Naming is hard: taking 'Flex' into the future
In October 2024, we launched Gitpod Flex. This was both a new product offering through our Flex tier, as well as a radically improved architecture. At the time, only users on our Free and Flex plans had access to this new foundation, while Enterprise users continued on what we now refer to as Gitpod Classic.
Today, we’re here to clarify and celebrate a key milestone: the Gitpod Flex architecture is now generally available, including in our Enterprise tier.
Most users just refer to Gitpod as Gitpod, rightfully so. To create clarity, we are dropping the name ‘Flex’ and referring to this latest version and architecture of Gitpod just as Gitpod.
With this change, we’re also introducing a Core tier in lieu of what was previously called Flex: available as a fully managed SaaS deployment, or self-hosted, for power users or smaller teams who want Gitpod-hosted compute with zero infrastructure overhead.
Which version of Gitpod am I using?
- app.gitpod.io is our new architecture, previously called Gitpod Flex, now called Gitpod
- gitpod.io is our previous architecture, Gitpod Classic, which will sunset in September 2025
- Gitpod Classic will be shown in the product if you are using this version
Why we made the shift?
We understand the name ‘Flex’ might have implied it was either just a pricing tier or a completely new product. Under the hood, it represented a total replatforming of Gitpod that proved tricky to name.
- We simplified deployment across multi-region cloud environments
- We introduced VM-level isolation for better security and no noisy neighbor issues
- We cut infrastructure costs dramatically (as low as ~$8/month per runner)
- We aligned our platform with modern AI workflows, making it easier to run AI agents, GPUs, Kubernetes-in-workspaces, and more
To us, this wasn’t just a cosmetic upgrade, it was a full rethinking of how development environments should work.
For Gitpod Classic users: here’s why you’ll love the switch
If you’re still on Gitpod Classic, the benefits of migrating are immediate and significant:
- Massive performance gains: Up to 896 cores and 12TB of RAM per environment, with GPU support, and the ability to run environments locally on MacOS
- Faster development environments: Thanks to geographic runner placement, environments spin up faster and feel more responsive
- Lower costs: No more expensive, monolithic infrastructure. The new runner model can cut fixed infra costs by up to 70%
- Developer experience: Development environments are based on the industry open standard Dev Container, and come with features like automating your development workflows, seamless support for AI coding assistants and editors like Cursor, and more
- Infrastructure built for AI: This architecture is your precursor for everything AI in software development. Run coding agents in Gitpod to reduce the blast radius of security missteps, deploy remote MCP servers, scale agent workloads without managing infrastructure, and equip your entire team with the same tools in seconds
- No migration headaches: Run Classic and new side by side, migrate gradually, and avoid developer disruptions entirely
For Enterprise users, you’ll still self-host Gitpod in your cloud account, with zero operational burden—we manage updates, scaling, and healing. And your data? It never leaves your VPC. And for those who are pay-as-you-go and want to continue hosting on Gitpod, Core will have you covered this summer.
One Gitpod, three offerings
With the architecture unified, Gitpod offers three clear ways to use the platform:
- Free: For individuals and small teams
- Core: Coming summer 2025, for power users and small teams
- Enterprise: For large orgs and teams with security and compliance requirements, and self-hosting requirements
Gitpod isn’t just a self-hosted or SaaS product. It’s a way to automate and standardize development environments in whatever deployment works best for you: whether that be self-hosted or Gitpod-hosted or run in your local machine via Gitpod Desktop.
Whether you joined us recently or have been running on Gitpod Classic for years, now’s the time to experience Gitpod as it was always meant to be: faster, simpler, and ready for what’s next.
To learn more about Gitpod, visit our documentation or contact our team.
