Soft launch
A soft launch opens a product to new users without an announcement, to check that the setup works for people you didn't hand-pick before telling everyone. It sits between a beta and a full launch.
What it means
A beta proves the product works for a small group of users who know it's early. A soft launch asks a different question: does the setup repeat for the next customer, who arrives without special handling?
It's also where the operational surprises appear: onboarding that relied on the team being on hand, support questions nobody predicted, costs that grow faster than usage.
How we use it
Our method Every product we build is released in four steps: internal, beta, soft launch, then live, with each step opening only once the one before it holds. That's Graduated Launch.
Related terms
Published 28 September 2026. All terms