5 Free Google Optimize Alternatives in 2026 That Are Actually Free

Quick answer

Google Optimize shut down on September 30, 2023. In 2026, only five A/B testing platforms offer genuinely free ongoing plans — not just trials. For non-technical marketing teams, Mida is the best free alternative with a Sandbox plan up to 100,000 Monthly Tested Users, native GA4 integration, a visual editor, and a 15KB compressed script. For engineering-led teams, GrowthBook is free and open source if you self-host. Omniconvert, ABlyft, and Amplitude Experiment also offer free starter plans with specific feature limits. Tools like VWO, Convert.com, and Crazy Egg no longer have ongoing free plans. VWO's former free starter plan was capped at 50,000 MTU and has been discontinued.

Key takeaways

• Only five platforms — Mida, GrowthBook, Omniconvert, ABlyft, and Amplitude Experiment — offer ongoing free plans in 2026. Most "free alternative" lists include tools that only have trials.
• Mida's free Sandbox is the most generous ongoing free tier among visual-editor tools: 100,000 MTU per month with no credit card and no forced upgrade.
• GrowthBook is free and open source for self-hosted deployments, but requires engineering capacity and has no visual editor in the self-hosted version.
• Omniconvert, ABlyft, and Amplitude Experiment offer free starter plans with feature or traffic limits that may suit very small teams.
• VWO discontinued its free plan. VWO's former free starter plan was capped at 50,000 MTU and has been discontinued. Convert.com, Crazy Egg, and most other alternatives only offer time-limited trials.

Google Optimize and Optimize 360 shut down on September 30, 2023. For many teams, it was the only A/B testing tool they had ever used — free, connected to GA4, and simple enough that marketers could launch tests without engineering support.

Since then, most "free Google Optimize alternative" articles have become misleading. They list tools like VWO, Convert.com, and Crazy Egg as "free" when those platforms only offer time-limited trials, not ongoing free plans. VWO discontinued its free starter plan. Convert.com offers a 15-day trial. Crazy Egg offers a 30-day trial. None of these are free alternatives.

This guide is different. It only covers platforms with ongoing free plans — tools you can use indefinitely without paying. In 2026, that list is short: five platforms. This article compares each one honestly, explains what you actually get for free, and helps you choose based on your team's technical capacity, traffic, and platform.

Free Google Optimize alternatives compared

Prices are approximate and subject to change. Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's website. "Free starter plan" typically means an ongoing free tier with traffic, feature, or seat limits.

The honest truth: your free options are limited

Google could afford to give Optimize away for free because it deepened lock-in with Google Analytics and Google Ads. Independent vendors do not have that incentive. After the Optimize sunset, most competitors used the influx of displaced users as a paid acquisition opportunity, not a reason to launch generous free tiers.

The result is that in 2026, only five platforms offer ongoing free plans. Every other alternative — including the ones most commonly mentioned in "free alternative" roundups — requires payment after a trial period. If you are looking for a free replacement, your shortlist should start and end with the five tools above.

1. Mida

Mida is the closest functional replacement for Google Optimize among the free options. It is the only tool on this list that combines a visual editor, native GA4 integration, and a permanently free tier with no credit card required.

What you get on the free Sandbox plan:

• Up to 100,000 Monthly Tested Users per month
• Visual editor for no-code variant creation
• Code editor for custom CSS and JavaScript
• Native GA4 integration — no custom setup
• A/B testing, URL redirect testing, and personalization
• Anti-flicker script loading
• No forced upgrade timeline

Where Mida goes beyond Optimize:

• MidaGX: Generate test variants from plain-language prompts
• SPA support: Built-in triggers for React, Next.js, Vue, and Angular
• No-code live deployment: Publish winning variants without a code release
• Usage-based pricing: When you upgrade, pay only for visitors who enter experiments

Performance: Mida's script is 15KB compressed and loads in approximately 20ms. For teams that relied on Optimize because it was invisible to page performance, this matters. We have also published an A/B testing tool speed benchmark comparing script sizes across the category.

Paid plan: Growth starts at $399/mo month-to-month or $299/mo billed annually.

Choose Mida when:

• You want the most direct free replacement for Google Optimize's workflow.
• You need a visual editor and do not have engineering support.
• You use GA4 and want native integration without custom setup.
• You care about site speed and Core Web Vitals.

Avoid Mida when:

• You need full product analytics, data warehouse metric layers, or enterprise feature flag suites.
• Your main experimentation surface is native mobile apps or backend-only logic.

2. GrowthBook

GrowthBook is the strongest free option for engineering-led teams. It is open source under Apache 2.0 and free to self-host indefinitely.

What you get for free:

• Unlimited self-hosted experimentation
• Feature flags with percentage rollouts and targeting
• Warehouse-native analysis (BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, Databricks)
• SDKs for most major languages
• Bayesian and Frequentist statistics

The catch: The self-hosted version has no visual editor. Marketers cannot create tests without developer support. Setup requires engineering time for infrastructure, SDK integration, and maintenance. A visual editor is available on GrowthBook's Cloud plan, but that is not free.

Paid plan: Cloud plans are available for teams that want a managed version with visual editing.

Choose GrowthBook when:

• Your team wants open-source experimentation or self-hosting.
• Engineers are comfortable implementing feature flags and experiments in code.
• You want to connect analysis to your existing data warehouse.

Avoid GrowthBook when:

• Marketers need to launch visual website tests without developer support.
• You do not have engineering capacity to own implementation and maintenance.

3. Omniconvert

Omniconvert offers a free starter plan alongside its paid ecommerce optimization platform. It includes A/B testing, split URL testing, surveys, and segmentation.

What you get on the free starter plan:

• Limited traffic volume (check current limits on Omniconvert's pricing page)
• A/B and split URL testing with a visual editor
• Surveys and polls
• Basic segmentation
• Heatmaps and session recordings

The catch: The free plan has traffic limits that may be too restrictive for growing sites. Advanced features like revenue tracking, customer lifetime value analytics, and extensive segmentation require a paid plan.

Paid plan: Starts at approximately $350/mo for 100,000 tested users.

Choose Omniconvert when:

• You run ecommerce experiments and want surveys in the same platform.
• You want testing plus behavior and funnel tools at SMB-friendly pricing.
• Your traffic fits within the free starter limits.

Avoid Omniconvert when:

• You only need fast, lightweight client-side A/B testing without the extra tools.
• Your traffic exceeds free starter limits quickly.

4. ABlyft

ABlyft is a privacy-first experimentation platform with a free starter plan. It is especially relevant for EU-based companies and teams that want controlled client-side testing.

What you get on the free starter plan:

• Limited traffic volume and experiment count
• Privacy-first architecture with no individual visitor tracking
• Github integration and debug mode
• Visual and code editors
• Mutual experiment exclusion

The catch: The free starter has traffic and experiment limits. Like Omniconvert, it is designed to let small teams validate the platform before upgrading. ABlyft also requires more technical setup than marketer-first tools like Mida.

Paid plan: Contact sales for pricing.

Choose ABlyft when:

• Privacy and GDPR-friendly positioning are important.
• You want a focused A/B testing platform rather than a behavior analytics suite.
• Your experimentation team is comfortable with technical setup.

Avoid ABlyft when:

• You need the most marketer-friendly visual workflow for non-technical users.
• You require transparent self-serve pricing.

5. Amplitude Experiment

Amplitude Experiment offers a free starter plan, but it is only practical if your team already uses Amplitude for product analytics.

What you get on the free starter plan:

• Limited experiment volume for Amplitude users
• Experiments tied to Amplitude behavioral cohorts and funnels
• Feature flags with targeting rules
• Cross-platform identity resolution

The catch: The free starter is only available within the Amplitude ecosystem. If you do not already use Amplitude as your analytics foundation, this is not a practical standalone replacement for Google Optimize. The visual editor is also limited compared to dedicated website testing tools.

Paid plan: Starts at approximately $1,061/mo for 100,000 tested users.

Choose Amplitude Experiment when:

• Your company already uses Amplitude deeply for product analytics.
• You want experiments tied to cohorts, funnels, and retention metrics.
• Your tests are mostly product experiments rather than public website edits.

Avoid Amplitude Experiment when:

• You do not use Amplitude as your analytics foundation.
• Your team needs a lightweight visual editor for public website experiments.

Tools that are not actually free

Most articles about "free Google Optimize alternatives" include tools that only offer time-limited trials. For clarity, here is the status of commonly mentioned tools as of early 2026:

• VWO: Discontinued its free plan. Only a 30-day trial remains.
• Convert.com: 15-day trial. No ongoing free plan.
• Crazy Egg: 30-day trial. No ongoing free plan.
• Optimizely: No free plan or trial. Contact sales only.
• AB Tasty: No free plan. Contact sales only.
• Kameleoon: No free plan. Contact sales only.
• Adobe Target: No free plan. Contact sales only.

If you need a free tool, your realistic options are the five platforms covered above. If you have budget for a paid tool, see our broader guide to the best A/B testing tools in 2026 for a comparison of 17 platforms across all price points.

How to choose the right free alternative

Use this decision tree:

• If you need a visual editor and have no engineering support: Choose Mida. It is the only free tool with a visual editor, native GA4 integration, and a generous traffic allowance.
• If you have engineering support and want open source: Choose GrowthBook. It is free forever if you self-host, but requires technical setup and has no visual editor.
• If you run ecommerce and want surveys + testing: Compare Omniconvert and Mida. Check whether Omniconvert's free starter traffic limits fit your store.
• If privacy and GDPR are top priorities: Compare ABlyft and Mida. ABlyft has stronger privacy positioning but a more technical workflow.
• If you already use Amplitude: Check whether Amplitude Experiment's free starter covers your experiment volume.

Migrating from Google Optimize: a short checklist

1. Export historical data — You cannot retrieve Optimize data after shutdown. If you missed this window, skip to step 2.
2. Audit your active experiments — Document what you were testing, the hypothesis, and the target pages.
3. Choose your replacement — Use the decision tree above. Do not panic-buy an enterprise tool if your program is not operationally ready.
4. Install the new snippet — Place it as high in <head> as possible. Avoid loading it through GTM to prevent flicker.
5. Reconnect GA4 — Mida does this natively. For other tools, configure the Measurement Protocol or custom events.
6. Rebuild your first test — Start with a high-impact, low-complexity test (hero headline, CTA button) to validate the setup.
7. Set a 90-day review — Evaluate whether the tool is actually being used. The most expensive platform is the one that runs zero tests.

FAQs

Conclusion

In 2026, the list of genuinely free Google Optimize alternatives is short: Mida, GrowthBook, Omniconvert, ABlyft, and Amplitude Experiment. Most other tools mentioned in "free alternative" articles only offer time-limited trials.

For most teams, Mida is the most practical free replacement. It is the only tool that combines a visual editor, native GA4 integration, and a permanently free tier with no credit card required. If you have engineering capacity and want open-source self-hosting, GrowthBook is a strong alternative. If you are already in the Amplitude ecosystem, check their free starter plan. For ecommerce teams with very low traffic, Omniconvert's free starter may also be worth evaluating.

The most expensive mistake is not the tool you choose — it is the quarter you spend without a working testing program while evaluating options. If you are unsure, start with Mida's free Sandbox. It costs nothing to validate whether the workflow fits your team.