Comparison
The flat-price, self-hosted alternative to VWO for WordPress
VWO is a powerful enterprise experimentation platform billed by monthly tracked users. AB Test WP is a native WordPress plugin with a free-forever tier and a flat $49/year Pro - your traffic is never metered and your data never leaves your server.
Competitor details last checked September 2026; sources are under the table.
Where it runs
Inside your WordPress site
VWO is a cloud service loaded through a page snippet; data lives on VWO's servers.
How you pay
Free, or a flat $49 a year per site
VWO is billed by monthly tracked users, from about $314 a month for Testing on annual billing; typical contracts reach five figures a year.
What you give up
Multivariate, heatmaps, server-side
VWO includes multivariate testing, heatmaps and session recordings, and server-side experiments. AB Test WP leaves heatmaps to free tools and is still researching multivariate.
Who should pick which
An honest split.
VWO is a capable tool with real strengths. These are the two situations, stated plainly.
Pick VWO if
- You run a staffed, budgeted experimentation programme.
- You need multivariate testing, session recordings or server-side experiments.
- You want enterprise support under one contract.
Pick AB Test WP if
- You test headlines, layouts and pages on a WordPress site.
- Your traffic must never change the price.
- Visitor data stays on your server, and you start free.
Feature by feature
What each one has.
Every row is a yes, a no, or a short note where yes or no would mislead. Rows where VWO has something we do not are marked the same way. Sources are under the table.
IncludedPaid Only in a paid plan (either product) On our roadmap Not included
| Feature | VWO | AB Test WP |
|---|---|---|
| Testing | ||
| A/B testing | Paid Every plan; 30-day trial, no free tier | No traffic limits, up to 3 tests at once, no account |
| Split URL tests | Paid Every plan | Same: free, no traffic limits, up to 3 tests |
| Visual, no-code test creation | Paid Visual editor, every plan | Point-and-click editor, free |
| Revenue per variant | Paid Enterprise plan, as revenue totals | Paid WooCommerce orders |
| SRM detection | Paid Pro and Enterprise plans | Paid |
| Multivariate testing | Paid Pro and Enterprise plans | On the roadmap as researching, no date |
| Heatmaps and session recordings | Paid Pro and Enterprise, with Insights | Free tools such as Microsoft Clarity do this alongside |
| Server-side testing and feature flags | Paid | |
| Where things happen | ||
| Where it runs | VWO's cloud plus a page snippet | Inside your WordPress site |
| Where data lives | VWO's servers | Your own database |
| Native WordPress plugin | Native plugin, any builder | |
| Cookies | Persistent visitor cookies, per its docs | None, cookieless by design |
| Pricing | ||
| Price | Testing from about $314 a month, annual billing | Free; Pro from $49 a year, flat |
| Billing basis | Monthly tracked users, metered | No traffic metering |
| Free tier | None on the price list; 30-day trial | Free forever |
Sources for VWO: cookies stored by VWO, plan comparison, checked September 2026. AB Test WP facts come from the plugin itself. | ||
Getting started
Switching is quick.
No migration project. The free plugin runs its first test the same afternoon.
Install AB Test WP
VWO can stay installed while you compare.
Recreate a live experiment
Tag each variant with a CSS class in your builder, or set up a URL test for whole pages.
Choose a goal
Page visits, clicks, form submissions and add to cart are free; scroll depth, time on page, active time and WooCommerce revenue are in Pro.
Launch
Results accumulate in your own database, with no traffic meter running.
Questions
Answered plainly.
Answers are visible, not folded away, so they can be read and quoted.
Is VWO free?
VWO offered a free Starter tier for years, but as of mid-2026 it is being phased out for new sign-ups, which now get a 30-day trial instead (last checked September 2026). AB Test WP's free tier is free forever with no traffic limits.
How much does VWO cost?
VWO's published entry price for the Testing module is around $314/month on annual billing, metered by monthly tracked users, and procurement data puts typical contracts in the five figures per year (last checked September 2026). AB Test WP Pro is a flat $49/year for one site.
Is AB Test WP a full VWO replacement?
For on-site A/B and split-URL testing on WordPress, yes. It does not offer multivariate testing, heatmaps, session recordings, or server-side feature flags - if you need those, VWO remains the stronger platform. Heatmaps are the easy gap to close: Microsoft Clarity does them free alongside any test. Multivariate testing is something we are researching, with no date.
Can I migrate my VWO tests to AB Test WP?
There's no automated import, but recreating a test takes minutes: rebuild the variant point-and-click or with a CSS class, set the same goal, and relaunch. Historical VWO results stay in your VWO account exports.
Does AB Test WP need a tracking snippet like VWO?
No. It's a native plugin - there's no third-party JavaScript snippet, no external dashboard, and no data sent to anyone's cloud. The test runtime is served from your own site.
Is the free version really usable, or a trial?
It's genuinely usable: element and URL tests, three at a time, with page-visit, element-click, link-click, form-submission and add-to-cart goals, a sample-size planner, and no traffic caps - free forever. Pro adds scale and statistics, not the basics.
Try the free, self-hosted way.
AB Test WP is in final testing: no traffic limits, no data leaving your site. Join the waitlist and we will email you the day it lands.