Optimizely Content Management System Reviews & Product Details

I have been using Optimizely CMS from 2006 and have seen it grow through all the years. The last few years its effectiveness has increased due to being part of the Optimizely One product, integrated with AI and workflow. This has really leveraged the product to go from Content Management System (CMS) to Digital Experience Platform (DXP) to Marketing Operating System (Marketing OS). It is not a place to do tasks anymore, but to check up on the final content of your workflow on every channel and in every language. It has become really easy to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The real power of the Optimizely CMS is leveraged in the newest version, which requires an upgrade for many existing users to a different format. Looking at long-term strategy, you would need to do that anyways, but this could hurt user adoption on the short-term. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find the CMS easy to navigate while also having many customizable features to enhance the usage of the system. As a web developer, not only is the CMS interface easy to work with, but so is the code. There has been many opportunities to add our own customization and it's pretty easy to integrate any add-ons and apps. The CMS works well with 3rd party implementations as well as Optimizely's own library of apps. I feel the opportunities are kind of endless with what you can do with the platform which is always a plus. Their customer service has also been top notch with detailed reports and fast responses. 9 times out of 10, their customer support will have a solution ready for whatever problem we happen to encounter weather it be on the code side or within the CMS itself. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I do feel that the developer documentation could be a little more detailed. I find that whenever I need to look into the documentation, I'm still left with a few questions. But on the bright side, the forums will almost always have an answer within them. And also, I do end up finding answers on Google from independent blogs/forums and customer support usually can help fill in any missing info as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Optimizely is easy for a variety of content editors to make changes - with permission restrictions it's simple to grant team members access to manage their content contributions. The ability to develop custom functionality has been beneficial for our team and has allowed for unique user experiences to help set our brand apart from peers. The ease of integrating other 3rd party solutions into the CMS has been seamless. I've had great customer service from Optimizely over the years where they are quick to respond to tickets and helpful with requests that are less common. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The out of box forms are a little limiting and require custom development in order to style them and/or create custom workflows. It would be great if the A/B testing capability was available outside of their ODP package. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The Optimizely CMS is intuitive and easy to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The system is expensive and could be cost-prohibitive for smaller organizations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

As a developer and technical admin for the Opti CMS, I find it very easy to do whatever I need. Things work as expected and We've had nearly zero downtime since using the platform. Although the ease of use for editors depends greatly on choices made during implementation, we've found the experience to be positive. The CMS is easy to use and our customer support team at Optimizely are very supportive and take great care of us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I don't really dislike anything but there are some minor annoyances over some things in the CMS. Recently we've needed to find a document stored in the CMS based on its public URL but, because it was stored inside of a "for this block" that was likely stored in another "for this block" or "for this page" folder, it became nearly impossible to find. Some additional internal reporting and management utilities would be helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ease of use, as a developer to code-first approach to CMS is very useful. Plenty of training materials available and an active community forum. I use this every day and alongside other CMS offerings and find Opti to always provide the best environment to implement a fully functional website using a mix of Opti features and standard .NET practices. Very extendable and lots of 3rd party plugins available to use and simple to create your own and integrate into a CMS website. Customer support available for reporting issues and assistance using cloud services. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Since upgrade to .NET core some features have not yet been implemented (DDS admin) Upgrading from .NET framework to core can be complicated and time consuming. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

User friendly CMS, there’s a lot of features like personalization of block , Built in SEO mogul for setting up page redirect , easy access you can login in different devices without using any vpn , responsive support when you have questions or challenges they provided solutions on time , like executing queries on database prod for data collection Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Currently our version of CMS is not the latest, which lacks new features. There's an error every time we try to update the global link translation. It requires the latest version of CMS and other nugget packages Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Optimizely CMS strikes a solid balance between flexibility for developers and ease of use for content authors. The UI is intuitive, making it easy for our content team to manage and publish updates without needing technical intervention. As developers, we benefit from its strong integration capabilities with ASP.NET and C#, allowing us to create custom blocks, APIs, and features with minimal friction.

Implementation is relatively smooth if you're already familiar with .NET, and the modular design encourages clean, maintainable code. We use the platform frequently across multiple global pages and campaigns, and it scales well with our enterprise needs. The CMS also offers a wide set of features, from versioning to localization and user permissions, that are critical for managing large, content-rich sites.

Support from Optimizely has been responsive and helpful whenever we've reached out with questions or run into issues, which adds confidence to our day-to-day operations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The initial learning curve can be steep for developers who are new to the platform, especially when dealing with complex configurations or legacy projects. Some aspects of the documentation can be inconsistent or lacking detail, especially when dealing with version-specific features or upgrades. Additionally, performance can occasionally lag on large-scale content-heavy pages unless optimization is proactively managed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like it because stands out for its user-friendly interface, powerful personalization capabilities, and strong integration with digital marketing tools, making it ideal for delivering dynamic, targeted content efficiently. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Custom development can be complex, requiring experienced developers familiar with the platform Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like best about Optimizely CMS is its flexibility and developer-friendly architecture. It allows for clean, modular code while giving content editors a powerful and intuitive editing experience. Features like content versioning, personalization, and multi-site support are built-in and work seamlessly. I also appreciate how well it integrates with modern front-end frameworks and APIs, making it ideal for headless and hybrid CMS scenarios. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

While Optimizely CMS is powerful, the learning curve can be steep for new developers—especially when setting up complex features like custom content types or integrating with external systems. Some parts of the documentation could be more detailed or include more real-world examples. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.