JIRA applications and project types overview
The JIRA family of applications are built to deliver a tailored experience to their user. JIRA Core is the default application of JIRA, and will always be present in a JIRA instance. You may also choose to include other applications in your instance, such as JIRA Software or JIRA Service Desk. A user may require access to one, all, or any combination of these applications.
Note that as JIRA Core is the default application, if you have a license for JIRA Software or JIRA Service Desk, your users automatically have access to JIRA Core without requiring an additional license. For example, a JIRA Software user can view development information on an agile board, and can also view business projects.
Application features and project types
Each application delivers a tailored experience for its users, and has an associated project type, which in turn, offers application-specific features. Below is a list of the project types, and their associated application-specific features.
| Application | Project type | Application-specific feature set |
|---|---|---|
| JIRA Core |  Business projects |
|
| JIRA Software |  Software projects |
|
| JIRA Service Desk |  Service Desk projects |
|
Application features and users
All users that can log in to a JIRA instance will be able to see all the projects in that instance (pending permissions), but they will only be able to see the application-specific features when they have application access. For example, a Software project is able to display information from linked development applications, such as Bitbucket and FishEye on a Software project, and you can create agile boards, but this information is only viewable by a JIRA Software user. A JIRA Core user would be able to see the Software project, but would not be able to see the application-specific features, like agile boards or development information. Likewise, a JIRA Software user would not be able to see any JIRA Service Desk application-specific features on a Service Desk project — only a basic view of the project and its issues.
- Only a JIRA administrator can create a project for an installed application. They do not need application access to create the project, but they do need application access if they'd like to view or use the project.
- Anonymous users will have access equivalent to JIRA Core users. In other words, they can view issues and work in any type of project, but they won't see application-specific features, e.g. agile boards, which are JIRA Software-specific features. To know how to allow anonymous users access to projects, see Allowing anonymous access to your instance.
A list of the applications, their default user groups, and their project's application-specific features is listed below:
| JIRA Core | JIRA Software | JIRA Service Desk | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| jira-core-user | jira-software-user | jira-servicedesk-agent | |||
| Business Projects | Project level | View |  | | |
| Issue level | Create | | | | |
| View | | | | ||
| Comment | | | | ||
| Transition | | | | ||
| JIRA Gadgets | View | | | | |
Software | Project level | View | | | |
| Issue level | Create | | | | |
| View | | | | ||
| Comment | | | | ||
| Transition | | | | ||
| View development information | | | | ||
| View release information |  | | | ||
| Board level | Create | | | | |
| View | | | | ||
| JIRA Software gadgets | View | | | | |
Service Desk | Project level | View | | | |
| Issue level | Create | | | | |
| View | | | | ||
| Comment | | | | ||
| Transition | | | | ||
| SLA level | Create | | | | |
| View | | | | ||
| Queue level | Create | | | | |
| View | | | | ||
| JIRA Service Desk gadgets | View | | | |