Quick answers
- What is JSM generally for?
- Internal service delivery: IT, HR and facilities requests, and incident, problem and change management.
- What is CSM for?
- External customer support, with chat, WhatsApp, voice, an AI agent and customer profiles. Live chat with people, WhatsApp and voice need Premium or Enterprise, and voice is in open beta.
- Can JSM serve external customers?
- Yes. Atlassian provides a template for it. CSM is the purpose-built option, so the choice depends on your channels, records and configuration.
What each app is built to do
Jira Service Management is generally the starting point for internal service delivery: request, incident, problem, change, asset, configuration and knowledge management.
Customer Service Management is, in Atlassian’s words, “purpose-built for external customer service”. That’s a starting point, not a hard boundary: JSM can serve outside customers too, and Atlassian’s CSM documentation points teams doing that to a guide on moving to CSM.
JSM subscribers moving into Service Collection “will retain access and current configurations within Jira Service Management” and gain CSM, so you can run both side by side. CSM is new; expect its plans and beta features to change.
Feature comparison
| Area | CSM | JSM |
|---|---|---|
| Generally the starting point for | External customer support | Internal service delivery; external service through its template |
| How you get it | Within Service Collection | Within Service Collection; each user licence covers both apps |
| Deployment | Atlassian Cloud | Atlassian Cloud and Data Center |
| Customer channels | Support website, email, chat widget, WhatsApp, voice (open beta) | Help centre and portal, email and an embeddable widget |
| Customer records | Customer and organisation profiles with entitlements, history and notes | Customers and organisations with detail fields |
| Importing customers by CSV | Creates new records, except where profiles were set up in JSM | Updates existing customers; new customers are added separately |
| ITSM practices | Not its focus | Incident, problem, change, asset and configuration management |
| Queues, SLAs, knowledge base | Yes; an existing JSM knowledge base can be reused | Yes, with an embedded knowledge base and linkable Confluence spaces |
| Default workflow | Problem, Suggestion and Question | Your existing JSM workflows and request types |
| Forge apps | Listed by Atlassian as coming soon | Available |
Which fits which situation
| Situation | Start with | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| Employee IT, HR or facilities requests | JSM | Whether incident and change practices are in scope |
| External customers who want chat, WhatsApp or voice | CSM | Edition: these need Premium or Enterprise |
| A light customer portal on JSM that works well | Stay on JSM for now | Whether customers ask for channels the portal can’t offer |
| Customer support with custom workflows or Forge apps | JSM until you’ve mapped them | How your workflow states map to CSM work types, and Forge on CSM |
| Running JSM on Data Center | JSM | CSM comes with a Cloud move |
| A HIPAA requirement for customer support | Confirm with Atlassian first | Atlassian says CSM is “not yet HIPAA compliant” |
What carries over if you move a JSM space to CSM
On a paid Service Collection plan, Atlassian’s move guide creates a CSM space from the Customer service management template and can copy an existing JSM space’s configuration.
- CopiedQueues, queue groups, SLAs, rule sets, components, reports configuration, customer and internal notifications, issue type screen scheme.
- SharedThe priority scheme.
- Created freshWorkflow scheme, issue type scheme, field screens, permission scheme, space roles and CSAT settings.
- Available without copyingYour JSM knowledge base and existing customer and organisation profiles.
- Not copiedSpace role memberships, automation rules, work items and Forge apps.
- Configured separatelyHow customers reach you, in Customer experiences: support website, email, chat and phone.
What to check before go-live
Queue JQL may need updating for CSM work types, and portal variables in notifications, such as ${portal.name}, become invalid. The workflow scheme is new and request types aren’t listed as copied, so plan to rebuild them.
Anonymous attachment links are enabled in the new space, so anyone with a secured link can download without logging in. A project administrator can require customers to log in.
The issue security scheme is copied with the Customer Service Team role, but role memberships aren’t, so re-check who can see what. If you run both apps, the portal-only customers setting decides whether customer accounts are shared or limited to CSM.
Cost structure
On Service Collection Standard or Premium, CSM is included at no additional cost. On standalone JSM, moving into Service Collection is a licensing change worth pricing first.
JSM is licensed per agent: a user who can work on tickets and communicate directly with your customers. Customers raising and tracking requests don’t need an agent licence.
The new cost line is CSM’s AI agent: $1.00 (billed in USD) per resolution from 3 December 2026, separate from Rovo credits, with prepaid-pack discounts on annual plans. Test the rate on a sample first. Our Atlassian licensing page can help.
FAQ
Do we have to move our customer-facing JSM space to CSM?
No. JSM subscribers moving into Service Collection keep access to JSM and their current configurations. Moving is a choice you make when CSM’s channels or customer profiles are worth the rebuild.
Can one organisation run both apps?
Yes. Each Service Collection user licence covers both, so you can run JSM for employees and CSM for customers on one site. Comparing CSM with a non-Atlassian tool? Our guide to Atlassian CSM vs Zendesk covers that decision.
Sources (4), Atlassian documentation, last checked 18 October 2026
Before you decide
Map your spaces by audience, list what won’t carry over and confirm your edition. Our CSM implementation page covers the rollout.