YouTrack #
Powerful project management for all your teams
YouTrack Atlassian recently announced that they are suspending sales for Data Center Products, followed by the end of life for those products in 2029. Additionally, this August, Atlassian began using certain customer data to improve its AI experiences. In light of these changes, switching to an alternative solution has become a priority for many organizations.
Around 70% of the customer projects currently discussed by the YouTrack team and our consulting partners involve migrating to YouTrack. Organizations are looking for a long-term, self-hosted alternative to their current setup, a cost-effective solution to bring projects, a Knowledge Base, and a Helpdesk together, or greater control over how AI fits into their work.
In this guide, we’ll share practical advice for migrating from Jira, Confluence, and Jira Service Management to YouTrack. You’ll also learn from real customer experiences and see how our consulting partners can support your migration with a free demo, proof of concept, and expert guidance.
Migration experience overview #
We’ll walk you through how your Jira, Confluence, and Jira Service Management setup can be imported and migrated to YouTrack. If you’re migrating from another project management system, or even from chats, emails, Excel, or Google Sheets, the same general steps can help you plan the process.
YouTrack lets your team choose between Server and Cloud, depending on how you want to host and manage your data. Regardless of team size, the core functionality is almost identical across both versions.
With YouTrack Server, you host the data on your own server, ensuring a greater degree of control. If you want to know whether this is a good choice for your organization, you can consult the general technical requirements for larger installations, or our Support team will be happy to consult. With YouTrack Cloud, you select from the available Amazon Web Services (AWS) regions: Northern California, Frankfurt, Ireland, and Singapore.
Here’s a brief overview of the steps you should take once you’re ready to start your migration:
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Get started with YouTrack for free.
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Use the built-in import wizardto automatically migrate your project and user data from Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Asana, ClickUp, monday.com, or other tools.
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Recreate entities that aren’t automatically imported, for example, boards, reports, dashboards, or SLA policies for helpdesk projects.
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If your team relies on Atlassian Marketplace apps (formerly known as plugins), assess your needs before migrating. Some capabilities may be available in YouTrack out of the box or through similar apps from JetBrains Marketplace. Recreate the rest with custom workflows or apps built either in-house or with a YouTrack consulting partner.
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Try YouTrack with an extended team in your company, taking advantage of a 14-day free trial that allows up to 100 users on YouTrack Cloud or 10,000 users on YouTrack Server.
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Enable continuous import from Jira, Confluence, and other supported tools, so your team can use them in parallel during the free trial. Previously imported tasks will be automatically updated in YouTrack.
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When you’re ready to start using YouTrack with a team of more than 10 members, choose your paid option, and apply for a 25% discountwhen migrating from Jira Software or another competitive tool.
If you get stuck at any point along the journey, our team and partners will be happy to help.
- Check out the detailed migration guide in the YouTrack documentation (
[Cloud](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/youtrack/cloud/migrate-from-jira-to-youtrack.html)or[Server](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/youtrack/server/migrate-from-jira-to-youtrack.html)). - Contact
[technical support](https://youtrack-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=66282)with any questions. - Connect with YouTrack certified
consulting partnersfor a free demo or a proof of concept for your migration project. - Estimate your migration steps with a practical
[migration whitepaper](https://en.twenty20.de/youtrack/migration)from our trusted partner twenty20.
## What it takes to migrate: A step-by-step guide
For many teams considering a switch from the Atlassian stack, one of the key reasons was the announced [end of Data Center](https://www.atlassian.com/licensing/data-center-end-of-life) sales and the end of support on March 28, 2029. After that date, impacted products will become read-only and receive no product updates or security fixes, increasing compliance risks and dependence on legacy systems.
Some teams are also concerned about Atlassian’s growing reliance on AI and its updated data contribution practices, effective August 17, 2026. De-identified and aggregated customer data may now be used to improve Atlassian’s AI experiences, with opt-out options varying by plan. A full opt-out is available only with Enterprise, requiring customers on lower-tier plans to upgrade.
With YouTrack, you choose between Server and Cloud and decide how AI fits into your work. Let’s walk through the migration steps and address the questions our customers often raise along the way.
Step 1. Choose your YouTrack version and start for free
Server or Cloud – YouTrack your way!
Choose between YouTrack Cloud, hosted by us, or YouTrack Server, installed on your own infrastructure. While Atlassian is shifting its customers toward its cloud platform, YouTrack Server remains fully supported. We feel a deep sense of responsibility toward customers who choose YouTrack Server and want to help teams of all sizes – from 10 users to thousands – keep their data and infrastructure under their own control.
If you have never used YouTrack, we recommend starting with YouTrack Cloud to get your instance set up quickly. It only takes about 2 minutes, and your team can migrate to Server with all the data from your Cloud instance at any time. Regardless of the version you choose, the functionality will be identical, so you’ll get a good sense of how YouTrack can be adapted to your needs. AI or no AI – your choice!
YouTrack does not require your team to adopt AI. Administrators control which AI-powered capabilities are available, while individual users select the assistance they need. Depending on your requirements, you can:
- Connect your preferred AI tools, IDEs, agents, and workplace apps through the remote MCP server, allowing them to work with your organization’s project context. - Use free built-in AI Assistanceto create tasks, summarize content, and draft replies. - Keep AI turned off and continue using YouTrack without it, in line with your organization’s data-governance policy.
Start for free and scale on the go at a price you’ll love
Both YouTrack Cloud and Server are always free for teams of up to 10 users, so you don’t need to worry about budgeting for your pilot migration project.
When you need to invite an extended team to your pilot project, you can switch to a free YouTrack trial plan. The Cloud trial allows for up to 100 users for 14 days, and with a Server trial, you can have up to 10,000 users for 60 days.
You can switch to a paid subscription from the free plan or a trial at any time, and continue working with all your projects’ data. YouTrack Cloud offers flexible per-user monthly or annual subscriptions, and YouTrack Server uses an annual subscription model with user packs of 15, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, or more users, including 1 year of upgrades and support. The result of this model is a savings in cost of ownership up to 80% compared to Jira and Confluence.
YouTrack brings projects, Knowledge Base, and Helpdesk together in one solution, so teams can manage work, document knowledge, and handle B2B customer support or internal service desk without switching tools. You no longer have to juggle multiple Atlassian products.
Step 2. Import your data from other systems
With YouTrack’s import wizard, you can migrate issues, tasks, and tickets from Jira, GitHub, GitLab, Mantis, Redmine, Bugzilla, ClickUp, Asana, monday.com, and Zendesk, as well as migrate tasks and projects from one YouTrack instance to another.
For other systems, you can first export your data to a CSV or XLSX table and then import it via Google Sheets. You can also customize one of the existing scripts or create a new one from scratch to import data to YouTrack from an external source. A full history of commit messages and pull requests from TeamCity, GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket Cloud, and other version control systems can also be added to imported YouTrack issues via an integration with your VCS.
YouTrack can be configured to import continuously from Jira, Confluence, GitHub, and other tools. When continuous import is enabled, YouTrack checks the connected Jira or GitHub instance for changes in the imported projects every 10 minutes. Issues that have been added or updated since the previous check are imported and updated in YouTrack.
**Import from Jira **
YouTrack’s Jira import wizard will get all your teams on board. Users, groups with memberships, and the activity history of all users will be automatically imported to your new YouTrack instance. For example, you would be able to see which user was assigned to a task or who left comments when the team was working on it in Jira.
You also won’t lose progress on your work, as all projects will be imported to YouTrack along with their related tasks. Every imported task would have the same content, including attachments and comments, custom fields, and issue links.
What will be fully migrated?
YouTrack’s import wizard allows you to migrate the following data from Jira into YouTrack:
- Projects.
- Users and their group memberships.
- Issues in the projects, along with their custom fields, comments, attachments, and history data.
- Links between issues.
- Labels, which become tags in YouTrack.
- Logged work time, including work logs from Jira’s native time tracking and supported Tempo work log data.
**Import from Confluence **
Your Confluence setup can be migrated to YouTrack’s Knowledge Base with the Confluence import wizard. You can transfer users and groups, spaces (projects in YouTrack), pages (articles in YouTrack), page labels (tags in YouTrack), comments, and attachments.
Confluence macros may require extra review after import, especially if your team uses them for dynamic content or custom page structures. You can prepare your content in advance or adjust the import script so that migrated articles better fit YouTrack Knowledge Base’s Markdown.
**Jira Service Management import **
YouTrack Helpdesk can be an alternative to your Jira Service Management solution. YouTrack’s Jira Service Management import wizard offers a similar experience to the Jira import wizard, allowing you to migrate your tickets. Simply choose the necessary ITSM projects while setting up the import, and they will be migrated to YouTrack as helpdesk projects.
All your existing service projects and related tickets, with their content, history, custom fields, and ticket links, are automatically imported – along with agent, user, and reporter data. Later, you can finalize each helpdesk project setup by reconfiguring non-imported project entities, like channels and SLA policies.
Migrate your projects – one at a time or all at once
When using the import wizards, you can choose the project you want to import first, as well as whether to migrate the data to an existing YouTrack project or create a new one. We recommend beginning with a small import test. Import a pair of projects, one that is relatively basic and another that has more complexity.
When you’ve assessed the results, you can decide on the full scope of your project import. After the initial import, you can use the continuous import to transfer any subsequent changes.
Step 3. Finish setting up YouTrack
Re-create entities that are not migrated automatically
After you’ve finished importing your data to YouTrack, you’ll see that some entities were not migrated with the import wizard. This is why we recommend estimating the scope of your migration before you start, so you can identify what may need to be adjusted or recreated manually in YouTrack.
Boards, reports, and dashboards
Filters, boards, dashboards, roadmaps, and reports are implemented differently in YouTrack and can’t be mapped one-to-one from Jira. You can recreate them manually and adapt them to the way your teams are used to working.
Automation and workflows
Jira automations can be recreated with YouTrack workflows, while Jira workflows can often be rebuilt with state-machine rules that define how tasks move between statuses.
If you use ScriptRunner or another script-based tool to automate complex business processes, you can recreate these automations as YouTrack workflows in JavaScript. For simpler use cases, the YouTrack Workflow Constructor provides a no-code, drag-and-drop interface with predefined conditions and actions. Go deeper with YouTrack customization
Replace the Jira app ecosystem with YouTrack apps
If your team relies heavily on Atlassian Marketplace apps, formerly known as plugins, JetBrains Marketplace offers a growing selection of alternatives for YouTrack, most of which are available for free. You can look for a matching YouTrack app on JetBrains Marketplace, build your own, or work with a consulting partner to recreate the functionality your team needs. Our partners specialize in creating high-quality apps for specific customer scenarios, helping ensure that your add-ons can be supported long term.
For teams that want to build apps in-house, YouTrack provides developer tooling for JavaScript and TypeScript that can fit into modern development workflows, including AI-powered ones. Here’s what YouTrack app creators say: “Building apps for YouTrack requires detailed knowledge of the YouTrack API and architectural planning, plus general technical understanding, but not necessarily deep programming knowledge. As a vibe coder, I managed to do most of this myself with some support from developers, and many tasks can be handled with Cursor, Windsurf, Junie, or other coding agents.”
Customize the YouTrack UI with apps
UI customization may also be part of your migration scope. With YouTrack apps, you can add custom widgets to issues, tickets, articles, and dashboards, or create new pages that are accessible from the main menu or project pages. For example, you can build a new page for your company intranet or add custom task buttons to support approval processes.
Set up user notifications
Notifications work differently in YouTrack. If your team currently uses Jira project-level subscription schemes managed by an admin, keep in mind that each YouTrack user manages a personal notification center. Include notification setup in your onboarding so everyone stays informed.
Configure your user authentication methods
The final setup step is to configure how users log in to YouTrack. This is usually a quick task for administrators, as YouTrack can connect to the identity systems your team already uses for Jira, Confluence, or other tools. YouTrack provides native authentication modules for OAuth 2.0, SAML, LDAP, OpenID, and other third-party authentication methods, plus two-factor authentication where needed.
Migration stories from YouTrack customers
Migration stories from YouTrack customers
Every migration is different, and real customer stories can make the process easier to evaluate. These stories show why teams chose YouTrack and how they approached the process, from a company building marketing automation for major retail brands to a smaller development team of 10.
From Jira and Confluence to the self-hosted YouTrack Server
MSP AG offers integrated marketing software solutions and IT operations for major European retail customers, including REWE and Hagebau. The team used Jira and Confluence for customer projects for 10 years, but they began looking for an alternative after Atlassian discontinued Jira Server. They selected YouTrack for its lower maintenance effort and on-premises deployment option.
They migrated to YouTrack Server in phases over several months using the Jira import wizard, filling any gaps through manual configuration and self-built apps. The team later replaced Confluence with YouTrack Knowledge Base, cleaning up page formats and migrating one space per day over a few months. Today, all departments, including development, project management, and both B2B and B2C support, work in a single YouTrack instance.
From Jira and Freshdesk to YouTrack for development and their helpdesk
Fullworks builds and supports WordPress plugins for events, security, and payments, and recently launched a new SaaS business, Broadcaster. Before YouTrack, the team used Jira for development management and Freshdesk for plugin support. With hundreds of thousands of reporters, including plugin users and premium customers, support requests often turned into development tasks, forcing work to move between separate tools.
YouTrack gave Fullworks one place for issue tracking and external customer support with YouTrack Helpdesk, where they used the free plan for up to 10 users, 3 support agents, and unlimited reporters. The team also connected YouTrack to its AI-powered workflows through the remote MCP server, allowing Claude Code to create, update, and close tasks as part of their software development lifecycle.
Get support for complex migrations from YouTrack consulting partners
Get support for complex migrations from YouTrack consulting partners
For larger organizations, migrating from the Atlassian stack often requires extensive planning. Certified YouTrack consulting partners have hands-on experience helping teams make the transition as smooth as possible. Our partner network covers different regions and industries, so we can connect you with a partner that fits your location and use case. They can prepare a proof of concept, create custom apps to replace Jira plugins, and help your team avoid common migration pitfalls.
Start with the twenty20 migration whitepaper
If your team uses Jira or Confluence and is considering a migration in the near future, you may want to start with a practical self-guided assessment. Our consulting partner twenty20 has prepared a whitepaper that covers common questions teams face during the switch to YouTrack. It gives an honest overview of what YouTrack can replace and includes a checklist for planning the necessary migration steps from the beginning. The whitepaper is available in English and German on the twenty20 website. You can also contact them directly with questions about your migration.
If you have any other questions about migrating to YouTrack, please share them in the comments below or get in touch with our technical support. We’re always here to help!