Jira Data Center ends in March 2029. Here is a migration calendar that does not panic.

The dates that matter

Atlassian announced the end of Data Center in September 2025. Sales to new customers stopped in March 2026. Existing customers can buy apps until March 2028. On 28 March 2029 licences expire, instances go read-only and security fixes stop.

That is the whole calendar from Atlassian's side. Everything else is yours to plan.

Working backwards

2028, second half. Your old instance is read-only by choice, not by licence. People have worked in the new tool for a full quarter, including one budget cycle and one audit.

2028, first half. Cut-over. The import has been rehearsed twice on a copy of production, so the real run is a Friday evening and a Monday morning of questions.

2027. Pilot with two or three teams that represent the extremes: the one with 40 custom fields, the one that lives in the Help Desk, and the one that only wants a board. Fix the configuration on the pilot, not on the whole organisation.

2026, now. Procurement. In most public-sector and financial organisations this is the slowest step, and the one that cannot be compressed later. Start it this year.

What to require in the tender

• Self-hosted, with no licence check that leaves the network
• A Jira import that moves configuration, roles and boards, not just issues
• Directory integration with group sync, OpenID Connect single sign-on, and two-factor authentication
• An append-only audit log with an export your SIEM can read
• A footprint your operations team can run: containers they already know how to back up

Where GoProject fits

GoProject was designed for exactly this window. The import wizard is the adoption tool; the two-container footprint is the operations argument; the module switches are how you keep the pilot simple. Start free and import one of your own projects.