Using a Free Jira Account is Fine ... Right?

[#1]

Atlassian makes it very easy to spin up a Free Jira Cloud account. In fact, you can be in business and using Jira in a matter of minutes. Or course, that assumes that you know what you are doing in Jira, or have some relevant experience. But if you don't, that's the best way to learn. Create a Free account, take some Free Atlassian University Jira courses, and simply start using the tool!

Start Simple

To begin with, you might do a straightforward project for work - tracking some tasks for a project you are currently working on. Maybe even invite a co-worker or two who are on your team. 

Or do something non-business related, like recording tasks for an upcoming vacation or holiday. Or for planning a major event like a wedding, a move to another city/country, or local fundraiser with a non-profit where you volunteer. 

Or maybe its a hobby you are engaged with - woodworking, crafting/scrapbooking, gardening, car restoration, etc. There's a million ideas out there - and a million ways to use Jira. 

Cost

Spin up a Free Jira Cloud account, blah, blah, blah - okay, what's it really going to cost? Well, it's free. Really, it is. You don't even have to give them a credit card to hold it for you in case you decide to upgrade. It's FREE! What's the catch then? Well, there ARE some limits. 

But I can really create a Free site and use it? Yes, you can. And you can do that here:

https://www.atlassian.com/try/cloud/signup?bundle=jira-software&edition=free&skipBundles=true

Just put in a name for your domain (your site name), and you are off to the races. When it gets all set up, they email you with the link -  in literally minutes. And immediately you can begin to use it. Why wait - I encourage you to do it now!

The Limitations

But maybe not so fast, I said there were limits. Right. You should be aware of those before jumping in with both feet. But they are surprisingly few in number. And functionality is not much different from the paid Standard subscription. You can compare the functionality across all Jira subscription plans here:

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/pricing

Now, let's check the highlights that the site lists for the Free subscription:

Includes:

• Unlimited goals, projects, tasks, and forms
• Backlog, list, board, timeline, calendar, and summary views
• Reports and dashboards
• 100 automation rule runs per month
• 2 GB of storage
• Support from Atlassian Community
• Up to 10 users

Those first 3 look great! And they are. And really no different from the paid Standard plan. And even the last item seems reasonable - 10 users. You have a small team, or group at church that will be using it. Or just some family members, etc. Ten will do nicely.

But it's the items in the list in between that are the real differentiators. Let's take a look at each. 

Automation Rules

I get 100 automation rules, you say - that's cool! NO. You get 100 rule runs or executions. Per month. If you have many rules at all or much work at all, you will shoot through 100 executions in no time. Maybe even a few days. And you can't just buy more rules! But in my opinion, it's the automation that will really bring the power of Jira to you, taking care of lots of redundant and time-consuming tasks. 

Moving to Standard gives you a whopping 1,700 runs. That's a ton! Nope. It's a lot compared to 100, but if you have 50 or 100 users, you can blow through that many executions easily. In fact, at my last full time Admin job, we moved to the Premium subscription almost exclusively for the number of Automation rule executions that we needed. They can be that important. 

Storage

Two gigabytes is a lot. And in this case it's probably sufficient. Your data in your fields and issues don't take up any storage. It's the attachments you add to those issues that eat up your data. With small teams (and 10 or less people) you can find alternatives for your files if you start to run out of space. 

Support

The website casually says Support from Atlassian Community. That's here! Yay, I have support! Welp ... Yes, but that's the ONLY support you get. You cannot contact Atlassian directly - in any way - to get help. You must come here to the Atlassian Community and enter a question if you have a need. But there are a lot of experts in the 4 million user base here to help you. But they are not Atlassians (for the most part) so don't treat your fellow users like they owe you something. Be polite and thankful for the help received. :-)

Permissions

Though not actually listed in the highlights, this is THE big one. You can control which 10 users have access to your site for security reasons. BUT, once a user is in there, everyone has the same permissions. All 10 are Administrators. You cannot partition any of those unlimited projects by users. All users have access to all projects and all data. 

And no issue level security. If you can't get project permissions, you certainly aren't going to get permissions at the issue level. 

Logs

And no audit logs for system changes. So if one of those 10 users mucks something up, you don't know who did it. Or probably even what they did. So choose wisely who you let into your system and give them clear guidance on what they are allowed and not allowed to do. 

Bottom Line

So, what's the bottom line? Can you run your company of 10 or less people on Free Jira? Technically, you can. I consult with a client now who does that. But most will go with the Standard subscription for the Permissions capability if nothing else. It's $8.60 per user per month right now. That's pretty reasonable for the functionality and productivity you gain. 

Let us know your thoughts or questions in the Comments below! And long time Jira Admins - any horror stories to tell? 

[Robert Wen_Cprime_]

Excellent article, @John Funk !

I feel I should add on a real-life example that I'm very familiar with: The Jira Life podcast.

Every week, we use Jira and Confluence to plan and execute the episodes; our regular episode and a TJL Newsbreak.  For all of this, and because we're still a small team putting this together, we are on the Free plans.

Do the limits affect us?  To some degree they do.  For example, we don't attach our thumbnails for the shows in Jira or Confluence because we're afraid of hitting the storage limits.  But, it helps us stay organized in planning each week.

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @John Funk 

Thanks for the article, and as a clarification on automation rule usage / limits:

Rules start executing when something happens, detected with a "trigger", may have decision points using "conditions", and do things with "actions".

When a rule triggers, that does not necessarily count as "1 usage count".  Instead, there are specific actions which count toward usage and others which do not.  I recommend all customers, particularly those with a Free license level completely read and understand how "usage" and other rule service limits work:

• https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/automation-service-limits/
• https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/how-is-my-usage-calculated/

Then monitor usage over time for your site to observe what is needed.  This may lead your teams to consider upgrading your Jira license level, add additional Jira products (for more usage), or to investigate other solution approaches which do not require automation usage.

Kind regards,
Bill

[John Funk]

@Robert Wen_Cprime_  - What a great example, Bob! Jira Life guys eating their own dog food drinking their own champagne. And with the high trust factor amongst the three amigos, I can see this working out very well!

[John Funk]

@Bill Sheboy  - Thank you for the extra info and guidance links! It will certainly help users make a better decision. 

[Evan Fishman - Rallybetter_com]

Thanks for this article @John Funk surprisingly not a lot of people know how the storage works on Jira. This was a nice breakdown. 💪🏻💪🏻

[Evan Fishman - Rallybetter_com]

@Robert Wen_Cprime_ love your usecase. Jira is pretty suitable for most usecases if things are managed properly. 

[Ojelola Ojelabi- Rallybetter.com]

Btw, love The Jira Life Podcast @Robert Wen_Cprime_