Varly vs Optimizely, compared
By Joost BakkerChecked on on each vendor’s own pages
The short answer
Optimizely is an enterprise suite for experimentation, content management, commerce and AI agents, sold on quote only (Optimizely pricing). Its AI, Opal, is now called Mark, and its MCP server lets AI assistants read results and create flags, experiments and audiences (Optimizely, MCP server). Varly (varly.ai), an EU-hosted CRO platform, is a much smaller tool for research and A/B testing with one public price per website, and it is in private beta.
What Optimizely sells
- Many products: Agentic CMS, Agentic Experimentation, Agent Platform, Content Marketing Platform, Analytics, Personalization, Commerce, Asset Management, Data Platform and Feature Management (Optimizely pricing).
- Experimentation: A/B, multi-page, feature and server-side testing, plus personalization and analytics (Optimizely pricing), with multivariate tests and bandits (Optimizely Experimentation).
- AI: on 1 September 2026, Optimizely announced that Opal becomes Mark (Optimizely). Its docs now call it "Mark (Optimizely Agent Platform)" (Optimizely docs).
- Pricing: no list prices. You describe your goals and Optimizely puts together a quote (Optimizely pricing).
Comparison table
Checked on 8 November 2026. Every fact about the other tool links to that vendor's own page or a primary source.
| Varly | Optimizely | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | €99 per website per month, or €89 a month billed yearly. Outside Europe: $125, or $112 billed yearly. | No list prices. You get a personalized quote (pricing) |
| Billing basis | Per website. One price, whatever your traffic. Yearly billing locks the price for 12 months. | Not stated on the pricing page (pricing). Mark's AI features use credits (docs) |
| Can you start today? | No. Private beta with a waitlist. | The pricing page asks you to request a quote and mentions no free plan or trial (pricing) |
| Hosting and data location | Hetzner, Germany. Cloudflare, a US company, delivers the snippet (sub-processors). | EU Data Hosting where available: if you select it, data is stored in EU data centers. Some services are out of scope (trust center) |
| How it's sold | One product with every feature | Separate products, from CMS and commerce to experimentation and feature management (pricing) |
| Heatmaps and recordings | Built in, in the same script and price | Not on the pricing page (pricing). Microsoft Clarity has an integration guide for Optimizely Web (Clarity docs) |
| Funnels, form analytics and surveys | Built in, with orders and revenue per survey answer | Not on the pricing page; analytics is a separate product (pricing) |
| A/B testing | A/B, A/B/n, multivariate, split URL and server-side tests. Visual editor and custom code. | A/B, multi-page, feature and server-side testing (pricing); multivariate tests and bandits (experimentation) |
| Feature flags and personalization | Personalization for one audience, with a holdout. No feature flags; server-side tests run in your own code. | Feature Management and Personalization products (pricing) |
| AI | Varly's AI builds test variants and summarizes research. It runs on your own AI key, billed by your AI provider. | Mark: test ideas, an AI agent that builds variations, copy suggestions in the visual editor and summaries of results (docs). 50+ ready-made marketing agents (Agent Platform) |
| MCP (use it from Claude or ChatGPT) | Yes. An assistant can read research, draft tests and, if you allow it, launch them. | Yes: query projects, flags and results, and create and update flags, experiments and audiences. Needs Opti ID and Mark. No variation code changes in Web Experimentation (MCP server) |
| Consent | Does nothing until your cookie banner gives consent: no cookie, no data, no test variant. | Web Experimentation doesn't block tracking before consent by default. To wait, you call its opt-out API above the snippet or load it through a tag manager after consent (docs) |
| Script loading | Asynchronous. During a test it hides only the parts it changes, for 2.5 seconds at most. | Synchronous by default and recommended, as high in the <head> as possible, not through a tag manager (docs) |
| CMS and commerce | Neither. Varly works on your existing site, such as Shopify or WooCommerce. | Agentic CMS and Commerce (pricing) |
Varly facts come from our help center: pricing, consent, personalization, server-side tests, A/B/n and multivariate tests, install the snippet, install on Shopify and install on WordPress.
Choose Optimizely if…
- You want one vendor for content, commerce and experimentation. Optimizely sells a CMS, a commerce product, a content marketing platform and experimentation (Optimizely pricing).
- You ship features behind flags. Optimizely sells feature and server-side testing, and a Feature Management product (Optimizely pricing).
- You want AI agents across marketing work, with 50+ ready-made agents or your own (Optimizely Agent Platform).
- You want an assistant to change flags, experiments and audiences through MCP, from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code (Optimizely MCP server).
- You load the testing script synchronously and want a vendor that recommends it (Optimizely docs).
- You buy through procurement and expect a tailored quote (Optimizely pricing).
Choose Varly if…
- You want a public price you can plan around. €99 per website per month, the same at any traffic level (pricing).
- You want research and testing in one product, with heatmaps, recordings, funnels, form analytics, surveys and A/B tests in one script (install the snippet).
- You want to keep your CMS and shop. Varly adds a snippet to the site you have, such as Shopify or WooCommerce (install on Shopify, install on WordPress).
- Marketers build the tests. In the visual editor you describe a change and Varly's AI builds it, or you edit text, images and styles yourself (visual editor).
- You want AI costs you can see. Varly's AI runs on your own key, and you set a daily limit (AI key).
- You want EU hosting and consent-first measuring by default, without settings to change (privacy and GDPR).
When Varly is not the right choice
- You need a tool today. Varly is in private beta with a waitlist.
- You need feature flags. Varly runs server-side tests, but has no flag management.
- You need a CMS, commerce or a digital asset manager from the same vendor. Varly does research and testing only.
- You test in a mobile app. Varly is web-only.
- You want an account manager. Varly's support is by email; we don't plan or run your tests (pricing).
- You need data stored outside the EU. Varly stores data in Germany only.
- You need a long track record. Varly is a young product.
How we checked
We checked every fact on this page on 8 November 2026 on each vendor's own pages or the primary source, linked next to the fact. Varly facts come from our own help center. We don't repeat third-party price estimates for quote-only tools, because we can't verify them. We also left out where experimentation data is stored by default, because the vendor's own pages don't say. Prices and plans change; check the vendor's page before you buy. Varly is our own product, so read this page with that in mind. Spotted something out of date? Email support@varly.ai and we'll fix it.
More background: A/B testing for e-commerce and AI for conversion rate optimization.