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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteFor a new Atlassian deployment, assess Cloud first. Atlassian has announced that Data Center products will reach end of life on March 28, 2029, and the deadline for new customers to buy Data Center subscriptions has already passed. Cloud is not automatically suitable for every organization, though: the decision depends on your operational, security, compliance, app, integration, and cost requirements.
What is the practical difference between Cloud and Data Center?
The central difference is who operates the platform and how much control your organization needs over its environment. Atlassian hosts Cloud. Data Center is self-managed: your organization operates the deployment and chooses its infrastructure approach. Atlassian describes both non-clustered and clustered Data Center architectures, with different infrastructure considerations.
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That means the decision is not simply “hosted or on-premises.” Compare the specific operational responsibilities, controls, and constraints each deployment creates for your team. A requirement for self-management may matter; so may the staffing, infrastructure, and ongoing work that come with it.
What does Atlassian’s Data Center end-of-life timeline mean?
Atlassian’s published schedule includes three milestones. The March 30, 2026 cutoff for new customers has passed as of October 4, 2026. The later purchasing cutoff and end-of-life date remain important for existing customers planning a transition.
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| Date | Atlassian’s stated milestone | Planning implication |
|---|---|---|
| March 30, 2026 | New customers can no longer purchase new Data Center subscriptions or new Data Center Marketplace apps. | This cutoff has passed. Existing customers should confirm which purchasing options still apply to their account. |
| March 30, 2028 | Existing customers can no longer purchase new Data Center subscriptions, Marketplace apps, or subscription expansions. | Plan for any required additions or expansions before the cutoff, without treating them as a long-term substitute for migration planning. |
| March 28, 2029, at 23:59 PST | Affected Data Center subscriptions and associated Marketplace app licenses expire, and products become read-only. | Plan migration, validation, and adoption before the date; do not interpret it as an immediate shutdown. |
These are dates in Atlassian’s published schedule and may change. Atlassian says it is committed to extended maintenance by exception for certain customers after end of life; that is not a general extension. Confirm the latest terms with Atlassian before making a schedule or support commitment.
How should your team choose?
Use requirements you can verify, rather than assumptions about what either deployment can do. The questions below are a starting point; product features, app support, and contractual terms can vary by product, edition, version, and environment.
| Decision area | Questions to answer for Cloud | Questions to answer for Data Center |
|---|---|---|
| Operations and control | Does an Atlassian-hosted service meet your operational, connectivity, and governance needs? | Do you need to operate the deployment and choose its infrastructure approach, and can you support that responsibility through the transition? |
| Lifecycle | Can you complete assessment, migration, and user adoption within your organization’s constraints? | How will the 2028 purchasing cutoff and 2029 end of life affect your roadmap? |
| Security and compliance | Do the specific Cloud product, edition, region, contract, and apps satisfy documented requirements? | Which requirements call for self-management during the transition, and how will you address the announced end of life? |
| Apps and integrations | Are the Cloud versions and migration routes for required apps and integrations available and acceptable? | Which current dependencies must be replaced, adapted, or migrated before the sunset? |
| Cost | What do your plan, user tier, apps, identity and security needs, and migration overlap cost? | What do licensing, infrastructure, operations, support, and apps cost during the remaining period? |
| Migration risk | Can you use a trial or sandbox to test data, app behavior, and workflows before committing? | Which data, customizations, and operational dependencies affect migration timing? |
Cloud may fit when
- Atlassian hosting fits your operating and governance requirements.
- Your security, privacy, legal, and procurement teams can verify the specific Cloud products and apps against organizational requirements.
- Required apps, integrations, and workflows have an acceptable Cloud route, and the team can plan and validate the transition.
Data Center may remain necessary during the transition when
- A documented organizational requirement is not met by the Cloud option you have verified.
- Your team needs time to validate app or integration alternatives, resolve migration issues, or meet internal approval requirements.
- You can operate the environment while planning around the remaining purchase restrictions and end-of-life date.
Neither list replaces product-specific verification. Do not assume that a Cloud feature, compliance capability, or migration route is identical across Atlassian products or editions.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsHow should you compare the cost?
Atlassian says Cloud’s per-user cost is higher than Data Center’s, while recommending a broader value assessment. That comparison alone does not establish which option costs less for your organization. Model your actual products, user tiers, editions, apps, and transition plan rather than applying a generic price difference.
- Cloud: Include the relevant plan and user tier, Marketplace apps, identity and security needs, migration services, and any period of overlap with Data Center.
- Data Center: Include subscriptions, apps, infrastructure, staffing and operations, and support through the transition.
- Migration: Include the work needed to assess, test, remediate, move, and validate your actual environment.
Atlassian describes migration-related offerings, including trials and step-up credits for qualifying customers. Its licensing information also describes an FY26 Cloud Enterprise discount that may apply to qualifying purchases by June 2027. Eligibility, availability, dates, and discount conditions are subject to the applicable terms; do not include an incentive in your budget until Atlassian confirms that your organization qualifies.
How should you assess security, privacy, and compliance?
Start with written requirements and involve the people accountable for them. Atlassian recommends including security, privacy, and legal teams and evaluating shared responsibility, data residency, privacy commitments, compliance attestations, reliability, and Marketplace app security.
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- List the requirements that apply to each in-scope product, its data, and its integrations.
- Have the accountable security, privacy, legal, and compliance stakeholders check the exact Cloud product and edition, region, apps, and contract against those requirements.
- Ask app vendors directly about their data handling and support, and verify any required evidence for each app rather than relying on platform-level statements.
- Record unresolved requirements and decisions before approving the target deployment or cutover.
For government or otherwise constrained environments, verify the specific environment and migration path. Atlassian’s Government Cloud guidance describes product-specific limitations, including an Assets migration limitation in the journey it covers. That constraint should not be generalized to every commercial Cloud migration.
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How can you reduce migration risk?
Treat migration as a coordinated workstream, not a single switch. Atlassian describes a phased model of assessment, planning, preparation, testing, migration, and post-migration work in its Government Cloud guidance. Those phases are useful for organizing a plan, but the Government Cloud requirements should not be assumed to apply to commercial Cloud.
Before choosing a target
- Inventory in-scope products, including Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Bitbucket, and any others your teams rely on.
- Record Marketplace apps, integrations, identity providers, automations, custom workflows, data, and operational dependencies.
- Assign owners from administration, security, privacy, legal, procurement, and affected business teams.
- Verify Cloud availability and migration routes for each required app, feature, and integration; identify unsupported or uncertain dependencies.
Before and during cutover
- Clean up data and configuration, then document the migration plan, responsibilities, timing, and communications.
- Test with a sandbox or eligible trial. Atlassian describes Cloud migration trials for Data Center customers that can match the remaining subscription term, up to 12 months, for testing Cloud features, migration data, and selected Marketplace apps. The offer excludes Atlassian Government Cloud; confirm eligibility and scope before relying on it.
- Run user acceptance testing against real workflows and resolve issues before cutover.
- After migration, validate data, permissions, integrations, reporting, and workflows. Keep a documented fallback and communications plan.
Set milestones that leave time to fix issues and support adoption before the 2028 purchasing cutoff and 2029 end of life. The time and effort required will depend on your products, customizations, apps, data, and organizational constraints.
Should you move Jira and Confluence to Atlassian Cloud?
Consider Cloud first for a new deployment and evaluate it as a transition target for an existing Jira or Confluence Data Center environment. Before deciding, verify your actual product and app requirements, security and compliance needs, migration route, and fully modeled cost. If a specific requirement rules Cloud out today, document it, determine what would need to change, and plan Data Center use around Atlassian’s published deadlines rather than treating it as an indefinite option.
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