Is Bitbucket Data Center Reaching End of Life (EOL)? What You Need to Know.

Savannah Copland
Savannah Copland
September 30, 2025
October 1, 2025
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You may have heard the recent news from Atlassian about the end of life (EOL) for their Data Center products, and you might be wondering: is Bitbucket Data Center also on the chopping block?

The short answer is no - Bitbucket is not included in Atlassian’s latest EOL announcement, but there are some important details to consider about how your license may change in the coming years. 

Let's break down what's changing.

Atlassian's Move to the Cloud and the Data Center EOL

Atlassian has been clear about its "cloud-first" strategy for some time now, though as recently as 2022 had stated their commitment to continued support for Data Center licenses.

However, on September 8th, 2025, Atlassian finally announced the end of life for most of their Data Center product line. The official end-of-life date is March 28, 2029, and includes a gradual timeline of reducing access to these products over the next 4 years. After this date, most Atlassian Data Center products, including Jira and Confluence, will become read-only, and support will no longer be available.

Here is the full official timeline from Atlassian:

  • March 30, 2026: Atlassian will no longer sell new licenses for Data Center products to new customers.
  • March 30, 2028: Existing Data Center customers will no longer be able to purchase new licenses or upgrade their user tiers.
  • March 28, 2029: End of life for most Data Center products.

It is important to note this announcement does not apply to Bitbucket Data Center - let’s dive in more to the reason behind this exception.

Bitbucket Data Center: An Exception to the Rule

In the official announcement, Atlassian specified that Bitbucket Data Center is not included in the 2029 current end-of-life plan. Recognizing that many organizations have complex security and compliance needs for their source code, Atlassian will continue to support and develop Bitbucket Data Center.

However, Atlassian is still encouraging migration to the cloud by introducing a new “hybrid” license, available mid-2026, that allows customers to use both Bitbucket Data Center and Bitbucket Cloud simultaneously for no extra cost. This provides a path for gradual migration to the cloud, without forcing teams to abandon their self-hosted instances. Data center licenses will be completely replaced by these hybrid licenses by March 28, 2029.

What Does the Hybrid License Signal for the Future?

While the announcement of a hybrid license for Bitbucket customers confirms their commitment to supporting Data Center for at least the next 4 years, it also strongly signals that cloud is still a long-term strategic direction.

This hybrid model acknowledges that for many large organizations, a complete "lift and shift" to the cloud isn't yet feasible due to complex security requirements, compliance regulations, and deeply custom / integrated workflows (you can read more about our thoughts on security following a cloud migration in our recent article). The license provides a longer runway for phased migrations even beyond the current dual licensing approach, allowing teams to move workloads to Bitbucket Cloud at their own pace without disrupting their existing Data Center operations.

Clarifying Atlassian "Server" vs. "Data Center" licenses

It's also important to distinguish between Atlassian's "Server" and "Data Center" products. Atlassian ended support for all its Server products, including Bitbucket Server, on February 15, 2024. 

The August 2025 announcement is about the future of the Data Center product line. If you are still on a Server license, you should have already migrated to either Data Center or Cloud to ensure you are receiving security updates and support.

Soteri's Commitment to Bitbucket Data Center

We understand that many of our customers rely on Bitbucket Data Center for its robust security and control over their codebase. That's why we want to assure you that our commitment to Bitbucket Data Center remains strong. 

Our secret scanning apps for Bitbucket, Confluence, and Jira are fully compatible with Data Center, and we plan to continue supporting our Data Center apps, even after the introduction of the hybrid license for Bitbucket customers.

So, while the landscape of Atlassian products is changing, you can be confident that your investment in Bitbucket Data Center and Soteri's security apps is secure.