How to use analytics correctly for license cleanup

[Eric Roetenberg]

Dear fellow Jira users,

We want to start 2026 by cleaning up our license, but I see big differences between the active users according to Atlassian Analytics and the actual number of users. See image.
In reality, we now have 2001 users and 2000 licenses, so we need to clean up here.
However, analytics indicates that we have only had about 1,400 active users in the last three months.
We normally clean up every three months and check which users have never logged in during the last three months and who has not logged in during the last three months.
If we clean this up, it will be nowhere near 600 users. How can we deal with this effectively?

What is the best way to manage your licenses based on the numbers I have indicated above?

Grtz.  Eric Roetenberg

[Staffan Redelius · Accepted solution]

Hi @Eric Roetenberg 

I think user management is quite complicated and time consuming to be honest. I normally export users to csv and filter based on dates for last login but that takes a lot of time. 

There are apps in the Atlassian marketplace that handles this automatically and remove licenses for users that hasn't logged in for a set time frame (configured by you). If the user logs in again they will re-gain access.

Full disclosure: I am not an app vendor but I have looked in to this for several customers. If you are interested you can search for "license manager" in Atlassian marketplace to find a few good options. 

Based on the number you show above that might be a good solution for you, by the looks you should be able to reduce the number of licenses significantly.

I hope this helps.
/Staffan

[Ed Letifov _TechTime - New Zealand_]

Hi @Eric Roetenberg 

I am an app vendor for User Management for Jira that targets this exact use case.

We give you automated Scheduled User Actions to remove unused product access as well as manual Bulk User Actions for one-off cleanups. Some analytics (we call them Insights) is included into the app as well.

Ultimately the app does exactly what @Staffan Redelius described – gets a list of users, looks at last-login timestamps applies some exclusions (e.g. admins) and then performs the action you've pre-selected – deactivates the user, or suspends, or removes the access group for the specified app, thus freeing up a license. No different from downloading a CSV, analysing and then acting on that – except automated and in bulk, thus saving you time.

If you have a burning problem – feel free to just install on trial, and solve it. The app will be fully functional for 30 days. 

Reach out to our 24x7 support if you have questions (there is a chat widget on the bottom right, and a contact support link in the bottom quarter of the page if you prefer emailing)