The future of Linchpin in 2021 and beyond: The balancing act between on-premise and cloud after Server EOL

The balancing act between on-premise and cloud - the future of Linchpin after EOL Server. 

By now, everyone probably knows that on February 2nd, 2021, Atlassian will stop selling new licenses for their server product line.  For those who already have a server license, they can continue to use it. The software maintenance for existing licenses can be extended until the beginning of 2024. As of that point, no new server customers will be taken on. Atlassian will continue to offer customers Atlassian software on-premise with their Data Center product line.

That being said, Data Center is currently more expensive, and we will see another price increase on February 2nd, 2021. This strategic realignment by Atlassian also affects Linchpin in terms of the Server deployment and price increase.

Linchpin’s pricing has always been focused on growth.

Since its launch in 2015, Linchpin has evolved tremendously over the past five years. Linchpin was made available in 2017 as a standard software solution, ready to install. In 2019, Linchpin Intranet Suite was made available as a consolidated, single app in the Atlassian Marketplace. Our product and pricing strategy for Linchpin has always been focused on growth. And, although Linchpin is packed with features, it has always been competitively priced.  

Currently, almost 300 organizations use Linchpin as their social intranet solution. That’s a result we’re very proud of as the developers and gives us the spark to keep investing in the software. However, we also know that due to Atlassian’s strategic realignment that the recent years’ growth will not continue in the way we would like. 

Linchpin Cloud - new software for a changing ecosystem 

In early 2020 we began working on Linchpin Cloud, a solution that will integrate with Atlassian cloud. Linchpin Cloud will also be compatible with other software that a company may have in place - like Google Workspace, for example. This investment in this new product line is expensive but very important. Confluence’s customer satisfaction with Linchpin is high, so investing in this solution will give customers the option to continue using Linchpin not just today but tomorrow as well.

At the same time, we will continue to invest in Linchpin On-Premise. While some of our customers will continue to use Atlassian Server (and therefore Linchpin Server) for another 2-3 years, many customers will still want to use Atlassian Data Center together with Linchpin Data Center. A dedicated team of product managers, developers, UX’ers, testers, and customer supporters will continue to be available for these customers. Linchpin Data Center will not be sent to the sidelines but will continue to be developed.

New Linchpin prices as of 2021-02-22 

To achieve this balancing act, we will increase the prices for Linchpin Intranet Suite on February 22nd, 2021.  This means we can continue to offer our existing customers first-class service and prioritize topics such as data protection and web security. Additionally, we can continue to provide existing Linchpin customers with a simple and straightforward way to move over to Linchpin Cloud or Data Center.

Existing customers can still renew their licenses at the old prices for 60 days as of February 22nd, 2021. Until the end of the year, customers will still have to migrate to Linchpin Data Center at a discounted price. Full details of the new pricing can be found here

The best solution for a shared future 

We believe the new prices will result in the best long-term solution for all Linchpin customers. They will ensure that we can serve customers on all deployment platforms and that each customer can use the deployment that best fits their needs. 

We look forward to shaping the future of Linchpin with you and building software that you and your employees will enjoy. We strive, as we always have, to provide the greatest possible value to your organization. Thank you for supporting us on this journey. On that note: Kickass Software, Rock'n'Roll Teams! 


Questions and contact

Do you want to learn more about Linchpin Cloud or the Linchpin Intranet Suite for servers and data centers? We'd be happy to talk to you about your requirements and use cases and invite you to take a demo. Feel free to get in touch!

Further Information

Linchpin Server and Data Center pricing as of February 2021
Access to our beta program for Linchpin Cloud
Linchpin: Social Intranet with Confluence
How the Social Intranet Suite Linchpin made its way to the cloud
Linchpin Intranet Projects: Full Cost Transparency and Flexibility for Customers

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