A review of Unleash
Unleash is a feature flagging platform that empowers engineering teams to deliver better software releases. It enables teams to create feature flags, control releases, and quickly rollback changes.
Before considering alternatives, it's essential to evaluate both the strengths and weaknesses of Unleash.
Pricing
Here's a summary of the pricing structure for Unleashaccording to your team's size, excluding extra costs associated with advanced features limited to larger plans.
- Price for 5 seats: $960/yr
- Price for 10 seats: $1 860/yr
You can try Unleash for free for 14 days to form your own assessment of the product.
Features
The entry-level plan of Unleash encompasses standard feature flag functionalities such as remote config, unlimited feature-flags, MFA, progressive rollout, kill-switches and A/B testing, which is suitable for teams who are getting started.
Unfortunately, some more advanced features will require you to move await from the starter plan and make a significant jump in pricing. Some features are not even listed on the pricing page, you will need to talk to a Unleash sales representative to get a quote. Surprisingly, this includes unlimited projects, reviews, custom roles, unlimited environments, unlimited seats and flag scheduling.
In general, sticking with the starter plan should suffice, but expect a significant rise in costs as your company achieves greater success.
Ease of use
Unleash's main drawback lies here. Apart from pricing, this is perhaps the top reason why users tend to seek alternatives to Unleash. The interface is awkward, making it difficult to perform basic tasks swiftly.
To be objective, Unleash has undergone many changes over time, which might make its user interface overwhelming for those new to it. To help in comparing it with other options, we've recorded videos for each solution showcasing how to activate a feature flag for 20% of users in France. Here's the result for Unleash:
Here are the user ratings for Unleash, evaluating its ease of use and setup time (higher scores indicate better performance). We'll be comparing these metrics with those of other alternatives of this post.
- Setup time: 3.8/5
- Ease of use: 3.2/5
Our top pick#1 Tggl.io
Tggl.io is frequently recommended as a great alternative toUnleash for its user-friendly interface for developers and product managers. It has a competitive pricing, great customer service, and a simple approach to feature flags.
Here is the same workflow in Tggl where we enable a flag for 20% of users in France:
As you can see, Tggl is more straightforward than Unleash here, it is easier to use and gets je job done faster. Here are what users think of Tggl:
- Setup time: 4.8/5
- Ease of use: 4.9/5
We also have put together an in-depth comparison between Unleash and Tggl where we compare pricing and list all features on a more granular level.
When it comes to pricing, Tggl is actually more affordable thanUnleash, regardless of your team's size. This price gap becomes even wider for larger teams. Here's a detailed breakdown of the pricing:
- Price for 5 seats: €180/yr
- Price for 10 seats: €530/yr
#2 Flagsmith
Another great alternative to Unleash is Flagsmith, including all features you would expected from a feature flag service, such as remote config, A/B testing, unlimited projects, progressive rollout, unlimited environments, kill-switches and unlimited feature-flags.
Note that some features are only available in higher plans. This includes features such as flag scheduling or MFA that start at $540 a year and reviews, custom roles or audit log that start at $2 400 a year.
Here is the video where we enable a flag for 20% of users in France using Flagsmith:
Here is what people who are using Flagsmith think about the product (the higher the better):
- Setup time: 4.2/5
- Ease of use: 3.4/5
If you want to delve deeper into the details, we've crafted an in-depth comparison between Unleash and Flagsmith. You'll discover a comprehensive list of features and pricing for both services on this page.
When it comes to price, Flagsmith is actually more expensive than Unleash, and the difference increases as your team and usage grows:
- Price for 5 seats: $2 400/yr
- Price for 10 seats: $3 600/yr
#3 LaunchDarkly
LaunchDarkly is another good alternative to Unleash. It comes with all the features you would expect from a feature flag service, including kill-switches, MFA, A/B testing, unlimited environments, progressive rollout, remote config and unlimited feature-flags.
Note that some features are only available in higher plans. This includes features such as duplicate flags, unlimited projects or reviews that start at $1 000 a year. You will need to talk to a LaunchDarkly sales representative to get a quote for some more advanced features like custom roles and flag scheduling.
Here is the video where we enable a flag for 20% of users in France using LaunchDarkly:
Here is what people who are using LaunchDarkly think about the product (the higher the better):
- Setup time: 4.1/5
- Ease of use: 3.5/5
We wrote a detailed comparison between Unleash and LaunchDarkly if you want to know more. Here you can find a complete list of all features and prices for both services.
When it comes to price, LaunchDarkly is actually more expensive than Unleash, and the difference increases as your team and usage grows:
- Price for 5 seats: $500/yr
- Price for 10 seats: $2 000/yr
Got to LaunchDarkly pricing page
#4 Split
Split is a solid alternative to Unleash, offering all necessary features to get started with feature flags: progressive rollout, unlimited feature-flags, kill-switches, MFA, unlimited environments and A/B testing.
Note that some features are only available in higher plans. This includes features such as unlimited projects, flag scheduling, custom roles or remote config that start at $7 200 a year and audit log that start at $3 960 a year. You will need to talk to a Split sales representative to get a quote for some more advanced features like reviews.
Here is the video where we enable a flag for 20% of users in France using Split:
Here is what people who are using Split think about the product (the higher the better):
- Setup time: 3.9/5
- Ease of use: 3.5/5
If you're interested in learning more, we've compiled a comprehensive comparison between Unleash and Split. You can access a detailed list of features and prices for both services here.
When it comes to price, Split is actually more expensive than Unleash, and the difference increases as your team and usage grows:
- Price for 5 seats: $3 960/yr
- Price for 10 seats: $3 960/yr
Conclusion
Unleash is often criticised for its price point and not so easy to use UI, but as you can see there are many options to choose from. And even tho in this test we ranked Tggl.io the highest, other alternatives also have a comparable feature set.