Atlassian License Management: Tips to Simplify and Save with Zylo

The average organization uses just 47% of its software licenses. That’s not a typo. According to Zylo’s 2025 SaaS Management Index, this underutilization equates to $21M in wasted spend every year, per enterprise. And Atlassian is a common culprit.

Licensing across Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management (JSM) and a plethora of add-ons quickly becomes a mess. It results in overlapping instances, decentralized purchases, and disconnected renewal dates. 

Layer in frequent pricing changes, AI upcharges, and rigid product tiers—and suddenly, Atlassian license management becomes a full-time job. Even then, most teams are still in the dark when it comes to actual usage, ownership, and opportunity.

Atlassian is indispensable for an organization’s operations. But its complexity makes it expensive. And without real-time visibility or automation, IT, SAM, and Procurement leaders are left overpaying, underutilizing, and reacting too late.

In this blog, I’ll outline how to:

• Break down Atlassian license types, pricing tiers, and where cost traps typically occur
• Streamline and optimize Atlassian renewals, usage, and license allocations
• Improve visibility, reduce risk, and control spend with automation and centralized workflows

Common Atlassian License Challenges

If you’re responsible for managing Atlassian, chances are you’re spending more than you need to. And it’s not for lack of effort. The licensing model is built around flexibility for teams, not efficiency for IT, SAM, or Procurement.

In my experience, here are common pain points around Atlassian licensing:

Overlapping Renewal Dates

Managing Jira, Confluence, and JSM often means juggling multiple renewal dates across departments, instances, and billing contacts. Without co-terming, teams end up renewing licenses in silos—sometimes at full price, sometimes with unvetted seat counts. That fragmentation leads to missed opportunities to negotiate volume pricing, reduce redundant apps, or even reclaim unused licenses before contract lock-in.

Underused and Unused Licenses

Most organizations don’t have clear visibility into who’s actively using Atlassian tools or how. A developer with full Jira access who hasn’t logged in for months? A Confluence user who only needs read-only access? These scenarios are common. And without usage insights tied to licensing, it’s easy to renew licenses that no longer reflect the needs of the business.

Decentralized Purchasing and Limited Visibility

Like many other applications, Atlassian adoption often starts organically. Teams purchase their own instances with little coordination. That creates license sprawl: duplicate tools, siloed ownership, and fragmented contracts. Even if your organization is trying to centralize, legacy purchasing habits, limited admin access, and lack of a system of record make it difficult to get a full picture.

Our 2025 SaaS Management Index shows that IT is responsible for purchasing just 16% of an organization’s applications. Today, this level of fragmentation is inefficient and risky. Without accurate usage data, you can’t rightsize. Without centralized ownership, you can’t ensure compliance. And without a unified renewal strategy, you’re always on the back foot during negotiations.

Atlassian License Types and Pricing

Atlassian offers a range of licensing options at different price points. One of the most overlooked levers in Atlassian license management is choosing the right license type from the start. By understanding your options, you can align licensing to your business’s needs and avoid overspending.

Understand Atlassian’s Core License Tiers

Atlassian’s Cloud offerings follow a tiered model across Jira, Confluence, and JSM:

• Free: Designed for small teams, these plans are limited to 10 users (Jira/Confluence) and 3 agents (JSM). Useful for lightweight usage or internal pilots.
• Standard: Ideal for most departmental use cases. Includes 250 GB storage, business-hours support, and core admin/security features.
• Premium: Adds unlimited storage, 24/7 support, 99.9% SLA, and access to key features like advanced roadmaps, sandbox environments, and Atlassian Intelligence AI tools.
• Enterprise: Built for large, complex environments with multiple sites. Includes centralized user management, enhanced analytics, and up to 150 isolated instances per subscription.

Atlassian Pricing Breakdown

Atlassian pricing varies by product, tier, and user volume. Annual contracts typically offer 10–20% savings over monthly billing, and Enterprise pricing is custom-negotiated based on user count and feature needs.

For example, estimated Jira Cloud pricing (per user/month):

• Free: $0 (up to 10 users)
• Standard: ~$7.75/user
• Premium: ~$15.25/user
• Enterprise: $155,000/year for 800+ users ($16+/user)

Note: Actual pricing may vary for Jira and other Atlassian applications. Always verify directly with Atlassian or your reseller.

Atlassian’s AI Features: What You Get and What It Costs

Atlassian offers two AI-powered tools: Atlassian Intelligence (AI) and Atlassian Rovo. 

• Atlassian Intelligence enhances products like Jira and Confluence with features like smart suggestions and automated summaries. 
• Atlassian Rovo is a cross-platform AI assistant that provides, search, chat, studio, and agents, intended to improve collaboration and team efficiency. 

Atlassian Intelligence

AI features are bundled into Premium and Enterprise plans, not priced by consumption like other vendors are beginning to implement. They include:

• Premium: Includes access to core AI features, such as natural language queries, smart issue summarization, and AI-generated page summaries in Confluence.
• Enterprise: Offers full access to AI features, with more customization, governance controls, and administrative visibility.

There is no standalone AI SKU at this time. However, pricing pressure comes from the higher-tier requirements. Teams often upgrade to Premium just to access AI, even if the rest of the features aren’t needed.

Recommendations for Managing Atlassian Intelligence Licensing

Atlassian’s AI is powerful, but not universally necessary. Align access with usage, and be ready to remove it if adoption doesn’t justify the cost.

• Don’t upgrade just for AI unless it directly supports a high-volume workflow (e.g., service desk summarization, product team automation).
• Test AI usage during evaluation periods and monitor actual adoption before converting to Premium.
• Track usage by team or role—some departments may benefit, while others may not need AI access at all.

Atlassian Rovo

Rovo is an add-on feature available for Premium and Enterprise subscriptions—and for Standard plans in the future. In April 2025, Atlassian introduced usage quotas for Rovo, or limits on indexed objects (e.g., document, chat thread, webpage) and AI credits per user by app and plan type. Usage quotas are based on the number of active subscriptions.

Today, these quotas are not enforced. Atlassian stated, “In the future, usage beyond these quotas will incur additional charges based on consumption. We will provide at least 90 days of notice before enforcing quotas. This notice will include pricing for excess usage, dashboards, and controls to monitor and manage usage with confidence.”

Recommendations for Managing Atlassian Rovo

• Monitor usage quotas to understand consumption patterns.
• Prepare to see cost increases as quotas incur additional charges in the near future.

Discount Opportunities Worth Exploring

Atlassian does offer discount programs, but you need to act early and understand the fine print.

• Academic and Nonprofit Discounts: Eligible organizations can receive up to 75% off, but verification is required and these are only available through specific sales channels.
• Bundled Agreements: Tools like Atlassian Access (now Atlassian Guard), which provides SSO and user provisioning, are billed separately. Bundling across products or consolidating vendors may help you negotiate enterprise-level discounts.

Negotiating with Atlassian can be tricky because of their low-touch, self-service model—they don’t operate like traditional enterprise software vendors. However, if you’re managing a sizable spend (usually $50K+ annually) or using enterprise products like Jira Software, Confluence, or Atlassian Access at scale, there is potential for negotiation and optimization. Your best bet for discounting is purchasing Atlassian through a reseller.

Choose the Right Plan for Your Use Case

Choose a plan that aligns to your business needs. For example:

• Use Premium only where advanced admin, automation, or AI features are truly needed.
• Leverage Confluence’s guest user model (up to 5 free guests per paid user) instead of full licenses for casual collaborators.
• For support requestors, use the free Jira Service Management customer role—only agents require a paid license.

Without this level of scrutiny, organizations end up over-licensed, underutilized, and unable to scale spend efficiently.

Optimize Early with Evaluation Licenses

One of the most underutilized tactics in Atlassian license management is using evaluation licenses strategically. Too often, I see teams rush into paid plans without fully understanding feature needs, actual usage patterns, or user count. The result? Overprovisioned licenses from day one and locked-in waste by the time the first renewal rolls around.

What Are Evaluation Licenses?

In short, evaluation licenses are trials. Atlassian offers time-bound evaluation licenses for its Cloud products—typically 14 to 30 days depending on the product and configuration. These trials give teams full access to functionality at a given tier (Standard or Premium), allowing admins and end users to:

• Explore features across Cloud Standard, Premium and Enterprise
• Validate core workflows and automation logic
• Test integrations with identity providers, developer tools, and third-party apps
• Evaluate admin controls, user provisioning, and governance settings

Used intentionally, evaluation licenses provide more than a trial. They give your organization the data you need to make better licensing decisions.

When to Use Evaluation Licenses

I recommend using trials early in the adoption or migration process to:

• Validate tier requirements before paying for features like advanced automation or Atlassian Intelligence.
• Baseline usage patterns across users or teams to rightsize seat counts.
• Test integrations and admin controls to ensure compliance and provisioning processes will scale.
• Compare feature sets between Jira, JSM, and Confluence based on the actual needs of end users—not assumptions from product marketing.

Cost-Control Benefits of Trial Management

Skipping this evaluation window often leads to unnecessary spend:

• Teams default to Premium licenses “just in case” without confirming if the features are needed.
• Admins estimate license counts at launch, then forget to reconcile actual usage before renewal.
• Procurement teams lose leverage in pricing discussions because usage data wasn’t collected early enough.

By aligning evaluation periods with strategic license planning, IT, SAM, and Procurement can make informed decisions and avoid paying for licenses or tiers that don’t drive value.

4 Atlassian License Management and Optimization Tips

Atlassian license management requires a system that aligns spend with usage, avoids audit risk, and scales with your business. To do that, my advice is to treat license management as an ongoing process, including:

• Roles and license accountability
• Regular license reclamation
• Co-termination
• Automated renewal tracking and alerts

#1 Get a Handle on Roles and License Accountability

License ownership is often fragmented between admins, team leads, and finance. Without clear accountability, renewals are reactive, savings are left on the table, and waste adds up.

Fix it by:

• Assigning both technical and billing contacts for each application
• Defining who’s responsible for license reconciliation before renewal
• Mapping roles to business units so usage accountability is shared

License optimization is a team sport. It requires aligned workflows across IT, SAM, and Procurement—and systems that support shared ownership.

#2 Reclaim Unused Licenses Regularly

Without regular license reclamation, inactive users quietly drive up costs, increase security risk, and complicate renewals. To do this effectively:

• Monitor user activity monthly to flag inactive or low-usage accounts
• Set clear thresholds for reclaiming licenses (e.g., 90+ days inactive)
• Automate reclamation workflows tied to renewal cycles or offboarding processes

When license reclamation is an ongoing process, it protects your budget, improves compliance, and ensures only active users retain access. My colleague, Rina Steinberg, explains more in the video below.

#3 Co-Termination: Why It Matters and How to Do It Right

Co-termination means that all Atlassian licenses, including add-ons and support services, are set to expire on the same date.

Why It Matters

Co-terming your Atlassian licenses:

• Simplifies budget planning and vendor negotiation
• Reduces risk of accidental over-renewal or service disruption
• Enables volume-based discounts and contract leverage

Without co-terming, renewals happen ad hoc across different departments, instances, and fiscal cycles. That creates unnecessary complexity and missed opportunities to consolidate spend or negotiate better terms.

How to Co-Term Atlassian Licenses

To get it right:

• Standardize contract end dates across business units
• Use centralized ownership to align renewals and seat counts
• Track upcoming renewals 90–120 days in advance to take action

Zylo centralizes your Atlassian contracts, including renewal dates, eliminating the manual work of chasing scattered expiration timelines.

#4 Automate Renewal Tracking and Alerts

Manually tracking Atlassian renewal dates across tools, tiers, and teams is inefficient—and risky. One missed renewal can lock you into excess licenses for another year.

Automation improves:

• Renewal calendar visibility across your Atlassian apps
• Timely alerts to reduce missed or rushed decisions
• Coordination between IT, SAM, and Procurement to act on usage insights

With Zylo, you get renewal alerts tied to usage data and workflows that flag which licenses to reduce, retain, or reclaim.

How Zylo Supports Atlassian License Management

Zylo gives IT, SAM, and Procurement teams the tools to take control of Atlassian licensing with automation, visibility, and insights that replace manual effort and guesswork.

Zylo’s Direct Integration with Atlassian

Most teams base renewals on stale spreadsheets, outdated license counts, or no understanding of user activity. These assumptions lead to over-licensing and inflated renewal costs.

Zylo’s direct integration with Atlassian surfaces real-time usage data so you can understand:

• Who’s using which applications and how often
• Users with low utilization or who are inactive
• Redundant tools or sites

Automated Insights and Reclamation Workflows

Avoiding audit risk, reclaiming spend, and driving better license hygiene across Atlassian apps is difficult without proper analysis. Zylo does the work for you, highlighting optimization opportunities and automating the license reclamation process. 

• Flag and remove inactive or low-usage users
• Downgrade licenses based on engagement thresholds
• Align license counts with actual business need
• Rightsize licenses heading into renewal

With Zylo’s automated workflows, you can take action before renewal, and ensure you’re only paying for licenses that are needed and used.

Centralized Data for Effective Negotiations

Coming to your Atlassian renewal armed with data results in more effective negotiations. Zylo provides the data you need to renegotiate and drive real cost savings.

• License price benchmarks based on companies similar to yours
• Centralized visibility into spend sources and contracts
• User activity to inform license rightsizing

Renewal Calendar and Alerts

Without visibility into usage, license count, or historical trends, teams often renew by default, overspend, or miss cost-saving opportunities. Zylo tracks every Atlassian contract and license in one system and delivers alerts so you can:

• Review usage and utilization in advance
• Align renewals across departments
• Make informed, timely, and strategic decisions

With renewal insights tied directly to usage and cost data, Zylo helps shift renewals from reactive to proactive.

Ready to Simplify Atlassian License Management?

Atlassian isn’t going to get easier to manage on its own. License complexity, decentralized ownership, rising costs, and new AI add-ons are only accelerating. If you’re still relying on spreadsheets, admin panels, or siloed renewal processes, you’re leaving money—and risk—on the table.

Zylo changes that.

With direct integration into Atlassian, Zylo delivers real-time usage insights, automated license reclamation, and proactive renewal tracking—all in one platform. Whether you’re aligning contract dates, cutting inactive users, or preparing for an audit, Zylo equips IT, SAM, and Procurement with the data and workflows to stay ahead.

See how Zylo simplifies Atlassian license management. Book a demo today.

Or explore how Zylo’s SaaS License Management solution helps reduce costs, increase visibility, and keep you audit-ready.

Frequently Asked Questions About Atlassian License Management