Tool profile
LaunchNotes: cost, fit and limits
LaunchNotes is a release communication platform made by Shiny Planes, Inc. of Covina, California, that publishes release notes, changelogs and roadmaps to customers and colleagues, with an AI writing assistant, for product and release teams.
What to know first
LaunchNotes sits after the deploy: it tells people what shipped. Growth costs $799 a month billed annually, or $999 billed monthly, and includes 1 page, 2 users, a custom domain and 5,000 emails a month. Smart Draft AI Writer and an MCP server come with both Growth and Premium. A 14-day trial is arranged by the team after a 30-minute demo.
LaunchNotes at a glance
| Maker | Shiny Planes, Inc., United States |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Free trial only |
| Entry price | $799 per month billed annually for Growth |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI Release Management Software in 2026, rank 7 of 10 |
| Website | launchnotes.com |
Who LaunchNotes is best for
B2B product teams
One workspace holds release notes, a roadmap and feedback, so customer-facing announcements and idea voting live beside each other instead of in three tools.
Teams drafting notes with AI
Smart Draft AI Writer is in both plans and an MCP server lets teams work from their own AI agents, which speeds first drafts of notes.
Companies with SSO rules
Growth includes SSO and JWT authentication, and Premium adds SAML, audit logs and a custom SLA for stricter security reviews.
LaunchNotes plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Growth | $799 per month billed annually, $999 monthly | 1 LaunchNotes page, 2 users, 1 custom domain, 5,000 emails a month, SSO and JWT, Smart Draft AI Writer and the MCP server. |
| Premium | Custom, billed annually | Multiple pages and domains, custom user count, bring-your-own email provider, SAML, audit logs, segmentation, white-labeling and a dedicated account manager. |
| Premium AI add | Included in Premium | AI Tone and Voice, so generated drafts follow the company's writing style, is listed on Premium only. |
Checked November 2026.
What LaunchNotes does
- Release notes and changelog
- Templates, categories, labels, digests and pinned announcements let a team publish structured updates, with custom domains and full email customization for senders. Scheduling and digests let a team batch several fixes into one message instead of many.
- In-app widget
- A widget installs with a snippet and shows announcements inside the product, so users see changes without leaving the app or opening an email. Segmentation filters can target the announcement at one customer group.
- Roadmap and feedback
- Idea voting, feedback forwarding and AI-generated, theme-based summaries of feedback help a team see which requests recur before planning the next release. The summaries are AI-generated and the pages do not describe how themes are chosen.
- Slack and API
- A first-class Slack integration, a Chrome extension, an extensible API and an MCP server connect release communication to the channels where teams already work. The Slack link is the one integration the vendor calls first class.
How LaunchNotes handles your data
The privacy policy names Shiny Planes, Inc. doing business as LaunchNotes, with an address in Covina, California, and says nothing about AI features or AI training. The home page states SOC 2 Type II certification, shows a GDPR mark and cites a 99.9 percent uptime SLA, SSO, SAML, JWT, role-based access control and audit logs, with a public trust center. Hosting provider and region were not named on the pages we read, so the vendor's policy was not checked for where data is stored.
Where LaunchNotes falls short in practice
- It does not deploy anything. LaunchNotes publishes announcements only. It does not promote builds, run approvals or manage environments, so it needs a deployment tool beside it. Release history therefore stays in LaunchNotes while deployment history stays elsewhere.
- High entry price for a small team. Growth includes only 2 users and 1 page at $799 a month, so a small team pays an enterprise-style price for a narrow job. The Growth tier also caps email at 5,000 a month, which a large customer list can use up.
- Trial is gated by a demo. The 14-day trial is set up by the team after a 30-minute demo, so a quick self-serve evaluation is not possible. Evaluation therefore starts with a scheduled call.
Works with
Alternatives to LaunchNotes
LaunchNotes: common questions
Does LaunchNotes integrate with Jira?
The home page shows a Jira changelog only as a customer example and does not describe a Jira integration. The integrations it lists are Slack, a Chrome extension, Loom, Vidyard, an API and an MCP server, so confirm the Jira link with the vendor.
What is in the LaunchNotes MCP server?
The pricing page lists an MCP server in both Growth and Premium, and the home page says it lets teams work from their own AI agents. The pages we read do not list which actions it exposes, so ask for the tool list.
How does the trial work?
The pricing page says a 14-day trial with full platform access is arranged by the LaunchNotes team after a 30-minute demo. It is not self-serve, so plan time for the call before testing release notes or the widget. The trial does not appear to be a credit card sign-up.
Can I send release emails from my own domain?
Growth includes one custom domain and 5,000 emails a month sent through LaunchNotes. Premium adds multiple domains and lets you bring your own email service provider, which matters for deliverability when you email large customer lists. The pages do not state a send limit for Premium.
Which compliance marks does LaunchNotes show?
The home page states SOC 2 Type II certification and shows a GDPR mark in the footer, and it links a public trust center. Premium adds SAML and audit logs, which security teams usually ask for during review. The pages do not list an ISO certification.