# LaunchDarkly vs Unleash

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/launchdarkly-vs-unleash/

Every value below is read from LaunchDarkly's and Unleash's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | LaunchDarkly | Unleash |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Free trial |
| Credit card to start | No | No |
| Pricing model | Usage, explicitly not seats — the page says so in those words. $8.33 per 1,000 client-side monthly active users, where a unique user or device is one MAU, plus a charge per service connection, where one server-side SDK attached to one environment for a month is one connection. | Per seat, $75 a month each — the opposite axis to every other member here. Client-side MAU and service connections are unlimited on every plan, so audience size and traffic cost nothing; the bill is a function of how many people touch the tool. |
| Retention window | 30 days for AgentControl run and eval data on the free plan. | 90 days of feature flag metrics on both published plans. |
| Users included | 1,000 client-side MAU a month on the free plan, then $8.33 per additional thousand. Experimentation carries its own separate allowance of 100,000 MAU at no extra charge. | Unlimited client-side monthly active users on every plan, alongside unlimited service connections. The audience is free; the seats are not. |

## Where they differ

### Free tier

- LaunchDarkly: Yes ([source](https://launchdarkly.com/pricing/))
- Unleash: No ([source](https://www.getunleash.io/pricing))

### Kind of free offer

- LaunchDarkly: Free tier ([source](https://launchdarkly.com/pricing/))
- Unleash: Free trial ([source](https://www.getunleash.io/pricing))

### Pricing model

- LaunchDarkly: Usage, explicitly not seats — the page says so in those words. $8.33 per 1,000 client-side monthly active users, where a unique user or device is one MAU, plus a charge per service connection, where one server-side SDK attached to one environment for a month is one connection. ([source](https://launchdarkly.com/pricing/))
- Unleash: Per seat, $75 a month each — the opposite axis to every other member here. Client-side MAU and service connections are unlimited on every plan, so audience size and traffic cost nothing; the bill is a function of how many people touch the tool. ([source](https://www.getunleash.io/pricing))

### Retention window

- LaunchDarkly: 30 days for AgentControl run and eval data on the free plan. ([source](https://launchdarkly.com/pricing/))
- Unleash: 90 days of feature flag metrics on both published plans. ([source](https://www.getunleash.io/pricing))

### Users included

- LaunchDarkly: 1,000 client-side MAU a month on the free plan, then $8.33 per additional thousand. Experimentation carries its own separate allowance of 100,000 MAU at no extra charge. ([source](https://launchdarkly.com/pricing/))
- Unleash: Unlimited client-side monthly active users on every plan, alongside unlimited service connections. The audience is free; the seats are not. ([source](https://www.getunleash.io/pricing))

## Which should you choose?

Pick LaunchDarkly if A large team shipping to a small audience. Seats are explicitly unmetered — "no per-seat pricing", in its own words — so inviting everyone costs nothing, and the bill tracks the users you serve at $8.33 per thousand MAU. The free plan is $0 forever with unlimited seats and no card.

Pick Unleash if A small team serving a large audience, and wanting the option to run it yourself. Client-side MAU and service connections are unlimited on every plan, so neither traffic nor audience moves the price — only headcount does, at $75 a seat.

Consider something else: LaunchDarkly — Your audience is large relative to your team. MAU is the meter, so growth in users is growth in the bill, and the free plan's 1,000 client-side MAU is the tightest audience allowance of the four. There is also no published plan floor — the paid tier is usage-shaped and Enterprise is quote-only.

Consider something else: Unleash — The team is bigger than the audience, or you want to try before paying. There is no free plan at all, only a 14-day trial, so three people start at $225 a month before a single flag is read. API traffic is still capped at 53 million requests, then $5 per million.

## Documented by only one

- What the free plan includes: LaunchDarkly: Unlimited flags and unlimited seats, with 1,000 client-side MAU and 5 service connections a month, plus 100,000 experimentation MAU, 5,000 session replays and 5,000 errors.
- Entry paid plan: Unleash: $75 per seat per month on pay-as-you-go. With no free plan behind it, a three-person team starts at $225 a month.
- Self-hostable: Unleash: Supported
- Rate limits: Unleash: 53 million API requests a month on the cloud plan, then $5 per million — a ceiling the per-seat price does not remove.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Free tier: LaunchDarkly or Unleash?**

LaunchDarkly: Yes
Unleash: No

**Should I choose LaunchDarkly or Unleash?**

Pick LaunchDarkly if A large team shipping to a small audience. Seats are explicitly unmetered — "no per-seat pricing", in its own words — so inviting everyone costs nothing, and the bill tracks the users you serve at $8.33 per thousand MAU. The free plan is $0 forever with unlimited seats and no card.
Pick Unleash if A small team serving a large audience, and wanting the option to run it yourself. Client-side MAU and service connections are unlimited on every plan, so neither traffic nor audience moves the price — only headcount does, at $75 a seat.