Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Optimizely VS PostHog

Compare Optimizely VS PostHog and see what are their differences

Optimizely logo Optimizely

A/B testing you'll actually use.

PostHog logo PostHog

An open source suite of product and data tools including product analytics, feature flags, session replay, A/B testing, surveys, and more.
  • Optimizely Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-04
  • PostHog Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-07-05

For developers just starting out, PostHog is a free way to understand how your product is being used, without having to send any data to 3rd parties.

For enterprise customers, one data security becomes a key concern, or B2C businesses where using a SaaS solution is unaffordable, it's typical to see teams hosting an event capture platform, a data lake, and sophisticated analytics tools. The end result is that data scientists are needed and most developers don't have easy access to product intel. PostHog solves that gap - it lets everyone understand how your product is being used, without having to send data to 3rd parties, even once you have scaled to millions of visitors.

It has a JS snippet that can autocapture events, and pre-built libraries to push backend data to. Build up full user histories, visualize product trends, funnels, and run experiments with new features.

PostHog

$ Details
freemium
Release Date
2020 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
Founder(s)
James Hawkins, Tim Glaser
Employees
20 - 49

Optimizely features and specs

  • Comprehensive A/B Testing
    Optimizely offers robust A/B testing capabilities, allowing businesses to test various versions of web pages and apps to determine the most effective design.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The platform provides an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, making it accessible even for users who may not have technical expertise.
  • Personalization
    Optimizely's personalization feature tailors user experiences based on behavior, location, and other criteria to maximize engagement.
  • Comprehensive Analytics
    The tool offers detailed analytics and reporting functionalities that help in understanding the performance of experiments and identifying actionable insights.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Optimizely integrates well with other marketing tools and platforms, enhancing its utility and versatility.
  • Enterprise-Grade Features
    It provides enterprise-grade features like advanced targeting, real-time data, and extensive support, making it a suitable option for large businesses.

Possible disadvantages of Optimizely

  • High Cost
    Optimizely can be expensive, especially for small businesses or startups with limited budgets.
  • Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic features are user-friendly, the more advanced functionalities may require a steep learning curve.
  • Limited Free Plan
    The free plan offers limited features, which might not be sufficient for businesses looking to utilize more advanced testing and personalization capabilities.
  • Resource Intensity
    Running extensive A/B tests can be resource-intensive and may slow down website performance.
  • Data Privacy Concerns
    Due to the extensive data collection, there might be concerns regarding data privacy and compliance with regulations like GDPR.

PostHog features and specs

  • Self-Hosting Option
    PostHog can be self-hosted, allowing you to maintain control over your data and ensuring compliance with strict data privacy regulations.
  • Complete Analytics Suite
    Provides a complete suite of product analytics tools including feature flags, session recordings, and heatmaps, enabling comprehensive user behavior analysis.
  • Open-Source
    Being open-source, PostHog allows for high customizability and the potential to contribute to the codebase, fostering a community-driven development approach.
  • Privacy-Focused
    Designed with privacy in mind, PostHog globally complies with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy laws, reducing the risk of legal complications.
  • Event-Driven Architecture
    Its event-driven architecture provides high flexibility in tracking custom events, allowing for more detailed and tailored analytics.
  • Integrations
    PostHog integrates with a variety of tools and services such as Slack, GitHub, and Zapier, streamlining workflows and enhancing productivity.

Optimizely videos

Optimizely Review | A/B Testing | Pearl Lemon Reviews

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Optimizely X Tutorial 2019 - How to Use Optimizely for A/B, MVT, Personalization, Program Management
  • Review - A/B Testing with Optimizely

PostHog videos

PostHog Walk Through

More videos:

  • Review - Open Source Product Analytics With PostHog

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Optimizely and PostHog)
A/B Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Analytics
46 46%
54% 54
Web Analytics
48 48%
52% 52
Marketing Analytics
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Optimizely and PostHog. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Optimizely and PostHog

Optimizely Reviews

  1. Deepak Kumar
    · Technical Writer at Einsstark ·
    Good A/B and multivariate testing tool

    Optimizely is a lower cost entry tool for anyone looking to do website testing. While their pricing structure has changed over the years it still is a pretty cost effective solution. It is easy to get tests up and running within 5 minutes once you have code placed on your site.

    I love the drag and drop features of Optimizely. It makes it very easy to make simple changes to do landing page testing for my paid search campaigns. It also frees up dev time for our web team. Also, The findings from Optimizely tests are so valuable for an end customer experience.

    🏁 Competitors: VWO

15 Best A/B Testing Tools And Software (2021 List)
Optimizely is more of a personalization tool but you cannot ignore its A/B testing superiority. It helps you put the face of the most appealing site in front of customers. There’s a lot of things that are good in this software such as the ability to set up a quick test, and a real-time statistical dashboard. No programming prerequisite needed but front-end development and...
Top Mobile Feature Flag Tools
Optimizely is a well known A/B testing and experimentation tool for both web and mobile. It claims to be built for the enterprise with features like roles, permissions, and two-factor authentication while still maintaining excellent usability. Along with user targeting, remote configuration, and instant rollbacks, Optimizely offers advanced A/B testing and experimentation...
Source: instabug.com
18 Top A/B Testing Tools Reviewed by CRO Experts
“Convert is a fantastic tool that should be considered and evaluated by any CRO agency or end-user client that also evaluates Optimizely and VWO. They offer a level of functionality that is globally on par with them for testing, but at a lower price level once you go above the free level offered by Optimizely.
Top 5 A/B Testing Tools List
All in all, Optimizely is the complete package: if you want to get started with A/B testing, it’s definitely worth trying out, considering the pricing and trial plans. If you are a more of a power user with the budget to support the top tiers, Optimizely’s advanced features might also be for you.
How to Choose the Right Testing Software For Your Business
“Overall, Visual Website Optimizer has the slight edge for casual A/B testers, but it’s more expensive than the basic version of Optimizely. For serious A/B testers, I definitely recommend Optimizely – more comprehensive offering, even though you have to pay extra for premium features.” – Rich Page, Website Optimization Consultant

PostHog Reviews

The best Hotjar alternatives & competitors, compared
According to BuiltWith, as of February 2024, PostHog is used on 5,169 (0.52%) of the top 1 million websites. Hotjar is used by 72,048 of the top 1 million websites. Typical PostHog users are engineers and product managers at startups and mid-size companies, such as Webshare, AssemblyAI, and Purplewave.
Source: posthog.com
The 8 best free and open-source feature flag services
BlogBackSign inBlogThe 8 best free and open-source feature flag servicesPosted byThe best open-source feature flag tools1. PostHogWhat is PostHog?Supported librariesHow much does it cost?2. UnleashWhat is Unleash?Supported SDKsHow much does it cost?3. GrowthBookWhat is GrowthBook?Supported SDKsHow much does it cost?4. FlagsmithWhat is Flagsmith?Supported SDKsHow much does it...
Source: posthog.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PostHog seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 58 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Optimizely mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Optimizely yet. Tracking of Optimizely recommendations started around Mar 2021.

PostHog mentions (58)

  • Posthog/.cursorrules
    I'm unable to see their website https://posthog.com Is it just me? - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • Rethink State💡 Why You Should Model Your Frontend State Around Events
    Send events to analytics tools like PostHog. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • 5 Essential Tools Every Bootstrapped SaaS Startup Needs to Succeed
    For SaaS startups looking for a powerful, privacy-conscious analytics platform, PostHog provides an all-in-one solution designed for modern product teams. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • The Risks of User Impersonation
    The next rung up are User recordings. For users that are having issues, we have concrete recorded data for their flow. The flows would include anything relevant to the application, how they used it, what actions they took. All so we can actually see what happened in context for when there is a problem. No one wants to spend any time looking at recordings if they don't have to. It is also very difficult to identify... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • My 2025 Tech Stack: Tools & Tech I'm Using This Year
    Posthog. Posthog has a lot of sub products but I use it mainly for analytics and session replays. I have to say Posthog is an impressive product. Everything from dev experience to dashboards is just awesome. Great to see GA finally got some real competition. I'm looking forward to try all the other products from them. - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Optimizely and PostHog, you can also consider the following products

VWO - Use VWO to tweak, optimize & personalize your website with minimal IT help.

Plausible.io - Plausible Analytics is a simple, open-source, lightweight (< 1 KB) and privacy-friendly web analytics alternative to Google Analytics. Made and hosted in the EU, powered by European-owned cloud infrastructure 🇪🇺

AB Tasty - AB Tasty is an all-inclusive platform for conversion rate optimization, personalization, customer activation, and testing.

Google Analytics - Improve your website to increase conversions, improve the user experience, and make more money using Google Analytics. Measure, understand and quantify engagement on your site with customized and in-depth reports.

Mixpanel - Mixpanel is the most advanced analytics platform in the world for mobile & web.

LaunchDarkly - LaunchDarkly is a powerful development tool which allows software developers to roll out updates and new features.