Smartlook alternative (2026): Record vs Test on Shopify
Smartlook is a behaviour analytics tool with session recordings, heatmaps, funnels, and event tracking across web and mobile apps, with no experimentation engine. Omniconvert Explore is built for the eCommerce store: native Shopify integration, A/B and multivariate experiments on product, cart, and checkout, and revenue-per-visitor measurement. Smartlook shows where visitors leak; Explore tests the fix. Often complementary.
- Smartlook is a behaviour analytics tool with session recordings, heatmaps, funnels, and event tracking, and one of the few tools that covers both web and native mobile apps in one product.
- Smartlook has no A/B testing engine at all: no multivariate, no server-side, no visual editor, and no on-site surveys or overlays.
- Smartlook has medium Shopify integration and cannot run experiments on product pages, cart flows, or Shopify checkout.
- Omniconvert Explore runs A/B, multivariate, and server-side experiments on Shopify revenue surfaces and measures results in revenue per visitor.
- Decide by job: pick Smartlook for cross-device recording and event analytics, pick Explore for controlled experiments that move orders, or run both.
Teams comparing Smartlook vs Omniconvert Explore are usually deciding how to move from watching users on web and mobile to actually testing a fix on a Shopify store. Smartlook is a behavioural analytics tool: session recordings, heatmaps, funnels, and event tracking spanning both browsers and native apps. It has no A/B testing capability. Omniconvert Explore runs A/B, multivariate, and personalization tests on product, cart, and checkout and reports the outcome in revenue per visitor. This page covers what each does well, where Smartlook hits its ceiling for eCommerce, and when to pick one or use both.
What is Smartlook, and what does it actually do?
Smartlook is a behaviour analytics tool that combines session recordings, heatmaps, funnels, and event tracking across web and mobile apps. It shows where users tap, click, scroll, and drop off, and is one of the few tools that captures the same session data on native iOS and Android alongside desktop and mobile web. It is a diagnostic instrument, not an experimentation platform.
Smartlook rates 4.6 out of 5 on G2 across 874 reviews, and reviewers consistently place it above Fullstory and Hotjar on value, with session replay itself scoring 9.1 on G2. [G2, 2026] It ships a free tier and a free trial on paid plans, priced on sessions captured. [Smartlook, 2026]
The genuine differentiator is coverage: Smartlook is one of the few session replay tools that treats native mobile apps as a first-class surface, so a team running a Shopify web store and a companion iOS or Android app can watch both from the same product. Event tracking and funnels sit on top of the same session data.
The question this page answers is narrower: is a behaviour recording and event analytics tool with heatmaps the same job as running conversion experiments on a Shopify store? And if not, where is the gap?
A session recording is a replay of an individual visit that reconstructs taps, clicks, mouse movement, and scrolling. Smartlook pairs recordings with heatmaps, funnels, and event tracking across web and native mobile to help teams diagnose why visitors drop off. It is a diagnostic instrument, distinct from a controlled experiment that measures a revenue outcome.
Where Smartlook is genuinely strong
- Web and native mobile in one product: the same session replay and event data on desktop, mobile web, iOS, and Android.
- Session replay quality: a 9.1 score on G2 for the replay feature itself, above Fullstory and Hotjar on value in reviews. [G2, 2026]
- Event tracking and funnels included: retroactive events and funnel drop-off analysis built on the same session data.
- Free tier plus free trial: a genuine no-cost entry point with paid tiers priced on sessions. [Smartlook, 2026]
Where Smartlook hits its ceiling for an eCommerce store
- No A/B testing at all: Smartlook shows the friction but cannot test a variant against it.
- No multivariate or server-side testing: both are outside the product scope entirely.
- No visual editor: nothing to author or ship an experiment from.
- Medium Shopify integration: installs via snippet or app, but does not run experiments on product, cart, or checkout templates.
- No eCommerce revenue reporting: event counts, not revenue per visitor or order rate, and no CVO cohort segmentation.
- Interface and capture caveats: reviewers describe the UI as cluttered and note that some sessions are not reliably captured.
None of this makes Smartlook a weak product. It makes it a behaviour analytics tool. The friction shows up specifically when the site under test is a Shopify store and the team needs to move from watching a problem to testing a fix that lifts revenue.
What Smartlook cannot do for an eCommerce store
Smartlook records what visitors did on web and mobile but has no mechanism to deliver a different experience. A store using it for eCommerce CRO gets a clear picture of where the funnel leaks and then still needs an experimentation platform to prove which fix lifts revenue per visitor. Smartlook diagnoses; it does not test.
Smartlook records what visitors did on web and mobile but has no mechanism to test a different experience. Teams using it for eCommerce CRO get a clear picture of where the funnel leaks on a product page, a mobile cart, or an iOS checkout, and then need a separate experimentation platform to prove which fix lifts revenue per visitor. Omniconvert Explore is built for exactly that next step.
Most behaviour analytics tools are built around a generic web or app page and a generic engagement event. They optimize how a team sees user behaviour. They are not built around the surfaces where eCommerce revenue is actually won or lost, or around the metric a store runs on.
eCommerce CRO is the practice of running controlled experiments on the revenue surfaces of an online store, product pages, cart, and checkout, and measuring the result in revenue per visitor and order rate rather than generic conversion rate. Explore is defined as an eCommerce conversion rate optimization platform for product, cart, and checkout experiments, native to Shopify and priced for store traffic.
What Smartlook cannot tell an eCommerce team
- Did the fix move revenue. Whether a change inferred from a recording or a heatmap actually raised revenue per visitor and order rate, not just event counts on a page.
- Which surface to test first. Which pages in the funnel (product, cart, checkout) carry the highest revenue impact if tested next.
- How it behaves in checkout. How an experiment interacts with the Shopify catalog, variants, and checkout flow natively, without engineering glue work.
- Whether it holds for valuable customers. Whether the result holds for repeat, high-value customers, the Customer Value Optimization question, not just first-session visitors.
Across the 7,000+ eCommerce websites in Omniconvert's CROBenchmark Report 2026, checkout friction is the single largest source of lost revenue for Shopify stores, yet the diagnostic tools that surface it, session recordings, heatmaps, and event funnels, rarely feed a controlled experiment that repairs it. [CROBenchmark Report 2026, Omniconvert]
Explore runs the experiment on the store's real revenue surfaces and reports the outcome in revenue per visitor. That is the difference between a behaviour analytics tool and a platform built for store revenue.
Smartlook vs Explore: the capability comparison
Side by side, Smartlook is deeper on cross-device recording and event analytics, while Explore is the experimentation platform Smartlook does not try to be. Smartlook wins on web-plus-mobile session replay, heatmaps, and event funnels at a free-plan entry point. Explore adds A/B, multivariate, and server-side testing, native Shopify experiments, and revenue-per-visitor measurement on product, cart, and checkout.
| Capability | Smartlook | Omniconvert Explore |
|---|---|---|
| Primary function | Session recordings, heatmaps, funnels, and event tracking across web and mobile | eCommerce CRO on product, cart, and checkout pages |
| A/B testing | No not part of the product | Yes visual editor plus code editor |
| Multivariate testing | No | Yes |
| Server-side testing | No | Yes |
| Visual editor | No | Yes no developer required |
| On-site surveys and overlays | No not part of the product | Yes surveys and overlays built in |
| Shopify integration | Medium snippet or app install, no native product or checkout experiments | Yes native |
| eCommerce focus | Medium general web and mobile app analytics | High built for store revenue workflows |
| Pricing model | Session-based, free plan available, free trial on paid tiers | Session-based, built for store traffic, free trial |
| Best for | Teams wanting session replay and event analytics across web and mobile at mid-market pricing | Shopify and eCommerce teams optimizing product, cart, and checkout for revenue |
AliveCor used Explore to run a structured A/B testing program and achieved +21% conversion rate, +5% revenue per visitor, and 94% statistical relevance across their experiments. [Omniconvert, AliveCor case study]
Competitor pricing and feature availability reflect publicly listed information as of 2026 and can change. Explore uses session-based pricing; see the Omniconvert pricing page for current plans.
Get the full CROBenchmark data behind these stats: 7,000+ websites, 15+ industries, 248+ audit criteria, 100+ CRO experts. See exactly where eCommerce growth teams are losing margin in 2026.
Get the CROBenchmark ReportFrequently Asked Questions
Should you choose Explore over Smartlook?
If the experiments that matter run on a Shopify store, choose Explore: it tests product, cart, and checkout natively, supports multivariate and server-side, and measures revenue per visitor rather than event counts. If you need cross-device recording that also covers native mobile apps, keep Smartlook as a diagnostic layer alongside it. Most eCommerce teams that run both a web store and an app end up doing exactly that.
Smartlook earns its place with session recordings, heatmaps, and event tracking that span web and native mobile apps in one product, at a mid-market price point with a genuine free tier. That coverage is unusual in the category and useful for any team whose Shopify store lives next to a companion app.
The question for a store is narrower: are the experiments that move revenue running natively on the product, cart, and checkout pages, and are they measured in revenue per visitor. That is the surface Explore is built for, and it is a job Smartlook was not designed to do.
Stop guessing.
Start testing what moves revenue.
Explore runs A/B, multivariate, and personalization experiments on your product pages, cart, and checkout, then measures the outcome in revenue per visitor, not just clicks.