Keeping up with Atlassian’s terminology and ever-changing product names so you don’t have to.
If you’ve been in the Atlassian ecosystem for more than five minutes, you’ve probably experienced that moment of confusion when someone mentions a product name you swear was called something else last week. Don’t worry – Atlassian just really loves to rename things! With recent changes like Products becoming Apps and Issues transforming into Work Items, we thought it would be fun to create the ultimate survival guide to Atlassian’s terminology evolution.
The Core Product Evolution
Jira had a simple life from 2002 to 2015, then split into three: Jira Software, Jira Core, and Jira Service Desk (JSD). By 2020, Jira Core became Jira Work Management and JSD became Jira Service Management (JSM). Then in 2024, Jira Software and Jira Work Management merged back into just Jira. Whew!
The Quick Changes
Remember HipChat (2012-2017)? It became Stride, then both were sold to Slack by 2019, just two short years later.
Stash became Bitbucket Server, then Bitbucket Data Center. Bamboo Server also evolved to Bamboo Data Center, which was a natural change in the shift from server to cloud-focused technology.
Atlassian terminology for Access became Atlassian Guard, better aligning to the level of security and features included in the product.
Atlassian’s Atlas product was simplified to just “Home“.
This change reflects Atlassian’s strategic focus on creating goal-focused, central hubs for teams. The transformation aligns with Atlassian’s System of Work philosophy, helping teams connect their daily work to shared outcomes and providing visibility into how that work connects to organizational goals. The goal-tracking capabilities break down silos, making it easy for teams to discover, understand, and align with shared objectives, whether using OKRs or other frameworks.
Check out Atlassian’s post about goals, and how they are used!
Inside the Products
Features got makeovers too:
- Epic links → Parent link → Parent
- Jira issues → Work items
- Advanced roadmaps → Plans
- Jira projects → Jira spaces (in progress)
- Next-gen projects → Team-managed projects
- Classic projects → Company-managed projects
The Plugin Evolution
The realm of plugins hasn’t been safe from these renames, with Proforma becoming forms, Opsgenie becoming integrated into JSM and Compass, and more.
Plugins themselves were renamed first to Add-ons and finally to Apps but more recently have been referred to as Marketplace or third party apps to differentiate them from Atlassian’s Products => Apps rebrand.
And how could we leave off Insights becoming Assets!
The Bottom Line
Some Atlassian terminology updates stick immediately (JSM is so catchy!), while others take longer to become second nature (we’re still catching ourselves saying “issues” instead of “work items” too).
As your Platinum Partner, we stay on top of all these Atlassian terminology updates so you don’t have to. The names may change, but the power of these tools to transform how your teams collaborate remains constant.
Until the next rebrand!
Need help navigating Atlassian’s ever-evolving ecosystem? Our team is here to guide you through every rename and transformation. You’ll want to follow our newsletter for updates like this!