Jira Core Vs Jira Software

[Chandan Gupta]

Can We have Jira Software with only Jira Core license.?

If yes, can we still use the data center ?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

No, and no.

Jira Core provides a platform for other applications and apps. 

Jira Software and Service Desk are a applications that add functions on top of Jira Core.  If you want to use Jira Software, you have to have Jira Software licences for it.  Same for SD - you need SD licences for it.   In both cases, the licences for the application include access to Core, so you don't need a separate Core licence for each user.  It is common to see Jira systems that have only Software licences and no Core at all.

Data Centre is a different licencing scheme, but still has the distinction between Core, Software and Service Desk.

[Chandan Gupta]

Thanks Nic. Seems I got confused with its documentation. 

But then how many users Jira Core can support. I am looking for around 15k users . How will it scale?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You can support unlimited users on Jira Server (Core/Software/Service Desk), but for 15k users, you are going to want to look at the higher end of the server hardware ranges.  See https://confluence.atlassian.com/enterprise/jira-sizing-guide-461504623.html

[Ajinkya Paradkar]

Hi Nic ,

We currently have a JIRA Core License for version 6.4.13 Jira.

Now , we are upgrading to Jira 7.0.11 which would need a software license , do I need to request Atlassian separately for that ?

Also , after upgrading I can see JIRA Core and JIRA Software both on the "Versions & Licenses" page. I believe there should be only one , can you please advise here.

Thanks,

Ajinkya

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes, you will need a new licence for Jira Software.

You are supposed to see Jira Core and Jira Software separately - they are separate applications.  (But, Jira Software has to be run on a Core platform, so you'll always see it)

The licences are separate.  I find it easier to say "Jira Software (and JSM) licences include a Core licence.

You could do something like:

75 Core users + 25 Software.  You could have up to 100 people active in the system, with the Software users able to use all functions, and the Core users limited down to not being able to use the boards and Software functions.

You say "upgrade" to Software here.  From Jira 6, the licence model changes.  With Jira 6, your licence was for Jira, and if you have Software functions, then it's most likely that you had the "Agile" plugin installed, and were licenced for that.

Let's say you had a 100 user licence on that combination of Jira + Agile.  When you go to 7, the model changes, but you can just buy 100 users of Software.  You don't need to worry about "core" - your software licences include it.  In the licence screen, you'll see "Core: 0 users" and "Software: 100 users" and it'll all work fine.

[Ajinkya Paradkar]

Ok , so I should request Atlassian for a new software license , then only my instance will work fine , right ?

Can Atlassian convert the Jira Core License to Jira Software License ?

Thanks,

Ajinkya

[Ken Shvetz]

Hi, this answer doesn't really help me at all. The website says Jira Core is for project management, while Jira Software is for software development project management. So I signed up for both, but when I click the application switcher (pic 1) and click Jira Core, it just keeps taking me back to Jira Software (pic 2). As you can see (pic 3), my account has access to both.

What is the purpose of paying another $10 for Core and how do I even get to it? This process could not be more confusing!

[Ken Shvetz]

On top of that, this image uploader is even difficult to use and figure out... I keep clicking Insert but it never uploads the images. It doesn't seem to work properly under Chrome.

[Ken Shvetz]

[Ken Shvetz]

Had to switch to Edge browser to even get image uploader to work!

[Ken Shvetz]

Also why does it say "Jira Core - 0 users" when I am a member of jira-core-users (and the site admin) and should already have access?  How do I add users if adding them to the group that is already a member of Jira Core doesn't do this??  Completely illogical and makes no sense to me.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Again,

Jira Core provides a platform for other applications and apps.

Jira Software and Service Desk are a applications that add functions on top of Jira Core.

The reason "click the application switcher and click Jira Core, it just keeps taking me back to Jira Software" is that you have added Software to Core, and you're going to the system.  It is the same Jira service.

You do not need your Core licences if you just want to use Software.  The Software licences include access to Core, because Software is extra functions on top of Core and can't work without it.  The use-case for having Core licences and Software licences is for systems with more than 10 users and people are using it for different things - imagine for example you have a team of developers using all the Software functions and an admin team who only need task tracking without boards, sprints and velocity etc.  It's cheaper to licence 200 developers and 50 admins than have to get 250 developers

[Ken Shvetz]

Thanks, Nic. We have fewer than 10 users and really only myself and maybe a few other people will be using to manage technical projects, the rest would be more business development/more traditional project management. So how/where do I see the difference between what these 2 interfaces look like?  (which is made even more confusing by the fact that now Atlassian seems to be pushing this "next-gen" interface, which only gives you access to 2 templates- Scrum and Kanban; I understand what these are but then again....where is the "Core" product for non-tech/developer users?).  What/where do I find how to setup a Core (project management) project vs. a Software project?  

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

There is no "difference between the interface", that's what I'm saying - you're using Jira projects with different functions.

If you have Software licences and Software installed, you can use Software project types, Boards and Next-Gen functions (assuming you're on Cloud).

If you have Core licences, then you can use the Core project types.

If you have both types of licence, then your admins who create projects will be offered all the Software and business project types when they click create project.

Both of those are based on the Core functions of issues, workflow, users, fields, screens and so-on.

[Ken Shvetz]

Thanks again, Nic. This all sounds well and good at a high level, but I'm still unclear what each piece actually looks like in practice (I am the admin).

So if I click New Project, I get 2 options - Classic Project or Next-Gen Project. For each, I get a choice of a default template, or to Change Template. If I choose Classic, then Change Template, I get a choice of 14 different templates. If I choose Next-Gen, I get only Kanban or Scrum as choices. "Classic" makes it sounds like it's going away at some point, and that is the old way of doing things.

So to put it another way, which of these templates would appear if I was only on Core, both for Classic and Next-Gen?

Classic:

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

You are offered "next gen" because you have Software.  "Classic" does indeed imply project types will be going away, replaced by "next gen", but this is quite a long way off at the moment, and only applies to the classic Scrum and Kanban at the moment (I'd expect the offer of "classic" to vanish, and scrum/kanban next-gen replace the two scrum/kanban you see in the list there).  The non scrum/kanban types are from Core.

[Ken Shvetz]

Still confused.  If next-gen is only for Scrum and Kanban, then that means my Core users would only be able to create things under Classic?

So for non-software development related projects (Core), which templates should I advise my users to use?  Only the "Classic" templates such as Project Management, which don't have any next-gen counterparts yet?

(Also any idea why Task Tracking and Project Management show up twice?)

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

My prose has let me down today.  I've written a couple of really badly structured answers and this was one of them, and included something that was so bad, it was wrong.  I apologise. 

I'll try again, guided by your questions.

Both Core and Software users can use (create issues for example) in any project, assuming the right permissions.

Core users will not be able to use the boards that the Classic Scrum and Kanban projects come with, and nor will they be able to use Next-gen projects properly (as those are more heavily board driven)

Even if you only have licences for Software, you will still be able to create and use "Business" project types, which are all the types of project you see under "classic" except Kanban and Scrum (but as you've got Software licences, you'll still see those two on the create list too, until Atlassian replace them fully with their Next-gen counterparts)

Not sure why task tracking and project management appear twice.  If you start using one of them, does it ask you the same questions as its duplicate?

[Ken Shvetz]

So if I only had a Core license, I would see all the same project templates here EXCEPT Kanban and Scrum?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Yes.  Spot on.