A/B testing is a powerful technique that helps you improve your website with real data. Instead of guessing whether a design or post title is the best option, you can simply test it and know for sure.
But if you want to run A/B tests, also known as split tests, you’re going to need a WordPress A/B testing plugin to help you create and track your experiments.
To help you find the right plugin for your needs and create useful A/B tests at your site, I’ve collected 6 of the best WordPress A/B testing plugins and options in this post.
6 Best A/B Testing Plugins And Solutions For WordPress
1. Nelio A/B Testing
Nelio A/B Testing is the most complete A/B testing plugin that you’ll find for WordPress. Most other plugins that you’ll see on this list only help you A/B test your site’s content, But Nelio A/B Testing lets you split test practically everything about your WordPress site.
By that, I mean that Nelio A/B testing lets you split test different:
- WordPress themes or CSS styles: Use different themes to check which performs better.
- Widgets: Test different combinations of widgets in your sidebar.
- Menus: See how different links affect your menu.
And it also still lets you test your content, which means that you can split test:
- Posts/pages
- Post titles
- WooCommerce products
To understand how the tests perform, Nelio A/B testing gives you detailed analytics. You can even define your own conversions and goals to track the data that matters. For example, you can make goals for visitors:
- Clicking a button
- Visiting a page
- Submitting a form, etc.
Once you find a winning variation, you can make that version live just by clicking a button.
Unfortunately, Nelio A/B Testing is not free. However, you can get a free trial to test it out if you’re interested. After that, plans start at $29 per month.
Get Nelio A/B Testing
2. Simple Page Tester
Simple Page Tester doesn’t offer as many A/B testing options as Nelio A/B Testing, but it does a great job of letting you easily test different post/page content against one another.
There’s a basic free version that’s good for simple tests and then a premium version which offers a little more functionality.
The plugin is easy to use. After you install it, you get a Setup New Split Test button when you edit any post or page:
When you click that button, you’re able to create your split test by:
- Duplicating the current page and editing it
- Selecting another page on your site
- Creating a new blank page
Because it’s using the regular WordPress page interface, that means you can still use Simple Page Tester to test:
- Page builder designs
- Different forms, etc.
Then, you can view basic stats in your dashboard:
Everything you saw above is available in the free version. If you pay for the premium version, you also get access to:
- Shortcodes that let you test specific elements against one another (rather than entire page designs)
- Conversion analytics (the free version only gives you traffic analytics)
- Automatic winner calculator
- Support for WooCommerce and custom post types
The premium version costs $59.
simGet Simple Page Tester Free | Get Simple Page Tester Premium
3. Thrive Optimize
Thrive Optimize is an A/B testing plugin from Thrive Themes. We use another Thrive Themes product here at ShoutMeLoud – Thrive Comments.
Thrive Optimize is unique in the sense that it is built on the Thrive Architect page builder – so you need to use both Thrive Architect and Thrive Optimize to run your split tests.
The plugin gives you a simple, well-designed interface from which you can quickly spin up new test variants that you design with Thrive Architect. You can choose which goal to track and even divide your traffic between different tests using percentages.
Then, Thrive Optimize will give you detailed analytics. And you can even have Thrive Optimize use statistics to automatically declare a winner so that you never need to think about your A/B test after starting it:
All in all, Thrive Optimize has one of the most excellent interfaces of any WordPress A/B testing plugin.
If you already use Thrive Architect, you can purchase a standalone copy of Thrive Optimize starting at $67. Otherwise, you’ll need to buy a bundle of both Thrive Optimize, and Thrive Architect which starts at $127.
Get Thrive Optimize
4. Google Optimize
Google Optimize isn’t technically a plugin – it’s a free A/B testing tool from Google. But it’s too compelling to ignore on this list.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to create A/B tests from inside your WordPress dashboard – you’ll use the Google Optimize cloud interface and then add some code snippets to your WordPress site.
For example, you’ll need to build two separate pages in WordPress and then enter those URLs in the Google Optimize interface. Then, Google Optimize will run the test and give you detailed analytics:
That’s not as convenient as something like Nelio A/B Testing. But if you’re ok with doing that, Google Optimize is probably the most powerful free A/B testing tool that you can find.
To use it, head to Google Optimize. If you need help getting started, this post has a useful guide.
5. Title Experiments
Title Experiments is a lot more limited than any of the previous split testing plugins. Rather than letting you test any element of your page, it only enables you to split test different post titles.
This might seem like a small thing. But your post title is actually a huge reason why visitors click on your content in the first place, so being able to find which post title gets more clicks can help boost your traffic.
The plugin also takes very little time to set up. Once you install and activate it, you can simply use the + Add New Title button to enter one or more additional titles when you create content:
Then, the plugin will track how many clicks and impressions each title variation gets.
For more functionality, you can upgrade to the Pro version of the plugin to:
- Test different featured images against one another
- View more detailed statistics
- Automatically stop your experiments after a specific time (otherwise, you have to select the winner manually)
The Pro version costs $19.
Get Title Experiments Free || Get Title Experiments Pro
6. Use A Third-Party SaaS Split Testing Tool
Finally, if you want the maximum flexibility, you can use one of the many third-party SaaS split testing services. While these services aren’t technically WordPress plugins, they’re usually pretty easy to integrate into your WordPress site, and some even offer dedicated plugins to help simplify the integration process.
The only downside is that these services are usually more expensive than WordPress plugins and operate on recurring monthly billing, which makes them out-of-reach for most bloggers.
If you do want something high-powered, though, some good SaaS A/B testing tools to look at are:
Which Of These WordPress A/B Testing Plugins Should You Choose?
If you want to run simple A/B tests for free, Simple Page Tester and Title Experiments are great free tools. Google Optimize is also a fantastic option; it’s just a little more complicated to use.
If you’re willing to pay for the most detailed A/B testing possible, Nelio A/B Testing is the best plugin because it lets you test themes, widgets, menus, and more.
And if you’re already using the Thrive Architect page builder, I would recommend that you get Thrive Optimize because the two work very well together.
Which WordPress A/B testing plugin are you testing? Let me know in the comment section below. Also, Do you have any questions about running A/B tests on WordPress? Please leave a comment and we can have a discussion.
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