What can GrowthBook do before you connect any experiment data?
You can give selected testers a new version of a feature while other people keep the existing one. The flag controls the version. To learn whether the change improved a result, you also need to record which version people got and what happened afterward.
Imagine that your app offers a new way to invite a teammate. First check that a test person can reach the invitation screen and finish the task. Later, if you want to compare versions, measure invitations that lead to a teammate joining. A click on the button is a different outcome.
How do you try a GrowthBook flag without involving customers?
Start in a disposable app that connects to test records, test messages and test analytics only. Confirm that its GrowthBook SDK connection is for your development or staging environment and that the flag rule targets only fictional testers before evaluating or changing the flag.
- Verify the two connectionsMatch the app’s feature configuration and event destination to the test environment. If either is unclear, inspect the settings or draw both paths on paper.
- Choose an ordinary fallbackSet the app to use the existing invitation screen when the JavaScript library has no usable flag value. Check the tester in the rule and another tester outside it.
- Check a fresh and returning browserA usable saved configuration can survive an unsuccessful refresh. Compare a clean browser and one that already fetched the flag before depending on a quick off switch.
Which records does GrowthBook need for an experiment?
It needs an assignment that says which version someone received and an outcome that says what happened. The two need an identifier that can be matched. A data warehouse is a database used here to keep and analyze those event records.
On GrowthBook Cloud, you can use a managed warehouse, forward events to a supported warehouse of your own or connect a warehouse that already has the data. The self-hosted setup uses a custom connection. Check a small set of test records before trusting a results screen.
| Record | What to check |
|---|---|
| Assignment | It identifies the test, the version, when it happened and who or what received it. |
| Outcome | A teammate joined. The event can be matched to the original participant under your metric definition. |
What are you paying for and what should you keep?
GrowthBook’s Cloud Starter plan lists up to three people managing flags and experiments, with unlimited flags and experiments. The free self-hosted option is separate. Budget for your server, maintenance and any warehouse queries you run.
If the event records already live in a warehouse you control, retain the assignment queries, identifiers, metric definitions and flag rules you rely on. If you use a managed option, confirm how you can retrieve historical records before switching.