Moving Confluence Data Center to Cloud: what happens to your Q&A (Questions for Confluence, EliteSoft)

Last updated: 23 October 2026 · By Quicksloth

Atlassian is winding down Data Center: Confluence Data Center licenses and the Marketplace apps that go with them become read-only on 28 March 2029. If your team keeps questions and answers in a Q&A app, that content does not move by itself: each app has its own migration path, and the two most common ones work in different ways.

Short version: Questions for Confluence, Atlassian's own app, migrates with the Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant, as long as the people and spaces behind the questions migrate too. Questions & Answers by EliteSoft moves with its own export on Data Center and import in Cloud, outside the assistant. Whichever you use, run the app assessment first, test one space on a cloud trial site, and keep the Data Center site until you have checked the result.

The Data Center dates

Atlassian announced the end of Data Center in the blog post From Data Center to cloud: the next chapter for Marketplace apps (8 September 2025) and on its page Data Center end of life, both read on 23 October 2026:

Date	What changes
30 March 2026	End of sale for new customers: they can no longer buy new Data Center subscriptions or Data Center Marketplace apps.
30 March 2028	Last day for existing customers to buy new Data Center licenses, Marketplace apps and license expansions. Renewals of what you already have continue.
28 March 2029	End of life: "All Data Center licenses and associated Marketplace app licenses will expire and become read-only." Atlassian's page says support and fixes for critical security vulnerabilities continue through that date.

So there is time, but for an existing customer the last date to buy a new paid app for a Data Center site, including one you might want for the migration, is 30 March 2028. Bitbucket Data Center is outside this timeline; Confluence is not.

How apps move: the app assessment

The Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant, installed on your Data Center site, has a step for apps. Atlassian's help page Assess Marketplace apps with the Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant (read on 23 October 2026) describes it:

On the Migration Assistant home screen, select Assess your apps. The table shows, for each installed app, whether a cloud version exists, its Migration path, and where it is used (Appears on, Viewed by).
The migration path is one of: Automated (the developer built a path into the assistant), Install-only (the data moves with Confluence's own data), View path (the developer offers a path outside the assistant), Upgrade app, Contact vendor, or No.
For each app you choose a decision: Needed in cloud, Not needed in cloud or Use alternative.

Run the assessment on your own site: it reads the versions you actually have installed, which is more reliable than any list, including this page.

Questions for Confluence (Atlassian)

Atlassian's migration knowledge base article Migrating Questions for Confluence App (last modified 15 May 2025, read on 23 October 2026) says the app's data "can be migrated using the Confluence Migration Assistant tool (CCMA)". What it asks you to watch:

People and spaces come first. The users and groups who wrote questions and answers need Confluence access in the cloud, with permission to add comments and attachments. If you migrate only some users, groups or spaces, the questions migrate only for those.
Drafts stay behind. "Drafts are not supported on cloud, thus not migrated."
A second attempt is harder. The article says that after a partial migration, "re-migration poses a challenge as there is no export/import tool available on the cloud". It describes a re-migration with a dummy space and a new migration that includes only the app, which runs from the migration assistant on your Data Center site: one more reason not to switch that site off too early.
Dates of questions. The article lists a known issue, CONFCLOUD-76360, where the dates of questions and answers are reset to the date of the migration. Atlassian's issue tracker shows CONFCLOUD-76360 as resolved as "Fixed" on 16 October 2024 (the issue was last updated on 9 June 2025; read on 23 October 2026). The two pages disagree; check the dates on your test migration.

The article does not say how votes, topics or accepted answers are handled, so check those yourself on the test site.

Questions & Answers (EliteSoft)

EliteSoft's page Migrate questions & answers to Confluence Cloud (updated 4 October 2024, read on 23 October 2026) describes a manual path, not the migration assistant:

On Data Center, an admin opens the app's Migrations page and selects Download to export the files.
In Confluence Cloud, with EliteSoft's cloud app installed, the admin opens the app's Import tab and uploads the exported files, after mapping users and spaces.

The steps run from the Confluence administration pages of both sites, and the page gives no list of what is left out, so a test import of one space is the way to find out. One more thing to know before you choose it as your destination: according to the Marketplace data for its latest cloud version (version 1.28.9-AC, read on 23 October 2026), EliteSoft's cloud app still runs on Connect, the platform whose support Atlassian ends on 31 January 2027. We do not know EliteSoft's plans; our page Atlassian Connect end of support explains what that date means, and Moving from Questions & Answers (EliteSoft) covers the options for its users, including staying.

Other Q&A apps

Atlassian keeps a list, Marketplace apps for Confluence that are available in cloud with migration paths (last modified 24 June 2026, read on 23 October 2026). Smart Questions and Answers by Purde Software appears there with an Automated migration path from version 3.5.0. Neither Questions for Confluence nor EliteSoft's app is on that list, and Atlassian notes that it may not include every app with a migration path, so for any other app, use the assessment on your site and the developer's own migration page.

What to check before you migrate

Know what you have. How many questions, in which spaces, and which features your team really uses: topics, votes, accepted answers, comments, attachments, lists of questions on pages.
Run the app assessment and note the migration path the assistant shows for your Q&A app.
Keep a copy. Before anything else, save what the app lets you export on Data Center, and back up the site as you normally would.
Test one space on a cloud trial or sandbox site: open a few questions you know well and compare authors, dates, answers, votes and the accepted answer with Data Center.
Check search. See how people will find old questions in the cloud app, and whether Confluence search finds them.
Migrate users and groups with the spaces, for Questions for Confluence in particular.
Keep Data Center running, read-only if you like, until the cloud content has been checked. A second migration starts from there.

If you would rather switch apps

The assessment lets you mark an app Use alternative and pick a different cloud app. There are several Q&A apps for Confluence Cloud, with different prices, platforms and gaps:

Q&A apps for Confluence Cloud compared puts four apps side by side, ours included, with prices, reviews and what each one lacks.
Moving from Questions & Answers (EliteSoft) is for teams on EliteSoft's app.

Switching apps usually means your existing questions do not come along automatically: an app can only import what the old one lets you export.

Our own app, Quicksloth Q&A for Confluence, is built on Forge for Confluence Cloud. It cannot import questions from other apps and has no export at launch, so it fits teams that start fresh or move a few questions by hand. It is coming soon to the Atlassian Marketplace; the overview will link to the listing as soon as it is live.

Questions and answers

Do we have to move before 30 March 2028?: No. That is the last day existing customers can buy new Data Center licenses, apps and expansions. Renewals continue until 28 March 2029, when Data Center licenses and their apps become read-only.
Will the migration assistant move our questions on its own?: It depends on the app. For Questions for Confluence, Atlassian's article says yes, with the conditions above. For EliteSoft's app, its documentation describes an export and import outside the assistant. The Migration path column of the app assessment tells you for the versions on your site.
We migrated part of the site and some questions are missing. What now?: For Questions for Confluence, Atlassian's article describes a re-migration of the app alone, after fixing permissions, run from the Data Center site. For other apps, contact the developer before you change anything else.
Does the end of Connect affect our migration?: Connect is a cloud platform, so it does not change how Data Center works. It matters for the cloud app you migrate to: an app still on Connect after 31 January 2027 can break and may not be fixed. See Atlassian Connect end of support.

Dates and quotes come from Atlassian's blog post of 8 September 2025, its "Data Center end of life" page, its help page on assessing apps with the Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant, its knowledge base articles "Migrating Questions for Confluence App" (15 May 2025) and "Marketplace apps for Confluence that are available in cloud with migration paths" (24 June 2026), the issue CONFCLOUD-76360, EliteSoft's page "Migrate questions & answers to Confluence Cloud" (4 October 2024) and the Atlassian Marketplace data for the latest cloud version of EliteSoft's app, all read on 23 October 2026. Migration tools and apps change: if something looks different on your site, the vendor's pages have the current steps. Written with AI tools and checked by Quicksloth. Quicksloth is an independent developer and is not affiliated with Atlassian, EliteSoft or Purde Software. Atlassian and Confluence are trademarks of Atlassian.