Flagbearer vs Flagsmith
Flagsmith is an open source feature flag and remote config service that you can use in its cloud or host yourself. Flagbearer is a hosted feature flag tool that keeps to one job. Launch to a few people, grow to everyone, and adjust anytime without a redeploy.
Both are good choices. Which one fits depends on what you're looking for.
Why teams pick Flagbearer
- Nothing to run. Flagbearer is hosted for you. Sign up, create a flag and check it in code, with no servers or upgrades to look after.
- Flags are the whole product. A flag is on or off, for the people you choose. Every screen is about creating a flag, rolling it out and seeing who has it.
- Gradual rollouts built in. Start with your testers, then grow by percentage at whatever pace feels right. People who already have the feature keep it as the rollout grows.
- Live updates. A change reaches your users within seconds, in the browser, on mobile and on your servers.
- Pricing you can read. Plans are sold by monthly users, the people who actually see your flags, so the bill doesn't move with how often your code checks a flag. The prices are on the pricing page.
- Made for agents and CI. Flip a flag from a terminal, a deploy job, or an AI agent like Claude Code, with the same access controls as the dashboard.
How the two compare
Scope. Flagsmith covers flags, remote config values, multivariate flags, segments and A/B testing. Flagbearer keeps to on/off flags and rollouts, so there's less to set up and less to learn.
Hosting. Flagsmith offers its own cloud, a private cloud, and a self-hosted open source edition. Flagbearer is hosted only.
Pricing. Flagsmith's plans are metered by API requests and team members, and its current prices are on its own pricing page. Flagbearer's plans are metered by monthly users. There's a free plan for a single app, and every paid plan starts with a free trial.
Getting started. With Flagbearer you sign up, create a flag and check it in code. The docs fit on a page per platform.
When Flagsmith is the better fit
If you need to host the flag service yourself, want open source, or want remote config values and A/B tests alongside your flags, Flagsmith covers more ground. If you want hosted flags that are quick to add and a pleasure to use, Flagbearer is built for you.
Moving over
Flags are easy to move one at a time. Create the flag in Flagbearer, swap the check in your code, and set the same rollout. New flags can start in Flagbearer today while existing ones move at your own pace.