Optimizely is Custom (starts ~$50K/yr). Tinderbox is a self-hosted alternative at $0.99/mo. Here's when each makes sense.
| Tinderbox | Optimizely | |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Self-hosted, your infra | Managed SaaS (cloud only) |
| Data location | Your server, your disk | Optimizely's cloud |
| Free tier | 3 experiments | Paid only |
| Pro pricing | $0.99/mo | Custom (starts ~$50K/yr) |
| Dependencies | None (single binary + SQLite) | N/A (managed) |
| Setup time | ~30 seconds | Account signup |
| Dashboard | Built-in at /ui | Cloud dashboard |
| License | BSL 1.1 | Proprietary SaaS |
Tinderbox is a single Go binary with embedded SQLite. Install it with one command, and you are running in under a minute. Your data stays on your server.
curl -fsSL https://stockyard.dev/tinderbox/install.sh | sh
Optimizely is a strong product. There is no point pretending otherwise. Where Tinderbox earns its place is in situations where Optimizely cannot be used — airgapped environments, regulated industries, teams with strict data sovereignty requirements, or simply developers who prefer tools they can inspect end to end. If none of those constraints apply, Optimizely may genuinely be the better choice.
Tinderbox runs as a single static binary with an embedded SQLite database. There is no application server, no cache layer, no background worker. One process handles HTTP requests and reads from and writes to the database file directly. This simplicity is the entire point — fewer moving parts means fewer things that can break at 2 AM.
If you are currently using Optimizely and considering Tinderbox, start by running both in parallel. Install Tinderbox on a test server, point your workflow at it for a week, and compare the experience. Tinderbox's data directory is isolated — running a trial costs nothing beyond the compute. If Tinderbox does not fit, delete the binary and the data directory. There is nothing else to clean up.
Single binary. Free to start. $0.99/mo for Pro.