Feature flags: Build vs. buy

Using an internally-developed feature flagging system is standard practice for many companies today as feature flags help engineering teams release faster at lower risk. The initial use case might be to support a move to continuous integration to provide engineers rapid feedback on how well new code integrates with the master.

Once the benefit of feature flags are proven, additional dev-driven use cases quickly emerge. The scope of the in-house application grows and in turn, so does the list of challenges when choosing to build in-house.

This build vs. buy guide walks through the typical progression of an in-house solution. From dev-driven to business-driven use cases, the challenges grow almost as fast as, if not faster than, the list of requirements. Teams face multiple decision points to continue investing in an in-house solution or look at external options. Not all these use cases will apply to your feature flagging practice, but they do reflect a very common progression.