Convert Review From An A/B Testing Expert

Finding a good A/B testing tool is one of the most important parts of CRO. And since Google Optimize can no longer be used since it was sunset on Sept 30th 2023, there are many tools you need to consider using as a replacement.

I’ve used many A/B testing tools in my 15 years experience, including Optimizely, Adobe Target and VWO. The tool that I have been using the most impressed with recently is actually Convert.

In this Convert review I will look at pricing, my favourite features in the tool, and all the pros and cons of it. This will help you decide whether Convert is the best A/B testing tool for you.

Convert A/B Testing Tool Overview: April ’24

In previous years Google Optimize, VWO and Optimizely got more attention as A/B testing tools, but Convert have become one of the best and widely used A/B testing tools. They are also sometimes referred to as Convert Experiences.

One of the biggest reasons it’s become so popular is because it offers outstanding A/B testing features that you would expect in an enterprise level tool like Optimizely, Kameleoon, or Adobe Target, but at much lower costs.

Convert Pricing Plans

They offer 4 plans, with more testers included and more features in their higher cost plans. Here are the prices as of April 2023.

Basic: $349 per month when paying annually (with 200K tester users)
Growth: $699 per month when paying annually (with 500K unique tested users)
Expert: $1,119 per when paying annually (with 1 million unique tested users)
Enterprise: You have to contact their sales team for customized pricing

They also offer the option to pay monthly, but at slightly higher rates. This gives you more flexibility for trying the tool without being tied down to long term contracts.

Lower Cost Than Most Other A/B Testing Tools

One of the biggest reasons to use Convert in comparison to other tools like VWO and Optimizely is their very reasonable monthly costs, particularly for over 250K unique tester users per month, which will be enough for potentially up to 5 tests per month.

Costs for 250K tested users on an annual plan:

Convert: $699 per month

VWO: $1503 per month

Optimizely: Over $1000 per month (no public pricing available)

If you only need 50K users per month, or only do 1 test per month, you may be better off going with VWO though, who offer a limited free plan with 50K users.

Exclusive Longer Free Trial

I got their free trial extended from 14 days to 30 days for you – and you won’t find this offer elsewhere. And no credit card is required to sign up and use all the features.

The Best Convert Features

Most review websites simply talk about the features of A/B testing tools. Instead I’m going to focus on the best parts of the tool that make it stand out from competitors like VWO and Optimizely.

Improvement Over Time Reporting

One of my favourite features of Convert is their graph for understanding how your A/B test is performing. They call this ‘Improvement Over Time’ and is really valuable for understanding whether your A/B test result is getting better or worse over time.

For example, it’s quite common to see a big increase or decrease at the beginning of a test, so it’s important to see how it’s trending after that. If you see the improvement trend line is flat for more than 7 days, you can presume that it’s very unlikely your result is going to change, so you can end the test and move on to launching your next one. But if you see it slowly getting lower or higher, you need to wait even longer before declaring a result.

To find this graph, on the ‘report’ page choose your goal, then click on ‘Show graph’ in the bottom right of the results for it, and then change the graph to be ‘Improvement Over Time’. No other A/B testing tool has the very useful graph.

Variation Previewing Is Very Good

One of the problems with many A/B testing tools is their difficulty to preview A/B tests before launching them. This was a big problem with Google Optimize in particular, where quite often a preview wouldn’t show up using their preview links, and it was hard to preview on mobile.

With Convert it is much better for previewing your experiences, with no issues regarding caching or cookies, and they also offer a QR code so that you easily preview on your own mobile device. They also even have a ‘Live Log’ feature that lets you see in real time all the variations that are being shown, along with data about each user seeing them.

All Pros and Cons of Convert

Those are my two favourite and most useful features of Convert that other A/B testing tools don’t offer. There are many other pros of the tool, and also some cons of the tools that are important to understand.

Convert Pros

Has the best value A/B testing tool plan for those who need over 250K users per month.
Great for A/B testing pros, including a very good code editor for CSS and Javascript.
The real-time reporting is very good and has excellent interactive graphs.
It is one of fastest loading tools for website user experience, with no flicker experienced.
Their knowledge base and FAQ sections are very detailed, with good support too.
For advanced users, you can switch between Frequentist and Bayesian stats engines.
They offer a helpful and easy to use tool to import your A/B tests from Google Optimize.
They just launched full-stack features so that you can test on any platform.

Convert Cons

While their user experience is simple and uncluttered, it is a bit too basic compared to Optimizely and VWO.
Tool onboarding could be much better on plans below ‘growth’, with limited email onboarding and few tool tips.
They increased the cost of their lowest price plan to $349, which may be unaffordable to some businesses.

My Expert Rating for Convert: 9/10

Convert really is an outstanding A/B testing tool that has improved considerably over the last few years. I rate this slightly higher than VWO because of the very good reporting and previewing, and also because it’s much lower cost if you need more than 250K unique users per month.

Third Party Reviews of Convert

Don’t just take my expert opinion on Convert though. The tool also rates well on two of the leading software review platforms. Here are the latest reviews on these as of April ’23:

Rating on G2: 4.8/5
Rating on Capterra: 5/5

Get A Longer Free Trial of Convert

Not only is no credit card required to try all the features, but you can also get an extended free trial which gives you 30 days instead of 14 days. You won’t find this offer elsewhere.

Who Is Convert Best For?

If you are looking for a free A/B testing tool instead of Google Optimize, Convert won’t meet your needs as they don’t offer a free plan. But if you are serious about getting results from A/B testing, I recommend you try their $349 per month basic plan which includes 200K user per month, and has much better features than Google Optimize.

And if you are a serious A/B tester looking to switch from another paid tool, Convert will be ideal for you because you get all the pro features you will need without having to pay enterprise pricing for it.

What Are the Alternatives to Convert?

If you really are looking for a free A/B testing tool, and don’t do more than one A/B test per month, and don’t mind restrictions on targeting, then I suggest also checking out VWO, as they offer a limited free plan with 50K users.

You can see a full comparison of Convert versus VWO in my comparison guide, which also compares the tools to Google Optimize.

The Final Word on Convert

Convert is a highly impressive A/B testing tool that has been quietly improving over the last years, and has emerged as one of the best and lower cost A/B testing tools on the market. When you are deciding on a new tool, I definitely recommend at least taking their extended 30-day free trial to see for yourself.

Improve Your A/B Testing Results

It’s not just about choosing the right A/B testing tool for your company. To get the best results on your conversion rate and revenue from your A/B tests, you need to create higher impact A/B test ideas, otherwise you won’t get very good results in any A/B testing tool.

That is why I focus on creating much better converting A/B testing ideas from my CRO services, in particular from conversion research. I’ve increased conversion rate and revenue for 100’s of online businesses including JosephJoseph.com and ManlyBands.com.