Google Optimize Is Gone. Here's What to Use Instead.

Google Optimize launched in 2017 as a free A/B testing tool integrated with Google Analytics. It offered a visual editor, A/B and multivariate testing, redirect tests, and Bayesian statistical analysis. For small teams and solo founders, it was the obvious choice: free, functional, and backed by Google.

On September 30, 2023, Google shut it down. All experiments were stopped. All data was deleted. Google pointed users toward third-party tools or the limited experimentation features in GA4, which require a Google Analytics 360 subscription starting at roughly $50,000/year.

The shutdown left a gap. The tools that filled it are mostly built for larger teams and priced accordingly. If you were using Optimize because it was free and simple, the migration path Google suggested was neither.

Free tier with real functionality. Unlike most competitors' free plans, Optimize gave you unlimited experiments with a reasonable traffic limit. You could run A/B tests without justifying a monthly fee.

Visual editor. Non-technical users could create test variants by clicking on page elements and editing text, colors, and layout. No code required.

Google Analytics integration. Experiments were tied directly to your GA goals. If you were already using GA, the data pipeline was seamless.

Bayesian statistics. Optimize used a Bayesian model to report "probability to be best" rather than p-values, which was easier to interpret for non-statisticians.

Blazeway is not a clone of Google Optimize. It's a different kind of tool built around a different idea: that the most valuable output of an experiment is not the winning variant, but the documented insight.

Experiment journal. Every test starts with a written hypothesis and ends with a documented learning. Over time, your experiments form a decision trail: a navigable history of what you tested, what you learned, and why you made the decisions you did. Learn more about how to document experiment results.

Cookieless by architecture. Google Optimize used cookies to track visitor assignment. Under GDPR, that required a consent banner. Blazeway uses server-side session hashing with no cookies, no localStorage, and no personal data collected. No consent banner is needed. Your experiments run on every visitor.

Five-minute setup. Add a 2KB JavaScript snippet to your page. Define variants, set a conversion goal, go live. No Google Tag Manager configuration, no Analytics linking, no container setup.

Free plan. 1,000 events/month on the free tier. Starter plan at $20/month for 2,000 events/month. No per-seat pricing.

Blazeway is not a drop-in replacement for everything Google Optimize did. If you relied on specific features, here is where to look:

Visual editor: If you need a no-code, drag-and-drop editor to create variants, VWO or Convert are the closest alternatives.

Multivariate testing: Blazeway runs A/B tests (two variants). For multivariate testing with multiple simultaneous changes, Optimizely or VWO are better fits.

Google Analytics integration: Blazeway has its own tracking. If your workflow depends on GA4 goals and audiences, VWO and Optimizely offer GA integrations.

Redirect tests: Blazeway tests variants on the same URL via DOM manipulation, not URL redirects. If you need to split traffic between entirely different URLs, other tools handle this better.

If your primary need was "run a simple A/B test on my landing page and see which version converts better," Blazeway does that with less setup, better GDPR compliance, and the added benefit of a structured experiment record.

Blazeway is the right Google Optimize replacement if:

• · You're a solo founder or small team without a data team
• · You used Google Optimize primarily for simple A/B tests, not multivariate testing
• · You want your experiments to leave behind documented insights, not just dashboard metrics
• · You're based in the EU and want to test without cookie consent complexity
• · You want a free plan that actually lets you run real experiments