Flagsmith

What Flagsmith does

Flagsmith manages feature flags and remote configuration. Every flag can hold a value as well as an on/off state, so the same tool can change a button label, a rate limit or a pricing experiment without a release. Flags are set per environment, and you can override them for individual identities (users) or for segments defined by traits such as plan, country or app version. Multivariate flags split users between several values for A/B tests.

Flags are organized into organizations, projects and environments, with team member roles and a REST API for automation.

How evaluation works

Client-side SDKs fetch the flags for an environment or a specific identity from the API using a public client-side key. Server-side SDKs use a secret key and can run in local evaluation mode: they download the environment document and evaluate flags in process, which avoids a network call per check and keeps user traits inside your application. A self-hostable Edge Proxy can serve flags close to your applications.

Flagsmith also publishes OpenFeature providers, so you can call it through the vendor-neutral OpenFeature API and keep the option to switch back ends.

Migrating from LaunchDarkly

Flagsmith documents a built-in importer that reads environments and flags from a LaunchDarkly project, which makes it one of the easier moves for teams leaving LaunchDarkly.

Self-hosting Flagsmith

The platform is a Django API with a React dashboard and needs PostgreSQL; a separate task processor container is recommended. Docker Compose, a Helm chart for Kubernetes, an OpenShift operator and guides for major clouds are documented. The default Compose file also starts Kafka and ClickHouse for the experimentation feature, which the project labels beta; a flags-only Compose file runs without them. On first start the dashboard guides you through creating an admin account.

The Enterprise Edition is distributed as separate private Docker images. It adds SAML and LDAP login, change request workflows, scheduled flag changes, Oracle and MySQL support and an AppDynamics integration, and needs a license.

Hosted version

Flagsmith runs a hosted SaaS with a free plan limited by monthly API requests and a single team member, and paid plans with more requests and seats. Private cloud and supported self-hosted Enterprise options are also offered. The pricing page says the cloud service runs in eight regions.

Limitations

Approval workflows, scheduled changes and enterprise login methods are commercial, which matters for regulated teams. Experiment analysis is new and in beta, and turning it on adds Kafka and ClickHouse to the stack. Teams that need mature experiment statistics should compare GrowthBook.

Who it suits

Flagsmith suits teams that want flags and remote config under a permissive license, with a hosted free plan to start and the option to self-host on PostgreSQL later. The LaunchDarkly importer makes it a practical choice for migrations.