How do companies optimize a hybrid Jira setup of Cloud and Data Center?

Most leaders hesitate to go fully cloud because they fear losing control. But they’re equally fed up with costly, complex on-prem management. 

But hold on, what if your team isn’t ready to dive fully into the cloud just yet? Maybe compliance rules, complex integrations, or phased migrations have you thinking: do we really need to run both Atlassian Cloud and Data Center side-by-side?

Yep, you’re looking at a hybrid setup, and you’re definitely not alone.

Here’s the deal: running Atlassian Cloud alongside Data Center (aka hybrid mode) can save your sanity during a phased migration. But it also needs some serious planning.

Here are the key things you should consider before going hybrid with your Atlassian environment.

Let’s be honest: full migration to Atlassian Cloud sounds great until you realize your organization has a bunch of sensitive data, custom integrations, or compliance mandates that say, “not so fast”. Maybe Finance needs to stay locked down on-prem while your Product and Marketing teams are itching to get into the Cloud for faster features and less maintenance. Sound familiar?

Or maybe you’ve got hundreds of users, multiple Jira instances, and you want to move gradually, without risking a productivity apocalypse mid-transition.

This is exactly where a hybrid approach comes in. It’s not about being indecisive, it’s about being strategic.

A hybrid deployment combines Jira Data Center (self-managed, on-prem or in IaaS like AWS) with Atlassian Cloud products like Jira Software Cloud, Confluence Cloud, or Jira Product Discovery.

You might:

If you’ve got dev teams working in industries like finance, healthcare, or government, chances are you can’t mess around with compliance. That’s where Jira Software Data Center comes in. You get total control over where your data lives, who can access it, and how secure it all is. Plus, it plays nice with all those lovely acronyms like HIPAA, SOC 2, and ISO. Basically, if your projects are under a microscope (hi, audits), this is your fortress. And your devs? They can keep doing what they do best without worrying about breaking any rules.

Simplify communication and document sharing across departments.

Let’s be honest. Sending PDFs over email is a nightmare. Confluence Cloud gives your teams a better way to create, share, and collaborate on content. Whether it’s a rough draft, a polished knowledge base, or just a place to document “how we actually do this thing”, Confluence makes it way easier to keep everyone (and everything) on the same page. Bonus: it’s great for sharing stuff externally, too, so vendors, partners, or even clients can get what they need without asking for the 12th time.

Provide flexible tools for teams with less complex workflows.

Not every team needs the full power (or, let’s be real, the complexity) of Jira. Trello and Atlas are like Jira’s chill cousins: they’re easy to pick up, visually satisfying, and surprisingly powerful for getting stuff done. Trello’s perfect for creative teams, project planners, or literally anyone who organizes their life in columns. Atlas? It’s a solid fit for keeping goals and updates clear, especially if your teams are tired of status meetings that should’ve been Slack messages. Just enough structure, zero overwhelm.

Allow for a phased transition that minimizes the possibility of disruption.

The idea of “moving everything to Cloud” sounds great… until you’re staring down 200+ Jira projects and wondering where to start. No need to panic. Just move one team at a time. This phased approach means you’re not flipping a big scary switch all at once. Instead, you get to learn what works, squash any bugs, and make adjustments as you go. Think of it like testing a recipe. Start small, taste along the way, and scale it once you know it’s solid. Your teams will thank you for not throwing them into chaos. Let teams move at their own pace while keeping the lights on for strategic and critical work.

Now, here’s the trap: trying to be hybrid without a plan.

Without a clear migration roadmap, governance model, and unified identity structure, you’ll end up with disconnected projects, duplicate workflows, confused users, and conflicting permissions.

We call it hybrid chaos syndrome. It’s real. And it hurts productivity more than any slow server or bug.

Here’s what Atlassian and partners recommend:

So, what does hybrid really look like when teams put it into practice? In the real world, regulated development teams, business units, and knowledge-sharing efforts all have very different needs. Below are a few ways companies are blending Atlassian’s Data Center and Cloud tools iithout forcing one-size-fits-all decisions.

Many organizations use Jira Software DC for development teams under regulatory constraints, while adopting Jira Cloud for business or product teams eager to use automation and modern UI updates. This model is recommended in Atlassian’s hybrid usage guide.

A recommended hybrid pattern is to host internal documentation on Confluence Data Center for security and control, while using Confluence Cloud to publish knowledge bases or content externally. 

Some teams support Jira DC environments by introducing cloud-only Atlassian tools like Atlas, Jira Product Discovery, or Trello to improve strategic planning and team collaboration without disrupting their core DC stack.

As you can see, hybrid setups are practical. By combining Data Center and Cloud tools where they make the most sense, teams can stay compliant, collaborate easily, and introduce modern features without overhauling everything at once.

Adesso, a major IT consulting firm, hit a familiar wall: over 50 Atlassian instances, 10,000+ users, and an ITOps team buried in admin work. Their original plan? Migrate everything to Atlassian Cloud Enterprise. But early on, they realized a full move wasn’t realistic. Technical, legal, and financial blockers made that clear.

So they pivoted. Instead of lifting and shifting, Adesso took a hybrid approach. They consolidated cloud sites, started fresh in Cloud Enterprise, and kept key on-prem instances for teams with stricter requirements.

Now, with Atlassian Guard handling user management and access across both environments, they’ve cut down on admin chaos and gained the flexibility to scale on their own terms. For Adesso, hybrid was the smarter path forward.

Considering a hybrid Atlassian setup? You won’t be all by yourself, stuck duct-taping systems together. 

Atlassian offers built-in features to connect your Cloud and Data Center environments in a secure, consistent way. Whether it’s linking Jira instances, automating workflows, or managing users across platforms, there are official tools to make it all work smoothly behind the scenes. 

Here’s a quick look at the key integration options available to help you start with your hybrid setup:

To sum up, hybrid setups are fully supported by Atlassian. You can securely connect Cloud and Data Center tools, keep collaboration consistent with smart links and automation, and manage users in one place with Atlassian Access.

One of the most important pieces of a hybrid Jira setup is getting user management right. Whether your teams are in Atlassian Cloud, on Jira Data Center, or somewhere in between, keeping access smooth (and secure) across platforms requires some planning.

To manage users between cloud and Data Center, Atlassian recommends using:

Depending on your setup, you can use one of two main configurations:

In this setup, you’ll have:

What this gives you:

Provisioning options:

In this case, all your users live and are managed in your cloud IdP. You’ll connect:

What this gives you:

This setup works well if you’re cloud-first and just keeping a few DC tools active, but want unified login and identity controls.

Whichever configuration you choose, make sure your identity strategy is locked in before teams start living in both worlds. Mismatched user bases, inconsistent access, and security gaps are productivity killers in hybrid setups.

A hybrid Jira model gives you the best of both worlds: cloud and DC. By allowing this, you give each team the environment that actually helps them work better.

How is that possible? 

Hybrid setups give teams room to breathe. Cloud gets the speed, on-prem keeps the control, and you avoid the stress of moving everything overnight. Plus, you can experiment with new tools without locking yourself in.

While a hybrid setup offers many advantages, it’s important to be aware of potential challenges:

Maintaining both Cloud and Data Center environments can be costly. It’s crucial to assess whether the benefits outweigh the expenses.

Operating in a hybrid model requires a clear separation between on-premise and cloud solutions to avoid confusion and ensure efficient management.

Implementing a hybrid approach can make migrations more nuanced, needing expert planning and execution.

A hybrid setup can be powerful, but it’s not plug-and-play. Make sure you’ve accounted for cost, complexity, and migration planning before diving in. A little prep goes a long way.

Feeling torn between the control of Data Center and the flexibility of Cloud? Or maybe the thought of a full migration gives you heart palpitations? 

Good news: hybrid might be your perfect middle ground. If you’re:

…then yes, hybrid is not just a fallback. It might be your best move.

Hybrid might sound messy, but with the right setup, it’s actually a great option. You get stability and flexibility, control and innovation. Plus, it buys you valuable time to move slowly, manage risks better, and help teams transition to the Cloud at their own pace. 

Just remember: without strategy, hybrid turns to chaos. But with the right guidance? It can be your path to cloud confidence.