Targeted rollout

Also called: targeted release

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A targeted rollout exposes a feature to a chosen audience selected by who users are — their plan, region, role, or membership of a segment — instead of to a random slice of the whole user base. Where a percentage rollout asks "what fraction of everyone?", a targeted rollout asks "which users?".

Targeted rollout vs percentage rollout

The two answer different questions and compose cleanly. A percentage rollout is random sampling across all traffic; a targeted rollout is deliberate selection by attribute. You combine them by targeting an audience and then rolling out to a percentage within it — "enable for 10% of EU enterprise accounts" — which is how most real releases are shaped: a canary aimed at internal staff first, then widened. The rollout strategies guide shows how the serving is configured.

When to use a targeted rollout

Reach for it when exposure should follow the user, not chance: shipping to beta opt-ins, enabling a feature only for the plan tier that paid for it (flag-based entitlement gating), dogfooding with internal accounts, or honouring data residency by region. Because membership is recomputed at each evaluation, users move in and out of the target automatically as their attributes change — no redeploy and no manual list-keeping.

Want the full picture? Read the concept guide: Rollout strategies →

Related terms

Percentage rollout

A percentage rollout serves a feature to a defined share of users — chosen by a deterministic hash — so the same users stay in the cohort as you ramp the percentage up.

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.

Canary release

A canary release exposes a new version to a small group of users first and watches its metrics before rolling it out to everyone — so problems surface on a fraction of traffic instead of the whole fleet.

Browse the full feature flag glossary →

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