Flipt vs Flagsmith
Both are alternatives to LaunchDarkly. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Flagsmith vs Flipt — same comparison, one verdict.
Flipt
Flags defined in Git, evaluated by one Go binary.
Flipt takes a GitOps approach: flag definitions live in your repository as files, get reviewed in pull requests like any other change, and are evaluated by a single Go binary that can run entirely offline with no external dependency. For a platform team that already runs everything through Git, this makes flags an ordinary part of the deployment pipeline rather than a separate control plane somebody has to remember to check. GPL-3.0 with about 4.9k stars. The trade is deliberate: no polished dashboard for product managers, because the source of truth is a file.
Flagsmith
BSD-licensed flags with remote config, and no copyleft to reason about.
Flagsmith covers feature flags, remote configuration and A/B testing under BSD-3-Clause — the most permissive licence in this comparison, which removes the legal reading that AGPL requires. It self-hosts on Docker or Kubernetes, supports multiple environments and organisations natively, and its edge API keeps evaluation latency low without you building a caching layer. Around 6.5k stars. Its remote-config support is the underrated part: shipping a configuration value to clients without a release is the same mechanism as a flag, and having both in one tool removes a category of bespoke plumbing.
Side by side
| Flipt | Flagsmith | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 93 | 90 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause (open core; paid hosted and enterprise tiers) |
| Pricing | Free and open source. One binary on hardware you already have. | Open source free and self-hostable. Hosted plans have a free tier and paid tiers above it. |
Flipt edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Flipt
Strengths
- +Flag definitions live in Git — reviewed, versioned and audited like code
- +Single Go binary, runs air-gapped with no external calls
- +Fits a GitOps workflow with no extra machinery
- +GPL-3.0 with no enterprise carve-out
Trade-offs
- −Smallest project here — a real bus-factor consideration
- −No dashboard a non-engineer will happily use
- −Git-based workflow means non-technical staff cannot flip a flag
- −No experimentation or statistics
Flagsmith
Strengths
- +BSD-3-Clause — the most permissive licence here, no copyleft to interpret
- +Feature flags and remote config in one product
- +Multi-environment and multi-organisation support built in, not bolted on
- +Edge API keeps evaluation fast without custom caching
Trade-offs
- −Smaller community than Unleash and fewer third-party integrations
- −Experimentation is basic next to LaunchDarkly
- −Advanced features are reserved for the paid tiers
- −Self-hosted deployment needs Postgres and some tuning at scale
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Facts verified 2026-07-31. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.