---
title: "Product packaging and feature gating with policy"
description: "Feature gating and entitlements driven by authorization policy: trials, tiers, custom bundles and enterprise contracts without hardcoding."
canonical: "https://www.cerbos.dev/features-benefits-and-use-cases/product-packaging"
source: "https://www.cerbos.dev/features-benefits-and-use-cases/product-packaging"
---

# Product packaging and feature gating with policy

Control which features are available to which customers using authorization policy. Trials, tiers, custom bundles, and enterprise contracts, all without hardcoding.

## Authorization-driven product packaging

### Feature gating without hardcoded flags

Control which features are available to which customers using policy, not feature flags buried in code.

- Map product packages to Cerbos roles for clean, declarative entitlements.
- Sub-millisecond entitlement checks with no external runtime dependency.
- Define complex package hierarchies where premium includes standard includes free.
- Support custom contracts and one-off feature bundles for enterprise customers.

[Read the docs](https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/policies/resource_policies.html)

### Time-limited trials and dynamic upgrades

Offer trial access to premium features with time-based conditions, and upgrade packages instantly via policy changes.

- Use time-based conditions in policies to automatically expire trial access.
- Upgrade or downgrade customer packages instantly by updating policy, not code.
- Build self-service upgrade flows that trigger policy changes via the Cerbos API.
- Test package configurations in the Cerbos Playground before deploying to production.

[Try the playground](https://play.cerbos.dev/)

### Full visibility into entitlement decisions

Understand exactly which features are accessible to which customers, and prove it for billing, compliance, and support.

- Log every entitlement check with package, feature, and decision result.
- Trace feature access back to the exact policy version for billing accuracy.
- Support customer success teams with clear visibility into what each customer can access.

[Learn about audit logs](https://www.cerbos.dev/features-benefits-and-use-cases/audit-logs)

## Implement product packaging in four steps

1. **Define your packages as policies** — Map product tiers (free, standard, premium) to authorization policies that control which features each package can access.
2. **Gate features with a single API call** — Check entitlements at runtime by calling Cerbos. Get an instant allow/deny decision based on the user's package.
3. **Update packages without code deploys** — Add features to a tier or create a new package by updating policy files. No application redeployment needed.
4. **Audit every entitlement decision** — Track which features were accessed, by whom, under which package, with full decision-level evidence.

[Get started](https://docs.cerbos.dev/cerbos/latest/quickstart.html)

## Works with your existing tools, workflows, and infrastructure

- **Flexible policy sources** — Manage packaging policies from any Git provider, CI/CD tool, Cerbos Hub API, CLI, or direct UI upload.
- **SDKs for every stack** — First-class SDKs for JS, Go, Python, Java, .NET, Rust, PHP, and Ruby.
- **Deployment targets** — Deploy Cerbos PDPs in containers, serverless, edge, or multi-region clusters.
- **Compliance ready audit logs** — Ensure audit readiness for SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and GDPR.

## Why teams choose Cerbos for product packaging

- **Flexible packaging** — Define unlimited package tiers, custom bundles, and trial configurations with policy.
- **Instant updates** — Change what features are in a package without code changes or redeployments.
- **Billing accuracy** — Audit every entitlement decision for accurate billing reconciliation.
- **No custom infrastructure** — Replace homegrown feature-flag systems with a dedicated authorization layer.

## Learn more about product packaging with Cerbos

- [How to adopt externalized authorization](https://solutions.cerbos.dev/how-to-adopt-externalized-authorization) — Ebook
- [Designing an authorization model that scales with your business](https://www.cerbos.dev/blog/designing-an-authorization-model-that-scales-with-your-business) — Article
- [ePDP Rules: Fine-grained control for embedded policy bundles](https://www.cerbos.dev/blog/epdp-rules-fine-grained-control-for-embedded-policy-bundles) — Article