Is LangSmith or LaunchDarkly better?

Neither clearly leads. LangSmith starts at On request and LaunchDarkly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, LangSmith or LaunchDarkly?

LaunchDarkly has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for LangSmith and Free for LaunchDarkly.

Does LangSmith or LaunchDarkly run on more platforms?

LangSmith runs on Web. LaunchDarkly runs on Web, Cloud, APIs.

Can I use LaunchDarkly for free?

Yes. LaunchDarkly has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. LangSmith starts at On request.

What can LangSmith do that LaunchDarkly cannot?

LaunchDarkly covers Feature flags, Progressive rollouts, User targeting, A/B testing.

Software Development · head to head

LangSmith vs LaunchDarkly

LangSmith

Software Development

Know what your agents are really doing

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

LaunchDarkly

Technology

Ship fast. Rest easy.

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only LaunchDarkly has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: LangSmith usage beyond the included trace allotment is billed in LangChain Compute Units at $1.50 per LCU and Storage Units at $1.00 per LSU, an unfamiliar metering unit compared to flat per-seat pricing, as of August 2026.; LaunchDarkly pricing scales rapidly with monthly active users, becoming expensive at scale

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LangSmith and LaunchDarkly actually diverge.

Attributes where LangSmith and LaunchDarkly differ
Attribute	LangSmith	LaunchDarkly
Starting price	On request	Free
Pricing model	subscription	Unknown
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Web	Web, Cloud, APIs
Category	Software Development	Technology
Founded	Unknown	2014

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in LangSmith

Nothing recorded that LaunchDarkly does not also cover.

Only in LaunchDarkly

Feature flags
Progressive rollouts
User targeting
A/B testing
Kill switches
Audit log
Multi-environment
SDKs for all platforms

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

LangSmith

No use cases recorded yet. See the LangSmith review.

LaunchDarkly

Progressive deliverynot LangSmith
Feature experimentationnot LangSmith
Risk mitigationnot LangSmith
Performance optimizationnot LangSmith
Infrastructure migrationnot LangSmith

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

LangSmith

Usage beyond the included trace allotment is billed in LangChain Compute Units at $1.50 per LCU and Storage Units at $1.00 per LSU, an unfamiliar metering unit compared to flat per-seat pricing, as of August 2026.

LaunchDarkly

Pricing scales rapidly with monthly active users, becoming expensive at scale
Limited seats for engineers on standard plans, forcing upgrade to enterprise
Advanced features like experimentation and audit logs require higher-tier plans
Occasional reliability issues and backend delays reported by users

Pricing, plan by plan

LangSmith

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the LangSmith review.

LaunchDarkly

Free

DeveloperFree
- Unlimited seats
- Unlimited feature flags
- A/B tests and experiments
Foundation$undefined/mo
- $12 per connection
- $10 per 1K MAU
- Targeted segmentation
Enterprise$undefined/mo
- Custom pricing
- Advanced automation
- Compliance features

Which should you pick?

Choose LangSmith if

Nothing in the data separates LangSmith from LaunchDarkly on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

LangSmith review

Choose LaunchDarkly if

You need feature flags.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Cloud, APIs.
You also want progressive rollouts.

LaunchDarkly review

Questions people ask

Is LangSmith or LaunchDarkly better?: Neither clearly leads. LangSmith starts at On request and LaunchDarkly at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, LangSmith or LaunchDarkly?: LaunchDarkly has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for LangSmith and Free for LaunchDarkly.
Does LangSmith or LaunchDarkly run on more platforms?: LangSmith runs on Web. LaunchDarkly runs on Web, Cloud, APIs.
Can I use LaunchDarkly for free?: Yes. LaunchDarkly has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. LangSmith starts at On request.
What can LangSmith do that LaunchDarkly cannot?: LaunchDarkly covers Feature flags, Progressive rollouts, User targeting, A/B testing.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

LaunchDarkly: What does the free Developer plan include?

The free Developer plan includes unlimited seats, unlimited feature flags, A/B tests and experiments, 30 SDKs, 10 million logs and traces, 5,000 session replays and errors, and 14 days of data retention.

Source

LaunchDarkly: How does LaunchDarkly pricing scale?

Foundation plan pricing is $12 per connection plus $10 per 1,000 Monthly Active Users (MAU). Enterprise and Guardian plans have custom pricing based on usage, advanced features, and compliance requirements.

Source

LaunchDarkly: Does LaunchDarkly integrate with Jira and Slack?

Yes, LaunchDarkly integrates with Jira Cloud, allowing you to link feature flags to Jira issues and create issues from observability data. It also integrates with Slack for flag notifications and allows authorized members to trigger flag changes from Slack.

Source

LaunchDarkly: What is dark launching and how does LaunchDarkly enable it?

Dark launching keeps code changes hidden in production until ready to enable. LaunchDarkly enables this through feature flags that let teams safely test code in production before rolling out to users.

Source

LangSmith vs LaunchDarkly

LangSmith

LaunchDarkly

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in LangSmith

Only in LaunchDarkly

What people use each for

LangSmith

LaunchDarkly

Where each one falls short

LangSmith

LaunchDarkly

Pricing, plan by plan

LangSmith

LaunchDarkly

Which should you pick?

Choose LangSmith if

Choose LaunchDarkly if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on LangSmith

More on LaunchDarkly

Keep looking

Other head to heads