TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    Smartlook

    Score8.8 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Smartlook is an analytics solution tool for websites, iOS/Android apps, and various app frameworks, that answers the "whys" behind users' actions. It helps users understand precisely how customers interact with website and app — watch recordings, create heatmaps, use automatic tracked events, and build conversion funnels. Data is seen on one central dashboard, which enables sharing and collaborating with colleagues. This is to support clear, data-driven decision-making for product managers,…

    $55

    per month 5000 sessions

    Pricing
    Optimizely Web ExperimentationSmartlook
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Pro
    $55
    per month 5000 sessions
    Free
    Free forever
    per month 3000 sessions
    Enterprise
    Custom pricing
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Optimizely Web ExperimentationSmartlook
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
    Additional Details—All Smartlook packages support both web and mobile app platforms.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Optimizely Web ExperimentationSmartlook
    Considered Both Products
    Optimizely
    No answer on this topic
    Smartlook
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    89 Answers
    98%
    Would buy again
    113 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    69 Answers
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    101 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    99%
    Happy with the feature set
    114 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    91%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    52 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    58 Answers
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    104 Answers
    Features
    Optimizely Web ExperimentationSmartlook
    Testing and Experimentation
    Comparison of Testing and Experimentation features of Optimizely Web Experimentation and Smartlook
    Feature
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    8.0
    163 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Smartlook
    -
    Ratings
    a/b experiment testing9.0163 Ratings00 Ratings
    Split URL testing8.5135 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multivariate testing8.4139 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-page/funnel testing7.9126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Cross-browser testing8.197 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile app testing8.075 Ratings00 Ratings
    Test significance8.4147 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visual / WYSIWYG editor8.1133 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced code editor7.9125 Ratings00 Ratings
    Page surveys6.217 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visitor recordings8.418 Ratings00 Ratings
    Preview mode7.6145 Ratings00 Ratings
    Test duration calculator7.9112 Ratings00 Ratings
    Experiment scheduler8.2112 Ratings00 Ratings
    Experiment workflow and approval7.890 Ratings00 Ratings
    Dynamic experiment activation7.574 Ratings00 Ratings
    Client-side tests7.896 Ratings00 Ratings
    Server-side tests7.250 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mutually exclusive tests8.280 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audience Segmentation & Targeting
    Comparison of Audience Segmentation & Targeting features of Optimizely Web Experimentation and Smartlook
    Feature
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    8.2
    152 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Smartlook
    -
    Ratings
    Standard visitor segmentation8.4147 Ratings00 Ratings
    Behavioral visitor segmentation7.6122 Ratings00 Ratings
    Traffic allocation control9.1144 Ratings00 Ratings
    Website personalization7.8111 Ratings00 Ratings
    Results and Analysis
    Comparison of Results and Analysis features of Optimizely Web Experimentation and Smartlook
    Feature
    Optimizely Web Experimentation
    8.3
    149 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Smartlook
    -
    Ratings
    Heatmap tool9.313 Ratings00 Ratings
    Click analytics8.833 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scroll maps8.517 Ratings00 Ratings
    Form fill analysis8.072 Ratings00 Ratings
    Conversion tracking8.744 Ratings00 Ratings
    Goal tracking8.2127 Ratings00 Ratings
    Test reporting7.9137 Ratings00 Ratings
    Results segmentation7.7103 Ratings00 Ratings
    CSV export7.9102 Ratings00 Ratings
    Experiments results dashboard8.049 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Optimizely Web ExperimentationSmartlook
    Small Businesses
    Google Optimize
    Score6.7 out of 10
    Crazy Egg
    Score7.9 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    AB Tasty
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Crazy Egg
    Score7.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Content Experiments (discontinued)
    Score7.3 out of 10
    Crazy Egg
    Score7.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Optimizely Web ExperimentationSmartlook
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.7
    (254 ratings)
    9.0
    (141 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.5
    (51 ratings)
    8.9
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (58 ratings)
    10.0
    (75 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (7 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (6 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (16 ratings)
    10.0
    (107 ratings)
    Online Training
    3.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (11 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (163 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Optimizely Web ExperimentationSmartlook
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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
    Smartlook
    Smartlook is best for screen recordings. Especially when you are running MVPs. However, its pricing is very high. If your daily visitors are too much then either you will have to lose many of your recordings or you will have to pay too much money.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    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
    Smartlook
    • Funnels are both easy to configure yet comprehensive enough to detect complicated customer journeys.
    • Real-time recording provides exceptional insights to our design & engineering teams.
    • Session recording is surprisingly lightweight and seems to cause no substantial performance degradation for our customers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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
    Smartlook
    • I feel nickel and dimed with the events and funnels.
    • We came from sessions being 30 mins of inactivity and now it's 5-10 mins. Session count has gone up significantly which we weren't prepared for.
    • Recording playback isn't as clean and maneuverable like FullStory.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    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
    Smartlook
    As my ratings show, I have been absolutely delighted with Smartlook in terms of usability, cost, support, and its benefit to our organization. I have given it such high ratings because I think it has really benefitted our organization and I think it could do the same for other companies too.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    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
    Smartlook
    Every page, the tool setup pages and dashboards are built very well, the site structure is perfectly designed and intuitive to use. All functions are well documented and the help sections are really everywhere, you don't have to search for answers, as they are just popped up or max. a click away for your service.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    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
    Smartlook
    Sofia P. is being our point of contact with the issues we faced. I was unsure about how to explain to her what was going on with the recording numbers (the recording has stopped before we were expecting to), but she readily understood and came with a solution for us in the same day. The problem was blocking our developer to test the integration, so it was great to have support so fast that he could continue his work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Smartlook
    It has been a year between the time when I last used Hotjar and first started using Smartlook. I would say both tools are more or less equal when it comes to features, the only 2 differences I can think of are - price and customer support. Smartlook is cheaper and has superior customer services. You have the feeling when interacting with them that they genuinely care.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    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
    Smartlook
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    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
    Smartlook
    • Smartlook is used by different individuals from different organizations to have insights into different parts of products. It is used as the sole developer of our website as well as marketing campaigns.
    • Smartlook has an amazing feature which is tracking the activities of return users.
    • It gives reliable and efficient services.
    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.

    Smartlook Screenshots

    Screenshot of HeatmapsScreenshot of RecordingsScreenshot of DashboardsScreenshot of EventsScreenshot of FunnelsScreenshot of Analytics for websites & mobile apps