Google Optimize vs. Monetate

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Optimize
Score 6.7 out of 10
N/A
Google offers the Optimize A/B testing tool for testing website content and versions.N/A
Monetate
Score 6.3 out of 10
N/A
Monetate (formerly Kibo Personalization, powered by Monetate and Certona) is an ecommerce personalization software for consumer-facing brands. Monetate enables brands to create individualized experiences for site visitors, with the goal of improving engagement and business performance. Founded in 2008, Monetate services Adidas, Lufthansa, Office Depot, Reebok, Wolseley, and other companies.N/A
Pricing
Google OptimizeMonetate
Editions & Modules
Google Optimize
Free
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google OptimizeMonetate
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google OptimizeMonetate
Considered Both Products
Google Optimize
Chose Google Optimize
We switched from Google Optimize to ab tasty which is a paid platform. Ab tasty provides much better capabilities and support, although this is with a cost implication which Google Optimize didn’t have. Google Optimize was useful as an introductory platform prior to getting a …
Chose Google Optimize
Google Optimize 360 is expensive but definitely more accurate and reliable than the other simple tools out there.
Chose Google Optimize
Adobe Target is extremely powerful and provides features Google Optimize does not, but Adobe Target is also more expensive and harder to use. Google Optimize could benefit by offering basic built-in reporting so it doesn't require Google Analytics events.
Chose Google Optimize
We didn't use Optimizely very long as it fell out of budget due to complexity with the experiment setup.
Chose Google Optimize
Google Optimize is a great entry-level test platform and is an ideal solution for my clients that want something simple to start with and see value. Although not as robust as the paid platforms, it still does the job well and delivers believable data ties to one of the most …
Chose Google Optimize
Google Optimize being part of the Google stack makes it great in reporting and analysis. Wish Google would add more features like dynamic tests, multi funnel tests, conversion calculator based on the total number of traffic of the page being tested instead of using the websites …
Chose Google Optimize
Other products probably are more in-depth, but also cost more money and require technical resources to install.
Chose Google Optimize
To be very honest, we haven't used any software different from Optimize at this point. It would be irresponsible to write about alternatives that we don't know much about.
Monetate
Chose Monetate
It was what the company used before I started.
Chose Monetate
Easier to use, more flexible, and better vendor support
Chose Monetate
Not as advanced, and possibly not as bespoke in configuration. However as a designer these had a much more user friendly interface and easier to learn/master.
Chose Monetate
Increased options to run multi-variant tests in more complex scenarios allow more autonomy for merchandisers to set more complex recommendation strategies.
Chose Monetate
At the time of selection, it was the best tool to fit our business needs. The day-to-day users were able to create some experiences on their own and did not require much oversight. We also had developer support built into our contract along with internal developer support so …
Chose Monetate
The key differentiator at the time was that Monetate provided strategic resources that the other solutions did not around roadmap planning, development, and QA.
Chose Monetate
The platform evolves as the industry evolves which means it is able to grow with your brand. Upgrades are automatic which means you won't go through hard work in order to use the latest capabilities.
Chose Monetate
Certona offered better pricing, a stronger data-based experience and algorithm-derived solution, and a better account management experience (based on customer feedback). Although the interface/portal for some of the other competitors was a little more user-friendly, we …
Chose Monetate
Monetate is more flexible than Adobe with a much better UI for testing and targeting. It is more cost effective than Certona, and gets higher average order lift than MyBuys for product recommendations.
Chose Monetate
The feature set of Monetate was more robust than Optimizely and analytics were more reliable. Pricing and feature set were pretty close to Maximizer, but the interface in Monetate was more intuitive.
Chose Monetate
N/A
This is my first time using a tool like this so I cannot compare however I don't see any need to try anything else. The team is helpful, the tool works and they resolve any concerns or issues when they do come up.
Chose Monetate
The simplicity, performance, reliability, cost and customer service of Monetate are all superior to Adobe in my opinion.
Chose Monetate
N/A
Chose Monetate
Monetate's user interface is more user friendly.
Chose Monetate
We did look at some competitors and found that Monetate allowed use to build more of the actions ourselves. The builders that Monetate offer are very easy to follow and understand and you don't need to be an expert coder nor do you have to rely on the vendor to build all …
Chose Monetate
Flexibility in building campaigns, interface and support services.
Chose Monetate
Monetate is the first tool of its kind that I have used.
Chose Monetate
I haven't had a chance to use any other tool similar to Monetate
Chose Monetate
I've not used any alternatives and I don't think I would ever need to now.
Features
Google OptimizeMonetate
Testing and Experimentation
Comparison of Testing and Experimentation features of Product A and Product B
Google Optimize
4.9
Ratings
50% below category average
Monetate
-
Ratings
a/b experiment testing4.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Split URL testing2.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multivariate testing4.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-page/funnel testing1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Cross-browser testing6.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile app testing2.70 Ratings00 Ratings
Test significance1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual / WYSIWYG editor3.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced code editor2.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Page surveys5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Visitor recordings10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Preview mode3.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Test duration calculator9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Experiment scheduler7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Experiment workflow and approval8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Dynamic experiment activation6.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Client-side tests7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Server-side tests2.60 Ratings00 Ratings
Mutually exclusive tests8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Audience Segmentation & Targeting
Comparison of Audience Segmentation & Targeting features of Product A and Product B
Google Optimize
7.0
Ratings
20% below category average
Monetate
-
Ratings
Standard visitor segmentation6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Behavioral visitor segmentation7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Traffic allocation control8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Website personalization7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Results and Analysis
Comparison of Results and Analysis features of Product A and Product B
Google Optimize
8.2
Ratings
2% below category average
Monetate
-
Ratings
Heatmap tool2.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Click analytics9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Scroll maps9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Form fill analysis8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Conversion tracking9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Goal tracking8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Test reporting7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Results segmentation10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
CSV export9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Experiments results dashboard9.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google OptimizeMonetate
Small Businesses
Convert Experiences
Convert Experiences
Score 9.9 out of 10
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Score 8.6 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Dynamic Yield
Dynamic Yield
Score 8.3 out of 10
Dynamic Yield
Dynamic Yield
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Dynamic Yield
Dynamic Yield
Score 8.3 out of 10
Dynamic Yield
Dynamic Yield
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google OptimizeMonetate
Likelihood to Recommend
5.0
(0 ratings)
5.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.7
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
5.8
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google OptimizeMonetate
Likelihood to Recommend
Google Optimize is well suited for testing small changes on the browser pages. You have the option of changing designs, texts, and some small features on the page. The audience can be divided using a long list of factors, so it makes it quite easy to set up the test. It is not well suited for complicated feature tests where you need to monitor the user over a long period or where the user is likely to use multiple sessions across multiple devices or browsers
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Monetate is a fully functional space to generate multiple marketing campaigns for your company on the web, many of the functions found in this program are a contribution to manage your content correctly and give it the space you are looking for, we We recommend it one hundred percent. We feel very comfortable with everything we have been able to achieve thanks to this program.
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Pros
  • Easy test implementation. You're up and running once you've pinned down your hypothesis.
  • Goals and conversion points can be easily mapped to any test.
  • Customization of goals in case you don't have one setup.
  • Integrated with Google Analytics so you can correlate with other metrics under behavior and e-commerce data.
Read full review
  • Audience segmentation is relatively painless. They provide a robust way to granularly target visitors by device type, location, weather, demographics, etc.
  • Our CSM has been very engaged and detailed in supporting our partnership. She provides very prompt responses and clearly works hard to push the Kibo team when possible.
  • The User Interface to develop new actions is not terrible.
  • Supports Single Sign On, which is the preferred method of managing users at my organization.
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Cons
  • Track site performance with each test version; see if the resource timing of each test has anything to do with conversion rates.
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  • The learning curve is a little steep, especially if you're unfamiliar with HTML/CSS. The tool is so powerful but can be overwhelming at first. The intro instructional videos/content is helpful but it doesn't cover everything. We needed to partner with an optimization company to better understand the tool and get started.
  • Setting up an experiment for the first time isn't simple when you're a marketer who is inexperienced with any sort of web development or even just HTML/CSS. While you can easily select the area you want to create a test with, you don't have a way to easily manipulate that section without the use of HTML/CSS.
  • The first optimization company Monetate recommended us to was horrible - it really was awful working with them. We had dedicated (paid for!) hours that got wasted after the company wasted our time in each meeting (when we did have one - they often needed to reschedule) and they barely knew what our company even did despite multiple meetings. Those hours, despite the awful experience, were never fulfilled, never reimbursed, never carried over to the new (and far better) company. This left a bad taste in my mouth. While I really like this product and it does everything we need, this awful experience and lack of ownership on their end was highly disappointing. We are moving forward though - and happy with our results.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
I had never worked within a company that had a tool like this. It made my life as a designer and a creative manager much easier with it's easy to use interface and limitless possibilities in terms of creative. I would highly recommend taking Monetate for a test drive, you will not be disappointed.
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Usability
Google has always been known to make easy-to-use products. The Google Optimize interface is intuitive and easy to follow for anyone.
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Part of what I love about Monetate is how intuitive the tool is. Very very easy to use - based on the basics - Who/What/When/Where concept. Anyone can jump right in and start using the tool. And very easy to copy campaigns and tweak to continue to build experiences. We recently added Monetate on mobile and similar experience - easy to jump back and forth between platforms. Also love the analytics dashboard...easily quantifiable and easy to get tidbits that are digestible for others not as familiar with tool.
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Support Rating
Google has well-documented resources and unlimited use cases that can be found online. Plus, their support is always helpful and available.
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Monetate support team meets with use weekly, answers emails daily and promptly. They are proactive about getting answers for us when we need it and offering suggestions based on observations they have or learnings they want to share from other partners. Monetate's support is top notch.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Monetate installs easily and sets up personalization with just a few clicks. We never used the recommendation engine but the multivariant testing was great.
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Alternatives Considered
We switched from Google Optimize to AB Tasty which is a paid platform. AB Tasty provides much better capabilities and support, although this is with a cost implication which Google Optimize didn’t have. Google Optimize was useful as an introductory platform prior to getting a full programme running but this has now sunset so is no longer available.
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At the time of selection, it was the best tool to fit our business needs. The day-to-day users were able to create some experiences on their own and did not require much oversight. We also had developer support built into our contract along with internal developer support so most experiences were achievable. We believed it was as good and in some ways better than the other comparable tools on the market.
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Return on Investment
  • Useful with clients on a budget who need to see ROI without another paid platform to install.
  • Setting up Google Optimize helps as an additional value add when bidding on projects.
  • Nothing negative unless a larger client needs a more robust package; then, there is always Google Optimize 360 as well as platforms from other vendors.
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  • We've had great results with our tests! We've seen a solid ROI on most, and we've been able to identify areas we shouldn't be investing resources into.
  • Our teams have really pulled together to come up with ideas and test them. Putting a monetary amount on new features has helped the company understand the value of web dev, CX/UX, and marketing campaigns.
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ScreenShots