This blog was originally published by Maria Viquez on April 17, 2020 and last updated by Gretchen Pawloski on February 4, 2021.

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If you recently purchased Jira, Confluence or another Atlassian product, we welcome you to the world of opportunities that lies ahead.  Atlassian’s mission is to unleash the power of every team, based on a core tenet that team collaboration is the foundation for achieving the best possible outcomes. Therefore, Atlassian products are designed to work together seamlessly to help teams manage all aspects of a project.

While their products are robust and provide a lot of functionality, some companies have requirements that go beyond them. So Atlassian created an ecosystem, the Atlassian Marketplace, where customers can discover, try and purchase apps that customize and extend their current Atlassian application. The Marketplace offers apps developed by both third-party developers and Atlassian.

There's an App for That

Since its introduction in 2012, the Marketplace has expanded rapidly and today offers more than 4,000 apps, with a mix of free and paid apps. The good news is that with all those choices, there’s an app to fit your specific use case or need. Finding that perfect app, however, can be a challenge. 

Worry not. ServiceRocket has been an Atlassian partner since the very beginning and we’ve got your back! Our guide is designed to help you navigate the site, sort through the options, and evaluate partners to find the app that best fits your needs. 

Navigating the Marketplace Homepage

The Atlassian Marketplace homepage is designed for easy use, starting with a prominently featured search bar. The search function will also check inside the app descriptions so don't hesitate to type a specific feature. All search results (in this bar and throughout the site) are ranked first and foremost based on the relevancy of the search term, and then by the following criteria:

• Number of active installs
• Star rating (1-4 , with 4 being the highest)
• Recency of publication
• Whether the app is paid via Atlassian

The next section, Discover new apps, offers a way to search based on category. While there are almost 40 categories to explore, three are highlighted in this section.

Beyond that, the left-hand panel offers multiple ways to find apps including by sorting options, staff picks, product type, hosting platform, and the full list of categories.  

Here’s what you need to know.

Sort

• Top rated features apps with the highest star ratings from reviewers
• Top trending  features apps with the most active installations in the past week
• Top selling features apps with the highest total dollar sales in the last 30 days
• Newest  features apps with recently published extensions
  

Staff Picks 

Staff picks are featured in the center of the page. To be selected as a Staff Pick, the app has to meet specific Atlassian requirements:

• Strong overall reviewer star rating
• Large number of installs 
• App must be supported
• Partner has established track record of success with customers
• Paid via Atlassian or free apps that do not require a paid subscription
• App is available on multiple hosting platforms

Product type

Filter apps based on which Atlassian product they enhance. Options include:

• Jira
• Jira Service Manager
• Confluence
• Bitbucket

• Fisheye/Crucible
• Bamboo
• Crowd

Hosting platform 

Filter apps based on your hosting preference - cloud, data center or server.

Category

As mentioned earlier, there are almost 40 different categories of apps from which to choose. These range from common like integrations, reports, documentation, security,  themes and styles, admin tools, blueprints, and project management to more specific use cases like deployments, source code or even repository hooks.

Understanding the App Listing Page

The individual app listing pages contain a lot of useful information for decision making. Since the page’s tabs and sections are pretty straightforward and easy to understand, we will keep this part brief and hit the highlights.

Overview Tab

1. Partner name is a hyperlink that will give you more information about the company and other apps they have on the Marketplace.
2. These stars represent the average user rating and the number (107 in this case) is the number of reviews. This helps you gauge the satisfaction level of current users.
3. Number of active installs (1,655 in this example). This number helps you determine the app's popularity. 
4. The Supported by partner designation is important. The more critical the app will be to your business processes, the more closely you will want to evaluate that partner’s support.
5. Trial/purchase options.
6. Hosting platform selection (choose this before reading the information below because app functionality may vary by hosting platform).
7. This statement is designed to give you a concise understanding of the app's purpose.
8. Videos like the one featured here are often included to give you a better understanding of the apps core functionality and benefits.  Not all listings will feature a video or demo.

Staying in the Overview tab, you’ll find:

1. Three primary benefits of the app and screenshots to give a sense of the user interface and core functionality. 
2. More details about functionality, use cases or other areas of importance.
3. Links to demos or other information helpful in evaluating the app are often featured here.
4. A link to the partner’s privacy policy.
5. Information about the partner's security including participating in the bug bounty program and their self-assessment. 
6. Links to additional Resources. You can access version history, documentation or the End User License Agreement (EULA) which provides license details, terms of purchase, and the Service Level Agreement (SLA: what the support does and doesn’t include).
7. Link to Watch app, which lets you sign up for email alerts, including release notes. Consider this option if you’re interested in an app but don’t need it right now, or if you’re waiting for specific new features to launch before evaluating.

Reviews Tab

You’ll want to invest time evaluating the reviews and the ratings because reviews are an excellent way to gain insights about the product benefits and determine how well it addresses your business needs.  Partners can reply to reviews, so look closely at responses to negative feedback and new feature suggestions to see if the partner cares about the users’ opinions, replies quickly, adjusts the product to better meet their needs, and encourages further contact through email or support pages.

Pricing Tab

Prices for the app are set by the partners and are different for Cloud, Data Center and Server versions. Buying an add-on for Confluence or Jira Cloud, you can select the monthly or annual subscription. Data Center apps are based on annual subscriptions. Unlike server licenses, Data Center subscriptions do expire and are not perpetual. Server apps are sold as a perpetual license and the purchase price includes 12 months of maintenance (support and version updates).  Remember, though, Atlassian announced end of sale for new server licenses on February 2, 2021 and the end of support for server on February 2, 2024. Learn what this means for you.

Additional Evaluation Criteria

In addition to all the information described above, there are a few other evaluation criteria to consider.

• Participation in  Marketplace Partner Program is comprised of three partner levels: Platinum, Gold, and Silver. These scaling levels recognize each partner's individual investment in the Atlassian platform and alignment with Atlassian’s strategy.  For more details on the Marketplace Partner Program, please see the program requirements. This program just launched in July 2020 so many partners are still going through the certification process. Watch for this in the months to come.
• Bug Bounty Program is designed to increase trust between partners and customers by helping to detect vulnerabilities in applications and services. Look for the Cloud Security Participant logo.

Try or Purchase Apps

From the app listing page, just click the "Get it now" button or "Try now" and follow the instructions.  For Cloud, you'll be redirected to the in-app app manager of your Cloud instance. For Data Center and Server, you'll be redirected to my.atlassian.com to generate the license and download the app for install.

Hope you found this helpful. If you have any feedback or suggestions, please share them in comments.

At ServiceRocket, we’ve got your back. So if you have any questions or want some help choosing the right app, reach out to us here.  

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