This is Part 1 of our two-part teardown of LaunchDarkly‬ 's pricing page & billing experience.

In Part 1, we analyzed their pricing page—breaking down their move away from seat-based pricing, their shift to usage-based models, and how their new enterprise-focused “Guardian” tier signals where they’re headed.

In Part 2 (coming next week), we’ll go deeper into their full purchasing experience—from onboarding to expansion.

Key Observations from Part 1:

💡 LaunchDarkly no longer charges per seat. They’ve switched to service connections and MAU-based pricing, moving closer to an infrastructure-like model.This aligns cost with actual usage but makes it harder to forecast pricing at a glance.

💡 They’re optimizing for enterprise expansion. The introduction of the Guardian tier suggests they’re doubling down on compliance, observability, and risk mitigation for large-scale deployments.

💡 Their pricing page is functional—but lacks storytelling. While the fundamentals are strong (clear tiers, FAQs, feature tables), it feels like a standard SaaS pricing page—not the brand-forward experience we’ve seen from challengers like PostHog and Statsig.

💡 Transitioning pricing models at scale is a massive operational challenge. Shifting from seat-based pricing meant not just a new pricing page, but a full-scale customer migration, contract updates, and internal change management.

🎙️ Watch the full teardown to see how LaunchDarkly is evolving their pricing model.

Chapters

⏳ 00:00 - Introduction: LaunchDarkly Pricing Teardown (Part 1)

🔎 01:45 - The Evolution of Feature Management Pricing

💡 05:03 - LaunchDarkly’s Shift Away from Seat-Based Pricing

🛠 09:09 - The Complexity of Changing a Price Metric at Scale

📈 12:49 - Their New Pricing Metrics: Service Connections & MAU

🛒 15:08 - How This Compares to Statsig & PostHog’s Pricing Strategies

🚀 19:20 - Who Is the New “Guardian” Tier Targeting?

📖 24:36 - Pricing Page Breakdown: Strengths & Weaknesses

🏆 34:48 - Final Scores: Is LaunchDarkly’s Pricing Page Optimized for Growth?