An affordable alternative to Convert: Statsig

Finding the right experimentation platform shouldn't break your budget or limit your ambitions. Convert has served the A/B testing market well since 2008, but modern product teams need more than basic split tests - they need unified analytics, feature flags, and warehouse-native deployment that scales with their growth.

Statsig offers exactly that: a comprehensive experimentation platform that costs less than Convert's basic tier while delivering enterprise-grade capabilities. Teams at OpenAI, Notion, and hundreds of other companies have discovered they can run more experiments, ship faster, and spend less by choosing a platform built for how modern teams actually work.

Company backgrounds and platform overview

Statsig emerged in 2020 when ex-Facebook engineers built a developer-first experimentation platform. They designed it for teams that ship fast and learn through data. The founders prioritized technical depth over marketing flash - winning customers through product quality alone.

Convert launched in 2008 as an affordable A/B testing alternative to expensive enterprise tools. The company emphasizes transparent pricing without hidden costs or surprise fees. They also allocate part of each plan's revenue to environmental initiatives, which resonates with socially conscious businesses.

These distinct origins shaped fundamentally different platforms. Statsig serves high-growth tech companies that process billions of events daily and need unified analytics, experimentation, and feature flags. Convert targets agencies and mid-market businesses looking for straightforward A/B testing without the complexity (or cost) of enterprise solutions.

The technical architectures reflect these priorities:

• Statsig: Built for engineering teams with warehouse-native deployment options

• Convert: Designed for marketers who want 15-minute setup and visual editors

• Statsig: Offers unlimited feature flags and real-time analytics at every tier

• Convert: Provides flat-rate pricing based on tested users

Both companies reject the legacy vendor playbook of complex pricing tiers and hidden fees. But they solve different problems - Statsig powers entire product development workflows while Convert handles marketing optimization for landing pages and campaigns.

Feature and capability deep dive

Experimentation capabilities

Basic A/B testing no longer cuts it for serious product teams. Statsig delivers warehouse-native deployment that lets you run experiments directly on your Snowflake, BigQuery, or Databricks infrastructure. Your data never leaves your control. Convert's cloud-based model requires sending all experiment data to their servers, which can raise compliance concerns for regulated industries.

The statistical engines differ dramatically too. Statsig uses sequential testing and CUPED variance reduction to deliver results up to 50% faster with higher statistical power. These aren't just fancy terms - they translate to shorter experiments and more reliable decisions. Convert sticks with traditional fixed-horizon testing that requires waiting for full sample sizes.

Both platforms include visual editors for non-technical users, but the similarities end there. Statsig adds:

• Automated experiment summaries that explain results in plain English

• Holdout groups for measuring cumulative impact over time

• Custom metrics defined with SQL that update in real-time

• Edge computing support for sub-10ms feature flag evaluation globally

Convert focuses on the basics: A/B tests, split URL tests, and multivariate tests. That's enough for many marketing teams, but product teams need deeper capabilities.

Analytics and integration ecosystem

Here's where the platforms truly diverge. Statsig processes over 1 trillion events daily with built-in product analytics - think Amplitude or Mixpanel capabilities included at no extra cost. You can analyze user flows, build funnels, and track custom events without switching tools. Convert has no native analytics; you'll need separate platforms for anything beyond basic conversion tracking.

The integration philosophies couldn't be more different:

Convert's approach: Connect to 90+ third-party tools through standard integrations. Send experiment data to Google Analytics, Segment, or your analytics platform of choice. It works, but creates data silos and adds latency.

Statsig's approach: Provide 30+ SDKs for every major language and framework, plus direct warehouse connections. Your experiment data lives alongside your product data, enabling complex analyses impossible with separate tools.

"Having experimentation, feature flags, and analytics in one unified platform removes complexity and accelerates decision-making," explained Sumeet Marwaha, Head of Data at Brex.

This unified architecture eliminates the typical costs of maintaining separate analytics, experimentation, and feature flag services. One platform, one vendor, one bill - but with the flexibility to use your own data warehouse when needed.

Pricing models and cost analysis

Pricing structure comparison

Convert's pricing follows the traditional SaaS playbook: three fixed tiers with escalating features. The Growth plan costs $399/month for 1.2 million tested users annually. Need multivariate testing or phone support? That's $999/month on the Pro plan for 3 million tested users. Enterprise pricing stays mysterious behind a "contact us" wall.

Statsig flips this model entirely. You pay only for analytics events - feature flags are unlimited and free at every tier. This isn't a limited-time promotion; it's the core pricing philosophy. The platform includes 50,000 free session replays monthly (Convert doesn't offer session replay at all), plus generous free tiers that cover most startups entirely.

The practical impact? Convert customers pay the same whether they run one experiment or one hundred. Each visitor counts toward the tested user limit even if they're in multiple tests simultaneously. Statsig customers pay based on actual usage, making costs predictable and directly tied to value.

Real-world cost scenarios

Let's run the numbers for a typical SaaS company with 100,000 monthly active users:

With Convert: You'll pay $399/month minimum, regardless of experiment volume. Running 10 simultaneous tests? Same price. But here's the catch - each user in multiple experiments counts multiple times toward your limit. You could hit the 1.2 million annual cap with just 100,000 actual users if they're heavily tested.

With Statsig: Assuming 20 events per user monthly (a reasonable estimate), you'd generate 2 million events. That's completely free on Statsig's generous tier. You could run unlimited A/B tests, deploy feature flags across your entire stack, and analyze user behavior without spending anything.

"Customers could use a generous allowance of non-analytic gate checks for free, forever," notes one satisfied user in a G2 review.

The gap widens at scale. Convert requires annual commitments with opaque enterprise pricing. Statsig publishes transparent volume discounts starting around 200,000 MAU, with discounts reaching 50% or more for high-volume customers. No negotiations, no sales games - just clear pricing that scales with your business.

Factor in the hidden costs of separate tools (analytics platforms typically cost $500-5,000/month, feature flag services add another $200-2,000/month), and Statsig's unified platform delivers even more value. One platform replacing three or four separate services changes the entire cost equation.

Decision factors and implementation considerations

Technical implementation requirements

Convert promises a 15-minute setup using their visual editor and pre-built integrations. Marketing teams love this - paste a snippet, click around the visual editor, and launch your first test before lunch. It's genuinely simple for basic website optimization.

Statsig requires more upfront investment but delivers more power. You'll need engineering resources to implement SDKs across your stack. The payoff comes quickly though:

• Server-side evaluation for secure feature flags

• Custom metrics defined in SQL

• Real-time diagnostics for debugging issues

• Edge computing support for global performance

The warehouse-native option demands even more technical sophistication. Your data team will set up connections to BigQuery, Snowflake, or Databricks. They'll define schemas and configure pipelines. But once complete, you have complete data control, enhanced privacy compliance, and unified analytics across your entire data stack. Convert can't match this level of integration.

Support and documentation quality

Support structures reveal each company's priorities. Convert provides phone support on Pro plans with dedicated customer success managers - perfect for marketers who want to talk through their testing strategy. Response times vary, but you'll get professional help during business hours.

Statsig takes a radically different approach. Engineers provide Slack-based support, often responding within minutes. Sometimes the CEO jumps in to help debug complex issues. This isn't a cost-cutting measure; it's a philosophical choice to keep support close to the product.

"Our CEO just might answer!" - G2 review

Documentation quality impacts your team's success rate. Convert focuses on step-by-step guides with screenshots - great for non-technical users launching their first tests. Statsig goes deeper with SQL query transparency. Click any metric and see exactly how it's calculated. This technical depth helps engineers build sophisticated experiments and debug edge cases.

The best support is not needing support. Statsig's automated experiment summaries and built-in diagnostics catch common issues before they become problems. Convert's simpler approach means fewer things can go wrong, but also fewer guardrails when they do.

Bottom line: why is Statsig a viable alternative to Convert?

Convert.com built a solid A/B testing tool that serves its market well. At $399/month, agencies and marketing teams get reliable split testing without enterprise complexity. But modern product development demands more than marketing optimization - it requires unified experimentation, analytics, and feature management at scale.

Statsig delivers this comprehensive platform at lower cost. The free tier alone replaces Convert's paid plans for most startups, while adding capabilities Convert doesn't offer: unlimited feature flags, warehouse-native deployment, and built-in product analytics. You're not just saving money; you're consolidating your entire experimentation stack.

The pricing model fundamentally differs too. Convert charges by tested users, creating artificial limits on experimentation. Run more tests, pay more money. Statsig charges only for analytics events, encouraging teams to experiment freely. This philosophical difference drives real behavioral change - teams run more experiments, learn faster, and ship better products.

Technical architecture sets these platforms worlds apart. Convert sends all data to their servers, limiting analysis options and raising compliance concerns. Statsig's warehouse-native deployment keeps sensitive data in your control while maintaining sub-millisecond performance. For teams serious about data sovereignty and advanced analytics, there's no comparison.

"Statsig's infrastructure and experimentation workflows have been crucial in helping us scale to hundreds of experiments across hundreds of millions of users." - Paul Ellwood, Data Engineering, OpenAI

Real companies see dramatic improvements after switching. Notion scaled from single-digit to 300+ experiments per quarter using Statsig's streamlined workflows. Brex cut experimentation costs by 20% while reducing data scientist workload by half. These aren't cherry-picked success stories - they're typical results when teams adopt modern experimentation infrastructure.

The choice ultimately depends on your needs. Choose Convert if you want simple A/B testing for marketing campaigns with minimal technical overhead. Choose Statsig if you're building products at scale and need a platform that grows with your ambitions. With generous free tiers and transparent pricing, you can try Statsig risk-free and see the difference yourself.

Closing thoughts

Experimentation platforms shape how teams build products. While Convert offers straightforward A/B testing for marketing optimization, Statsig provides the comprehensive toolkit modern product teams need - at a fraction of the expected cost. The combination of unlimited feature flags, warehouse-native deployment, and unified analytics makes it more than just an alternative to Convert; it's an entirely different approach to experimentation.

Want to dive deeper? Check out Statsig's transparent pricing calculator or explore how companies like Anthropic use the platform to ship breakthrough AI products. The free tier gives you everything needed to run your first experiments - no credit card required.

Hope you find this useful!