Beta testing

Also called: beta program, beta release

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Beta testing is a release stage where a feature goes to a defined group of real users while everyone else carries on without it. You are trying to learn from usage you cannot simulate. Real users arrive with data shapes and hardware no test suite covers. With feature flags the beta cohort is a targeting rule rather than a separate build, so joining or leaving the beta is a configuration change and the code ships once.

How a beta cohort is defined

The cohort is whoever a targeted rollout rule matches. Common shapes are an opt-in attribute your app sets when someone clicks "join the beta", a plan tier, an allowlist of accounts, or a segment you reuse across several flags. Membership is re-checked on every evaluation, so a user who opts out stops seeing the feature on their next request and nothing needs redeploying. The targeting guide covers the rule model and the operators available.

Beta testing and the stages either side of it

Dogfooding comes first, using your own staff. The feedback is expert and the tolerance for breakage is high. A beta widens that to real users who agreed to be early. They bring variety your own team cannot produce. With a canary release the question changes, because sampling ordinary traffic checks that the change is safe without asking anyone what they think of it. Most teams run all three on the same flag, widening the rule at each step.

Want the full picture? Read the concept guide: Targeting →

Related terms

Dogfooding

Dogfooding is the practice of running your own unreleased features internally, so your team hits the defects before any customer does.

Targeted rollout

A targeted rollout releases a feature to a specific audience — defined by user attributes or a segment — rather than to a random percentage of everyone, so the right users get it first.

Segment targeting

Segment targeting serves a flag variation to a named, reusable group of users defined by shared attributes — like "beta users" or "EU customers" — instead of listing individuals one by one.

Browse the full feature flag glossary →

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