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Optimizely Content Management System vs. Optimizely Web Experimentation

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Optimizely Content Management System

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AOptimizely Content Management System (CMS) is purpose-built for marketers, and fully composable for developers. The CMS supports the end-to-end content lifecycle, helping users to deliver on-brand, high-impact digital experiences that 'wow' audiences.N/A

    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
    Optimizely Content Management SystemOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Optimizely Content Management SystemOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredOptional
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Optimizely Content Management SystemOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Considered Both Products
    Optimizely
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    The best compared to Sitecore.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    We’ve not evaluated other solutions following the launch.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    Much easier admin interface.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    Optimizely Content Cloud is an enterprise-level solution that offers great security and has the flexibility to expand at scale.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    More flexible and easy to use
    Incentivized
    Optimizely
    Chose Optimizely Web Experimentation
    I do not have any issues with AB Tasty. They are great. We went with Optimizely because they have several other products that will work together with our business model. Optimizely has grown and it now offers many other products that work with experimentation like CMS, CMP, ODP …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    170 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    89 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    144 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    69 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    164 Answers
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    104 Answers
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    52 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    120 Answers
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    58 Answers
    Features
    Optimizely Content Management SystemOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Optimizely Content Management System and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Optimizely Content Management System
    8.4
    169 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    -
    Ratings
    Role-based user permissions8.4169 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Optimizely Content Management System and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Optimizely Content Management System
    7.8
    166 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    -
    Ratings
    API7.8159 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language7.8127 Ratings00 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Optimizely Content Management System and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Optimizely Content Management System
    7.7
    194 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    -
    Ratings
    WYSIWYG editor7.6178 Ratings00 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness7.9166 Ratings00 Ratings
    Admin section8.0178 Ratings00 Ratings
    Page templates8.0172 Ratings00 Ratings
    Library of website themes7.497 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design7.9176 Ratings00 Ratings
    Publishing workflow8.1172 Ratings00 Ratings
    Form generator6.4131 Ratings00 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Optimizely Content Management System and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Optimizely Content Management System
    7.5
    180 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    -
    Ratings
    Content taxonomy7.9165 Ratings00 Ratings
    SEO support7.1164 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bulk management6.9137 Ratings00 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions7.5142 Ratings00 Ratings
    Community / comment management8.0117 Ratings00 Ratings
    Testing and Experimentation
    Comparison of Testing and Experimentation features of Optimizely Content Management System and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Optimizely Content Management System
    -
    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 Optimizely Content Management System and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Optimizely Content Management System
    -
    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 Optimizely Content Management System and Optimizely Web Experimentation
    Feature
    Optimizely Content Management System
    -
    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
    Optimizely Content Management SystemOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Small Businesses
    Umbraco CMS
    Score7 out of 10
    Google Optimize
    Score6.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Square Online
    Score7.7 out of 10
    AB Tasty
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Enterprises
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    Google Content Experiments (discontinued)
    Score7.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Optimizely Content Management SystemOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.5
    (223 ratings)
    8.7
    (254 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.8
    (34 ratings)
    9.5
    (51 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (92 ratings)
    10.0
    (58 ratings)
    Availability
    9.2
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (7 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    10.0
    (16 ratings)
    Online Training
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    3.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    6.4
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (11 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (163 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Optimizely Content Management SystemOptimizely Web Experimentation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Optimizely
    If you want to build a website quickly there are plenty of ways to do so with some great examples and plenty of support both from the company and in the forums. if you want to build a more complex structure you can but be ready to spend the time to build exactly what you need as a solid foundation goes a massive way before building out content and making those choices early and sticking with them helps
    Incentivized
    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
    Optimizely
    • I think the user interface for content admins is very good and very competitive. And compared to other providers, the technology that CMS in particular has. So the way it integrated the net ecosystem is very well because it follows the MBC pattern. So basically it just allows really simple implementations for what would normally be complex components on any other sort of vendor that's out there.
    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
    Optimizely
    • Magento did have some nice tools for creating product groups or carousels for promotion. Opti seems to be lacking in that.
    • A blog - maybe this is available and we don't have it installed, but a searchable blog would be very appreciated.
    • Structured Data/MicroData - maybe it's our install, but this seems to be missing
    • Meta data: we have access to limited types and need to make a request from IT, it would be nice to be able to access more to adjust for SEO needs.
    • When in a folder on the BLOCKS tab, it would be wonderful to hit the MEDIA tab and stay in that same folder.
    • I have some less technical people that will make folders with spaces - which Opti handles, but it would be great if it wouldn't accept a space or gave an error message not to use them.
    • I think I know why the extra code is added to urls and image links, but it causes issues when taking things from our testing site to the live site. For example, I need to copy the Navigation from Inspect Element on testing to put it in production. I have learned to work around it, but it's not my favorite.
    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
    Optimizely
    Since I work on the implementation side of things, and do not directly own licensing for Ektron CMS, I have to base this rating off of how I think it will be received or presented to customers looking to start a new site deployment. I try to remain CMS agnostic, though my specialty is with the .NET and Microsoft stack. Because of the experience I have working with Ektron, I tend to be more forgiving with the shortcomings as I am familiar with how to work around them or past them from experience. Being familiar with the community available also helps, as you become familiar with the best approaches to find solutions to your issues. Each product has it's ups and downs and all of them are only going to be as good as the company or development team implementing them can make them. This is EXTREMELY important to remember when choosing a CMS, as it can make or break your expensive investment.
    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
    Optimizely
    From our editors perspective they find the CMS system easy and to clear to use. Our developers find it very easy to design on and appreciate the level of service support available. It's also always evolving and getting better every year. We find this investment reassuring and encourages us to try keep pace and see how we can continue to push the envelope and continue to improve all aspect of our websites and online touch points.
    Incentivized
    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
    Optimizely
    Unplanned outages or errors are fairly rare in our instance. And when there are issues, they're usually fixed fairly quickly
    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
    Optimizely
    No answers on this topic
    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
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    Support Rating
    Optimizely
    I attended multiple trainings/tutorials early in the process. The vendor-supplied content about Optimizely was engaging for users/attendees (I often analyze training content, compliance programs, governance plans), which helps our OCM people by having good "word of mouth" about the product long before a rollout ever happens. I actually when the user-focused portion of the Optimizely Academy twice in 2022 to ensure I had a grasp on operability and to be able to support the training and OCM efforts
    Incentivized
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    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
    Optimizely
    Ektron is one of the best solution for .Net platform. Over the years have improved the performance issues that the previous versions had. My only complain is right now you can't do Page builder pages if you choose to have a MVC architecture
    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
    Optimizely
    I was not fully involved.
    Incentivized
    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.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Optimizely
    Optimizely Content Management System is much more feature rich, and less complex that the other CMS platforms we have used. Optimizely Content Management System is more intuitive in how the content is structured and how easy it is to pull blocks of content to create the layout of a page.
    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
    Optimizely
    No answers on this topic
    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
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    Return on Investment
    Optimizely
    • Flexibility with design that allows us to work towards our mission of 'Tennis Opened Up'
    • Speed of deploying content, meaning users can really on us for the most up-to-date content on tennis in Britain
    • Ability to have different logged-in areas for different user groups, allowing us to create more bespoke and personalised experiences
    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
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    ScreenShots

    Optimizely Content Management System Screenshots

    Screenshot of Content delivery: Developers can use modern GraphQL and REST APIs to query content from any source and send it to any channel or device.Screenshot of User roles and permissionsScreenshot of (SaaS CMS): Visual Builder: Add an image: Optimizely Visual Builder offers a range of editing features designed to make content creation and layout building intuitive and accessible to both technical and non-technical users. A drag-and-drop system is used to add, move, and rearrange elements within the layout, for quick and flexible content organization.Screenshot of (SaaS CMS): Visual Builder: Create an experience: Create an Experience functionality in Optimizely Visual Builder offers a code-free way to build and manage captivating digital experiences. It offers pre-built content blocks or elements (like text, images, buttons, forms, etc.) that can be positioned on the page layout as desired. Visual Builder offers extensive options to customize the appearance and behavior of these elements. Users can modify colors, fonts, sizes, animations, and even add interactive features providing flexibility in arranging content, accommodating various design needs and responsiveness across different screen sizes.Screenshot of (SaaS CMS): Visual Builder: Publish: The Visual Builder displays changes in real-time as they are made. This includes side-by-side previews for different devices like desktops, tablets, and mobiles. Before publishing, the Interactive Preview mode can be used to test elements like forms, buttons, and other interactive components to ensure they work as expected on the live site. Changes can then be published directly from the Visual Builder interface, making them instantly available to site visitors.Screenshot of the central location to manage assets, editing and publishing content.

    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.