Can LaunchDarkly be self-hosted?

• LaunchDarkly's control plane runs only on LaunchDarkly-managed cloud infrastructure; there is no customer-run LaunchDarkly server or on-prem license.
• Local evaluation inside an SDK and the open-source Relay Proxy reduce network calls but do not replace the hosted control plane both still depend on.
• LaunchDarkly's own Relay Proxy documentation confirms the proxy connects to the LaunchDarkly streaming API, making it a network relay, not a self-hosted management service.
• Teams with data-residency, air-gapped, or SOC 2 or GDPR governance requirements need a platform whose control plane, not just its SDK cache, runs on infrastructure they own.
• A genuinely self-hosted alternative runs the same control plane, not just an SDK cache, across cloud, hybrid, and self-hosted deployments, with governance controls that operate inside the customer's environment.

No, LaunchDarkly cannot be self-hosted. LaunchDarkly is delivered as managed and multi-tenant SaaS: there is no customer-run LaunchDarkly server, no on-premises package, and no license to install the service itself on customer-owned infrastructure. What can run inside an organization's own network is client-side infrastructure: an SDK's local cache of flag rules, or the open-source Relay Proxy that relays a streaming connection.

Neither component is the system that stores flag definitions, targeting rules, change history, and audit logs. That system, the control plane, remains a cloud service operated entirely by LaunchDarkly. The distinction matters for hosting and security diligence, because a cached ruleset is not the same as ownership of the service that produces it.

What "Self-Hosted" Means for a Feature Flag Platform

A feature flag platform has three functional layers, and each carries a different meaning for deployment.

The control plane stores flag definitions, targeting rules, environment configuration, change history, and audit logs, and it exposes the UI and API administrators use to manage all of it. SDKs are client libraries embedded in an application that evaluate flags against a locally cached ruleset, refreshed from the control plane over a streaming or polling connection. A proxy or edge layer sits between SDKs and the control plane, caching and relaying flag payloads to reduce direct outbound connections.

A platform is self-hosted only when the control plane runs on infrastructure you own and operate. That means your own compute, database, and network boundary. Local evaluation of a cached flag payload inside an SDK is a caching and performance feature, not a change in deployment model.

The SDK still depends on a remote control plane to populate and refresh the ruleset it evaluates. The same is true of a proxy layer: caching a payload closer to the application does not turn the underlying management service into something you run. This distinction, cached evaluation versus a self-hosted system of record, determines whether a platform satisfies a self-hosting requirement, and it recurs throughout LaunchDarkly's own documented architecture.

LaunchDarkly's Architecture, Layer by Layer

LaunchDarkly's control plane runs entirely on LaunchDarkly-managed cloud infrastructure. Its documentation and public pricing page describe no self-hosted, on-premises, or private-cloud installation path for the service that stores flag definitions and targeting rules. Organizations evaluating LaunchDarkly against a self-hosting requirement will not find a deployment tier, license, or installer that puts the control plane inside their own environment; it is not offered.

LaunchDarkly's SDKs evaluate flags against a ruleset cached locally in the application process, populated from LaunchDarkly's cloud streaming or polling API. Local evaluation reduces per-request latency and keeps evaluation logic close to the application, but the ruleset evaluated originates from, and is kept current by, LaunchDarkly's hosted service.

The Relay Proxy is LaunchDarkly's own open source component, described as a small Go application that runs on your own infrastructure. That documentation states the Relay Proxy connects to the LaunchDarkly streaming API and proxies that connection to clients within your network. This places the Relay Proxy in the proxy and edge layer: it reduces outbound connections to LaunchDarkly's cloud and can continue serving cached flags during a brief connectivity interruption.

But it does not remove the dependency on LaunchDarkly's hosted control plane, and it is not a customer-run replacement for that management service. Running the Relay Proxy still means the control plane of record sits outside the organization's infrastructure. Local evaluation, whether performed by an SDK or relayed through the proxy, is not a self-hosted control plane.

Why the Distinction Matters for Regulated and Air-Gapped Workloads

For organizations under data-residency obligations, the location of the control plane is not academic. Evaluation context, user attributes and application state used to determine which variation of a flag a request receives, can route through third-party cloud infrastructure the organization does not control. That routing pattern is often a blocker in fintech, healthcare, and government procurement reviews, where evidence of where data is processed and stored is a condition of approval.

Air-gapped environments present a stricter version of the same problem: they have no network path to a SaaS control plane at all. The Relay Proxy does not solve this, since it still needs periodic or cached contact with LaunchDarkly's streaming API to stay current.

Governance reviews built around frameworks such as SOC 2 and GDPR expect documented evidence of who is authorized to change a flag and what approval steps a change needs. They also expect an immutable record of what changed and when. That governance layer inherits the same residency question as the control plane itself. If the system enforcing role-based access, approval workflows, and audit logging sits outside the buyer's environment, the governance evidence also sits outside that environment. This holds regardless of how much evaluation happens locally.

What a Genuinely Self-Hosted Alternative Provides

A genuinely self-hosted feature-flag platform puts the control plane itself on your own infrastructure. That means an open source server you deploy, a database you own and maintain, and an administrative interface you operate directly rather than access as a hosted tenant. Local evaluation remains available without requiring you to give up ownership of the system of record. Backend SDKs evaluate flags locally while still reading from a control plane you run yourself.

Governance also has to run inside your own environment. That means role-based access control with custom roles, change-request approval workflows, and immutable audit logs living on infrastructure you control, not a vendor's cloud tenant. Before migrating off a cloud-only platform, your platform team needs a realistic accounting of the migration itself. That accounting starts with SDK coverage across every language in use and parity between existing targeting rules and the new rule engine. You also need confirmation that the alternative can handle current environment counts and traffic scale without a redesign.

Unleash as the Self-Hosted-Capable Alternative

Unleash supports self-hosted, cloud, or hybrid deployment of the same control plane and the same Enterprise Edge component, without splitting capability into different tiers by hosting choice. Self-hosting is available on both OSS and Enterprise editions as well.

You can choose cloud, self-hosted, or hybrid deployment under the same plan. Cloud and self-hosted deployments maintain the same enterprise-grade security posture rather than reserving governance features for one hosting model.

Because Unleash is open source, its codebase, SDK behavior, and server logic are auditable directly by security teams rather than taken on faith. Organizations can choose Unleash-hosted or self-operated deployment as infrastructure and compliance needs change.

This is the same architectural question we addressed in LaunchDarkly doesn't offer self-hosting. It is why organizations that need to decouple code deployment from feature release also need to keep the control plane on their own infrastructure. That combination tends to point toward a platform built for it from the start.

Explore Self-Hosted Deployment Options

Organizations that have confirmed LaunchDarkly's control plane cannot satisfy a self-hosting or data-residency requirement can evaluate Unleash's enterprise feature management platform.

Unleash runs the same control plane across cloud, hybrid, and fully self-hosted deployments with consistent governance controls. Teams working through a hosting or security review can start a free trial (even a self-hosted free trial) to test it against targeting rules, SDK coverage, and compliance requirements. This lets you evaluate fit before committing to a migration.

FAQs

Does LaunchDarkly offer an on-premises or private-cloud version?

No. LaunchDarkly's public documentation and pricing page describe no on-premises package, private-cloud tier, or self-hosted license for the control plane. The service that stores flag definitions, targeting rules, and change history runs only on LaunchDarkly-managed cloud infrastructure.

What does the LaunchDarkly Relay Proxy do?

The Relay Proxy is a small application that runs on an organization's own infrastructure and connects to LaunchDarkly's streaming API, proxying that connection to clients inside the organization's network. It reduces outbound connections and can serve cached flags during brief connectivity gaps. It still depends on LaunchDarkly's hosted control plane as the source of truth, so it functions as a network relay rather than a self-hosted management service.

Does local evaluation inside an SDK mean a platform is self-hosted?

No. Local evaluation means an SDK checks a cached ruleset against application context without a network call for every decision, which improves latency. For platforms where backend SDKs evaluate flags locally, that architecture also keeps user data inside the runtime environment. That cache is still populated and kept current by a remote control plane. Local evaluation is a performance and privacy characteristic, not evidence that the platform itself can be self-hosted.

What makes a feature flag platform self-hosted?

The control plane is the system that stores flag definitions, targeting rules, environment configuration, and audit logs. It has to run on infrastructure the organization owns and operates rather than on a vendor's cloud account. Governance controls such as role-based access, change-request approval, and audit logging also need to run inside that same environment. A system of record hosted elsewhere carries the same data-residency exposure regardless of how flags are evaluated.

Can migrating from LaunchDarkly preserve targeting rules?

Migration is possible, but it depends on verifying parity in advance. That means confirming SDK coverage for every language in use, checking targeting-rule and segment-logic parity, and verifying the destination platform can handle current environment counts and traffic scale. Skipping that reality check, rather than the migration itself, is what typically causes targeting rules or edge cases to be lost during a switch.