ActiveQ as a Jira Service Management alternative
With three agents or fewer, start by looking at Jira Service Management’s Free plan, because it costs less than any ActiveQ plan. Past that, the choice is between Atlassian’s IT service management product, with assets, change management and Jira behind it, and ActiveQ, a lighter ticketing desk and client portal for IT teams and MSPs.
Start 14-day trialSee pricingNo card required. Sign-up is for US businesses.
What Atlassian gives you at each step
Jira Service Management is Atlassian’s service desk product, sold within its Service Collection. Atlassian lists a Free plan, described as free forever for 3 agents, with 2GB of storage and community support, and paid plans priced per agent per month. Standard adds asset and configuration management plus Rovo search and agents, and an embedded knowledge base is listed from the Free plan. Premium adds change management, advanced incident and problem management, and a virtual service agent, and Enterprise is billed annually through sales (Service Collection pricing page1, as of 2026-10-12). The feature page describes incident, problem, change, asset and knowledge practices, and bringing development and IT operations teams together.2 The pricing page also lists templates for HR, marketing and other teams.
Requests can arrive by email, Microsoft Teams and Slack, an embedded widget or a customer portal. ActiveQ takes portal and email only, and has no asset management or CMDB.
What ActiveQ is
We built ActiveQ for teams that don’t need that depth. It covers incidents, requests, approvals and tasks, with problem and change as ticket types you link to other tickets, and a live SLA countdown on every ticket that has a policy. One workspace can run employee support and client portals, and for an MSP that means many client organizations in one workspace, each with its own portal branding, forms, sign-in method and SLA policy. The price is flat for a group of agents, $79.99 a month for 1 to 3, $149.99 for 4 to 8 and $19.99 for each agent above 8, with customers and portal users free. If you want AI, ActiveQ’s AI assist runs only when a staff member clicks, and a person reviews each result.
Pick Jira Service Management if your developers already work in Jira, if you need full change management or a CMDB in the same tool as your tickets, or if you need enterprise identity controls such as SSO and SCIM, which Atlassian lists on its Enterprise plan. ActiveQ’s knowledge base is for signed-in portal users, not embedded or public.
The table, as of 2026-10-12
| Topic | ActiveQ | Jira Service Management |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $79.99 a month for 1 to 3 agents, $149.99 for 4 to 8, and $19.99 for each agent above 8, in US dollars before tax. Customers, contacts and portal users are free. See pricing. | Standard and Premium are priced per agent per month, with the price depending on team size and billing period; Enterprise is billed annually through sales. Standard lists unlimited customers as unlicensed users. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page1 |
| Free plan | No permanent free tier. A 14-day trial with every feature and no card required. | A Free plan, described as free forever for 3 agents, with 2GB of storage and community support. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page1 |
| Request channels | Portal and email. ActiveQ does not offer chat, phone, Slack or Microsoft Teams intake. | Employees and customers can submit requests by email, Microsoft Teams and Slack, an embedded widget or a customer portal. ActiveQ does not offer the Slack, Teams or widget channels. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page1 |
| Asset and configuration management | None. ActiveQ has no asset management or CMDB. | Asset and configuration management is listed from the Standard plan, with advanced asset management on Premium, and the feature page describes asset tracking and populating a CMDB. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page1 Source: Jira Service Management ITSM features2 |
| Incident, problem and change | Light ITSM: incidents, requests, approvals and tasks. Problem and change are ticket types you link to other tickets. | Change management and advanced incident and problem management are listed on the Premium plan. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page1 |
| SLAs | Response and resolution targets by priority, with policies per team or client organization, a live countdown on each ticket, and business hours or calendar hours. The clock pauses while a ticket waits on the customer. | The feature page describes setting as many SLA policies as needed, based on elapsed time or request categories, with automated escalation rules. Source: Jira Service Management ITSM features2 |
| Self-service content | A knowledge base with a help center for signed-in portal users. | An embedded knowledge base is listed on the Free plan. ActiveQ’s knowledge base is not embedded and has no public site. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page1 |
| AI | AI assist runs only when a staff member clicks, and a person reviews every result. Summaries, triage, translation, polish and resolution notes come from included runs; reply and help-article drafts use credits. | Rovo search and agents are listed from the Standard plan, and a virtual service agent on Premium. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page1 |
| Trial | 14-day trial with every feature and no card required. There is no permanent free tier. | A 14-day free trial of Standard or Premium with no payment information required, which Atlassian says can be extended to a maximum of 30 days. Source: Atlassian Service Collection pricing page, FAQ1 |
Common questions
Is ActiveQ cheaper than Jira Service Management?
Not always. As of 2026-10-12, the Atlassian Service Collection pricing page listed a Free plan for 3 agents, which costs less than any ActiveQ plan if its limits suit you, and priced Standard and Premium per agent per month depending on team size and billing period. ActiveQ costs $79.99 a month for 1 to 3 agents, $149.99 for 4 to 8 and $19.99 for each agent above 8, in US dollars before tax, with every feature included. Compare Atlassian’s current prices with your own agent count, or use the help desk cost calculator.
Does ActiveQ have asset management or a CMDB?
No. ActiveQ covers light ITSM: incidents, requests, approvals and tasks, with problem and change as ticket types you link to other tickets. If you need assets or a CMDB with your tickets, read ITSM lite for when a full ITSM suite is the better choice.
Can I try ActiveQ before moving off Jira Service Management?
Yes. Every ActiveQ workspace starts with a 14-day trial with every feature and no card required. CSV import covers contacts and organizations; tickets from your old tool are not imported, so they stay where they are.
Check it against your own team
The help desk cost calculator and the SLA calculator take a minute each, and pricing lists the details. About ActiveQ says who we are. Other comparisons: Freshdesk, HaloPSA, Freshservice, Zoho Desk and Help Scout, or all comparisons.
Sources
- Atlassian, Service Collection pricing page and FAQ. Last verified 2026-10-12.
- Atlassian, Jira Service Management ITSM features. Last verified 2026-10-12.