The self-hosted Jira alternative.
Ekso is a self-hosted alternative to Jira that runs on your own infrastructure — public cloud, private cloud, on-premise, or air-gapped. It combines tasks, tickets, helpdesk, time tracking, and financial reporting in a single workspace, with flat-rate pricing for unlimited users and a 104-tool MCP server for AI agent integration. Migrate from Jira with two CLI commands. Most teams are running in production by Monday.
Last updated May 2026 · Jira Data Center end-of-life February 2029
Ekso vs Jira — self-hosting comparison
A direct comparison of the features that matter most to teams evaluating a self-hosted Jira replacement in 2026.
| Feature | Ekso | Jira (Data Center / Cloud) |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting model | Self-hosted — your infrastructure, always | Data Center (on-prem, EOL 2029) or Cloud-only |
| Air-gapped deployment | Supported | Not available on Cloud |
| Pricing model | Flat-rate, unlimited users | Per-seat (~$8–$16/user/month on Cloud) |
| Helpdesk & ticketing | Built in — same workspace as tasks | Separate product (Jira Service Management) |
| Time tracking | Built in, with financial reporting | Third-party add-on required |
| Financial reporting | Built in — margin per project, team, client | Not available |
| AI / MCP server | 104-tool MCP server ships in the box | Atlassian Intelligence (Cloud only) |
| Configuration | Click-and-configure. No XML. | XML config, Groovy scripting for advanced rules |
| Compliance boundary | Your firewall. Vendor not in the data path. | Vendor SLA + data processing agreement required |
| Data Center end-of-life | No EOL. Self-hosted roadmap continues. | February 2029 — Atlassian confirmed |
| Migration from Jira | ekso migrate jira collect → apply | N/A |
| Bring your own AI model | Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure Foundry | Atlassian AI only |
Everything Jira spread across six products — in one workspace
Jira’s modularity is its legacy burden. Ekso ships the full stack — tasks, tickets, docs, time, AI, and finance — as a single self-hosted install.
Migrate from Jira in two commands
The Ekso CLI handles the full migration from Jira — Data Center or Cloud — with attribution, comments, attachments, and sprint history preserved. Dry-run anything. Resume if interrupted.
ekso migrate jira collect --config migration.config.json --project ACME ekso migrate jira apply --config migration.config.json --process <process-id> --dry-run ekso migrate jira apply --config migration.config.json --process <process-id>
The CLI authenticates with your Jira instance and exports issues, comments, attachments, sprint data, and custom fields. Works with Jira Cloud and Data Center.
Run apply --dry-run to preview every change before anything is written. Check field mappings, user attribution, and project structure.
Run apply to write the migration. The process is resumable — if interrupted, restart from where it stopped. No duplicates.
Most teams complete migration over a weekend. Your history is intact, your users are mapped, and your agents are already reading the data via MCP.
Your boundary. Not a vendor promise.
Ekso runs on your own infrastructure, so it is not in the data path. GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, and DORA compliance is governed by your own firewall — not a third-party data processing agreement. Your auditors already trust it.
Atlassian has confirmed Jira Data Center will reach end-of-life in February 2029. Teams running on-premise Jira today either move to Jira Cloud — giving up self-hosting — or migrate to a self-hosted alternative. Ekso is self-hosted by design, with no planned EOL on the self-hosted roadmap.
Questions teams ask before switching
Ekso is a self-hosted alternative to Jira. It runs on your own infrastructure — public cloud, private cloud, on-premise, or air-gapped — and covers tasks, tickets, helpdesk, time tracking, and financial reporting in a single workspace. Ekso charges a flat-rate annual licence with no per-seat fees, which makes it significantly cheaper at scale. It also ships with a 104-tool MCP server, so Claude, Cursor, and other AI agents read and write workspace data directly.
Atlassian has confirmed that Jira Data Center will reach end-of-life in February 2029. After that date, Atlassian will no longer release security patches or feature updates for the on-premise Data Center product. Teams currently running Jira on-premise will need to either migrate to Jira Cloud — which requires surrendering self-hosting — or move to a self-hosted alternative such as Ekso before the deadline.
The Ekso CLI migrates from Jira using two commands: ekso migrate jira collect exports your Jira data (issues, comments, attachments, sprint history, custom fields) and ekso migrate jira apply imports it into Ekso with attribution preserved. The migration supports a --dry-run flag for previewing changes before committing, is fully resumable if interrupted, and works with both Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center. Most teams complete the migration over a weekend and are running Ekso in production by Monday.
Yes. Because Ekso runs entirely on your own infrastructure, Ekso is not in the data path. GDPR and HIPAA compliance is governed by your own infrastructure boundary — your firewall, your data controls, your security team’s existing policies. You do not need to negotiate a data processing agreement with Ekso to handle regulated data. Air-gapped deployment is supported for environments with strict network isolation.
Ekso uses flat-rate annual pricing with no per-seat fees, which makes it substantially cheaper than Jira at scale. Jira Cloud charges approximately $8.15 per user per month on Standard and $16 per user per month on Premium (as of 2026). A team of 100 users on Jira Premium costs roughly $19,200 per year. Jira Data Center pricing is also per-user-tier. Ekso’s flat-rate licence covers unlimited users — the per-user cost decreases as your team grows, instead of increasing.
Yes. Ekso ships with a 104-tool MCP server and a CLI, both included in the standard install at no additional cost. Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and any other tool that speaks MCP reads and writes Ekso workspace data directly — the same data your team uses. Bring your own AI model keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure Foundry) and swap models at any time. No separate agent gateway licence.