Why Use Ascend?
The Challenge of Modern Experimentation
Section titled “The Challenge of Modern Experimentation”In today’s fast-paced product development landscape, teams face significant challenges when trying to validate features and make data-driven decisions:
- Complex infrastructure requirements — Setting up an experimentation platform requires expertise in backend services, databases, caching layers, and SDK development
- Vendor lock-in concerns — Commercial solutions often come with steep pricing, limited customization, and data ownership issues
- Fragmented mobile support — Many solutions don’t offer first-class support across Android, iOS, and React Native
- Scalability limitations — As experiment volume grows, performance becomes a bottleneck
Ascend solves all of these problems.
Why Choose Ascend?
Section titled “Why Choose Ascend?”🆓 Truly Open Source
Section titled “🆓 Truly Open Source”Ascend is built with ❤️ by the open-source community under the MIT License. This means:
- No vendor lock-in — You own your data and infrastructure
- Full transparency — Audit the code, understand exactly how experiments work
- Community-driven — Feature requests and contributions shape the roadmap
- Cost-effective — No per-seat licensing or usage-based pricing surprises
🚀 Production-Ready Performance
Section titled “🚀 Production-Ready Performance”Built on battle-tested technologies, Ascend is engineered for scale:
| Component | Technology | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Backend Framework | Vert.x 4.4.9 | Reactive, non-blocking I/O for high throughput |
| Database | PostgreSQL, Aerospike 6.2.0 | Reliable, partitioned storage for experiment data, Sub-millisecond variant assignments at scale |
| Resilience | Resilience4j 2.2.0 | Circuit breakers, rate limiting, fault tolerance |
Ascend handles millions of assignment requests while maintaining consistent low-latency responses.
📱 Native Cross-Platform SDKs
Section titled “📱 Native Cross-Platform SDKs”Unlike solutions that treat mobile as an afterthought, Ascend provides first-class SDKs for all major platforms:
SDK features:
- Type-safe APIs — Catch errors at compile time, not runtime
- Automatic caching — Graceful fallbacks when offline
- Lifecycle integration — Refresh experiments on app foreground
- Minimal footprint — Lightweight with no bloated dependencies
Ascend vs. Alternatives
Section titled “Ascend vs. Alternatives”vs. LaunchDarkly / Split.io / Optimizely
Section titled “vs. LaunchDarkly / Split.io / Optimizely”| Feature | Ascend | Commercial Solutions |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free, forever | $$ - $$$$ per seat/month |
| Data Ownership | 100% yours | Stored on vendor servers |
| Customization | Full source access | Limited APIs |
| Self-hosted | ✅ Docker/K8s | ❌ SaaS only (mostly) |
| Mobile SDKs | Native, type-safe | Often wrapper-based |
vs. Building In-House
Section titled “vs. Building In-House”| Consideration | Ascend | In-House Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Time to production | < 10 minutes | Months of development |
| Maintenance burden | Community-supported | 100% on your team |
| Best practices | Built-in | Must research & implement |
| Cross-platform SDKs | Ready to use | Build from scratch |
vs. Firebase Remote Config / AWS AppConfig
Section titled “vs. Firebase Remote Config / AWS AppConfig”| Feature | Ascend | Config Services |
|---|---|---|
| A/B testing | Full support | Limited/manual |
| Statistical analysis | Coming soon | Not included |
| Audience segmentation | Advanced rules | Basic |
| Multi-variate testing | ✅ | ❌ |
Getting Started is Easy
Section titled “Getting Started is Easy”- One-Command Installation - Get up and running in under 10 minutes
- Minimal SDK Integration - Simple, intuitive APIs for all platforms
What Makes Ascend Different
Section titled “What Makes Ascend Different”🏗️ Built for Scale
Section titled “🏗️ Built for Scale”Vert.x’s reactive architecture handles high throughput with minimal resource consumption. Aerospike caching ensures sub-millisecond assignment lookups.
🛡️ Battle Tested at Dream11 Scale
Section titled “🛡️ Battle Tested at Dream11 Scale”10M+ RPM - Proven at scale with millions of requests per minute.
📖 Developer Experience First
Section titled “📖 Developer Experience First”Type-safe APIs, comprehensive documentation, and sensible defaults mean you spend time shipping features, not debugging the experimentation layer.
🌐 Community Backed
Section titled “🌐 Community Backed”Active development, transparent roadmap, and responsive community support.