Jira Cloud Standard vs. Premium Plan - What's the difference?

What is Jira Cloud?

Think back to the days when hard drives, CDs, and pen drives were our only options for storing data. Software had to be installed directly on your computer, storage space was limited, and backups were even more critical than they are today.

As the Internet evolved, these challenges began to fade. Cloud technologies, which allow us to access services online, have become increasingly popular. After all, who wouldn't want the convenience of managing their projects and data from anywhere?

Atlassian shares this vision. Their flagship product, Jira, is the hero of today’s article. In case you're unfamiliar, Jira is a highly popular tool for issue tracking and project management, used by over 300,000 organizations worldwide. It’s versatile, suitable for all teams—whether in development, marketing, sales, legal, or design. For ITSM teams, help desks, and any situation involving ticket management, Atlassian has released its other product, Jira Service Management. Both Jira and Jira Service Management are available in two storage options: Jira Cloud and Data Center.

Why choose Jira Cloud vs Data Center?

Jira can be hosted in two ways: in the Cloud or in a Data Center. But what’s the difference?

Atlassian Cloud is a modern Software as a Service (SaaS) option where Atlassian manages the infrastructure needed to run the tools and store your files. With this option, you get regular updates, new features like Atlassian Intelligence, and security managed by Atlassian. The company strongly supports the cloud, investing most of its R&D budget into it. Jira Cloud also offers flexible licensing options, which we’ll discuss further below.

Data Center, on the other hand, is for organizations that prefer to store files and run tools on their own infrastructure. It can be set up as a single server or a clustered system, either on your own physical hardware or through Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This option is typically chosen by organizations with strict data protection requirements, needing to meet certain standards or host data on their own infrastructure. A key advantage of the Data Center is its ability to provide high availability for your applications.

With Cloud, your total costs include the subscription fee and time spent managing the product. With the Data Center, additional expenses come into play, such as infrastructure costs or IaaS fees (e.g., AWS), planned downtime, and resources needed for software updates.

Which option you choose depends on your specific needs. If you're unsure which is the right fit for your organization, we're here to help—feel free to reach out for guidance!

What are the Jira Cloud license options? 

Jira free - Best to choose when you just getting started in a small team

• Up to 10 users (or 3 agents for Jira Service Management)
• 2 GB of file storage
• Deactivated after 120 days of inactivity

Jira Standard - If you need standard features for more users

• Up to 50,000 users for Jira (10,000 for Jira Work Management and 20,000 agents in Jira Service Management)
• 250 GB of file storage
• Advanced permissions, roles, and permission sharing between company-managed projects
• Data residency option - determine where to host content and data
• Standard Support (local business hours 9-5 support)

Jira Premium - More storage, more advanced project tracking features

• Unlimited file storage
• Premium dedicated Atlassian 24/7 support
• 99.9% uptime service level agreement (SLA)
• Advanced roadmaps - track multiple projects across different teams
• Sandboxes
• Release tracks - control when updates happen

Enterprise - For enterprises with global scale, security, and governance needs 

• Give users access to multiple Jira Enterprise products (up to 150) and only pay for each user once
• Get our 99.95% uptime service level agreement (SLA)
• Available upon contacting Atlassian

If you're already using Jira Cloud, you can switch to a different plan at no extra cost for the rest of your current billing cycle and the next one. You can cancel anytime during the trial if you decide not to continue. If you have a Free plan you can try the Standard plan for 14 days and the Premium plan for 30 days. 

Key differences between Jira Cloud Standard and Premium

1. Storage
   • Standard: 250 GB – great for small to medium teams.
   • Premium: Unlimited storage – perfect for growing teams or data-heavy projects.
2. Support
   • Standard: local business hours 9-5 support – good for your regular business hours.
   • Premium: 24/7 support – critical if you need around-the-clock assistance. 1-hr response time for critical issues from the Cloud support team. Good for global teams or urgent issues.
3. Uptime SLA
   • Standard: No uptime guarantee – while reliable, occasional downtime might affect your work, and it's not covered by a formal agreement.
   • Premium: 99.9% uptime guarantee – ensures your Jira instance is available almost all the time.
4. Automation
   • Standard: 1700 rule runs/month – ideal for smaller workflows, meaning your automation rules (like sending notifications or updating tasks) are limited to 1700 actions per month.
   • Premium: 1,000 rule executions/user/month – handles complex, multi-project automations with ease
5. Advanced Planning Roadmaps
   • Standard: Basic planning tools – allows for simple, long-term planning but might lack the depth needed for bigger projects.
   • Premium: Enhanced roadmaps – includes advanced features like capacity planning, and scenario modeling and approvals. Premium allows to plan and track work across multiple teams and projects., essential for teams managing multiple projects.
6. Project Archiving
   • Standard: Not available – all projects, whether active or inactive, remain visible (potentially creating chaos in your workspace)
   • Premium: Archive old projects – this feature lets you clean up your workspace by removing projects from the active view, while still keeping them accessible if needed.
7. Release Tracks
   • Standard: Not available – updates from Atlassian are rolled out automatically
   • Premium: Control when updates happen – allows you to choose when new features or updates are implemented
8. IP Allowlisting
   • Standard: Not available – any user with the right credentials can access your Jira instance from any location.
   • Premium: Restrict access – adds a layer of security by allowing access only from specific, trusted IP addresses
9. Sandbox
   • Standard: No sandbox – any testing or changes must be done in the productionlive environment, which can be risky.
   • Premium: Safe testing environment – lets teams test new features or configurations in a separate environment before applying them to the live system
10. Admin Insights
    • Standard: Limited visibility – admins have basic tools to monitor the system but might miss out on deeper insights.
    • Premium: Detailed insights – provides full data on system usage and performance
11. Atlassian Intelligence 
    • AI features available only for Premium users

Summary

If your team is growing, handling complex projects, or operating in multiple time zones, the Premium plan could be a game-changer. For smaller teams with simple needs, Standard might just do the trick.

At Peakforce we’ll help you get the Jira licenses that fit your needs - no matter if it’s Free, Standard or Premium 🙂Feel free to reach out and let’s turn your challenges into success stories.

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