Atlassian dual licensing and loyalty discount

How to avoid double costs when migrating to Atlassian Cloud

When it comes to migrating to Cloud, many organizations opt for a step-by-step approach where data, users, and applications are migrated gradually rather than all at once. This approach enables better control over the migrated data but also requires more time (and we all know that the longer the migration takes, the higher the costs usually are!)

One of the reasons for this is that companies have to operate an on-premise (Data Center or Server) instance and Cloud instance in parallel during the migration. To solve this problem, Atlassian has introduced dual licensing.

Dual licensing ensures that there are no duplicate costs during the migration phase and that the customer only has to pay for Cloud licenses and not for the renewal of their on-premises licenses.

After purchasing Cloud licenses, Atlassian offers a 100% discount on renewal of on-premises licenses for up to 12 months. This means that customers can use them free of charge for a maximum of one year. Products affected by this are Jira Software, Jira Service Management, and Confluence.

Dual licensing only applies to companies that have an active Server or Data Center subscription and purchase an annual Cloud subscription for 1,001 or more users whose on-premises instance is active or expired by 30 days or less.

Example 1: A customer has a Jira Software Server instance (2,000 users) that expires on January 31, 2021, and wants to migrate to the Cloud in stages over a six-month period. On January 1, 2021, the customer purchases an annual subscription to Jira Software Cloud (2,000 users). Atlassian grants the customer a 100% discounted Jira Software Server instance until their Cloud subscription expires on December 31, 2021.

Important notes on dual licensing

In addition to the entitlements mentioned above, there are further notes regarding Atlassian's dual licensing.

Level of the refunded license

The refund of the on-premise instance is equal to the level of the Cloud subscription. If the tier is not available on Server or Data Center, the next higher tier will be granted.

Example 2: The customer has a Jira Software Data Center subscription (2,000 users) that expires on January 31, 2021, and wants to migrate to Cloud gradually over a period of six months. On January 1, 2021, the customer purchases an annual subscription of Jira Software Cloud (1,800 users) with a lower user tier than their Data Center subscription. Since there is no 1,800 user tier for Jira Software Data Center, the customer will be granted a 100% discounted Data Center subscription for 2,000 users.

Refund validity period

The term of the refunded on-premise license will be chosen to match and expire together with the term of the purchased Cloud license. However, while the Cloud subscription is renewed after the first year, the term of the waived Server or Data Center subscription should not be longer than one year, as the costs of the on-premise license are only covered by Atlassian for a maximum of 12 months. Accordingly, the migration should be completed before the expiration of the refunded Server or Data Center license.

Loyalty discount: Save up to 40% on license costs when migrating to Cloud

The Cloud loyalty discount is a further incentive for companies to migrate to Cloud. Atlassian offers high discounts on new purchases, renewals or upgrades. For the purchase or renewal of Jira Software Cloud, Jira Work Management Cloud, Jira Service Management Cloud, Confluence Cloud and/or apps developed by Atlassian, customers can expect a discount of:

• 40% if the purchase is made before July 1, 2022.
• 20% if the purchase is made before July 1, 2023.

Note: Any new purchase/upgrade/renewal after July 1, 2023 will not be covered.

Example 3: A customer has a Jira Data Center license for 2,000 users. On June 4, 2022, he buys a Jira Cloud license for which he receives a 40% discount. For his renewal on June 4, 2023, he receives a discount of 20%.

If a customer decides to purchase a 24-month license, the current discount level is applied for both years.

Example 4: A customer has 250 users in Jira and 2,000 users in Confluence. On June 4, 2022, he buys 24 monthly licenses for each. For Confluence, he receives a 40% discount over two years. For Jira, however, he receives no discount due to the low number of users. He also receives no discount for his renewal on June 4, 2024, which is no longer within the Cloud loyalty discount period.

Eligibility for the Cloud loyalty discount

The Cloud loyalty discount is only available to customers:

• With an active Server or Data Center subscription for 1,001 or more users and also purchase an annual Cloud subscription to Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Confluence, Questions for Confluence, or Training for Jira for 1,001 or more users.
• Who migrate to an existing Cloud instance, increasing the number of users by at least twice the current number of users and covering at least 1,001 users.
• Whose original on-premise license was purchased before February 2, 2021.
• Whose on-premise instance is actively maintained or has expired within 30 days.
• Who use the free Cloud migration trial.

Atlassian also offers discounts on Server licenses with less than 1,000 users when multiple licenses are migrated to a single Cloud instance with more than 1,001 users.

In addition, Cloud licenses must be purchased in a single order, with the exception of Server starter licenses as well as community (non-profit) and open source customers.