doesn't have to walk me through the basics.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    They always are quick to respond, and are so friendly and helpful. They always answer the phone right away. And [they are] always willing to not only help you with your problem, but if you need ideas they have suggestions as well.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Google
    love the product and training they provide for businesses of all sizes. The following list of links will help you get started with Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented by Google Analytics.
    1. How to Use Google Analytics for Beginners – Mahalo’s how-to guide for beginners.
    2. A beginner’s guide to Google Analytics – A free eBook walking you through Google Analytics from setup to understanding what data is being presented.
    3. Getting to Know Your Google Analytics Dashboard – The title says it all! This is a brief post with one goal: to introduce you to the Google Analytics dashboard.
    4. Google Analytics for Beginners: How to Make the Most of Your Traffic Reports– This guide doesn’t cover setup, but it does a great job of helping you to better understand the data being presented.
    5. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 1: Setup – A video presentation that walks you through Google Analytics setup.
    6. Google Analytics Video Tutorial 2: Essential Stats – A video presentation that introduces you to some of the most important data being presented in Google Analytics.
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    The tool itself is not very difficult to use so training was not very useful in my opinion. It did not also account for success events more complex than a click (which my company being ecommerce is looking to examine more than a mere click).
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    I think my biggest take away from the Google Analytics implementation was that there needs to be a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it before you start. Originally the analytics were added to track visitors, but as we became more savvy with the product, we began adding more and more functionality, and defining guidelines as we went along. While not detrimental to our success, this lack of an overarching goal resulted in some minor setbacks in implementation and the collection of some messy data that is unusable.
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    In retrospect: - I think I should have stressed more demo's / workshopping with the Optimizely team at the start. I felt too confident during demo stages, and when came time to actually start, I was a bit lost. (The answer is likely I should have had them on-hand for our first install.. they offered but I thought I was OK.) - Really getting an understanding / asking them prior to install of how to make it really work for checkout pages / one that uses dynamic content or user interaction to determine what the UI does. Could have saved some time by addressing this at the beginning, as some things we needed to create on our site for Optimizely to "use" as a trigger for the variation test. - Having a number of planned/hoped-for tests already in-hand before working with Optimizely team. Sharing those thoughts with them would likely have started conversations on additional things we needed to do to make them work (rather than figuring that out during the actual builds). Since I had development time available, I could have added more things to the baseline installation since my developers were already "looking under the hood" of the site.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I have not used Adobe Analytics as much, but I know they offer something called customer journey analytics, which we are evaluating now. I have used Semrush, and I find them much better than Google Analytics. I feel a fairly nontechnical person could learn Semrush in about a month. They also offer features like competitive analysis (on content, keywords, traffic, etc.), which is very useful. If you have to choose one among Semrush and Google Analytics, I would say go for Semrush.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    The ability to do A/B testing in Optimizely along with the associated statistical modelling and audience segmentation means it is a much better solution than using something like Google Analytics were a lot more effort is required to identify and isolate the specific data you need to confidently make changes
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    Google Analytics is currently handling the reporting and tracking of near about 80 sites in our project. And I am not talking about the sites from different projects. They may have way more accounts than that. Never ever felt a performance issue from Google's end while generating or customising reports or tracking custom events or creating custom dimensions
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    We can use it flexibly across lines of business and have it in use across two departments. We have different use cases and slightly different outcomes, but can unify our results based on impact to the bottom line. Finally, we can generate value from anywhere in the org for any stakeholders as needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • It has helped us gain understanding of what is going on on our website.
    • It has helped us determine areas that need fixing (i.e. pages with extremely high bounce rates may need to be redone).
    • It has helped us understand our biggest avenues for bringing traffic to the website and business in general.
    • It has helped guide our website redesign.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    • We're able to share definitive annualized revenue projections with our team, showing what would happen if we put a test into Production
    • Showing the results of a test on a new page or feature prior to full implementation on a site saves developer time (if a test proves the new element doesn't deliver a significant improvement.
    • Making a change via the WYSIWYG interface allows us to see multiple changes without developer intervention.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Optimizely Web Experimentation Screenshots

    Screenshot of AI-Powered Experimentation with Opal:

- Instant Test Ideas: Generates high-quality A/B test ideas based on any goals and audience insights.
- Smarter Experimentation: The AI can suggest impactful variations, reducing guesswork and increasing test velocity.
- More Than Just Ideas: From hypothesis generation to analyzing results, Opal helps optimize every stage of the experimentation process.Screenshot of the new Visual Editor with an AI Variation Development Agent

Create simple or advanced website changes fast without writing a line of code with our AI Development Agent.

Use natural language to build out your ideas and apply brand styles to your experiments instantly.Screenshot of Advanced Audience Targeting:

- Delivers personalized experiences by targeting users based on behaviors, attributes, and real-time conditions.
- Defines precise audience segments using first-party data, geolocation, and device type.
- Can test and optimize for different audience groups to maximize impact and engagement.Screenshot of Variation Template

Library of experience templates that you can access right within the Visual Editor. Customize these templates or create your own to easily reuse throughout your experimentation program.

- Offers pre-built templates for common test setups.
- Standardized variations and maintains brand integrity with reusable templates.
- Templates can be customized visually or tweak them with code for full flexibility.Screenshot of Web Experimentation Results Page:

- Data visualizations help interpret experiment performance.
- Displays which variations are winning with built-in statistical significance calculations.
- Results can be filtered by audience segments, events, and conversions to uncover key trends.Screenshot of the custom code editor for JavaScript & CSS changes, used to build complex tests.