Free Feature Flag Tools
Which feature flag and experimentation tools a startup can use for free today, how many seats, monthly users or requests the free plan covers, whether it can be self-hosted, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, read from each tool's own page.
Free allowances read on each provider's own pages, all checked on or after . Feature flag tools change their free plans from time to time: confirm the terms on the tool's page before you ship flags with it.
Feature flag tools a startup can use for free today include ConfigCat (Forever free flags and configs), GrowthBook (Unlimited flags and experiments, 3 users), LaunchDarkly (5 service connections, 1K client MAUs a month), FeatBit (Full-featured open source, forever free), and DevCycle (Unlimited seats, 1,000 client-side MAUs). Each of the 10 free plans below links to the tool's page that states it, with its main limit, whether it can be self-hosted, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs.
Feature flags let a team ship code dark, roll it out to a few users, and turn it off without a redeploy; the same tools run A/B tests. Most feature flag platforms have a free plan, and several are open source and free to run yourself.
The headline rarely tells you how far it goes. A free plan can cap seats, client-side monthly active users, requests or environments, or allow only one experiment at a time. Each tool below shows what is free, its main limit, whether it can be self-hosted, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, quoted from the tool's own page with the date we read it.
Which tools we picked and the order they appear in are our editorial choices; the terms are the tools'. Some of these tools pay us a referral commission when someone signs up through our link: those links are labeled, and they play no part in which tools are listed or where.
Hosted feature flag platforms with a free plan
Feature flags and experiments in the cloud, with a free plan or trial.
- 1
ConfigCat
Small teams that want a forever free plan
ConfigCat's Forever Free plan is free with no card, and includes 10 feature flags, 2 environments and 2 products. Pro is $110 a month.
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: configcat.com)
- First paid plan
- Pro: $110 a month (source: configcat.com)
Start free at ConfigCatTerms read on configcat.com on ConfigCat: the free allowance and how to start ConfigCat Startup Program: what startups get - 2
LaunchDarkly
Teams that want unlimited seats on a usage-based plan
LaunchDarkly's Developer plan includes 5 service connections and 1K client-side MAUs a month, with unlimited seats and no card required. Paid use starts at $10 per service connection a month.
- Payment card
- No card needed (source: launchdarkly.com)
Start free at LaunchDarklyTerms read on launchdarkly.com on LaunchDarkly: the free allowance and how to start - 3
DevCycle
Teams with unlimited seats and up to 1,000 client MAUs
DevCycle's Free plan has unlimited seats and up to 1,000 client-side MAUs, with 10,000 cloud config requests a month and no credit card required. Business is $500 a month, billed annually.
- Payment card
- No credit card needed (source: devcycle.com)
- 4
Harness (Split)
Two developers with a small user base
Harness's Free plan covers up to 2 developers and 25,000 client monthly active users. Trying feature flags needs no credit card and no commit.
- Payment card
- No credit card, no commit (source: harness.io)
Start free at HarnessTerms read on developer.harness.io on Harness (Split): the free allowance and how to start - 5
Optimizely
Unlimited flags and one experiment at a time
Optimizely Rollouts comes with unlimited feature flags and controlled rollouts, and runs one experiment at a time. No credit card is needed.
- Payment card
- No credit card needed (source: optimizely.com)
Start free at OptimizelyTerms read on docs.optimizely.com on Optimizely: the free allowance and how to start
Open-source feature flag tools you can self-host
Free to run on your own servers, some with a free cloud tier.
- 1
GrowthBook
Teams that want unlimited flags and experiments free
GrowthBook's free cloud Starter plan covers 3 users with unlimited flags and experiments. Its free self-hosted plan has unlimited users. Pro is $40 per seat a month.
- Payment card
- No credit card needed (source: growthbook.io)
- First paid plan
- Pro: $40 per seat a month (source: growthbook.io)
Start free at GrowthBookTerms read on growthbook.io on GrowthBook: the free allowance and how to start - 2
FeatBit
Self-hosters who want no seat or MAU caps
FeatBit's Foundation plan is a full-featured open source platform, free forever. All self-host plans have no limits on seats, MAU, projects or service connections. Enterprise is $3,999 a year.
- First paid plan
- Enterprise: $3,999 a year (source: featbit.co)
- 3
Flagsmith
Teams starting with 50,000 requests a month
Flagsmith's Free plan includes up to 50,000 requests a month with 1 team member. Its core code is BSD-3-Clause licensed, free to self-host. Start-Up is from $40 a month.
- First paid plan
- Start-Up: from $40 a month (source: flagsmith.com)
Start free at FlagsmithTerms read on flagsmith.com on Flagsmith: the free allowance and how to start - 4
Flipt
Teams that deploy flags from Git and self-host
Flipt's Open Source plan is forever free, with no flag limits and self-hosting. Pro is $200 a month.
- Main limit
- No flag limits (source: flipt.io)
- Self-hosting
- Free to self-host, one binary (source: flipt.io)
- First paid plan
- Pro: $200 a month (source: flipt.io)
- 5
Unleash
Self-hosting one project with no seat limit
Unleash Open Source is free and self-hosted with no seat limit, and covers 1 project, 2 environments and 5,000 flags. Pay-As-You-Go starts at $75 per seat a month.
- First paid plan
- Pay-As-You-Go: $75 per seat a month (source: getunleash.io)
Developer startup programs
Programs from developer tool companies that give startups credits or free months on paid plans.
Also useful for building and shipping apps
Referral links, picked for fit and ordered by fit (70%) and what a signup earns us (30%), at no cost to you. They never change this page's ranking.
Compare the top options
How this comparison is built
The list covers feature flag and experimentation tools a founder can use for free today without applying to a program. The order and the "best for" notes are our editorial reading of each tool's terms. Every term comes from the tool's own pricing or help page on the date shown, never from a third-party list; follow each link for the full conditions. A cap on seats, monthly users or flag requests can matter more than the headline, so the comparison quotes them wherever the tool states them. Some of these tools pay StartupPerks a referral commission, and their links are labeled as referral links; that decides neither whether nor where a tool appears, and no tool pays for a placement on this page.
Read the full methodologyCommon questions
What is the best free feature flag tool?
It depends on scale. By the terms each tool states, LaunchDarkly's free plan covers 5 service connections and 1K client MAUs a month with unlimited seats, DevCycle 1,000 client-side MAUs with unlimited seats, Harness (Split) 25,000 client MAUs for up to 2 developers, and GrowthBook unlimited flags and experiments for 3 users.
Is LaunchDarkly free?
Yes. LaunchDarkly's free plan includes 5 service connections and 1K client-side MAUs a month, with unlimited seats and no card needed. Foundation costs $10 per service connection a month.
Which feature flag tools are open source?
GrowthBook, FeatBit, Flagsmith, Flipt and Unleash are open source and free to self-host. GrowthBook's self-hosted edition allows unlimited users, and FeatBit states no seat, MAU or project limits.
Can I run A/B tests for free?
GrowthBook's free plan includes unlimited experiments for 3 users, and Optimizely's free plan runs one experiment at a time with unlimited flags.
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