In case you haven't heard, app editions are coming to the Atlassian Marketplace!
App editions will make it possible to list multiple editions of a cloud app under a single Marketplace listing. Editions will provide pricing flexibility so you can segment your audience by willingness to pay, monetize your investments in cloud, and exercise more control over your overall pricing and growth strategy.
Start building editions for your Connect apps in the background
This week we are releasing technical guides in the Partner Portal to help you get started on the next stage of your app editions journey: the build phase.
The instructions will walk you through adding and using feature flags in a Connect app. If you have a product strategy in place and you're ready to start building editions for your Connect app(s), you can use these new instructions to start building out your editions in the background.
With these instructions you can start building:
- A Free edition with feature differentiation
- The free edition will be limited to 1-10 users
- An Advanced edition
- Cloud Fortified + additional feature or service
If you'd like your current app to be designated as the Advanced edition so you can build a lower Standard edition, we can help you through a higher touch, manual process upon request. You can register your interest in this option via a link on the build instructions page.
This initial set of build instructions is for apps built on Connect only. For apps built on Forge, we will be delivering documentation and build instructions in early 2023. We will share an announcement in the Partner Portal blog and in the change log when the resources are live.
Building your editions in the background will lay a foundation for you to start testing your Advanced edition with customers next year (est. July-Sept 2023) when we launch an early access program (EAP) for the Advanced edition. Once Atlassian cloud customers have been migrated to our new billing engine, you will be able to list and sell your editions on the Atlassian Marketplace directly.
What are Marketplace app editions?
Atlassian's new billing engine will make it possible for Marketplace Partners to segment and monetize features or services by listing Free and Standard editions of all cloud apps, and Free, Standard, and Advanced versions of Cloud Fortified apps. Expanding your app portfolio through editions is a way to reach new customers and drive additional growth for your business.
The requirements for each edition are:
- Free editions are limited to 10 users maximum
- Advanced editions must be Cloud Fortified plus offer at least one additional feature or service to differentiate from a Standard Cloud Fortified app
In this way, you can maximize your app's earning potential and feature richness for higher willingness-to-pay customers. Plus, you can increase your app's reach among customers with lower willingness-to-pay while implementing a growth strategy with the differentiated features of a true Free edition.
You can learn more about app editions on the Partner Portal here.
What is the current timeline for the app editions release?
App editions will come out in stages, as app edition listing and purchasing is dependent on the customer migration timeline for Atlassian's new cloud billing engine. Please remember that all dates are subject to change.
Our current estimated timeline is as follows:
We are keeping a detailed timeline up to date in the Partner Portal App Editions Hub, so please be sure to check there for the latest estimates.
Other resources to help you strategize
To help you prepare your business strategy, over the past quarters we've provided:
- FAQs
- Customer insights from Atlassian's Research & Insights team
- Pricing & Packaging Guide written by members of Atlassian's own monetization strategy team
- App editions planning guide with details on the different potential routes partners can take for cloud app editions on the Atlassian Marketplace
These resources give you an inside look at the evidence Atlassian has gathered about customer needs, and the thinking behind our own monetization strategy for products like Jira Cloud and Confluence Cloud. Many of these resources were built in close collaboration with Marketplace Partners and have benefitted greatly from your feedback, so please feel free to leave comments if you have questions or additional needs.
If you're ready to get started on editions for one or more of your cloud apps, you can find the new build instructions here. Plus, we've scheduled a live Product Team Talk Time for January 18th at 6:30am UTC where product and engineering members of the Atlassian team will walk you through how to build editions for your cloud apps using the new resources.
Note: Marketplace Partners with at least 1 paid-via-Atlassian app qualify for Partner Portal resources. If you experience any issues getting access, and meet the eligibility criteria, please open a support ticket and our team will work to get things resolved as quickly as possible.