Atlassian Cloud Deployment Models: Standard, Government, and Isolated Cloud Compared

Posted by Kvitoslava Martsynyshyn

February 16, 2026

Atlassian has moved away from a single cloud setup. It now offers three secure cloud deployment models, built for organizations with different risk limits, regulatory pressures, and internal policies: Standard Cloud, Government Cloud, and Isolated Cloud.

That’s why Atlassian Isolated Cloud vs. Government Cloud is a common comparison. This article breaks down how Atlassian’s deployment models differ and how companies decide which one fits their security, regulatory, and operating requirements.

Atlassian’s Three Cloud Deployment Models: How They Differ

Generally speaking:

• Standard Atlassian Cloud works for most commercial organizations that are comfortable with shared infrastructure and want speed, scale, and lower operational effort.
• Atlassian Government Cloud is built for U.S. public-sector use cases where meeting compliance requirements determines whether cloud adoption is possible at all.
• Atlassian Isolated Cloud targets organizations that need a dedicated infrastructure because shared cloud environments don’t meet their security or risk policies.

Let’s have a closer look at each model.

Standard Atlassian Cloud: Shared Infrastructure for Commercial Teams

This model is great at keeping things simple. Atlassian looks after the infrastructure, pushes updates continuously, and handles much of the platform maintenance that would otherwise land on internal IT teams.

Who is Standard Atlassian Cloud for?

Standard Cloud makes sense if your organization:

• Operates in a commercial or lightly regulated environment
• Is comfortable using shared cloud infrastructure
• Wants to move quickly without managing the platform itself

For many enterprise teams, this setup works well when they want control without adding operational overhead.

Key characteristics of Standard Atlassian Cloud

This split follows the shared responsibility model. It’s a familiar setup for most SaaS tools, and allows Atlassian to ship new features quickly, often with little or no action required from customers.

Where Standard Atlassian Cloud can fall short

However, shared infrastructure is also where Standard Cloud starts to hit limits. If your organization has strict compliance requirements, data residency concerns, or internal rules that prohibit shared environments, this model may not clear security or risk reviews.

Bottom line

Standard Cloud is a strong fit when speed, scale, and lower operational effort matter most. It helps teams stay productive without turning cloud infrastructure into another system to manage. But organizations with tighter risk or compliance boundaries often rule out Standard Cloud during review and move on to other deployment models.

Atlassian Government Cloud: Built for U.S. Public-Sector Compliance

This environment is authorized under FedRAMP Atlassian cloud requirements at the Moderate level, which is often the minimum bar for federal and many state-level workloads. Without that authorization, cloud adoption is simply off the table for many teams.

Who is Atlassian Government Cloud for?

Government Cloud was specifically made for:

• U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies
• Government contractors and vendors working with public data
• Organizations that must meet federal compliance standards to operate

Key characteristics of Atlassian Government Cloud

Like other SaaS offerings, it still follows a shared responsibility model. Atlassian manages the platform and compliance controls, while customers remain responsible for how they configure access, manage users, and handle their data inside the environment.

What Atlassian Government Cloud doesn’t do

One common misconception is that Government Cloud equals maximum isolation. It doesn’t.

Government Cloud is still a multi-tenant environment, just one that’s restricted to eligible public-sector customers. It does not provide dedicated, single-tenant infrastructure, and it doesn’t exist to solve internal “no shared cloud” policies.

Bottom line

For public-sector teams, Government Cloud often removes the biggest blocker to cloud adoption: regulatory approval. It gives agencies a way to move work into managed, cloud-based systems and replace custom or on-prem processes while still meeting compliance requirements.

For enterprises outside government, though, this model usually isn’t the right fit. If your main concern is isolation, internal risk policy, or data sovereignty rather than federal compliance, Government Cloud may not address the real constraint you’re dealing with.

Atlassian Isolated Cloud: Dedicated Infrastructure for Risk-Sensitive Organizations

In simple terms, this means your Atlassian instance isn’t sharing the infrastructure layer with other customers. That separation is intentional and exists to meet stricter internal security, risk, or governance requirements.

Who is Atlassian Isolated Cloud for?

Isolated Cloud is aimed at organizations that:

• Operate in highly regulated or risk-sensitive industries
• Have internal policies that prohibit shared cloud infrastructure
• Need stronger guarantees around cloud isolation and control

This often includes financial institutions, healthcare and life sciences companies, critical infrastructure providers, and large global enterprises with complex compliance obligations.

Key characteristics of Atlassian Isolated Cloud

This setup supports tighter controls around data sovereignty, network access, and how workloads are segmented. It also aligns better with internal security reviews that expect clear separation between tenants as part of enterprise cloud security policies.

Atlassian Isolated Cloud’s availability

As of January 2026, Atlassian Isolated Cloud is not available yet. It’s expected to be released later this year, and details around pricing, rollout timelines, and feature parity are still emerging.

So if your organization is considering this option, we recommend treating it as a forward-looking deployment model instead of something that can be adopted immediately.

Bottom line

For some organizations, shared cloud environments don’t clear internal risk review, even when the platform itself is well secured. Isolated Cloud gives these teams a way to move to the cloud while staying within stricter internal policies, especially for regulated cloud workloads that require clear separation and stronger infrastructure boundaries.

Dedicated environments do add complexity. They usually involve higher costs, longer setup timelines, and more planning around changes. For teams that truly need isolation, though, this approach often makes more sense than continuing to run and maintain self-managed systems.

Atlassian Isolated Cloud vs. Government Cloud: Key differences

The core distinction between these options lies in two constraints: regulatory eligibility and infrastructure isolation.

The easiest way to look at the difference is by the blocker each model removes.

Government Cloud clears compliance hurdles. It helps public-sector teams get through audits, procurement checks, and authorization reviews that would otherwise stop cloud adoption.

Isolated Cloud tackles shared-infrastructure risk. It’s built for organizations where internal policy or risk tolerance rules out shared environments, even when those environments meet formal standards.

Government Cloud is often seen as the most secure option, even though its real value lies in meeting formal compliance requirements. Isolated Cloud, on the other hand, exists to create stronger boundaries for enterprise cloud security and data sovereignty when shared infrastructure doesn’t pass review.

When teams understand that distinction early, security sign-off and architecture decisions tend to go more smoothly.

Real-World Use Cases for Government and Isolated Cloud

The differences between Government Cloud and Isolated Cloud become clearer when you look at how organizations can use them. These examples reflect the situations where each model makes the most sense.

Government and public sector

For government teams, eligibility comes first. Systems often can’t move to the cloud until they pass audits and procurement reviews tied to federal standards. Government Cloud is built for that reality. It supports government cloud compliance and lets public-sector teams run collaboration and service management tools in the cloud without getting stuck in approval cycles.

This often shows up in modernization efforts, where agencies are moving away from self-managed systems but still need to work within strict regulatory boundaries.

Financial institutions

Banks and financial services firms usually face a different kind of constraint. They might not need to meet government standards like FedRAMP, but shared infrastructure can still be a non-starter under internal risk policies.

In those cases, Isolated Cloud is a better fit. A dedicated environment helps clear security reviews, supports data sovereignty, and aligns more naturally with how risk and compliance teams expect systems to be structured.

Healthcare and life sciences

Healthcare and life sciences teams often deal with a mix of regulated and sensitive workloads. Some systems are tied to government programs, while others handle patient data or research that raises separate security concerns.

That’s why you’ll see both models in use. Government Cloud works where formal compliance is the main requirement. Isolated Cloud is often chosen when teams want clearer separation and stronger boundaries around critical data.

Highly regulated global enterprises

In large, global organizations, constraints rarely look the same across the business. One region may be driven by regulation, while another is guided by internal policy.

In these situations, Isolated Cloud is often used to meet the strictest internal requirements across teams. It gives organizations stronger enterprise cloud security boundaries while still allowing them to move away from self-managed infrastructure.

How to Choose the Right Atlassian Cloud Deployment Model

Choosing between Atlassian’s cloud deployment models comes down to understanding what limits your organization the most. For some teams, that’s regulatory approval. For others, it’s internal risk rules, security expectations, or a clear requirement to avoid shared infrastructure. Once that constraint is clear, the right option usually becomes obvious.

Standard Cloud fits organizations that are comfortable with shared environments and want to move fast with less operational overhead. Government Cloud makes cloud adoption possible when compliance approval is the deciding factor. Isolated Cloud supports teams that need dedicated infrastructure to satisfy stricter security, risk, or data-handling policies.

And if your plans go beyond integrations and include moving data from one system to another, tools like Help Desk Migration can help handle platform transitions safely and efficiently. With the right deployment model and a clear migration path, moving to the cloud feels far more controlled and far less disruptive.

FAQs About Atlassian Cloud Deployment Models