If you’re still on Atlassian Data Center, you’ve probably heard the push toward Cloud—and maybe you’ve resisted it. That hesitation is understandable. Cloud migration feels complex, disruptive, and full of unknowns. But the reality is different.
This article breaks down seven common myths about Atlassian Cloud migration—and shows you what companies gain when they switch. Whether you’re a system admin, project lead, or decision-maker, this guide will help you separate fact from fear.
A common concern during Confluence Cloud migration is that tabbed content, panels, or custom macros won’t transfer.
Some legacy macros aren’t supported in Cloud. Take a practical example: Enterprise Theme for Confluence is a comprehensive theming and customization solution designed for Confluence Data Center. It enables organizations to transform Confluence instances into branded, user-friendly intranets or knowledge-sharing platforms. If you are currently utilizing it and are considering migration, rest assured that you won’t lose everything. Most layouts can be reconstructed using modern, cloud-ready applications such as:
Planning your replacements in advance is essential, but rest assured, you won’t need to compromise on structured content. You can rely on our App Migration Center, which provides a detailed, step-by-step guide throughout the entire process.
It might feel intuitive to believe that hosting data on-premise is more secure, but today, that’s rarely the case. Self-hosted environments often rely on limited IT resources, slower patching, and inconsistent monitoring. In contrast, Atlassian Cloud offers:
For most organizations, moving to the cloud significantly improves their security posture. In our blog post on Atlassian Cloud security and the shared responsibility model, we explain this in more detail.
And Atlassian continues to raise the bar: with its FedRAMP partnership, even government agencies can confidently move to the cloud. We’re proud that Navitabs is part of the early access program for the Atlassian Government Cloud — read more here.
In Data Center, you control every upgrade, integration, and maintenance window. In Cloud, some of that is abstracted. But in return, you get:
You still control permission schemes, workflows, automation, and integrations without the infrastructure headaches.
It’s true that, at a glance, Atlassian Cloud licenses can appear more expensive than their Server counterparts. But this perception changes quickly when you look beyond the sticker price and assess the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Running your own infrastructure comes with significant hidden costs that Cloud eliminates, including:
When you consider these costs, not to mention the value of predictable billing, automatic updates, and 24/7 monitoring, the cloud often turns out to be the more cost-effective option. For a more detailed understanding, Atlassian offers a Migration Cost Calculator to help organizations estimate potential savings.
Ultimately, the question isn’t whether Cloud is more expensive — it’s whether you’re accounting for everything that goes into running secure, performant systems. And when you do, Cloud isn’t just affordable — it’s a smart long-term investment.
Cloud migrations can be complex, but they’re manageable with the proper planning.
Successful teams:
With the Atlassian Cloud migration tool-kit and the right partner, most teams report a smoother experience than expected. A great example is Webcraft’s migration from Confluence Server to Cloud. Despite having over 16,000 pages, numerous outdated macros, and tight timelines, Webcraft’s team successfully executed the move using a structured, phase-based approach. They focused early on content cleanup, audit and migration testing.
Not all Data Center customizations indeed work the same in Cloud. But Cloud isn’t rigid. It just works differently.
You now get:
For most use cases, Cloud now matches or surpasses what Data Center setups could do, with far less friction.
For many teams, the idea of migrating to Cloud feels like a point of no return—and that can trigger hesitation. Once you leave behind Server or Data Center, you can’t simply reverse course. But instead of seeing that as a risk, it’s more accurate to see it as a shift toward stability, scalability, and future-readiness.
Atlassian Cloud isn’t just a copy of your current environment hosted elsewhere. It’s a modern platform designed to reduce complexity, support global teams, and deliver continuous improvements without manual intervention.
What you gain in the long run:
Choosing Cloud isn’t just about getting away from legacy infrastructure, it’s about moving toward a more sustainable way of working. While it’s true that you can’t “go back” once you migrate, most teams find that they don’t want to. The productivity gains, reliability, and freedom to focus on work—not maintenance—make Cloud the better place to be.
Once you cut through the myths, the real benefits of Atlassian Cloud migration are clear:
Migrating to Atlassian Cloud is a significant decision that deserves careful planning, but outdated assumptions shouldn’t delay it. Thousands of companies have made the move and reported cleaner setups, fewer technical issues, and better collaboration.
If you’re not ready to migrate yet, that’s fine. But get informed, explore your options, and start thinking ahead. The Cloud isn’t just the future—it’s already here.
