LaunchDarkly vs Flagsmith

These two feature-flag products count usage in unrelated units, and that single choice largely decides the monthly bill. LaunchDarkly charges for service connections and client-side monthly active users, while Flagsmith counts API requests per month. Flagsmith also offers self-hosting under a BSD-3-Clause licence, and the LaunchDarkly pricing page we read mentions no self-hosted option. LaunchDarkly gives 100,000 experimentation users free and keeps advanced targeting for Enterprise. Flagsmith starts A/B testing on its $45 Start-Up plan and holds SAML, change requests and audit logs back for Scale-Up, which costs $300 monthly.

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Both are reviewed in full in our A/B testing tool ranking: LaunchDarkly and Flagsmith.

1. 01

   Counting connections versus counting requests

   LaunchDarkly's Foundation plan bills $10 per service connection yearly ($12 monthly) and $8.33 per 1K client-side users yearly ($10 monthly), with no platform or seat fees. Flagsmith counts API requests instead, which is a different unit entirely: 50,000 a month on Free, one million on Start-Up and five million or more on Scale-Up, with extra calls from 50 US dollars per million. Requests are one number to forecast, while LaunchDarkly needs two, so Flagsmith is simpler to predict for a small team.

   Edge: Flagsmith

2. 02

   Experiment users on the free tier

   LaunchDarkly's Developer plan costs $0 forever with no credit card and unlimited seats, and its experimentation allowance is 100K users a month. Flagsmith's Free plan also costs $0 and counts up to 100,000 users in experiments, but it limits you to one team member and one project. The experiment allowance is identical on paper. The seat limit separates them, because LaunchDarkly lets a whole engineering team sign in and try experiments without paying for a plan, whereas Flagsmith asks for an upgrade.

   Edge: LaunchDarkly

3. 03

   Where a team can run the software

   Flagsmith lists three ways to run it: cloud hosted across eight regions, a fully managed private cloud in a region you choose, and self-hosted on premises or in your own cloud with Helm and OpenShift Operator support. Most of its code is BSD-3-Clause, with a few repositories under MIT. LaunchDarkly's pricing page does not mention self-hosted or on-prem options. Flagsmith Enterprise extends hosting further, up to air-gapped setups. For teams with data-residency rules, Flagsmith offers clearly more choice about where the service runs.

   Edge: Flagsmith

4. 04

   When A/B testing and approvals switch on

   A/B and multivariate testing arrive on Flagsmith's Start-Up tier at $45 a month ($40 billed yearly), while SAML or SSO, roles, change requests and audit logs wait for Scale-Up at $300 monthly ($250 yearly). LaunchDarkly puts SSO and SAML on every plan, and reserves advanced targeting, custom roles, workflows, scheduling, approvals and SCIM for Enterprise. Guardian, for guardrail metrics and automatic rollback, is a separately priced add-on. Governance reaches the cheaper tier sooner at LaunchDarkly, though Enterprise is quoted.

   Depends on the buyer

5. 05

   Trial length and the first paid step

   Both Flagsmith paid tiers, Start-Up and Scale-Up, carry a 14-day free trial, and Start-Up is a flat $45 a month with three team members and one million requests. LaunchDarkly's Foundation plan also starts with a 14-day trial, then bills per unit used after the free amounts, so the first invoice depends on traffic. Enterprise is custom-priced at both vendors, with Flagsmith quoting custom limits, an SLA and onboarding. For a predictable first bill, Flagsmith's flat step is easier.

   Edge: Flagsmith

6. 06

   Company behind each product

   Bullet Train Limited operates Flagsmith from a registered office at 66 Paul Street, London (company number 12353266), and the fact sheet lists the United Kingdom as its country. LaunchDarkly is Catamorphic, Co. doing business as LaunchDarkly, a Delaware corporation whose terms fall under California law, with an Oakland office at 1999 Harrison Street and a second office in London. It was founded in 2014. For buyers who prefer a UK-registered operator over a US one, Flagsmith fits that preference.

   Edge: Flagsmith

Does either free plan let a second developer join?

LaunchDarkly's Developer plan lists unlimited seats at $0 with no credit card. On Flagsmith's Free tier the limit is a single team member and a single project. A second developer on Flagsmith means Start-Up, which includes three team members.

Which one can I run on my own servers?

Flagsmith can be self-hosted on premises or in your own cloud, with Helm and OpenShift Operator support, and most of the code is BSD-3-Clause. LaunchDarkly's pricing page is silent on self-hosted or on-prem installs. Ask LaunchDarkly directly if that matters to you.

What happens to cost if my traffic doubles?

On LaunchDarkly the client-side part of the bill scales with monthly active users at $8.33 per 1K on yearly billing, and server use scales with connections.

On Flagsmith, extra API calls beyond a plan start at 50 US dollars per million. Check both against your own request and user counts before committing.

• LaunchDarkly pricing: Developer plan limits, Foundation unit prices, Enterprise add-ons, the 14-day trial and the absence of a self-hosted mention.
• LaunchDarkly terms of service: Operating entity Catamorphic, Co., Delaware incorporation and California governing law.
• LaunchDarkly about page: Founding year 2014 and the Oakland and London offices.
• Flagsmith pricing: Request allowances, team-member limits, feature gating by plan and the three hosting options.
• Flagsmith GitHub repository: Main repository licence is BSD-3-Clause; a few others are MIT.
• Flagsmith privacy policy: Legal entity, company number and London registered address.