Best A/B Testing Tools in 2021

Posted by Ted Cooper on February 5th, 2021

Marketing tactics continually change to keep up with the latest technology and the availability of resources, and there are so many guides that claim to know how to increase traffic or conversions. One change can work for one site but not work for another, as every business is different — and so are their audiences.

The same applies to A/B testing tools, too — one tool could do wonders for one website but not satisfy some other site’s requirements at the same time. That’s why you have to choose the right split testing tool, especially since it may cost you time and money to use effectively.

Choosing A/B testing software should be a no brainer, but because there are so many tools out there with small to large variations in features and pricing, it can be very hard to select the perfect one.

We’ve compiled a list featuring the best A/B testing tools for 2020 (based on the most preferred A/B test experiment platforms by both our clients and our skilled A/B test developers) to help you choose the right one for your business.

1. Optimizely

Optimizely consists of multiple optimization products. For A/B testing specifically, they offer Optimizely X Web Experimentation. You can further expand optimization as you grow with the help of their sister products Optimizely X Web Personalization (a tool that helps with personalization) and Optimizely X Mobile (an A/B testing tool for mobile apps). Optimizely includes features such as a visual editor, custom code flexibility, strong APIs, and extensions to make testing easy for those who need something easy to begin with. It also offers a JavaScript editor for dynamic experiments such as for single page applications.

Best for: Businesses that are looking for an experimentation platform for the long run. Ideal for big enterprises with a good budget and consistent traffic.

Price:Optimizely plans are quoted according to the client’s needs. We’ve discussed Optimizely in detail previously, and according to Convert, Optimizely offers annual plans only: “It is estimated to be ,700 for 10 million impressions for Optimizely X web Business plans, with other variants available and priced accordingly.”

Star Features:

Non-coders can also operate the marketing-centric A/B tests for quick fixes. Implementation of Optimizely A/B testing on your site is also very easy to begin with.

The plans are expandable, allowing A/B testing on web, full stack, personalization platforms, and mobile (both Android and iOS).

They offer responsive customer support, along with the availability of resources for extra knowledge regarding various features, integrations, and tests.

Optimizely is also trusted by brands such as eBay, American Express, IBM, HP, and many more.

Optimizely split testing has plans per type of business, but it’s still slightly on the expensive end. So if you’re just trying to explore testing, then you can start out with other more affordable options. However, if your development team is loaded with skilled developers, then you can make use of its advanced support for dynamic pages, including for tests which need implementation of React and angular JavaScript.

For more info, check out our detailed guide: Optimizely: Things You Need to Know Before You Opt for It.

2. VWO

VWO is another great digital experience platform that gives great competition to Optimizely in terms of quality. VWO also has a package of useful optimization tools to make A/B testing more resourceful. It includes versions such as VWO Testing, VWO Insights, VWO FullStack, and the newly added VWO Plan, a dedicated tool for several optimization needs to make experiments more flexible.

Best for: Businesses that are aiming to understand user behavior as well as possible. They can make use of the heatmaps and personalization tests together to serve up a greater personalized user experience.

Pricing: >9 per month (for up to 10K visitors) for VWO Testing. You can purchase other plans for a greater variety of options.

Star Features:

VWO is known for their VWO Insights features that offer heatmaps, recordings, and surveys. This helps you understand user behavior and helps in verifying and debugging issues.

VWO Plan helps manage recordings and insights collected during the A/B tests.

The VWO customers page features companies such as AMD, Ubisoft, Zalora, Teamleader, and more.

VWO does not include the multi-page testing feature in its growth plan, but with their flexible pricing model, you can opt for it if you need it.

3. Google Optimize

Google Optimize is considered one of the best testing tools available. Despite being a free tool, it includes most of the features users look for when choosing a testing tool. It does have some limitations, which could be resolved with the help of the paid version of the tool called Optimize 360. It enables Google Analytics testing, too.

Best for: Smaller business that want to explore A/B testing without investing a huge chunk of their budget.

Pricing: Optimize is a free tool, whereas Optimize 360 is estimated to be around 0,000 per year.

Star Features:

Optimize and Optimize 360 both integrate nicely with Google Analytics and other Google products.

Combining Optimize with Google Analytics helps with targeting a particular audience set, which makes goal tracking easier.

It does not require a fixed amount of visitors to build and run the experiments.

If you want to compare the paid and free versions with each other, view our Optimize and Optimize 360 comparison.

4. Adobe Target

Adobe Target is a complete optimization software that easily integrates with the Adobe’s Clouds’ features with a combined dashboard, which keeps you updated about all marketing and testing campaigns to simplify management.

Best for: Data-driven marketers who need excellent personalization software via personalized A/B testing.

Price: The Adobe pricing model is customized according to client’s needs. It is charged per licencing fee for the platform.

Star Features:

Excellent for automated personalization.

Works great with sites that already use Adobe Cloud, which works great with analytics.

Allows on-site A/B testing.

A user-friendly dashboard, which does not require an HTML genius to set up simple tests.

Adobe Target is trusted by clients such as Hitachi, Lenovo, Philips, and more.

5. Convert

Convert is a high-powered tool that has entered the testing market more recently than some of the other options. They provide support to their clients regarding technical aspects. This allows Convert to target users who don’t have much technical background.

Best for: Clients with enterprise needs. Convert is considered an enterprise tool due to its well-equipped features and clientele.

Pricing: Convert pricing starts at 9/mo for their annual Essential plan.

Star Features:

Convert’s integration list is very diverse, which enables you to use it regardless of your platform.

It comes with features such as a JavaScript editor for dynamic experiments, personalization, advanced DMP profiling, and more.

It’s equipped with HTML and a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) Editor, along with a sheet editor for dynamic tests.

Clientele include big names such as Sony and Unicef and agencies such as Conversion Rate Experts and Conversion Fanatics.

6. FunnelEnvy Predictive Revenue Optimization

FunnelEnvy launched an optimization tool called Predictive Revenue Optimization, which uses individual user-based data to form experiments. They believe in providing the right experiment to the right person at the right time.

Best for: Marketers rich with conversion data who could make the most out of its predictive optimization technique.

Pricing:FunnelEnvy pricing is /month (paid annually), and custom A/B testing tool pricing and plans are offered for larger businesses.

Star Features:

Since FunnelEnvy is a CRO agency rich with CRO-based knowledge and expertise, their support is very useful when needed.

AI-based predictive optimization brings a new aspect to optimization techniques and modifies experiments for the better.

FunnelEnvy PRO also provides many other basic testing features, such as funnel testing, multi-armed bandit optimization, behavioral targeting, product recommendation, testing API, and more.

7. A/B Tasty

A/B Tasty is an experimentation and personalization platform on which marketers can boost optimization efforts with A/B testing, user engagement, and marketing campaigns. It’s a decent tool packed with basic features and a few advanced features, too.

Best for: Marketers looking for an all-in-one solution, as it covers all marketing and testing.

Star Features:

Just like VWO, A/B Tasty provides heatmaps and user sessions.

It adds value to personalization experiments by using your existing data for targeting as well as for other tests.

It is a SaaS-based application that’s also compatible with Android, iOS, and other responsive websites.

It enables both client-side and server-side testing.

Pricing: They offer customized prices per the features you need. In general, their prices are lower than high-end tools such as Optimizely.

You can find reviews from Decathlon, Cartier, Sephora, Discovery, and more on their site.

8. Omniconvert

Omiconvert provides optimization experimentation solutions by using data-driven decisions. Their team of experts helps clients with advice regarding improvement of their campaigns. Their plans include unlimited testing for enterprises along with implementation support and more. Personalization features also offer many add-ons to boost effectiveness.

Best for: Organizations in need of an all-in-one platform with excellent support to back up technical tests.

Pricing: A/B testing tool Omniconverts’s pricing starts at 4/mo for 100k views. which increases per plan upgrades.

Star Features:

A all-in-one platform that handles A/B testing, personalization, web surveys, and traffic segmentation.

Provides automation tests for interactive testing.

Surveying tools start automatically with the triggers of user click, scroll, exits, and other actions.

Omniconvert is trusted by companies such as Whirlpool and Samsung.

How to Choose the Best A/B Testing Tool for Your Business Website

Many of our clients use many of the tools above, not just one or two of them. If we were to check each tool’s client list, it would give us a rough idea of which one is ruling the game at the moment, but that doesn’t mean one of them should have enough influence to cause a bandwagon effect. There are many aspects to consider when choosing the best one for you and your business, so don’t think you have to use the same ones as everyone else.

Knowledge

A/B Testing platforms vary in technicality, and some require very little to no technical coding for implementation or to get started. As you shift to the more advanced features, some need JavaScript knowledge to make use of them. If you have developers on your team to support your experimentation, you’ll be able to get the most out of the more expensive tools. But, if you’re not able to handle coding on your own, you may need to hire an outsourced A/B testing agency to handle your operations.

If neither in-house nor outsourced coding are options, choose a tool with more technical support and less technical editing required, which may suit your needs best.

Budget

If you’re just getting started with testing, you may want to start with affordable or free tools while you’re still learning the basics. All-in-one tools such as Optimizely and VWO are expensive if you don’t need all the features or aren’t sure what to do with them yet.

Then you can shift to more advanced options as your experimentation needs expand, such as those with React A/B testing, dynamic experiments, etc.

Additionally, many tools integrate with each other, which allows you to use multiple tools at the same time. You can opt for many affordable tools with specific testing options closest to your needs without paying a lot for one, more comprehensive tool.

Requirements

Your requirements may differ from those of other businesses. Some may need optimization for landing pages using Unbounce, product pages using Neat A/B testing, or if they have have only one element they want to test. Some focus on personalization more than A/B testing and may need dynamic yielding. Some need heatmaps and recordings along with the experimentation features seen in VWO, A/B Tasty, or Hotjar. There’s also the possibility of needing a tool that integrates best with the analytical tools you’re already using, such as Google Optimize and Adobe testing. The right tools for everyone are out there — choose the ones that work best for you.

Size of Your Business

How much traffic does your site have? Some tools require a range of traffic to start optimization experiments or to end a test. There are ways to run experiments with small traffic, but you may not want to pay a huge amount for a more expensive tool if you can’t even utilize its features. There are many A/B testing options for smaller businesses. Choose the ones that can achieve the best outcome regardless of the sample traffic size, or get started with affordable or free options such as Google Optimize.

Conclusion

If there’s more than one tool that seems perfect for you, go for a free trial of each, then evaluate whether each tool is working well with your set of skills, website type, and data. If you’re just getting started, choose a free or affordable tool before shifting to advanced tools. That way, you can explore the aspects of split testing platforms and explore your requirements and strengths better.

We tried to fit the most well-rounded A/B testing platforms into this list. (There are also tools made for specific types of testing needs which we haven’t covered here.) We hope this list will help with any dilemmas regarding selecting the best tool for your website and business.

One of the most common concerns of our clients is that they won’t be able to fully utilize all the benefits of having an advanced tool such as Optimizely, VWO, or others. Since they’re investing a good amount into it, the outcome should be cost effective, too. Here at Brillmark, we have experienced developers skilled in building and running tests for various platforms who know how to make full use of every tool available in the market. Having experienced testing developers to manage your experiments elevates the quality of the tests and makes your investment in optimization platforms worth it. Ping BrillMark if you want some extra hands to help you out with advanced testing tools.