Documents and storage
What happens to your Confluence data when you cancel
If you cancel a Confluence subscription, Atlassian does not renew it. After the subscription period ends, you can still open the site for 15 more days. The site is then deactivated and the app enters a data retention period. If a payment is still missing 15 days after the due date, the site is deactivated on that path as well.
| Rule | What changes |
|---|---|
| When you stop paying | Canceling the subscription and removing the app are different endings. |
| Deletion events | 4 events. See the timeline below. |
| Export | 6 steps. See the steps below. |
| Who can export | A site admin, when the backup will be imported into Confluence Data Center. |
| What the export requires | Restore soft-deleted spaces first. Databases are not included. |
| Recovery after deletion | Reactivate during retention and the app's data comes back. After that, it does not. |
| Free-plan limits | A Free site is deactivated after inactivity. Viewing a page counts as activity. |
What Confluence does when you stop paying
Canceling Confluence and deleting the app from the subscription are different endings. On the ordinary cancel path Atlassian does not renew the subscription, and the app then enters retention. A missed payment deactivates Confluence on a second clock. Retention runs 60 days for Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise. Trials use the shorter retention period in the timeline. Those are two intervals, not one number you add together. Removing Confluence from the Atlassian app subscription deletes the Confluence data immediately and takes the product away from every user. Atlassian explains storage after you cancel in Track storage and move data across apps. For the chat and mail tools, read what happens to company data when you cancel software. Shutting the wiki as the company closes is part of how to wind down a company.
Deletion timeline for Confluence
| Event | After | What the vendor says |
|---|---|---|
| Access after the subscription period ends | 15 days | After the subscription period ends, you can access the site for 15 more days. The site is then deactivated. |
| Data retention after deactivation | 60 days | Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise plans keep the app's data for 60 days after deactivation. At the end of that period the data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Trials are retained for 15 days. |
| Remove Confluence from the subscription | 0 days | Deleting Confluence from the Atlassian app subscription immediately deletes the Confluence data and removes access for every user. |
| Unpaid evaluation on an annual subscription | 15 days | Confluence data is deleted 15 days after the app is unsubscribed when an evaluation ends without payment. |
See Confluence in the deletion-window dataset beside the other systems.
Export your Confluence data before you cancel
Backup manager is the whole-site file, built for a later import into Confluence Data Center. The download link lasts 14 days, and only one backup is stored, so the next run overwrites the zip you already made. Soft-deleted spaces stay out until you restore them from the trash. Databases appear in the tree and do not keep their content. Select Backup attachments if the files have to travel with the pages. A cloud backup can be up to 30 GB, plus 800 GB of attachments.
The cross-vendor checklist is what to do before canceling software when closing a business.
Select the wheel icon in the top-right corner to open Confluence administration.
Select the wheel icon in the top-right corner to open Confluence administration.Open Settings, then Data management.
Open Settings, then Data management.Select Backup manager.
Select Backup manager.Select Backup attachments if the backup should include files.
Select Backup attachments if the backup should include files.Choose Create backup for cloud.
Choose Create backup for cloud.When the backup finishes, download it from the link on the page.
When the backup finishes, download it from the link on the page.
Who can run the export
A site admin should run the export when the backup will be imported into Confluence Data Center, because that role can see every email address on the site and the file then includes that user data. Someone who is not a site admin can miss those addresses. Run the backup while people can still open the site. Once retention finishes, the data cannot be recovered, and Atlassian's own daily database backups are not available to roll a deleted page or space back.
What to keep from Confluence
Confluence stores the company's written record as pages, whiteboards, and space permissions. A site backup keeps the page hierarchy and the attachments you chose to include. The list below can stay in a licensed copy. Names, emails, and the items that follow are removed before any copy is shared.
- Pages and their hierarchy
- Whiteboards
- Space permissions
- Attachments included in the site backup
Removed before sharing:
- Names, emails and phone numbers
- Customer and staff details
- Passwords and legal files
Read what data is shared when licensing company data before you decide which of the items below can stay.
Plan-specific caveats
A Free site is also deactivated after inactivity. Atlassian emails the site admin before that happens. Logging in and viewing any page counts as activity. Data for a deactivated Free Cloud app is permanently deleted soon after deactivation, following a notice. That inactivity path is separate from canceling a paid subscription. If you still need the Free site, sign in and view a page while you finish the backup.
What a licensing program can use from documents and storage
A licensing program can keep pages and stored files as the record of what a team wrote down and filed.
For the tools that are not an Atlassian wiki, read what happens to your Notion data when you cancel, what happens to your Dropbox files when you cancel, and what happens to your Jira data when you stop paying.
Related
- What's shared
Which records can be licensed, which details never leave, and what you approve.
- How it works
The six steps from a short enquiry to payment, and how to stop.
Questions about Confluence cancellation
Can deleted Confluence data be recovered?
You can reactivate the subscription during the data retention period, and the app's data and preferences are restored. After that period the data is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered. Atlassian's own daily database backups are not available to roll back deleted pages or spaces.
Do we need a paid Confluence plan to export everything?
The backup link lasts 14 days, and only one backup file is kept at a time. Soft-deleted spaces are left out unless you restore them from the trash first. Databases are not exported. A cloud backup can be up to 30 GB, plus 800 GB of attachments.
What happens to a Free Confluence site that nobody opens?
A Confluence site on the Free plan is deactivated after a period of inactivity. Atlassian emails the site admin before that happens. Logging in and viewing any page counts as activity. Data for a deactivated Free Cloud app is permanently deleted soon after deactivation, following a notice. That path is separate from canceling a paid subscription. Sign in and view a page if you still need the Free site while you export.
What happens if we delete Confluence from the Atlassian subscription?
Removing Confluence from the Atlassian app subscription deletes the Confluence data immediately and takes the product away from every user. That is a different ending from canceling and waiting out the billing period. The cancel path leaves an access period and then a retention period, and you can reactivate during retention. The immediate-delete path does not offer that window. Choose it only after the backup is downloaded and opened.
Sources
- Atlassian Support. Track storage and move data across apps. Checked 2026-11-04
- Atlassian Support. Export a data backup file of your instance. Checked 2026-11-04