LaunchDarkly Pros and Cons

I've heard engineers talk about how easy it is for them to put new features behind a feature flag in Launch Darkly. From the product side, its super easy to create segments of users. This has improved the way we manage our Alpha, Beta, and GA releases. I'm currently leading a huge intiative at the moment; I can not imagine doing this effectively without LD. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Their zapier integration is limited. We were attempting to completely automate our beta process leveraging Launch Darkly + Hubspot forms. We failed to do so because LD's zapier integration doesn't support Segments. We are exploring leveraging their public API to build a custom solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

1. Allowing business users to field-test new features in production before enabling them for clients.

2. Enabling gradual rollouts for high-risk features, minimizing potential impact if issues arise.

3. Decoupling feature releases from development and deployment, so developers can merge tested features while product teams control when they go live. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing really. It does good job managing feature flags. We only use it for feature flags, so can't comment on other features. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

1. It's a great tool for toggling features.

2. You can easily roll out or block a feature for specific customers without any hassle.

3. I use it daily, and it works smoothly with minimal impact on API latency.

4. Setting up a new LD flag takes only a minute.

5. It provides a rich SDK to integrate with Launch Darkly easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing as such. Segments and Release features can be simplified. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We have been using Launchdarkly feature flags for about 3 years now. We have been using them to run experiments, or as kill switches for various features. I would say, that they are straightforward to use. One thing that I like is how LaunchDarkly creates an event stream with the user's browser, and the value of the feature flag gets updated on all the clients as soon as you update the value of the feature flag.

We use it for almost every new feature that we build in the product, and we have easily integrated it with our MobX Library that is used for global state management, and it makes the integration even more simpler for the developers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The new UI that LaunchDarkly recently launched for feature flagging is not something that I like, I had built muscle memory for using the tool hence it has become a little tough for me to use it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ease of use of creating flags that are separating our feature rollouts from deployment is the largest factor of our use case. Implementation is a simple library and we're able to integrate it into each of our apps easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are still some cultural issues of utilizing LD's flags when we probably didn't need to which adds more complexity to a system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like LaunchDarkly's ability to seamlessly manage feature flags and control rollouts, enabling quick, safe deployments and A/B testing without requiring code changes or restarts. Its real-time toggling, comprehensive analytics, and role-based access controls make it invaluable for dynamic feature management and reducing risk during releases. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One downside of LaunchDarkly is its complexity at scale, particularly when managing a large number of feature flags across multiple environments. It can be challenging to maintain flag hygiene, and the cost can increase significantly as the usage grows. Additionally, the UI might feel cluttered when dealing with numerous flags, making it difficult to find specific ones quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

1. Feature Flag Management: LaunchDarkly’s ability to easily create, manage, and deploy feature flags at scale is a huge asset, enabling you to roll out new features gradually and safely without requiring code deployment.

2. User Segmentation: The ability to target specific groups of users with different feature sets allows for more personalized and controlled releases, which is great for testing and experimentation.

3. Real-time Updates: Feature flags can be toggled in real-time, giving instant feedback and control over feature releases, which is helpful in responding quickly to bugs or performance issues. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

1. Learning Curve: For users new to feature management tools, there can be a learning curve when setting up and managing feature flags effectively, especially if your team isn’t familiar with this type of platform.

2. Complexity with Large Projects: Managing a large number of feature flags across multiple projects can become a bit complex, and it may be challenging to maintain flag hygiene (e.g., removing outdated flags). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One of the biggest benefits for me has been the ability to easily toggle features on or off in real-time during periods of service degradation. When performance issues arise, I can disable non-essential features instantly, keeping critical parts of the service running smoothly while we troubleshoot. This has saved us from several potential outages. The integration process was overall smooth as well.

The ability to roll out features incrementally has allowed us to test new functionality in production without fully exposing it to all users. If something doesn’t go as planned, rolling back is as simple as flipping a switch — no redeployment needed. This has reduced the stress around releases, knowing that we always have a safety net. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

LD generates a lot of logs by default, which can be handled better. So, I have to disable un-neccessary logs myself for each of the service.

While it’s easy to get started with basic feature flags, there’s a bit of a learning curve when it comes to more advanced use cases like complex targeting or running experiments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The feature flagging system, particularly its ability to act as a kill switch, is incredibly useful. I also love the percentage rollout feature and the ability to add multiple variations within a single flag. Real-time flag updates that enable instantaneous UI changes are a standout feature. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The new UI feels a bit confusing, probably because I got so accustomed to the previous version. Additionally, the updated UI could benefit from an onboarding guide or lessons to help users get up to speed quickly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

LaunchDarkly has proved a very useful tool for me and my team professionally. It is easy to use (once set up) and can give the team a variety of deployment options. We can deploy a feature without fear of a forced rollback when something goes wrong, we can also test with small audiences rather than deploying to everyone, everywhere, all at once. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes flags can end up cluttering the code, it would be nice if there was a way to automatically generate cleanup issues on github after a certain amount of time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.