LaunchDarkly’s plan structure is usage-based. The Developer plan is free, the Foundation plan is pay as you go with no platform or seat fees, and Enterprise is custom priced.[1] The pricing page states that the Developer plan has unlimited seats and no per-seat pricing, because pricing is based on usage.[1] The Terms of Service define the “Pricing Page” as LaunchDarkly’s list prices for Service Plans and say prices for services are set out on that page and displayed at checkout.[4]
Editions
| Plan | Price | Included usage (per month) | Notable terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | $0, with no credit card required | 5 service connections; 1K client-side MAU; 100K experimentation MAU; 5K session replays and 5K errors; 10M logs and 10M traces; 5K AI runs | Unlimited seats and feature flags; 1 project and 3 environments; 14 days of AgentControl data retention |
| Foundation | Pay as you go after a 14-day trial; no platform or seat fees | First 5 service connections; 5K AI runs; observability allowances as on Developer | Unlimited projects and environments; 30 days of AgentControl data retention |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom number of AI runs; contracted entitlements | Advanced targeting, custom roles and teams, approvals, release automation, SCIM; 100 days of data retention |
| Guardian add-on | Priced separately | Not published | Release monitoring, guardrail metrics, automatic pause or rollback, flag audiences |
These entries come from the plan cards and the comparison table on the pricing page.[1] The comparison also lists support levels of Bronze for Developer and Foundation and Silver for Enterprise, with Gold or Platinum available, and “Discord Community” response times for the lower two plans.[1]
Developer
Developer plans are free to use and include limited monthly entitlements for MAU, service connections, AgentControl config evaluation runs, observability and Experimentation, and LaunchDarkly warns customers who approach and exceed them. If usage continues to exceed them, the plan converts to read-only mode.[3] The pricing page lists “Ingestion stops at 5K” as the overage behavior for AI runs on this plan, compared with $5 per 1,000 runs on Foundation.[1] The Terms of Service treat the Developer Tier of the Foundation Plan as a free trial service, available until the earlier of the end of a trial, the start of an Order or termination by LaunchDarkly in its sole discretion with or without notice.[4] See Developer plan read-only mode.
Foundation
Foundation customers pay for what they use. The page shows $10 per service connection per month and $8.33 per 1k client-side MAU per month on yearly billing, with the first 5 service connections each month included and additional connections billed at $10 each per month.[1] The comparison table lists client-side MAU at “$10 / mo per 1K MAU” for Foundation, which differs from the $8.33 yearly figure, so the billing frequency matters when estimating cost.[1] AI runs are included at 5,000 per month with usage-based pricing beyond that, at $5 per additional 1k runs.[1] Observability usage of 5K session replays, 5K errors, 10M logs and 10M traces is included each month, and usage beyond that is billed as it occurs.[1]
LaunchDarkly offers special rates for Kubernetes, serverless, Python and Ruby, because those architectures create a high volume of server-side connections and standard per-connection pricing is described as not a fair fit.[1] See Special rates for Kubernetes, serverless, Python and Ruby.
Enterprise and Guardian
Enterprise plan options are customized to the customer’s usage needs and are not available from the Billing page; customers contact sales.[2] Enterprise features named on the pricing page include advanced user targeting, custom roles and teams, workflows, scheduling and approvals, release automation and SCIM user provisioning.[1] Guardian is a paid add-on to Enterprise that adds release monitoring, guardrail metrics and automatic rollback, and no list price is published.[1]
Metrics
Each plan meters a fixed set of units: service connections for server-side SDKs, client-side MAU, seats, Experimentation keys or Experimentation MAU, AI runs, and the four observability categories. The documentation says Foundation and Enterprise plans can include monthly entitlements for MAU, service connections, AI runs, observability and Experimentation.[3]
On the Billing page a customer not on a Foundation plan sees total seat usage instead of service connections.[2] The Terms define a Seat as a licence granted for a single User to access and use the services, and an Entitlement as the specific use limitations specified in the Order, such as Seats and usage restrictions.[4]
Billing cycle and overage
The billing cycle begins on the first of the month (UTC) and the first month is prorated based on sign-up date.[2] Foundation customers choose between monthly and annual payment.[2]
- Monthly. LaunchDarkly bills each month for the previous calendar month’s usage.
- Annual. The customer prepays for a year of usage, and LaunchDarkly also bills at the beginning of each month for any usage in excess of the prepaid entitlements from the prior month.
- Changing entitlements. A Foundation customer can update its monthly entitlements at any time by modifying the service connections and contexts for its primary context kind on the Billing page.
For self-serve plans LaunchDarkly bills at the beginning of each month for usage exceeding the prior month’s entitlements, and emails the account owner and billing contact when the overage balance passes various dollar amounts.[3] The Terms of Service say the same in contract form: if a customer exceeds a usage limit LaunchDarkly will charge for excess usage, and overage and usage fees are calculated on usage and invoiced monthly in arrears.[4] Annually invoiced plans are billed annually.[6]
Customers on other plan types can, depending on the plan, view or adjust seats and MAU, enable or disable SSO, add Experimentation, Data Export or observability to the plan, or switch to a Foundation plan.[2]
Programs
For some annual billing plans, customers commit to a certain number of items such as Experimentation keys or AI runs each month. If they consistently exceed plan limits, averaged over a quarter, LaunchDarkly will true forward the contract based on actual average use.[3] See True forward policy. The self-service Terms also allow LaunchDarkly to change fees at any time in its sole discretion, with at least thirty days’ written notice to the registered email address, and a customer that does not accept the change may cancel.[4]
Terms, renewal and cancellation
Paid Services renew for periods equal to the initial Subscription Term, at LaunchDarkly’s then-current rates, unless the customer cancels through the account dashboard before the next scheduled billing date.[4] Payment obligations are non-refundable, fees are payable in US dollars, and undisputed late amounts may attract interest at 1.5 percent per month.[4] When a customer cancels from the Billing page, the account stays active until the end of the current billing cycle, and any excess usage in the remainder of the cycle is billed. Customers billed by invoice cancel through a support ticket.[2]
Practical points for asset managers
- Record the plan, billing frequency and entitlements for each LaunchDarkly account. The Billing page shows the account ID, current charges, monthly entitlements and billing history.[2]
- Expect a lag: usage over the entitlement in one month shows up on the invoice at the start of the next.[3]
- Treat the Developer plan as a limited free allowance, not as a standing licence, because the Terms allow termination in LaunchDarkly’s discretion.[4]
- For customers that signed before July 7, 2024, check the archived Starter or Pro terms, because those governed until their term ended.[4][7]
- Compare list and contracted prices carefully. The pricing page is undated and the page itself shows two MAU price figures for Foundation.[1]
Out of scope
Counting rules for service connections and MAU are in LaunchDarkly service connections and client-side MAU. Experimentation, AI run and observability counting is in LaunchDarkly Experimentation, AI runs and observability usage. Contract clauses and support levels are in LaunchDarkly Terms of Service and support plans.