Feature Flags for Startups Who Can't Afford LaunchDarkly

You need feature flags. You don't need a $1,200/year bill to get them. Every startup reaches the same moment. You're shipping fast, breaking things, and someone says: "We should really be using feature flags." So you Google it, find LaunchDarkly, click on pricing — and close the tab. $10/seat/month. Five engineers? That's $600/year. Ten engineers next quarter? $1,200. And that's before you discover A/B testing is locked behind the Enterprise plan with no public pricing. You're a startup. Every dollar matters. But shipping without feature flags is like driving without brakes — you'll crash eventually. Here's the good news: you don't have to choose between your runway and safe deployments. Why Startups Need Feature Flags (Even at 3 People) Feature flags aren't an enterprise luxury. They solve problems that hit hardest at the startup stage: 1. You can't afford downtime A bad deploy at Google costs embarrassment. A bad deploy at your startup costs customers you'll never get back. Feature f