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Data Center goes read-only March 2029

Atlassian Cloud Migration: Data Center to Cloud

Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket moved on automated pipelines, with a short verified cutover.

Get your estimateOngoing maintenance
§01
Timeline

What happens to Jira Data Center, and when

Atlassian has published the whole runway. Most plans are built around the last date on it, which is the one that matters least.

Data Center reaches end-of-life in March 2029. For most organizations this is not a question of if you migrate — it is a question of when and how.

The three dates

March 30, 2026

No new Data Center licences for new customers.

March 30, 2028

End of licence sales for existing customers.

March 28, 2029

Data Center becomes read-only.

Read-only is the end state, not the start of the problem. Long before 2029 you are running an instance nobody is adding capability to, on a licence you cannot extend, with apps whose vendors have already moved on.

The deadline before the deadline

A second Atlassian countdown lands underneath the apps you already paid to move. Atlassian Connect — the framework a large share of Cloud Marketplace apps are built on — is on a published, three-phase retirement. New Connect apps could no longer be listed from 17 September 2025. Existing ones were frozen from 31 March 2026: still running, still patchable by their vendors, but unable to add modules, scopes or surfaces.

Full end of support arrives at the end of 2026. Nothing dramatic happens that day — Atlassian's own wording is that Connect becomes use-at-your-own-risk and stops receiving updates and security patches. It is not a cliff, it is a slow leak, which is exactly why it slips past migration plans.

Read the full breakdown of the Connect countdown
§02
Scope

What a Data Center to Cloud migration actually moves

The Cloud Migration Assistants are good at the data and quiet about the configuration wrapped around it. Knowing which is which is how you price your own risk.

What the Cloud Migration Assistants carry

  • Projects, issues and their full change history
  • Confluence spaces, pages and page history
  • Users and groups, with identity resolved to the target directory
  • Attachments, comments and worklogs
  • Standard workflows, screens and field configurations

What they don't

  • Confluence user macros — there is no native Cloud equivalent
  • ScriptRunner Groovy and anything else compiled against the DC API
  • Permission schemes keep their grants but get renamed on a name collision in the target
  • Issue security level permissions referencing unsupported custom field types — these do not migrate at all
  • Assets schema shape and scope, which rarely survives as designed
  • Filter and dashboard JQL that references IDs or fields the tenant move invalidates
  • Data Center-only REST surfaces, and every integration built on them

Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket each break differently

Jira

The data moves; the configuration is the work. Custom fields multiply across projects, workflow post-functions built in Groovy have no Cloud target, and permission and issue-security schemes are where verification quietly goes blind.

Confluence

Pages and history migrate cleanly. Macros are the problem — user macros in particular, which are a Data Center-only feature and have to be rebuilt rather than moved. Macro rewriting at scale is a scripted job, not a manual one.

Bitbucket

Repositories move, but every credential and CI integration pointing at them has to be re-pointed. Bitbucket Cloud has also retired app passwords, which breaks working Git remotes and pipelines that nobody thought were part of the migration.

How to migrate off app passwordsWhat actually breaks, and why
§03
Assessment

Assessment: know what you have before you move

Guessing the size of an instance is what blows migration budgets. The assessment is free, it produces a written plan, and it is the thing that turns our flat price from a quote into a commitment.

What we count

  • Projects and spaces, active vs dormant
  • Custom fields and their real usage
  • Workflows, schemes and screens
  • Marketplace apps and their Cloud paths
  • Automation and ScriptRunner rules
  • Integrations and API consumers
  • Assets object schemas and scope
  • Attachment volume and age

You get the inventory itself, not just a conclusion drawn from it. It is your data, and it is useful whether or not you migrate with us.

How long the free assessment takes

  • XSUnder 250 users2 hours
  • S250–500 users4 hours
  • M500–1,000 users1 day
  • L1,000–2,000 users2 days
  • XL2,000+ users3 days

If you would rather run the inventory yourself first, the queries and scripts we use are written up in full.

The assessment tutorial: SQL, REST and ScriptRunner
§04
Apps

Apps decide your timeline, not your data volume

It is never the issues and pages that break the project. It is the apps — and specifically the moment you find out the vendor has no answer either, and the deadline does not care.

It migrates

The vendor ships a Cloud version and a supported path for your data. This is the good case, and it still needs testing — "supported" and "lossless" are not the same claim.

A Cloud version exists, your data has no path

The app is there; the migration is not. Someone has to move the configuration and the stored data by script. That someone is usually us, against the app's own REST or Forge storage.

There is no Cloud equivalent

We rebuild them as custom Forge apps so functionality moves with your data instead of breaking on go-live. Same for user macros and Groovy post-functions.

The app problem nobody warned you aboutHow we build the replacement Forge appsRebuilding Assets ingestion after a move
§05
Cleanup

Clean up before you move, not after

It is the most repeated advice in the Atlassian world and almost nobody takes it — because every incentive in the room, ours included, is paid to move more rather than less. Here are the three places we keep watching migrations get harder than they needed to be.

1

Permission schemes

Mature instances carry dozens of permission and issue-security schemes, grants pointing at groups that no longer exist, and security levels referencing deleted custom fields. The real damage is that no admin can see every project, so nobody — including your migrator — can verify what moved.

2

Assets data shape

Object schemas grow to fit whoever asked last. Attribute types drift, references go one-way, and the shape that made sense in Data Center is the shape you will be paying to reproduce in Cloud unless it is fixed first.

3

Assets scope

Assets tends to accumulate everything anyone ever wanted to track. Deciding what is genuinely in scope is cheap now and expensive under a migration clock.

Cleanup is a separate, modest line in the configurator, and you can own it yourself under our supervision for roughly half the cost of us doing it.

The three pre-migration fires, in detailWhy nobody is paid to make it smaller
§06
Method

How the migration runs, phase by phase

Five phases, in this order, on every migration we run. The pipelines are scripted and re-runnable, so we adapt and re-run live rather than waiting on a support ticket.

  1. 1

    Assessment and a written plan

    We inventory the instance and hand you a written migration plan: what moves cleanly, what does not, what each app will cost you, and which flat-price cell you land in. It is free, and it runs from 2 hours on a small instance to 3 days on a large one.

  2. 2

    Cleanup and pre-staging

    Dead schemes, orphaned security levels and unowned projects get resolved before they become migration defects. Users, groups and attachments are moved ahead of the cutover so the production weekend is not carrying the bulk of the data.

  3. 3

    Dry-run rehearsal

    The whole migration runs end to end against a target you can log into and check. The pipelines are scripted and idempotent, so a failed run is re-run rather than restarted by hand, and the rehearsal is the same code that will do the real thing.

  4. 4

    Cutover: a short verified delta

    Because everything bulky is already staged, the production window moves a delta rather than the instance. We verify counts on both sides — projects, issues, pages, attachments, users — before anyone is let in.

  5. 5

    2 weeks of hypercare

    Every migration tier includes 2 weeks of post-go-live hypercare. Real instances surface their problems in the first fortnight of real use, not on cutover night, and that is the window where we are still on it.

§07
Downtime

Migrating without downtime

"Zero downtime" gets sold loosely, so here is what we mean by it. Your teams keep working in Data Center while the migration is built and rehearsed. Users, groups and attachments — the bulky, slow parts — are pre-staged well before the cutover. The dry run proves the whole thing against a target you can log into. What is left for the production window is a delta, verified on both sides before anyone is let in.

What it does not mean: the source instance is not writable while that final delta runs. A migration that claims otherwise is either not moving everything or not verifying it. The honest goal is a window measured in hours, on a date you chose, with a rehearsed rollback — not the absence of a window.

Users, groups and attachments pre-staged

Full dry run against a real target

Production window is a verified delta

§08
Security

Security, compliance and data residency after the move

The trade is real and worth stating plainly. In Data Center you own the edge — your own WAF, your own CDN, your own rules. In Atlassian Cloud you inherit a fully managed AWS-native stack: Amazon CloudFront for CDN, AWS WAF at the application layer, and AWS Shield Advanced for DDoS. It is enterprise-grade and battle-tested, and you cannot touch it.

For most teams that is an upgrade. For teams whose security posture depends on custom edge rules — IP allowlists tied to a corporate perimeter, bespoke WAF signatures, geo-fencing enforced upstream — it is a genuine gap that has to be redesigned rather than migrated. We map each capability to its Cloud equivalent during the assessment so your security team sees the gaps before the cutover, not after.

Data residency and regulated industries

Where your data physically sits is a planning item, not an afterthought — it constrains which Cloud plan you need and, in some cases, which products can move at all. Regulated instances also tend to be the ones with the most aggressive issue-security setup, which is exactly what makes verification hard. Both get answered in the written plan.

We wrote the full Cloudflare-to-Atlassian-Cloud capability map, gap by gap, for exactly this conversation.

Read the edge-security assessment
§09
Risk

What actually goes wrong

Most migration failures aren't due to technical limitations. They're due to predictable mistakes that organizations make over and over again.

44–57%

failure rate

According to industry research, nearly half of cloud migrations fail to achieve their objectives.

62%

say it’s harder than expected

Most organizations underestimate the complexity and resource requirements.

28%

higher costs on average

Cloud licenses typically cost more than Data Center, especially at scale.

12–16 months

for large migrations

The typical end-to-end timeframe for a large enterprise, when everything goes according to plan.

Insufficient Planning

Rushing into migration without comprehensive assessment leads to data loss, application downtime, and user dissatisfaction.

App Compatibility

Many Data Center Marketplace apps don't have Cloud equivalents. Discovering this mid-migration forces costly workarounds or rollbacks.

Security & Compliance

Wrong data residency choices, missing audit logs, and misconfigured IAM policies lead to regulatory fines and security breaches.

Data Migration Issues

Underestimating data volume, network bandwidth, or complexity leads to incomplete migrations and data corruption.

Customization Loss

Failing to document and replicate custom workflows, scripts, and configurations causes process disruptions post-migration.

Change Management

Poor communication and training leads to employee resistance, reduced productivity, and failed adoption.

Real-World Examples

!

European Enterprise

Faced GDPR fines after migrating to non-compliant data residency region.

!

Global Tech Company

Lost 12 hours productivity due to legacy SSO configuration issues during migration.

!

Financial Services Firm

Rolled back migration after discovering compliance app wasn't cloud-ready.

!

Healthcare Provider

Failed HIPAA audit after not enabling audit logging in Cloud.

The good news is that most failures are predictable. With proper planning and experience, you can avoid the common pitfalls.

This isn't about finding a vendor who promises it will be easy. It's about finding someone who has done it before and knows what to expect.

§10
Pricing

What a Data Center to Cloud migration costs

This is the whole price list. Size comes from your active user count, complexity from apps and customisation, and the cell you land in is a flat price with a delivery window to a UAT-ready target — not a day rate that drifts.

Atlassian Data Center to Cloud migration flat prices and delivery windows by instance size and complexity
Instance sizeLow complexityMedium complexityHigh complexityFree assessment
XSUnder 250 users€1,000~2 days€1,400~3–4 days€1,800~1 week2 hours
S250–500 users€2,000~1 week€2,700~1.5 weeks€3,600~2 weeks4 hours
M500–1,000 users€4,000~2 weeks€5,500~3 weeks€7,200~4 weeks1 day
L1,000–2,000 users€12,000~4 weeks€16,000~6 weeks€21,500~8 weeks2 days
XL2,000+ users€48,000~3 months€65,000~4 months€86,000~5 months3 days

2 weeks of hypercare, included

Every tier includes 2 weeks of post-go-live support. After that, ongoing maintenance is €50 an hour, billed for what you use.

20% off on FastShift

If you are on — or applying for — Atlassian FastShift, the combined total drops by 20%, because Atlassian carries the programme-management and tooling overhead. How we support FastShift

What moves the price

  • Active seats — the size floor
  • How old the instance is, and how much has sedimented
  • Custom field and workflow count
  • Marketplace apps with no Cloud path
  • Regulated or locked-down networks

Build your migration quote

Answer a few questions and see a transparent flat price and delivery window — no sign-up, no sales call. You pick the size; we verify it free at the assessment.

Describe your migration — I'll scope it
L

Hi! I'll help you scope your Atlassian Cloud migration. To start: what are you moving to Cloud (Jira, Service Management, Confluence, Bitbucket?), and roughly how many people use it?

Your estimate

Calculating

I'll reveal a transparent flat price the moment we've got the full picture — no surprises.

Atlassian FastShift supported

On Atlassian's FastShift program? We do the hands-on delivery — and take 20% off your total. Just flag it in the quote above.

How we support FastShift

Post-migration maintenance

Every migration includes 2 weeks of hypercare. After that, ongoing admin, configuration and ScriptRunner / automation upkeep is available at a flat €50/hour — no retainer lock-in.

§11
Types

Migration types

Data Center to Cloud is the migration most organizations are here for, and everything above describes it. These are the other two we run.

Cloud-to-Cloud Consolidation

Merging multiple Cloud instances, typically after mergers, acquisitions, or organizational restructuring. More complex than it initially appears.

  • Instance mapping and consolidation
  • User account reconciliation
  • Project and space merging
  • Permission structure alignment

Third-Party to Jira

Migrating from other project management platforms like Monday, Trello, or Asana to Jira. Often involves significant data mapping and workflow re-engineering.

  • Data field mapping
  • Workflow translation
  • Custom field creation
  • Team training and onboarding

Data Center to Cloud

Moving from self-hosted Data Center or Server instances to Atlassian Cloud. This is the most common migration type as organizations respond to the Data Center EOL.

  • Zero-downtime migration approach
  • App compatibility assessment
  • Data residency planning
  • Custom workflow replication
§12
Delivered

Major migration projects

These aren't just numbers on a slide. Each project came with its own set of challenges and required creative problem-solving, at the scales where the configuration problems above actually bite.

38,000 users — OpenBet

Dual instance migration plus Bitbucket from on-premises to cloud delivered end-to-end. Coordinated a complex multi-platform cutover involving legacy systems, high-availability requirements, and extensive user coordination across the organization.

9,500 users — UBS

Full Jira/Confluence/Bitbucket migration with zero downtime. Global financial institution with complex compliance requirements across multiple regions.

8,500 users — SolarEdge

EMEA-wide migration with embedded compliance for privacy regulations. Required careful data residency planning and extensive stakeholder communication.

1,800 users — Diconium

CMDB and Assets implementation and migration for a digital transformation company within the Volkswagen Group ecosystem. Complex configuration management across distributed teams.

1,200 users — McLaren

Cloud-to-cloud consolidation following organizational restructuring. Merged multiple instances into unified environment while maintaining operational continuity.

1,200 users — Aer Lingus

Advanced automation implementation reducing manual admin workload by 60%. Focused on ScriptRunner customizations and API-driven workflows.

800 users — Zyter

JSM adoption replacing Salesforce. Improved service efficiency through better integration with existing healthcare workflows.

400 users — Netcentric

Seamless cloud transition with performance optimization for distributed teams across multiple time zones.

250 users — ABSLBS

Confluence and Jira migrations both completed. Delivered clean data transfer with minimal disruption to daily workflows.

More migrations in the pipeline

New engagements are kicking off. Check back soon for the next batch of cloud journeys in flight.

§13
Expertise

Technical expertise

Migrations require a specific set of skills. We have developed expertise across the Atlassian ecosystem through years of hands-on experience.

Jira & Confluence
Jira Service Management
Bitbucket
ScriptRunner
Groovy & REST API
Advanced JQL

What this means for you

  • Deep understanding of migration tools and their limitations
  • Ability to troubleshoot complex issues that standard documentation doesn't cover
  • Experience with enterprise-grade compliance and security requirements
  • Proven track record of successful large-scale migrations

Compliance & security

For regulated industries, compliance isn't optional. Security isn't a nice-to-have. These are non-negotiable requirements that must be addressed from day one.

  • Securities law & privacy regulations
  • Anti-money laundering (AML) legislation
  • Enterprise governance frameworks
  • Data residency planning
  • Audit logging & compliance reporting

Certifications

PSM I - Professional Scrum Master
SSM - SAFe Scrum Master
AWS Cloud Practitioner
ACP-120 Cloud Admin (in progress)
§14
Impact

Business impact

Migration isn't just a technical project. It's a business transformation that affects how teams work every day.

Reduced costs

Eliminate dedicated DevOps overhead for on-prem infrastructure. Reduce maintenance burden and free up resources for innovation.

60%

Reduction in admin workload

Future-proofing

Access to Atlassian Intelligence (AI), new features, and integrations that only ship to Cloud. Stay ahead of the curve.

1000+

Cloud features released in 2024

Better security

Enterprise-grade security features, compliance certifications, and automated security updates. Focus on your business, not security patching.

99%

Of customers on Cloud

§15
Honesty

The honest version

After ten-plus migrations, from 250 users to 38,000, the thing worth saying out loud is that they are imperfect by necessity, not by design. Something will land differently on the other side — a macro that renders slightly wrong, a filter that needs re-saving, an app whose reports start their history on cutover day. Every migration has a list like that.

Waiting for the version with no list is the single most expensive mistake we watch organisations make. The instance keeps growing, the apps keep sedimenting, and the same move costs more every year you defer it. The goal is not perfection, it is a migration where every imperfection is known, written down and priced before you go live.

We won't tell you migration is easy. We have been in the trenches when things go wrong. But with proper planning, realistic expectations, and experience to draw from, migrations succeed — the organizations we have worked with are now operating in Cloud and benefitting from the platform's capabilities. Migration is hard, but you don't have to do it alone.

The long version, subjectively
§16
Fit

Ready for your cloud journey?

Migration doesn't have to disrupt your business. With the right expertise, it becomes an opportunity to optimize and modernize your Atlassian ecosystem.

  • You're facing an Atlassian-mandated Cloud migration and need expert guidance to avoid costly mistakes.
  • You've acquired another company and need to consolidate Jira or Confluence instances without losing data or productivity.
  • Your current self-hosted setup is draining resources with maintenance, upgrades, and security concerns.
  • You want a partner who speaks both "business" and "technical" to bridge the gap between stakeholders and implementation teams.

This is for you if

We don't work with everyone. We focus on organizations where we can make a meaningful difference.

You need more than a migration tool vendor

Atlassian provides migration assistants. What you need is someone who has used them in production and knows their limitations.

You have complex requirements

Regulated industries, large user counts, custom integrations, strict compliance requirements. These aren't edge cases — they're what we specialize in.

You value experience over marketing

We're not trying to sell you on Cloud. We're helping you get there with minimal disruption and maximum success.

You're willing to invest in doing it right

Proper planning takes time. Rushing migration saves weeks upfront and costs months later.

§17
FAQ

Frequently asked questions

When does Jira Data Center reach end of life?

Three dates matter. On 30 March 2026 Atlassian stops selling new Data Center licences to new customers. On 30 March 2028 licence sales end for existing customers too. On 28 March 2029 Data Center becomes read-only. Read-only is the end state, not the start of the problem — the practical deadline is whenever your renewal, your apps or your auditors get there first.

What happens to our Atlassian Data Center after the sunset?

After 28 March 2029, Atlassian Data Center products become read-only. All support, downloads, and renewals stop. Organizations must migrate to Atlassian Cloud or alternative solutions before this date to maintain full functionality.

How long does a Data Center to Cloud migration take?

Our published delivery windows run from ~2 days for a small, low-complexity instance to ~5 months for a large, high-complexity one, measured to a UAT-ready target. Every tier then includes 2 weeks of hypercare after go-live. Size sets the floor; apps and customisation set the rest.

How much does a Data Center to Cloud migration cost?

We publish a flat price for every size and complexity combination, from €1,000 at the small end to €86,000 for a large, high-complexity instance. It is a fixed price, not a day-rate estimate that drifts. If you are on or applying for Atlassian FastShift, the combined total drops by 20% because Atlassian carries the programme-management overhead.

What does the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant not migrate?

It carries the core well: issues, pages, users, groups, attachments, comments and history. What it does not carry is the configuration wrapped around them. Permission schemes that share a name with a scheme already in your Cloud target get renamed during migration. Issue security level permissions that reference unsupported custom field types do not migrate at all. Confluence user macros, ScriptRunner Groovy, Data Center-only REST endpoints, the shape of your Assets schema and filter JQL that breaks on a tenant move all need hands-on work.

What happens to our Marketplace apps?

Every app lands in one of three outcomes: the vendor has a Cloud version and a supported migration path, the vendor has a Cloud version but no path for your data, or there is no Cloud equivalent at all. The third case is the one that moves timelines, and we resolve it by rebuilding the functionality as a custom Forge app. Worth knowing separately: Atlassian Connect, which a large share of Cloud Marketplace apps still run on, reaches full end of support at the end of 2026.

Can we migrate without downtime?

Users keep working in Data Center right up to the cutover, and the cutover itself is a short, verified delta rather than a big-bang export. That is what zero-downtime honestly means: pre-staged users, groups and attachments, a rehearsed dry run, and a production window measured in hours rather than a lost weekend. What it does not mean is that the source instance stays writable while the final delta runs.

What happens to ScriptRunner scripts and user macros?

They do not move. Data Center Groovy does not run in Atlassian Cloud, and Confluence user macros have no native Cloud equivalent. We rebuild them as custom Forge apps so the functionality moves with your data instead of breaking on go-live, which is the same team and the same codebase as our Forge development service.

Do we have to migrate Jira and Confluence at the same time?

No — they can be staged, and on larger instances they usually should be. The order matters more than the timing: users and groups go first so identity resolves consistently, and anything that links across products, such as Confluence pages embedding Jira issues, needs both sides addressable when the second product lands. We plan that sequence in the assessment.

Start with the free assessment

We inventory the instance, tell you what will not move cleanly, and put a flat price on the rest. No obligation, and the inventory is yours either way.

Talk to us