Case Study: Optimizely achieves 300% faster feature testing and 100% feature coverage with Cypress

Optimizely Achieves Tripled Speed in Feature Testing with Cypress

Optimizely, a platform for experimentation and progressive feature rollouts, struggled with a brittle, custom Selenium-based end-to-end test framework that lacked centralized maintenance, had flaky tests, poor coverage (72% in the Experimentation Platform and zero elsewhere), slow pipelines, and frequent post-release regressions. To address this, Optimizely evaluated and adopted Cypress (including Cypress Cloud) as the vendor/product to replace the legacy framework.

Cypress delivered a successful proof of concept that two QA engineers used to increase regression testing by 28% over a summer and achieve 100% feature coverage while significantly reducing incoming high‑severity issues. Integration with Cypress Cloud enabled running tests across 16 machines, producing a 300% improvement in test performance and a 45% reduction in run time from parallelization; Optimizely has sunsetted Selenium and is transitioning its full end-to-end suite to Cypress.

Optimizely

Todd Seller

Software QA Engineer