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OpenProject has steadily become one of the most compelling alternatives to Atlassian’s Jira Data Center – especially for organizations demanding long-term, self-hosted project management.
With Atlassian confirming the end of life for Jira Data Center in March 2029,
enterprises now face the pressing need for a secure, flexible, and future-proof solution.
This article explores why OpenProject stands out as a powerful open-source alternative and how it helps teams transition away from Jira Data Center gracefully.
Why Jira Data Center Users Are Looking Elsewhere
Atlassian’s gradual discontinuation of on-premises Jira solutions has left many self-hosted users in a difficult position.
After the 2029 end-of-life date, Data Center licenses will become read-only, meaning no more updates, security patches, or app support. Simultaneously, Atlassian’s rising cloud subscription costs and vendor lock-in have amplified customer frustration, especially in industries bound by data sovereignty and regulatory compliance. Organizations that require full control of their data can no longer find that freedom within the Atlassian ecosystem.
OpenProject: A Future-Proof Solution
OpenProject offers what Jira once did – complete on-premises flexibility, extensive project tracking tools, and scalable collaboration features – but in a fully open-source model.
Unlike Jira, OpenProject maintains both cloud and self-hosted editions, giving IT teams autonomy over deployment strategy. This hybrid approach ensures that organizations can adopt a model suited to their compliance and infrastructure requirements, whether that means running on internal servers or using OpenProject’s EU-hosted cloud.
Full Data Control and GDPR Compliance
OpenProject excels where Jira struggles: data protection and sovereignty. Headquartered in Europe, OpenProject is EU GDPR-compliant by design, hosting all cloud data exclusively within the European Union. For on-premises installations, organizations retain complete ownership of their data, ensuring full compliance with internal security guidelines and external regulations.
By contrast, Jira relies on AWS data centers, and EU data hosting must be specifically requested – creating a compliance burden for international enterprises.
Open Source Means Total Independence
One of OpenProject’s most significant advantages is its open-source foundation. Its publicly available codebase on GitHub provides transparency and control that proprietary software like Jira cannot offer. Teams can audit, extend, or customize the application to their specifications, integrating it directly with internal systems. This openness prevents the vendor lock-in that often traps Jira users, offering real long-term sustainability and cost control.
Comprehensive Project Management Features
Functionally, OpenProject competes head-to-head with Jira across multiple project management methodologies. It supports Agile, Scrum, Kanban, and Waterfall workflows, while enabling centralized management of tasks, issues, time, and budgets. Advanced modules include:
- Work package tracking comparable to Jira issues, enabling full lifecycle visibility.
- Gantt charts for detailed project planning and milestone tracking.
- Agile boards and backlog management for development teams.
- Time and cost tracking modules integrated directly into project workflows.
- Custom roles and workflows, ensuring granular access control and compliance alignment.
Unlike Jira, which often depends on expensive Marketplace plugins, OpenProject bundles all major features in-house – significantly lowering operational and licensing costs.
Smooth Migration and Community Support
Migrating from Jira to OpenProject is straightforward thanks to the OpenProject Jira importer, a migration tool introduced in 2025 to facilitate data transfers from Jira instances into OpenProject. Users can export Jira tasks via CSV or Excel and import them directly, minimizing downtime. The platform’s active open-source community and professional support plans ensure business continuity for enterprise clients making the switch.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership
For organizations looking to optimize budgets while maintaining full control, OpenProject’s pricing structure is a clear win. With a Community Edition available for free, and an Enterprise Edition offering security extensions and integrations at a fair, transparent cost, OpenProject eliminates the recurring plugin and per-user charges common in Jira’s ecosystem.
Sum up: OpenProject is Jira Data Center’s Ideal Successor
With Jira Data Center approaching its end of life, OpenProject stands as a mature, robust, open-source replacement. It provides the enterprise-grade features Jira users expect, alongside far greater transparency, independence, and cost efficiency. For teams committed to controlling their infrastructure, safeguarding their data, and avoiding future vendor constraints, migrating to OpenProject before 2029 is the most strategic move.
