A/B Testing
Marketing Incrementality 101
How do advertisers uncover the true business impact of their spend?
Learn more
VWO vs. Optimizely vs. Eppo: Which is best? | 2024
VWO vs. Optimizely vs. Eppo: Which experimentation platform is right for your team? Compare features, pricing, and pros/cons.
Choosing the perfect experimentation platform can be overwhelming, especially with options like VWO, Optimizely, Eppo, and many others vying for your attention.
Let's dive into a quick comparison of these platforms to help you make an informed decision.
We’ll be highlighting their features, strengths, and weaknesses — guiding you toward the best fit for your needs in our final verdict.
VWO vs. Optimizely vs. Eppo: Head-to-head
VWO
VWO is a well-established platform that's been around in the A/B testing and experimentation space for quite a while. Originally named “Visual Website Optimizer”, the India-based company has offered a website A/B testing tool for marketing teams since 2009.
VWO provides marketing teams with a broad toolkit for enhancing their websites, mobile apps, and other digital touchpoints. It is known for offering a mix of experimentation and broader marketing analytics features.
VWO has several notable features:
A/B and multivariate testing: VWO lets you test different versions of your website or app to figure out what works best for your audience and goals. It can handle simple A/B tests as well as more complex multivariate tests.
Full suite of marketing tools: Beyond experiments, VWO offers a variety of tools like heatmaps, surveys, and funnel analysis (understanding how users move through your site). This gives you a broader view of user behavior.
Add-on products: VWO has expanded its offerings with add-ons like VWO Data360, a customer data platform that can be useful if you don't already have one. This lets you gather and manage customer data for more targeted actions.
Hands-on support: VWO's India-based team also sells professional services that provide active support to customers, helping them plan and execute their optimization strategies.
Pricing
VWO's pricing can be a bit tricky to understand at first glance. It's based on the number of Monthly Tracked Users (MTU), which means the cost goes up as you have more visitors to your site or app.
They do have a free version for smaller businesses with under 10,000 unique visitors, but the more advanced features are found in the paid plans. These can get quite pricey, especially if you add on extra products like the data platform.
Who is it good for?
VWO might initially appeal to those seeking an all-in-one platform that goes beyond basic A/B testing, offering a suite of marketing analytics tools under one roof.
If you're building your marketing toolkit, the promise of having heatmaps, surveys, and funnel analysis alongside your experimentation could be attractive. VWO's dedicated support team could also be a plus, especially for teams new to experimentation.
However, be prepared for some potential hurdles. While the add-on system offers flexibility, it can quickly escalate costs, and overall the suite of tools focuses more on breadth and depth, with few advanced features available in each tool.
VWO's interface has also been described as less intuitive compared to some newer tools, which might mean a steeper learning curve. And while the hands-on support is appreciated by many, some users might prefer a more self-serve approach with simpler tools.
Optimizely
Optimizely is a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) designed to empower marketing and product teams to refine their digital presence across various channels, including websites, mobile apps, and more.
The modern Optimizely company is a combination of many older SaaS players, including the original Optimizely experimentation software, the Episerver CMS, and other marketing operations tools like Welcome and a CDP.
Optimizely's key features include:
Feature experimentation: Optimizely lets companies roll out new features gradually to specific user segments, testing their impact and gathering feedback before a full-scale launch.
A/B and multivariate testing: Like VWO, Optimizely enables businesses to experiment with different variations of their web pages or app features to identify what resonates best with users and drives more engagement and conversions.
Content Management System (CMS): Optimizely lets users easily create, manage, and publish content across different platforms, maintaining a consistent brand image.
Marketing orchestration: With Optimizely, you can automate and create marketing campaigns across channels to deliver timely and relevant messages to your target audience.
Pricing
Optimizely's pricing isn't publicly disclosed, so potential customers must reach out for custom quotes.
It's known, however, that Optimizely mainly caters to enterprises, meaning its pricing likely reflects a significant investment, potentially out of reach for smaller businesses or those with limited resources.
Another cost consideration is having to purchase separate products for different testing environments, such as websites, mobile apps, and server-side applications. This fragmented approach can further inflate costs and introduce complexities in managing experiments across different platforms.
Who is it good for?
Optimizely may appear attractive to large enterprises with substantial resources and a complex digital landscape. Its features can indeed be valuable for teams seeking to optimize every facet of their digital experience, from content and experimentation to personalization.
However, Optimizely's complexity and enterprise-focused pricing model make it less suitable for smaller organizations or those with limited budgets. The platform's learning curve can be steep, requiring significant time and expertise to fully utilize its capabilities.
Additionally, the lack of integrations with external business tools, especially those providing deeper insights into business metrics, can hinder a thorough analysis of experiment impact and limit ROI.
Eppo
Eppo is a cutting-edge experimentation platform built to make world-class experimental methods and scientific rigor available to any team. It's designed to help businesses make informed, data-backed decisions through robust experimentation and feature management.
The key to Eppo's unique approach is its warehouse-native architecture. This means Eppo integrates directly with your existing data warehouse (like BigQuery or Snowflake).
The result? You’ll be able to harness the power of your company's most accurate and up-to-date data for analyzing experiment results, eliminating the need for complex data pipelines or reliance on third-party integrations.
These are some of Eppo’s standout features:
Complete experimentation toolkit: Eppo delivers a full suite of experimentation tools, ranging from basic A/B tests to multi-armed bandit algorithms. This helps companies test a wide range of hypotheses and optimize their products based on real user behavior.
Warehouse-native advantage: As mentioned above, Eppo's direct connection to your data warehouse ensures you're always working with the most reliable and current data, fostering greater confidence in your decision-making.
Dedication to statistical rigor: Eppo leverages advanced statistical methods, including its proprietary CUPED++ algorithm, to accelerate experimentation and deliver trustworthy results. This means you can run more experiments in less time without compromising statistical validity.
Sophisticated feature flagging: Eppo's feature flagging lets teams safely test and deploy new features to distinct user segments, reducing risk and allowing for a more significant impact.
Sleek user-centered interface: Eppo's intuitive interface simplifies the process of designing, launching, and analyzing experiments, making it accessible to both technical and non-technical users.
Pricing
To get specific pricing details for Eppo, you'll need to contact their sales team for a custom quote.
Who is it good for?
Eppo's versatility makes it an excellent choice for a wide array of teams and companies.
Data teams, in particular, find Eppo's warehouse-native architecture and focus on statistical rigor a natural fit. Data scientists and analysts who want to run reliable experiments and make truly data-driven decisions are empowered by Eppo's capabilities.
Product teams also benefit from Eppo's experimentation and feature flagging capabilities. Product managers and developers can confidently test new ideas, validate hypotheses, and roll out features with minimal risk.
Eppo isn't just for enterprise-level organizations. While it certainly offers features robust enough for large companies, its user-friendly interface and cost-effectiveness make it equally accessible to smaller businesses looking to dive into the world of experimentation.
Whether you're a data-driven powerhouse or just starting your experimentation journey, Eppo's unique blend of advanced features, commitment to statistical rigor, and intuitive design makes it a top contender in the experimentation platform market.
Which should you choose?
We’ve circled back to the Optimizely vs. VWO vs. Eppo crossroads, and now it's time to make a call.
Choosing the right experimentation platform involves weighing different factors based on your company's specific needs and priorities. Let's look at some key points of comparison to help you make an educated choice:
Focus and strengths
VWO: Combines A/B testing with a broader suite of marketing analytics tools, making it appealing if you're looking for an all-in-one solution but don’t necessarily need “best-in-class” on every feature.
Optimizely: Caters to larger enterprises with complex needs. Its extensive product line cover the entire digital experience, from experimentation to personalization and content management.
Eppo: This platform is laser-focused on experimentation, offering a powerful suite of tools specifically designed for rigorous A/B testing,feature flagging, and personalization. Its warehouse-native architecture and commitment to statistical accuracy set it apart.
Cost and value
VWO: While offering a free plan for smaller businesses, VWO's costs can escalate quickly with add-on features and increased traffic, making it less budget-friendly.
Optimizely: Geared towards enterprise clients, Optimizely's custom pricing is often a significant investment, potentially out of reach for smaller companies or those with tighter budgets.
Eppo: Though pricing isn't publicly available, Eppo is generally considered a more cost-effective solution, especially when considering its robust experimentation capabilities and direct data warehouse integration.
Ease of use and integrations
VWO: Some users have reported that VWO's interface can be less intuitive compared to other tools, and the complexity of its pricing structure might require some getting used to.
Optimizely: The extensive range of features within Optimizely's platform can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially for users who are new to experimentation. Additionally, its limited integrations with external business tools might pose challenges.
Eppo: Eppo boasts a clean, intuitive interface designed for users of all technical levels. Its seamless integration with popular data warehouses simplifies setup and ensures you're always working with accurate and up-to-date data.
The final verdict
Based on the features, costs, and overall value proposition, Eppo emerges as the clear winner for most businesses.
Eppo’s commitment to diligent experimentation, warehouse-native architecture, user-friendly interface, and cost-effectiveness make it a powerful and accessible solution for companies of all sizes.
Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, Eppo provides the tools and insights you need to confidently make data-driven decisions and drive significant growth.
While VWO and Optimizely offer valuable features for specific use cases, Eppo's unique combination of advanced features, accessibility, and focus on delivering tangible results makes it the ideal choice for a well-rounded experimentation platform without breaking the bank.
Next steps
Now that we’ve settled the VWO vs. Optimizely vs. Eppo dilemma, you should be well-equipped to choose the platform that best fits your organization's objectives.
If your primary goal is to grow your revenue confidently and boost customer retention through rigorous experimentation, Eppo is definitely the tool you’ll want to use.
Eppo's distinct approach to experimentation differentiates it from the rest, offering a complete set of features designed to deliver measurable business results:
Effortless experiment creation: Eppo simplifies the design of even the most intricate experiments, easily integrating robust feature flags and A/B tests with intuitive tools for complex scenarios such as multi-environment releases and multi-layered experiments.
Secure experiment rollouts: Eppo's ample diagnostics and real-time monitoring features empower you to launch experiments with trust, guaranteeing slick execution and quick identification of potential issues.
Insightful experiment evaluation: Eppo's state-of-the-art statistical engine turns raw data into actionable insights, enabling you to effortlessly make sense of your results and find valuable patterns that fuel further product improvement.
VWO vs. Optimizely vs. Eppo: Which experimentation platform is right for your team? Compare features, pricing, and pros/cons.
Table of contents
Ready to go from knowledge to action?
Talk to our team of experts and see why companies like Twitch, DraftKings, and Perplexity use Eppo to power experimentation for every team.
Get a demo
.webp)
