The Atlassian Data Center price increase for 2026. What changed, and how to keep the renewal down.

Atlassian raised Jira, Confluence and Jira Service Management Data Center list prices 15 percent on February 17, 2026. The tier you renew at, your app list and a parallel Cloud quote decide how much of that you pay.

Atlassian raised Data Center list prices again on February 17, 2026. Jira, Confluence and Jira Service Management went up 15 percent on every user tier, and Jira customers still on advantaged pricing took about 25 percent. Most enterprise renewal quotes came in above that, because tier changes and Marketplace app increases are added on top.

What you pay depends on the tier you renew at, whether the price is held beyond one year, and whether Atlassian believes you could move to Cloud on your own schedule. Read this with our Cloud migration guide and the Atlassian Enterprise pricing guide.

How much did Atlassian raise Data Center prices in 2026?

The published increase is 15 percent across all user tiers of Jira, Confluence and Jira Service Management Data Center, effective February 17, 2026 PT. Atlassian announced it on January 15, 2026. It applies to new purchases, renewals and tier upgrades, and a quote created before that date keeps the old price until the quote expires.

The 2026 change is flatter than the February 2025 one, which raised list prices by tier so the largest customers took the largest step. The exception is advantaged pricing, a legacy price level some customers kept after Atlassian's October 2019 pricing changes, where Jira rises about 25 percent depending on tier.

Check your products against the public Data Center list price page. Our summary of Atlassian pricing changes in 2026 covers the Cloud side.

Which products sit outside the 2026 notice?

Bitbucket Data Center is not named in the 2026 notice or the 2025 one. Marketplace apps are excluded too: Atlassian's FAQ says each developer sets its own app prices, which can change at any time. Check both lines on your quote against last year's figures.

Why do renewal quotes come in above 15 percent?

In the renewals we benchmarked, the effective annual uplift landed between 15 and 30 percent, depending on tier and app mix. The gap between list and quote comes from four places:

• Tier steps. Growth past a user ceiling reprices the whole subscription at the next tier, and the list change is applied to that higher fee.
• Advantaged pricing. Jira customers on legacy plans are being brought toward list, so their increase outruns the published 15 percent.
• Marketplace apps. App vendors reprice on their own schedule, and every Data Center app bills at the tier of its host product.
• One year terms. A price agreed for one year resets at the next anniversary unless the contract holds it.

What have we seen in recent Atlassian Data Center renewals?

We benchmarked roughly 25 to 35 Atlassian Data Center renewals in 2024 and 2025. In those accounts the list price rose faster than the customer's headcount. Buyers who treated the increase as fixed paid all of it. Buyers who priced a Cloud migration against the renewal got the Data Center number to move.

• Uplift. Across 30 of those renewals, the median annual Data Center uplift was 22 percent.
• Apps. Marketplace app spend made up 20 to 45 percent of the total bill, and few customers had ever benchmarked it.
• Cloud quotes. A Cloud migration quote came in 10 to 25 percent below the Data Center renewal in about half of cases. The median saving was 18 percent.
• App audits. Across 34 renewals, an app audit removed a median of 6 apps and cut 22 percent from the Marketplace bill.

What separated the two groups was timing. Customers who started early had a user count, an app list and a Cloud quote ready before Atlassian's renewal quote arrived.

How do Data Center user tiers set the price?

Data Center is sold in user tiers, each with one fixed annual fee for everyone licensed under it. The ladder runs from 25 users, the smallest Bitbucket tier, up to enterprise tiers of tens of thousands of users. Jira's smallest Data Center tier is 500 users, so a 300 person team pays for 500.

What happens if you cross a tier ceiling during the term?

You buy the next tier. Atlassian prices a tier upgrade prorated to your current expiry date, and the new tier replaces the old one: moving from 500 to 1,000 users gives you 1,000 users, not 1,500. The next renewal is then quoted at the higher tier with the list change applied on top.

Can you move down a tier at renewal?

Yes. Atlassian allows a downgrade at any time, but gives no refund or credit for a mid term downgrade, so the useful moment is the renewal. You can combine the downgrade with the renewal within 90 days of expiry, and downgrades remain available until March 28, 2029.

Atlassian does not require proof of usage. We still build twelve months of actual user counts below the lower ceiling first, because a hiring spike can otherwise force a prorated upgrade back to the old tier mid term. That evidence has to exist in the prior term, so clean the directory early and plot next year's count against the ceilings.

A worked example: one tier down, apps included

Say you license Jira Data Center at the 3,000 user tier and run three Marketplace apps at the same tier. After a cleanup, 1,880 accounts are active, and hiring plans put next year at about 1,955, inside the 2,000 user tier.

The fees are illustrative, not Atlassian list prices. Today you pay $300,000 for Jira and $60,000 for the apps, which would cost $46,000 at the 2,000 tier before their lift.

The tier change is worth $95,900 a year before any discount, $15,400 of it from the apps. With only 45 users of headroom, the hiring forecast matters as much as the cleanup.

How do you check your own user count?

• Jira. In administration, Applications then Versions & licenses shows licensed users against the tier for each application. The user list shows each account's last login.
• Confluence. General configuration then License details shows licensed users against the tier.
• Bitbucket. Administration then Licensing shows the licensed user count.
• Directory groups. A user counts when they sit in a group with application access in Jira or the "can use" permission in Confluence, and that includes integration accounts. Remove leavers from those groups or disable them in LDAP or Crowd.

How do Marketplace apps change the renewal bill?

Apps add a second increase, and at the larger tiers it is often bigger than Atlassian's 15 percent. Atlassian's notice excludes them, but every Data Center app must match the user tier of its host product. A tier step on Jira reprices every Jira app, and at the largest tiers the app bill can come close to the platform bill.

Do app vendors follow Atlassian's increase?

Most do. In our experience app vendors announce a matching lift within ninety days of the Atlassian notice, applied at your next app renewal and scaled to your tier. See our article on Marketplace app licensing and user scaling for the per app rules.

What does an app inventory audit usually find?

A typical Data Center environment runs 15 to 30 Marketplace apps, and about a third of them are unused or used by fewer than 5 percent of users. Many were installed for a project that has since ended. Cancel them before the renewal quote is built.

Why do overlapping apps cost twice?

Many environments run two apps with the same function, such as two diagramming tools bought by different departments. Both bill at the full tier, so the overlap doubles the spend. Pick one, move the content, and cancel the other at its renewal date.

Is Atlassian Cloud cheaper than Data Center after the 2026 increase?

Below about 2,000 users it usually is, on a three year run rate. Above that, the Cloud bill tends to exceed the Data Center bill for most enterprises. Atlassian calls Cloud the long term destination, but the comparison has to be run on your own users and apps.

Cloud prices rise too. The next Cloud list change takes effect on October 13, 2026 PT across Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Guard and other plans, with earlier quotes honored until they expire. Price each year on current list pricing plus the increases you expect in years two and three.

What incentives does Atlassian offer Data Center customers to move?

• Cloud migration trial. Free Cloud access for the rest of your Data Center subscription, up to 12 months and 20,000 users, to test and plan.
• Cloud Enterprise discount. Data Center customers who buy Cloud Enterprise by June 2027 may get 10 to 20 percent off the first year.
• Step up credits. Qualifying customers get a credit for the prorated value of their unused Data Center maintenance.
• Dual licensing. Data Center at no charge during the migration, covered in the next section.

Will your apps come with you to Cloud?

Only the apps that have a Cloud version will. Several Data Center apps have no Cloud equivalent, so each needs a Cloud version, a replacement app or removal of the function. Check this before you trust a Cloud quote. Our note on Marketplace apps and Data Center end of life covers the app side.

Does data residency keep you on Data Center?

It does less often than it used to, because Cloud data residency is now offered on the Standard, Premium and Enterprise plans, with locations including the US, EU, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore and South Korea. If your requirement falls outside that list, Data Center only buys time until March 28, 2029.

How long can you stay on Data Center, and what does dual licensing cover?

You can stay until March 28, 2029, when all Data Center subscriptions expire and instances become read only. Sales to new customers ended on March 30, 2026. Existing customers can add subscriptions, apps and users until March 30, 2028, and later renewals are prorated to the end date. Our Data Center end of life guide covers each phase.

What does the dual licensing program give you?

Larger customers can hold Data Center and Cloud subscriptions together for up to twelve months while they migrate, with Data Center access at no charge. Atlassian does not publish the size threshold on its end of life page, so get eligibility confirmed in writing. See our guide to running Cloud and Data Center in parallel.

How should you use the migration window?

Use the dual period to move projects, apps and integrations, starting with apps that lack a Cloud version and integrations with custom code. The Data Center subscription expires when the period ends, so a slipped migration means buying Data Center again at the new price. Plan the waves before you sign.

Is leaving Atlassian a realistic alternative?

For some teams it is. Linear, Notion, GitLab and Microsoft Loop are the common alternatives, and the migration cost and risk are higher than a move to Atlassian Cloud. Across 34 renewals, dual licensing covered the migration in 22 cases, and three customers moved to a competitor product, saving an average of 40 percent at the three year run rate.

How should you run the Data Center renewal?

Start at least 270 days before the renewal date and work in order: user count, app audit, Cloud quote, then price terms. The renewal quote prices in the 2026 list change and any tier change, so the cleanup and the Cloud comparison have to exist before it does.

Is a three year price hold still worth asking for?

Yes. A three year hold caps the compounding of annual increases, and from a 2026 renewal it reaches the 2029 end date. Data Center is sold on annual terms, so the hold takes the form of written pricing for each anniversary, which Atlassian will consider in exchange for a longer commitment.

Why renewing early to beat the next increase is usually the wrong call

The standard reseller advice is to renew Data Center on time, or early, to lock the current price before the next increase. We disagree. In most renewals we benchmarked, the urgency was manufactured, and the real pressure on Atlassian came from the unpriced Cloud Enterprise alternative. Pulling a parallel Cloud quote shifted the Data Center discount by double digits.

Run both tracks at once, benchmark the list pricing, and make the Data Center renewal and the Cloud offer compete for the outcome. An early signature on Atlassian's calendar gives away the only timing advantage you have.

The renewal date sits on Atlassian's calendar. A parallel Cloud quote puts the timing back on yours.

What will the Atlassian account team say, and how should you answer?

• "Prices rise again next February, so sign now." Ask for a quote valid through your actual renewal date and a written price for the following anniversary. Atlassian honors a quote until it expires.
• "Data Center is ending, so there is little to negotiate." You pay for Data Center until the migration finishes, possibly into 2029. Those bridge years deserve the same scrutiny as any renewal.
• "App pricing is set by the vendors." Then quote each app on its own line with its own renewal date, so you can cancel the unused ones.
• "The Cloud Enterprise discount needs a commitment this quarter." Atlassian's published window runs to June 2027. Ask for the discount in writing, tied to your migration timeline.

What should the renewal contract say?

• A price hold per anniversary. Written Data Center pricing for each renewal through March 28, 2029, with prorated upgrades at the same discount.
• A downgrade right. Confirmation that you can drop a tier at each renewal, matching Atlassian's policy, so it cannot be disputed later.
• Dual licensing terms. Products, tier, start date and end date of the no charge Data Center period.
• Cloud pricing. The first year Enterprise discount and a cap on the Cloud increase for the years after migration.
• Separate app lines. Each Marketplace app listed with its own tier, price and renewal date.

What is the timeline from 270 days out?

We benchmark Atlassian quotes through our benchmarking service and Benchmark Program, and run full cycles under the Renewal Program, Vendor Shield or a Software Spend Assessment.

What to do next

1. Pull the Data Center contract. Identify the products, the tier ceiling and the renewal anniversary.
2. Pull the active user count. Capture the trailing twelve months of active users in each product.
3. Clean the directory. Remove dormant users from Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management and Bitbucket.
4. Audit the Marketplace apps. Find unused and duplicate apps and cancel them before the renewal.
5. Compare Cloud and Data Center. Work out the three year cost of each for your actual users and apps.
6. Check the dual licensing program. Confirm eligibility for a Data Center and Cloud parallel run.
7. Negotiate the multi year hold. A three year price hold caps the compounding of annual increases.
8. Get an independent review. Our Atlassian licensing services team reviews each stage, with no Atlassian or reseller commission.

Frequently asked questions