Migrating from Jira to Optimizely
The main reason teams move from Jira to Optimizely is ab testing and feature flagging. Optimizely's approach — industry-leading experimentation platform with both client-side and server-side testing — supports the full experimentation lifecycle from hypothesis to results — suits scaleup and enterprise teams that have outgrown Jira's model. Here's how to migrate without losing historical context.
At a Glance
- Industry standard for software development teams — most PMs will encounter Jira in their career
- Deepest configurability of any project management tool with custom fields, workflows, and screens
- 3,000+ marketplace integrations covering virtually every tool in the product stack
- Industry-leading experimentation platform with both client-side and server-side testing — supports the full experimentation lifecycle from hypothesis to results
- Powerful Stats Engine uses sequential testing methodology that allows peeking at results without inflating false positive rates — a significant advantage over traditional frequentist approaches
- Robust feature flagging and progressive rollout capabilities allow engineering teams to decouple deployment from release, with fine-grained audience targeting
You leave behind
- −roadmapping
- −sprint planning
- −backlog management
Migration Steps
Audit and export your current workspace
Before touching Optimizely, document what lives in Jira: issues, epics, and sprints, custom fields, automations, integrations, and team permissions. Export a full CSV backup — most tools support this from Settings → Export. Pay particular attention to any custom fields and workflow automations that your team relies on daily.
Set up your Optimizely workspace
Create your Optimizely workspace and replicate your project structure using tasks and projects. Run with a single pilot team before migrating everyone.
Map your workflow equivalents
Find the closest Optimizely equivalent for each Jira feature your team relies on. issues, epics, and sprints in Jira maps to tasks and projects in Optimizely. Optimizely supports custom fields — recreate your Jira field schema here first. Prioritise the critical path: task creation, status tracking, and assignment.
Import your data
Optimizely supports CSV import for tasks and projects and has 20+ native integrations. After importing, rebuild your key automations — Optimizely's automation engine can replicate most rules you had in Jira. Start with your most active project rather than importing everything at once.
Onboard your team
Run a 30-minute walkthrough covering the daily workflow: how to create tasks and projects, update status, and find your board. Expect a moderate ramp — most engineers and PMs hit their stride within a week. The biggest adjustment is usually the project hierarchy.
Run Jira in parallel for two weeks
Keep Jira read-only while your team works primarily in Optimizely. This reduces risk and lets people reference historical context — old decisions, archived tickets, past sprint data — without slowing the migration. After two weeks with no new work going into Jira, archive the workspace and make Optimizely the official home.
Ready to switch?
Read the full Optimizely review for pricing, integrations, and team fit details.