Side by side
Flagger vs Screwdriver
Both stand on continuous delivery software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan Self-hosted
Choose Flagger if your team deploys on Kubernetes and wants progressive delivery with metric checks, manual gates, and automated rollback. Look elsewhere if you need a delivery tool for applications outside Kubernetes.
Visit Flagger
Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb
Screwdriver offers pipeline automation for teams prepared to run their own infrastructure. Its source-control feature differences and API payload limit are worth checking against your workflows.
Visit ScrewdriverThe facts
| Flagger | Screwdriver | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Self-hosted | API, Self-hosted, Web |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | flagger.app | screwdriver.cd |
| On continuous delivery software | #15 of 32 | #19 of 32 |
Flagger: what it does well
- Supports canary, A/B testing, and blue/green deployment strategies.
- Built-in checks measure HTTP success rate and request duration.
- Custom metrics and webhooks can extend validation.
- Automatically rolls back releases after detected performance drops.
- Manual controls allow approval, pausing, and resuming.
What to know first
- Designed for applications running on Kubernetes.
- Deployment requires self-hosting.
- Traffic routing relies on an ingress controller or compatible service mesh.
Screwdriver: what it does well
- Free, open-source build platform
- Pipelines are configured in YAML
- Supports pull request checks and canary deployments
- Pluggable datastore and executor architecture
- Secrets are withheld from pull request builds by default
What to know first
- No hosted option
- API rejects payloads larger than 1 MB
- Source control feature support varies by provider
- Running it requires managing build infrastructure
Alternatives to Flagger Alternatives to Screwdriver The whole list