Flagsmith vs GrowthBook: A Detailed Comparison
Flagsmith and GrowthBook are both open-source feature flag tools with self-serve options, but they differ in important ways. Find out which solution is right for you!
Built for engineering teams who want to increase development velocity, Flagsmith focuses on feature flagging and remote config management.
With a one-size-fits-all approach, GrowthBook targets data science, product, and marketing teams and focuses on experimentation.
A GrowthBook alternative trusted by top development teams
The key difference between Flagsmith vs GrowthBook
Though similar at first glance, Flagsmith and GrowthBook occupy different stages of the software development and product management lifecycle. Flagsmith is built for engineers interested in robust feature flagging and remote configuration management, whereas GrowthBook is built for growth teams interested in experimentation and analytics. But which one is right for you? Let’s delve deeper into the key differences.
1. If you’re focused on feature flagging and remote config…
When it comes to Flagsmith vs GrowthBook, both companies have feature flagging and remote config capabilities, but Flagsmith prioritises these, offering a comprehensive set of features necessary for managing feature flags. GrowthBook’s features tend to prioritise experimentation and are geared towards product managers and marketing teams.
Flagsmith also offers more robust capabilities for managing remote configurations, allowing teams to dynamically adjust application settings, feature parameters, and business rules without requiring code deployments. This streamlines configuration management and reduces reliance on manual configuration changes.
Flagsmith’s flag combinations—Boolean, String, and Integer—allow for maximum flexibility when implementing flags, for use cases like:
- Toggling features on and off (for example, controlling a new UI element within an application)
- Configuring environment variables/keys (for example, setting the URL for an API)
- Remotely configuring String values used within an application (for example, defining different colour schemes for an application banner depending on the environment)
2. If security and compliance are important to you…
Flagsmith is built with data-sensitive organisations in mind, offering features like “4-eyes” flag approval (so you don’t accidentally deploy a feature that’s not ready), comprehensive audit logs, and role-based access control, as well as private cloud and on-premise deployment options. SOC 2 Type 2 certification and GDPR compliance add another layer of protection.
While Growthbook has a self-hosted option and is GDPR-compliant, they have only achieved SOC 2 Type 1 certification. This isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for everyone, but something to consider for compliance and regulatory requirements!
3. If you’re looking for deep A/B tests with statistical significance…
If you want to run true statistical tests and will be working with a data science team, then GrowthBook will likely be the better choice. If you want to run percentage-based rollouts, split tests, or A/B tests on releases, Flagsmith has all of the features (and integrations) you need to configure your tests.
4. If you’re looking for flexibility and easy set-up…
Flagsmith is very quick to get set up, with a user-friendly UI that isn’t trying to do too much at once. It’s built by devs who want to minimise bloat, and you can get up and running in under 5 minutes.
GrowthBook’s UI can be a little complex, as mentioned in this review, and it also requires more set-up than Flagsmith. Flagsmith integrates with existing analytics platforms, while GrowthBook pulls data directly from a data warehouse, displaying it in their platform, which can be more complicated to get up and running and can take some time to understand.
Comparing Flagsmith vs GrowthBook: Platform comparison
Jindrich Kubat
,
Head of Development
Komerční Banka - Demo push
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Try Interactive DemoHow to choose between GrowthBook vs Flagsmith
Both GrowthBook and Flagsmith bring a lot to the table, and determining your primary use case will be a big part of deciding which provider to go with.
If you’re a developer looking to increase your development velocity by introducing feature flag software (or perhaps you’re switching from an in-house feature flag tool), then Flagsmith will likely be a better fit. But if you work in product, marketing, or data analytics, and are looking for a tool to aid in experimentation, then GrowthBook might be right for you.
GrowthBook focuses on A/B testing, user behaviour tracking, experiment management, cohort analysis, and funnel analysis, and where Flagsmith integrates with all major analytics platforms, rather than focusing on in-house, GrowthBook only offers their own analytics solution. This has benefits and drawbacks.
Feature bloat is real and when it comes to Flagsmith vs GrowthBook, if you’re only after feature flags, remote configuration, and A/B testing, Flagsmith will likely make more sense.
Key factors for evaluation
When it comes to evaluating which feature flag provider to go with, doing a side-by-side comparison of feature flag-specific features can be helpful. Let’s dive in.
Flagsmith vs GrowthBook: Feature comparison
Jindrich Kubat
,
Head of Development
Komerční Banka - Demo push
Get started!
Try Interactive DemoEase of use and customer support
Flagsmith was created out of the need for a feature flagging solution that prioritised the developer experience. It’s got a straightforward UI and doesn’t try to overwhelm with too much going on. The team is super responsive and has also fostered an active Discord community. Being open source also means you can always submit a pull request on GitHub with proposed product updates.
GrowthBook also scores well on customer support. When it comes to usability, their customers are mostly complimentary but do note that the UI can be a little complicated and take some time to fully understand. GrowthBook also offers a Chrome extension for debugging feature flags and remote configs that users like.
User reviews*
What are people saying about Flagsmith?
“The tool’s user-friendly interface made feature flag management accessible to everyone on the team. It promoted quick collaboration and simplified onboarding. Flagsmith truly transformed our approach to feature flagging and contributed to our business’s success.” - G2 Reviewer
*Reviews accurate as of April 2024
Pricing
TL;DR Flagsmith pricing: How much does Flagsmith cost?
Flagsmith is free to try and stays free for one team member with unlimited flags and up to 50,000 requests per month.
Cloud
Free plan
- Up to 50,000 requests / month
- Unlimited Feature Flags, Environments, Identities and Segments
- A/B and multivariate testing
- More
Start-Up - $45 / month
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Up to 1,000,000 requests / month
- 3 Team Members
- Online Ts and Cs
- API Access
- More
Enterprise - Contact Sales
- Everything in Start-Up, plus:
- 5,000,000+ requests / month
- 20+ Team Members
- Uptime and Support SLA
- 2FA, SAML, Okta, ADFS and LDAP Authentication
- More
TL;DR GrowthBook pricing: How much does GrowthBook cost?
GrowthBook has two pricing models which are broadly the same: Cloud & Self-hosted. Within those, they have 3 tiers:
- Starter - free
- Pro - $20 / user / month
- Enterprise - custom
Starter Cloud comes with:
- Up to 3 GrowthBook Users
- Cloud-hosted on our servers
- Unlimited traffic
- Unlimited feature flags
Starter Self-hosted comes with:
- Unlimited GrowthBook users
- Unlimited traffic
- Unlimited feature flags
When moving to Pro tiers, all plans come with:
- Premium support
- Advanced statistics (CUPED, Sequential, Sticky Bucketing)
- Visual A/B Test Editor
- Community support
But the Cloud plan is capped at 100 users.
Both types of Enterprise plans come with:
- SSO / SAML integration
- Roadmap Acceleration
- Service-level Agreements
Which should you choose?
Both Flagsmith and GrowthBook have superior products, they’re just built for different users. Deciding which one to go with will depend on your use case.
If you’re a developer looking for a straightforward, easy-to-use platform with robust feature flagging and remote configuration capabilities, we recommend Flagsmith.
If you’re looking for a platform that focuses on testing, iteration, and growth, GrowthBook might be the better choice.
Jindrich Kubat
,
Head of Development
Komerční Banka
Get started!
Try for FreeFrequently Asked Questions
GrowthBook is an open-source experimentation and feature flagging platform. It’s modular, which means you can use it for conducting and analysing experiments, feature flags, or both. It offers free and paid plans and allows you to scale as you grow.
GrowthBook has two pricing models which are broadly the same: Cloud & Self-hosted. Within these, they have 3 tiers:
- Starter - free
- Pro - $20 / user / month
- Enterprise - custom
The “forced value” rule in GrowthBook is the easiest way to override an existing rule. It functions as a shortcut that allows you to push a specific value to a group that matches a targeting condition. It could be as simple as turning a feature on, but only for a specific list of countries, leaving it off for users outside of these countries.
GrowthBook was founded by Graham McNicoll (CEO) and Jeremy Dorn (CTO). Before founding GrowthBook, Graham McNicoll served as CTO and VP of Product & Engineering at Education.com, growing it into a popular digital learning platform with over eight million users before it was acquired by IXL Learning. Jeremy Dorn is the co-founder and CTO of GrowthBook and also hails from Education.com, where he was Chief Architect.