Why A/B Testing Tools Are Broken
Enterprise A/B testing tools are overpriced, overcomplicated, and optimized for the wrong users. Here's what's broken — and how we're fixing it.
TL;DR
Most A/B testing tools are built for Fortune 500 companies with $100k+ budgets and dedicated experimentation teams. They've forgotten that 99% of teams just want to test a headline and see if it converts better. The result? Bloated, expensive, slow tools that hurt more than they help.
What's Broken
Pricing is designed to extract, not serve
Hidden pricing, mandatory sales calls, annual contracts — all designed to maximize revenue extraction, not customer success.
- No public pricing forces you into sales calls
- Annual contracts lock you in even when the tool doesn't work
- Pageview-based pricing punishes successful sites
- Enterprise tiers gate basic features behind $50k+ contracts
Setup takes weeks, not minutes
What should be a 5-minute installation becomes a multi-week implementation project.
- Complex tag manager configurations
- Multiple stakeholder approvals required
- Engineering resources needed for basic setup
- Onboarding calls that could be documentation
Performance is an afterthought
Most A/B testing tools ship 100KB+ scripts that slow down your site and hurt SEO.
- Massive JavaScript bundles (100KB+)
- Flicker that ruins user experience
- Blocking scripts that delay page load
- Poor Core Web Vitals scores
Features over function
Tools are built for feature comparison charts, not actual usability.
- AI features that don't actually work
- Personalization engines no one uses
- Complex targeting rules that create bugs
- 100 features, 10 that work well
The Root Cause: Wrong Incentives
The problem isn't that these companies are evil. It's that their incentives are misaligned with yours.
Their Incentives
- • Maximize contract value
- • Lock customers into annual deals
- • Upsell to enterprise tiers
- • Add features for comparison charts
- • Optimize for large accounts
Your Incentives
- • Run tests quickly
- • Get reliable results
- • Not slow down your site
- • Pay a fair price
- • Cancel when you want
When these incentives conflict — and they always do — the enterprise vendor's incentives win. That's why you end up with bloated, expensive tools that require sales calls to use.
What A/B Testing Should Be
Here's what we believe A/B testing tools should look like:
"A/B testing is not a luxury for enterprises. It's a fundamental practice that every team should be able to afford."
How We're Fixing It
We built ExperimentHQ to be the opposite of enterprise A/B testing tools:
Public pricing, no sales calls
You can see our pricing right now. No forms, no demos, no "let's schedule a call."
Setup in 2 minutes
Copy one snippet. Paste it. Done. No implementation projects.
Lightweight by design
Our snippet is under 5KB. We obsess over performance because your users deserve it.
Monthly billing, cancel anytime
No annual contracts. No lock-in. If we're not delivering value, leave.
Ready for A/B Testing That Works?
Try ExperimentHQ free. No credit card, no sales calls, no annual contracts.