Google Optimize is gone.
Spar decides what to test, and runs it.
Google sunset Optimize and Optimize 360 on September 30, 2023, and GA4 ships with no built-in A/B testing, so most teams bolted a paid testing tool onto GA4 and kept owning test selection themselves. Spar takes a different job. For Shopify and ecommerce teams it audits the store, ranks tests by revenue impact, writes the variation code, then runs and measures with sequential statistics, so a small team gets a real testing program without staffing CRO.
Where Optimize users actually went.
After the shutdown the same source split into two paths. One restores the editor and leaves you to decide what to test. The other closes the gap Optimize never filled.
- Free visual A/B editor
- Google Analytics integration
- Basic audience targeting
It restores the editor and leaves the choice of what to test to you, now with a bill.
It closes the gap Optimize never filled: the audit decides what to test, the code is written, and the test is run and measured.
Illustrative. Reflects the typical migration paths after Google Optimize shut down, not data from a specific customer.
Two different jobs, not two versions of one tool.
Read each row as a structural difference. Optimize was a test runner you operated. Spar is the program that decides what to run.
The tool runs one step. Spar runs the loop.
A standalone tool runs the experiment once you have decided what to test. Spar also decides what to test, builds the variation, and reads the result, so the loop runs without a CRO hire.
Decide what to test
You read analytics and form the hypothesis.
Design the variation
A designer and dev build it.
Run the experiment
The standalone tool serves the split.
Read the result
You interpret significance in GA4.
Step one stays on your team. The tool only starts at step three.
- Step 1
Audit the store
Spar profiles the storefront against an ecommerce rule library.
- Step 2
Rank what to test
Opportunities are ordered by revenue impact, not by who shouted loudest.
- Step 3
Write the variation
Spar generates the variation code from the audit. You approve it.
- Step 4
Run and declare the winner
Sequential statistics read revenue and call the result.
Every step runs inside Spar. You review and approve, you do not staff it.
Both paths are valid. They suit different teams.
If you have the CRO muscle and just need the editor back, the standalone route is honest and works. If you want Spar to decide what to test for you, that is where Spar fits.
Pick GA4 + a standalone A/B tool if...
- You mainly want a like-for-like experiment runner to replace the editor.
- You already have someone who decides what to test each week.
- You are not on Shopify, or you do not want a productized program.
- You want to keep an analytics-led workflow you fully control.
Pick Spar if...
- You run a Shopify or ecommerce store.
- You want the audit to tell you what to test, ranked by revenue.
- You do not want to staff a CRO function to keep the pipeline full.
- You want variation code written, and tests run and measured for you.
Questions Google Optimize users ask
Start where Optimize stopped.
Give Spar your store URL and get back an audit with the tests worth running, ranked by revenue impact. Optimize and its replacements always left that part to you.