Plane is our AMI, so weigh that against everything below. Choosing between them used to be a straightforward tradeoff: Jira's maturity and ecosystem against Plane's cost and simplicity. That tradeoff changed in March 2026, when Atlassian stopped selling new Jira Data Center licenses entirely. If you're starting a project management setup from scratch today and self-hosting matters to you, Jira isn't fully on the table anymore. Plane is.
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Plane: an Open Source Jira Alternative Built to Be Self-Hosted
Start with the license: Plane Community Edition is AGPL-3.0, free, and self-hosts as a Docker Compose stack, realistic to run on a single VM. It covers issues, Cycles (Plane's name for sprints), Modules for grouping related work, and four views: list, Kanban, calendar and a Gantt-style timeline. There's no user limit, and the REST API and webhooks are free too.
It's a younger project than Jira, and mostly that shows in a good way. There's no workflow-scheme editor or permission labyrinth to get through before a new team can log its first issue.
Key facts
- AGPL-3.0, free self-hosted, no user cap at any tier
- Issues, Cycles (sprints), Modules, and Gantt-style timeline views
- Docker Compose deployment, realistic on a single VM
- REST API and webhooks included in the free Community Edition
Jira: mature, deep, and now Cloud-only for new customers
Jira remains the default enterprise issue tracker, with two decades of workflow customization, a large app marketplace, and tight integration with Confluence and Bitbucket. It's free up to 10 users, then Standard runs roughly $7-8 per user per month (see Atlassian's pricing page for current figures), Premium around $14-15, and Enterprise is custom quoted, all billed per seat and climbing with headcount. And for new customers, it's now Cloud only (more on that below).
Key facts
- Free up to 10 users, then per-user pricing on Standard, Premium, and Enterprise
- Deep workflow customization and a large third-party app marketplace
- Tight integration with Confluence and Bitbucket
- No new self-hosted (Data Center) licenses sold as of March 2026
The self-hosting question, answered by Atlassian itself
Jira Server, the original self-hosted product, was retired back in February 2024. Data Center was the remaining self-hosted path, aimed at larger organizations willing to run their own infrastructure. Atlassian has now scheduled that product's exit too: new license sales stopped March 30, 2026, existing customers can renew or expand until March 2028, and the product goes fully read-only by March 2029. Atlassian's own guidance for anyone planning a new deployment is to evaluate Cloud Enterprise or a self-hosted open source alternative. Plane is the second kind.
Is Jira open source?
No, and it never was. Jira is proprietary, which is why a search for "open source Jira" lands on alternatives rather than on Atlassian. Plane, OpenProject and Taiga are the usual open source picks, and our Jira alternatives roundup compares ten of them.
Jira vs Plane: Cost
Plane's self-hosted Community Edition costs whatever your server costs. Nothing per seat, at any team size.
Jira's free tier covers 10 users, and most real teams outgrow it fast. Run the math on a 50-person engineering team: Standard at roughly $7-8 per user per month is about $400 a month, Premium is $700-750, and that's before any Marketplace apps. The same team on Plane pays for one VM. A 2 vCPU, 4 GB instance is around $30 a month on-demand on AWS, plus the software fee if you launch it from a marketplace image on AWS or Google Cloud.
Features and Maturity: Is Plane a Jira Replacement?
This is where Jira still wins. Two decades of enterprise development buys deeper workflow customization, finer permission schemes, and a Marketplace full of integrations Plane doesn't have. If your organization runs multi-step approval workflows, or depends on one specific Marketplace app, stay on Jira.
Plane is betting that most teams use a sliver of that depth, and would rather have a fast tool than a configurable one. For a typical product team shipping in two-week sprints, that bet holds.
Plane vs Jira: the facts
| Criterion | Plane | Jira |
|---|---|---|
| License | AGPL-3.0 (Community Edition) | Proprietary |
| Self-hosting for new customers | Yes, the default deployment model | No, Data Center sales ended March 2026 |
| Free tier | Unlimited users, self-hosted | Up to 10 users, Cloud only |
| Paid pricing | None, self-hosted at any scale | ~$7-8/user/mo (Standard), ~$14-15/user/mo (Premium) |
| Sprints / cycles | Cycles, included free | Included on all paid tiers |
| Workflow customization depth | Basic, intentionally simple | Deep, decades of enterprise features |
| App marketplace | Smaller, growing | Large, mature |
| Deployment | Docker Compose, single VM realistic | Cloud-hosted by Atlassian |
Plane Import from Jira: Migrating Off Jira
Plane ships a Jira importer that handles issues, comments, and attachments from a standard Jira export. Custom fields and automation rules don't map over cleanly. List the ones your team actually uses and rebuild just those, not the whole workflow.
Import into a staging instance first, then run both tools side by side for a sprint or two. Set a hard cutover date. Two writable trackers for months is how issues end up half in each.
Where each one falls short
Plane
- Workflow customization and permission granularity are basic next to Jira's two decades of enterprise features
- Smaller app marketplace, some Jira integrations have no Plane equivalent yet
- Younger project, occasional rough edges between releases that a more mature tool has already sanded down
Jira
- Per-seat pricing that grows every time someone's added, with no ceiling
- No new self-hosted licenses sold as of March 2026, Cloud-only for new customers
- Configuration surface large enough that some organizations employ someone whose job is administering Jira specifically
So: if self-hosting or per-seat cost is the real constraint, pick Plane. If your company already runs on Confluence and Bitbucket and nobody minds Atlassian hosting it, stay on Jira.
Our 10 best Jira alternatives roundup covers nine other options if Plane isn't the exact fit, and our Plane AWS self-hosting guide and Plane developer guide cover the deployment in full. If your team just needs a shared Kanban board rather than a full Jira replacement, Wekan is a lighter option worth a look, and Wekan vs Trello covers that smaller decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
Plane vs Jira: which should a software team pick?
Plane if you want a fast, self-hosted issue tracker without per-seat billing. Jira if you already live in the Atlassian ecosystem (Confluence, Bitbucket) and that integration matters more than cost or self-hosting.
Is Plane a real self hosted Jira replacement?
Yes. Plane Community Edition is AGPL-3.0, free and self-hosted with Docker Compose, with no user limit, and covers issues, sprints (Cycles) and roadmaps. Jira stopped selling new self-hosted licenses in March 2026.
Is Jira open source?
No. Jira is proprietary Atlassian software, and new customers can only buy Jira Cloud. Open source Jira alternatives such as Plane, OpenProject and Taiga can be self-hosted for free.
Can I still self-host Jira in 2026?
Not as a new customer. Atlassian stopped selling new Jira Data Center licenses on March 30, 2026. Existing customers can renew until 2028, and the product reaches end of life in March 2029.
How does Plane pricing compare to Jira?
Self-hosted Plane costs nothing per user; you pay for the server. Jira is free up to 10 users, then roughly $7-8 per user per month on Standard and $14-15 on Premium.
Can Plane import from Jira?
Yes. Plane's Jira importer brings over issues, comments and attachments from a Jira export. Custom fields and automation rules don't map cleanly, so rebuild the ones your team actually uses.
Does Plane have everything Jira has?
No. Jira's workflow customization, permission schemes and app marketplace are deeper after two decades. Plane covers issues, Cycles, Modules and list, Kanban, calendar and timeline views well, but has gaps at the enterprise end.
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