The Atlassian Subscription Scandal We Need To Talk About

In February 2024, Atlassian ended all security updates for software that 300,000 companies ran their business on. To keep it running, those companies had to move to Atlassian’s cloud and pay a subscription for software they previously used to own. For a 5,000-person company, the annual bill went from $16,500 to $291,000. In this video I break down how two university students in Sydney built Jira into the tool almost every company uses to manage work, why Atlassian killed its Server product (and then Data Center), how much the forced move to the cloud actually costs, why leaving is nearly impossible, and how Atlassian’s revenue kept climbing while customers revolted. Which company do you think is going to do this next? Let me know in the comments.