Atlassian Data Center subscriptions for Jira Software, Jira Service Management and Confluence are scheduled to expire on March 28, 2029 at 23:59 PST, after which the affected products and associated apps become read-only. Atlassian’s primary route is migration to Cloud; teams that need self-hosting or different control over their systems can evaluate OpenProject for project work and OpenProject with XWiki for project work plus enterprise knowledge management. None is a guaranteed one-for-one replacement: test your workflows, apps, integrations and migration data before choosing.
What does end of life mean?
Atlassian says subscriptions for affected Data Center products and associated Marketplace apps expire on March 28, 2029 at 23:59 PST, making those products and apps read-only. The affected products include Jira Software Data Center, Jira Service Management Data Center and Confluence Data Center, as well as Bamboo Data Center, Crowd Data Center, Data Center mobile apps and Atlassian Data Center apps. The policy does not include Bitbucket Data Center or Jira Align Data Center; Atlassian says Bitbucket Data Center is excluded and describes a hybrid license for existing Bitbucket customers. Check Atlassian’s end-of-life policy for the current terms.
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The transition is staged. Atlassian says support winds down beginning March 30, 2026. New customers could no longer purchase Data Center subscriptions or Marketplace Data Center apps after March 30, 2026 at 23:59 PST. Existing customers can buy new subscriptions, apps and expansions until March 30, 2028 at 23:59 PST. These are distinct milestones; the 2028 date is not the end-of-life date.
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Atlassian says some organizations may qualify for extended maintenance by exception. That is not a guaranteed extension or a general alternative to planning a transition. Atlassian acknowledges that some customers have complex requirements and invites them to discuss their needs through its migration information.
#1 Best Overall
Which alternatives are worth evaluating?
The right choice depends on what your organization needs to preserve: Atlassian’s product capabilities, control of hosting, particular workflows and apps, or a combination of those. This shortlist is not a claim of feature parity, especially for Jira Service Management or customized Jira and Confluence installations.
| Option | What it may suit | Important fit or migration question |
|---|---|---|
| Atlassian Cloud | Teams seeking to continue with Atlassian’s products and migrate to its Cloud platform. | Confirm that required features, security and compliance controls, data residency, Marketplace apps and integrations are available for your needs. |
| OpenProject | Teams prioritizing open-source software, self-hosting or infrastructure control for project and work management. | Validate workflows, custom fields, permissions, extensions and integrations. The Jira Migrator is beta, and its documentation cautions against relying on it outside test setups. |
| OpenProject plus XWiki | Teams evaluating a self-hosting option for both project work and enterprise knowledge management. | Plan Jira migration and Confluence content migration separately; test pages, macros, permissions, attachments and references between the systems. |
Atlassian Cloud
Cloud is Atlassian’s stated direction for customers who need to continue using affected product capabilities. Atlassian says the per-user cost of Cloud is higher than Data Center, while arguing that Cloud includes additional capabilities. Treat that as Atlassian’s characterization, not a quote for your deployment: compare current plan and Marketplace app pricing with your own user counts, requirements and migration costs.
Rank #2
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Atlassian reported in 2025 that 99% of its customers were in Cloud or on a path there. That is a vendor-reported figure, not an independent measure of which deployment model will suit your organization. Before selecting Cloud, check the features your teams rely on, security and compliance requirements, data residency, app availability or replacements, integrations and the administration model.
OpenProject for project and work management
OpenProject’s documented capabilities include work packages, agile boards, backlogs and sprints, Gantt charts, portfolio and team planning, time and cost tracking, meetings, documents and a project wiki. Its deployment choices include a free on-premises Community edition, an on-premises Enterprise edition with add-ons and support, and an Enterprise cloud edition hosted in an EU data center. Hosting location and edition matter: confirm that the available model meets your organization’s requirements. See the OpenProject installation and operations guide.
OpenProject explicitly says it is not intended to be a one-to-one copy of Jira. Its Jira Migrator is in beta and continuously developed; OpenProject’s documentation warns against relying on it outside test setups. The FAQ says commonly used field types are supported but unsupported types can be skipped. Treat migration as something to prove with representative data, not a promise that all Jira configuration and history will transfer intact. Read OpenProject’s Jira migration FAQ.
OpenProject with XWiki for project work and knowledge management
OpenProject and XWiki have integrations connecting project work packages with knowledge pages. OpenProject says its own wiki can support project documentation but does not migrate Confluence content; its FAQ recommends planning a separate Confluence-to-XWiki migration.
Rank #4
In a joint announcement dated July 8, 2026, OpenProject and XWiki said the XWiki Confluence Migration Toolkit natively supported 147 Confluence macros in the OpenProject 17.6 release. They also reported increasing the toolkit’s migration-trial limit from 30 to 200 pages. These are vendor-reported, version-specific capabilities and limits—not a guarantee that your instance’s macros, customizations or content will migrate unchanged. Confirm current toolkit terms and test your own content. The announcement is at OpenProject and XWiki’s release page.
What should we use instead of Confluence?
If you are considering OpenProject, its built-in wiki may work for project documentation, but OpenProject says it does not migrate Confluence content. For teams evaluating OpenProject alongside a separate knowledge-management system, XWiki is one option with a documented integration and a Confluence migration toolkit. That makes the pair worth testing, not an automatic fit for every Confluence site.
Map what your teams actually use before deciding: spaces, pages, permissions, macros, attachments, diagrams and references between Jira issues and Confluence pages. A macro count supported by a toolkit does not establish that every macro in your instance will render correctly, and customizations need their own validation.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What if I can’t move to cloud yet?
First distinguish “not ready for Cloud” from “not ready to leave Data Center.” OpenProject offers self-hosted editions, so it is an option to evaluate if infrastructure control is a priority. That choice also means assessing who will operate the system, handle upgrades, maintain integrations and provide support. Atlassian’s exception-based extended maintenance may be relevant to some organizations, but Atlassian does not describe it as a guaranteed general extension.
If timing, regulatory requirements or a complex installation make a fast transition impractical, use the remaining period to run a fit-gap assessment and migration tests. Do not treat a self-hosted product as automatically reducing migration work: project data, knowledge content, extensions and downstream systems still need a transition plan.
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Build the comparison around the work your systems support today, rather than a broad feature checklist. Record requirements and evidence for each candidate, and mark any capability that has not been demonstrated in a test.
- Hosting and control: Specify on-premises or self-hosted requirements, permitted data locations, administrative control and who is responsible for operations. OpenProject documents hosted and self-hosted options; validate the exact edition and location you would use.
- Process fit: Inventory issue and work-item types, workflows, permissions, custom fields, boards, service management needs, assets, reporting and extensions. Do not assume Jira Service Management features or custom workflows map to a project-management alternative.
- Migration completeness: List projects, users, histories, links, identifiers, attachments, macros, diagrams, permissions and app-specific data. Separate Jira migration from Confluence migration where the tools and destinations differ.
- Integrations and ecosystem: Trace connections to source control, identity systems, document storage, chat, automation and APIs. OpenProject documents integrations including GitHub, GitLab, XWiki, Nextcloud, OneDrive and SharePoint; it also warns that community plugins may not be officially supported. See its integrations and community plugins documentation.
- Total cost and operating work: Include licenses or subscriptions, hosting, migration services, internal administration, app replacements, training and ongoing support. Obtain current quotes and model costs for your own deployment; the available evidence does not establish a universal price comparison.
A practical migration evaluation
- Inventory the current stack. Record each Data Center product, Marketplace app, integration, workflow, permission model, custom field and operational dependency. Identify which capabilities are mandatory and which can change.
- Choose representative test data. Include projects and spaces with ordinary and complex configurations, plus examples of unusual field types, macros, attachments, issue-page links and app-specific data.
- Run separate migration tests. Test Jira migration into each candidate project-management system and, where relevant, Confluence migration into the knowledge platform. Check identifiers, histories, links, permissions, attachments and content rendering rather than counting imported records alone.
- Run user acceptance and integration tests. Have the people who manage projects, service workflows and documentation perform real tasks in the candidate system. Verify identity, source control, automation, reporting and app replacements.
- Estimate the operating model and cost. Assign responsibilities for hosting, upgrades, support and ongoing administration. Include implementation, training and the work needed to retire or replace extensions.
- Decide on evidence, not feature names. Document gaps, workarounds, risks and owners. If migration support is needed, OpenProject’s integrations documentation names ALM Toolbox as a provider that can assist with Jira or Confluence migration; independently verify service scope and suitability.
What this shortlist does not establish
It does not identify a universal best replacement or establish equivalent coverage for Jira Service Management, Marketplace apps, customized workflows or every Confluence macro. Microsoft Azure DevOps is another product readers may encounter, but this comparison does not establish its suitability, hosting model, feature parity or migration path from Jira or Confluence. Evaluate any additional candidate against current product documentation and the same representative workloads.
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