How does FlagShark pricing compare to LaunchDarkly?

LaunchDarkly charges based on MAU (Monthly Active Users) and flag evaluations. FlagShark uses flat monthly pricing based on repository count. FlagShark costs stay predictable regardless of traffic, and actually helps reduce your LaunchDarkly bill by removing unused flags.

FlagShark + LaunchDarkly

LaunchDarkly manages your flags.
We retire them.

FlagShark doesn't replace LaunchDarkly. It finishes what LaunchDarkly starts. LD handles targeting, rollouts, and kill switches. We open the cleanup PR for the flag that's been sitting at 100% rollout for six months.

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See the lifecycle →

▶ LaunchDarkly

Controls flag targeting, rollouts, and kill switches from a centralized dashboard.

Built for the creation phase. SDKs in every language. Mature targeting rules. Real-time evaluation. The reason your team adopted it in the first place.

▶ FlagShark

Detects stale flags and opens the cleanup PR automatically, on every PR.

Built for the retirement phase. AST-based scanner across 12 languages. Cleanup PRs you review in 30 seconds. The thing LaunchDarkly's dashboard can't do.

Fair assessment

What LaunchDarkly does well.

LaunchDarkly is genuinely excellent at the lifecycle phases it owns. If you're evaluating whether to use LD as your flag platform, the answer is probably yes. Here's what it does well that FlagShark doesn't try to replace.

Centralized management

Single dashboard to create, configure, and manage all your feature flags across environments.

Targeting rules

Sophisticated targeting by user attributes, segments, and percentage rollouts for controlled releases.

Kill switches

Instantly toggle features off in production without deploying code. Critical for incident response.

Audit logs

Complete audit trail of who changed what flag and when. Essential for compliance and debugging.

Team collaboration

Role-based access control, approval workflows, and team permissions for enterprise-scale operations.

SDK ecosystem

SDKs for every major language and framework with excellent documentation and support.

Where LaunchDarkly stops

The gap FlagShark fills.

LaunchDarkly can tell you that checkout_v2_redesign hasn't evaluated in 90 days. It can't open the PR to remove it from your codebase. That's where we live.

LaunchDarkly identifies stale flags but stops there. You still find and remove the flag code by hand.

▶ FlagShark: Turns stale flag detection into an action with automated PRs that remove the code.

Archiving a flag in LaunchDarkly doesn't touch your code. Someone still has to remove the flag checks.

▶ FlagShark: Creates ready-to-merge PRs that remove flag code completely.

LaunchDarkly has no visibility into your code structure. It can't know how flags are wrapped or nested.

▶ FlagShark: Uses tree-sitter to parse your code and remove flags cleanly via AST analysis.

LaunchDarkly is a separate UI from your development workflow. Context switching slows teams down.

▶ FlagShark: Lives in GitHub. PR comments and removal PRs in the same place you already review code.

LaunchDarkly tracks flag evaluations, not cleanup velocity or technical debt reduction.

▶ FlagShark: Dashboard shows cleanup velocity, debt reduction, and the longest-lived stale flag in your repo.

LaunchDarkly only manages LaunchDarkly flags. Custom flags or other providers are invisible to it.

▶ FlagShark: Works with LaunchDarkly, Statsig, Split, Unleash, ConfigCat, custom flags, every SDK.

Side by side

Different tools for different phases.

	FLAG PLATFORM LaunchDarkly	★ CLEANUP LAYER FlagShark
Flag targeting & rollouts	●	not applicable
Kill switches	●	not applicable
Stale flag detection (dashboard view)	●	●
Automated cleanup PRs	●	●
Code-level flag removal	●	●
GitHub-native workflow (PR comments)	●	●
Works with other flag providers	●	●
Dashboard focus	flag state	cleanup velocity

The complete flag lifecycle

LaunchDarkly handles phases 1–4. We handle 5–7.

A feature flag has seven phases of life. The first four are creation and management. The last three are retirement. Two tools, one timeline.

▶ LaunchDarkly

Create

Add flag via LD SDK

▶ LaunchDarkly

Roll out

10% → 50% → 100%

▶ LaunchDarkly

Monitor

Track with LD analytics

▶ LaunchDarkly

Stabilize

Flag at 100% for 30+ days

▶ FlagShark

Detect

FlagShark identifies stale

▶ FlagShark

Retire

FlagShark opens removal PR

▶ FlagShark

Clean

Code is flag-free

The structural argument

Why LaunchDarkly won't build this.

LaunchDarkly charges based on Monthly Active Users (MAU) and flag evaluations. Every time your code checks a flag, that's a billable event.

More flags in your codebase means more evaluations, which means higher revenue for LaunchDarkly. A tool that helps you remove flags would directly reduce their own billing metric.

This isn't a criticism. It's just business reality. The incentive to ship cleanup tooling sits with someone who doesn't bill on flag count. That's why cleanup needs to come from a neutral third party.

Read the full analysis of provider incentives →

Real workflow

LaunchDarkly + FlagShark in action.

Deploy new feature behind a LaunchDarkly flag

ldClient.boolVariation("show-new-checkout", user, false)

Gradually roll out: 10% → 50% → 100%

Monitor metrics in LaunchDarkly, adjust targeting as needed

Feature stable at 100% for 30+ days

The flag is now "always on". Time to remove it from code

FlagShark detects the stale flag

Automatic detection based on LaunchDarkly state + code analysis

FlagShark opens the cleanup PR

AST-based removal preserves the "on" branch, removes flag checks, updates tests

Team reviews PR, merges, archives the LD flag

Code is cleaner, LaunchDarkly flag is safely archived, billing goes down

Honest take

When LaunchDarkly's built-in cleanup is enough.

We'd rather lose a customer than mis-sell them. If your situation matches the below, LaunchDarkly's Code References feature is genuinely sufficient. Save the $49/mo.

→You're all-in on LaunchDarkly with no plans to use other flag vendors.
→You have one or two repos and the team lives in the LD dashboard.
→You have under 30 active flags total. At that scale, cleanup is a quarterly manual task, not a tooling problem.
→Your platform team is happy to write removal PRs by hand when LD's "Code References" view surfaces a stale flag.

Switch to FlagShark when: you have multiple flag vendors, you have 50+ active flags, you want PR-inline comments instead of dashboard hunting, or you want a managed service that ships updates without you upgrading.

Common questions

LaunchDarkly questions, answered straight.

Does FlagShark replace LaunchDarkly?

No. FlagShark complements LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly handles flag targeting, rollouts, and kill switches. FlagShark handles the cleanup phase: detecting stale flags and generating PRs to remove them from your code. Different tools for different phases of the flag lifecycle.

Do I need to connect FlagShark to LaunchDarkly?

It's optional but recommended. Connecting to LaunchDarkly lets FlagShark check flag states and identify flags that are always-on or archived. Without the connection, FlagShark still works by analyzing your codebase for flags that appear stale based on usage patterns and commit history.

Will FlagShark remove flags that are still in use?

No. FlagShark only targets flags that are confirmed stale: either always-on for 30+ days (configurable), archived in LaunchDarkly, or matching your custom staleness criteria. Every removal is proposed as a PR for human review, never auto-merged.

What if I use LaunchDarkly AND custom flags?

FlagShark handles both. Configure your LaunchDarkly SDK patterns and any custom flag implementations in your .flagshark.yaml file. FlagShark's provider-agnostic approach means it detects and cleans up all your flags, regardless of source.

How does pricing compare?

LaunchDarkly charges based on MAU and flag evaluations, so costs scale with traffic. FlagShark uses flat monthly pricing based on repository count, so costs stay predictable. Better yet, FlagShark helps reduce your LaunchDarkly bill by removing unused flags that generate unnecessary evaluations.

How fast is the scan?

Median 4.2s end-to-end on repos under 100k LOC. 99th percentile 11.3s. Longest scan we've ever run: 38 seconds on the Kubernetes monorepo.

LaunchDarkly got your flag to 100%.
Now retire it.

Install the free Action. Keep your LaunchDarkly setup. Get your first cleanup PR within the hour.

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View pricing

Free forever for 3 repos · works alongside any LaunchDarkly plan

LaunchDarkly manages your flags.We retire them.

Controls flag targeting, rollouts, and kill switches from a centralized dashboard.

Detects stale flags and opens the cleanup PR automatically, on every PR.

What LaunchDarkly does well.

The gap FlagShark fills.

Different tools for different phases.

LaunchDarkly handles phases 1–4. We handle 5–7.

Why LaunchDarkly won't build this.

LaunchDarkly + FlagShark in action.

When LaunchDarkly's built-in cleanup is enough.

LaunchDarkly questions, answered straight.

LaunchDarkly got your flag to 100%.Now retire it.

LaunchDarkly manages your flags.We retire them.

Controls flag targeting, rollouts, and kill switches from a centralized dashboard.

Detects stale flags and opens the cleanup PR automatically, on every PR.

What LaunchDarkly does well.

The gap FlagShark fills.

Different tools for different phases.

LaunchDarkly handles phases 1–4. We handle 5–7.

Why LaunchDarkly won't build this.

LaunchDarkly + FlagShark in action.

When LaunchDarkly's built-in cleanup is enough.

LaunchDarkly questions, answered straight.

LaunchDarkly got your flag to 100%.Now retire it.

LaunchDarkly manages your flags.
We retire them.

LaunchDarkly got your flag to 100%.
Now retire it.

LaunchDarkly manages your flags.
We retire them.

LaunchDarkly got your flag to 100%.
Now retire it.