Feature difference Data Center vs Cloud

Overview

Both Smart Forms for Jira and ProForma (part of Jira Service Management) are form-building tools that integrate directly with Jira projects. They help teams capture structured request data and automatically create Jira issues — but they were built for different audiences and solve different problems.

ProForma was acquired by Atlassian and is deeply integrated into Jira Service Management. It offers rich governance controls, multi-column layouts, and field-level validation features that make it well-suited for formal service desk environments where all users have Jira access.

Smart Forms for Jira is developed by SaaSJet and focuses on flexible, cross-project intake — including scenarios where data needs to come from people outside your Jira instance. It works across all Jira project types and brings external sharing via public link and a dedicated responses layer that ProForma does not cover on Data Center.

Where Smart Forms for Jira Stands Out

1.  External Sharing Without a Jira License

This is the most significant difference on Data Center. With Smart Forms for Jira, you can generate a public link to any form and share it with users who have no Jira account at all — customers, vendors, contractors, partners, or external applicants. ProForma does not support this: anyone filling a ProForma form must be able to log into your Jira instance.

This matters for teams that need structured intake from outside their organization — for example:

• IT teams gathering vendor information or security questionnaires

• HR teams collecting onboarding documents from new hires before their Jira account is provisioned

• Customer-facing teams running NPS or satisfaction surveys without exposing Jira

• Operations teams accepting requests from contractors or external stakeholders

2.  Public Link Sharing — Inside and Outside Jira

Smart Forms for Jira supports two modes of link-based sharing. Forms can be shared inside Jira for licensed users, or via a public link accessible to anyone outside Jira without a login. ProForma restricts link sharing to users who can log into the Jira instance — there is no public access mode.

3.  One Form Across All Project Types

In ProForma, a form belongs to the project in which it was created. To use it elsewhere, an admin must copy it into each target project individually. Smart Forms for Jira takes a different approach: a form is available to all projects by default, with no need to duplicate or maintain separate copies.

For teams running multiple parallel projects — for example, separate Jira Software projects per product team, or a mix of JSM and Business projects — this eliminates significant maintenance overhead.

4.  Forms Travel with Cloned and Moved Issues

When you clone or move a Jira issue, ProForma does not copy the form attached to it. Smart Forms for Jira does: the form is included when an issue is cloned or moved to another project. This is especially valuable for template-based workflows where issues are regularly duplicated to kick off new processes.

5.  Dedicated Responses Tab with Bulk Export

Smart Forms for Jira provides a standalone responses view inside the app. From here, you can see a summary across all submissions, browse individual responses, and see how responses map to specific Jira issues. You can export all responses to Excel in a single action, which is not available in ProForma on Data Center (ProForma exports individual responses only).

This makes Smart Forms more suitable for teams that use form data for reporting, quality review, or audit — not just for issue creation.

6.  Richer Form Presentation Controls

Smart Forms for Jira supports per-element font styling, help text, placeholder text, a related URL per field, custom form backgrounds, and consent checkboxes — none of which are available in ProForma on Data Center. These features are particularly useful when:

• Forms are public-facing and need to look polished and on-brand

• You are collecting consent as part of a GDPR or compliance workflow

• You want to guide submitters with contextual instructions at the field level

7.  Automatic Customer Portal Integration

After a form submission through the JSM Customer Portal, Smart Forms for Jira can automatically add a follow-up form to the created issue. This enables multi-step intake workflows — for example, an initial request form followed by an automated NPS or resolution feedback form — without manual intervention. ProForma does not support this pattern.

Where ProForma Has More Depth

1.  Multi-Column Form Layout

ProForma supports tabular and multi-column form layouts, which allows for denser, more structured form designs — particularly useful for complex data collection in formal service request scenarios. Smart Forms for Jira uses a vertical list layout only.

2.  Advanced Field Validation

ProForma supports regex-based pattern validation and preset default values for fields, as well as cascading dropdowns and a standalone Time field. These give admins more control over data quality at the input stage. Smart Forms covers the core validation needs (required, min/max characters) but does not yet match ProForma's depth here.

3.  Post-Submission Governance

ProForma offers a set of configurable form-lifecycle settings that are not available in Smart Forms:

• Keep form open for edits after submission

• Lock form after submission so only admins can edit it

• Ignore all field validation (admin override)

• Auto-save a PDF version on every resubmission

• Mark a form as recommended in the selection list

These controls are primarily relevant in regulated or auditable environments where form data needs to be treated as a record with controlled editing rights.

4.  Translation Support

ProForma supports form translation, allowing the same form to be presented in multiple languages. Smart Forms for Jira does not currently offer this. For globally distributed teams with multilingual submitters, this is a meaningful gap.

5.  Data Connection

ProForma supports Data Connection, which allows form field options to be populated from external data sources. Smart Forms does not currently support this. It is relevant for teams whose picklists, lookup values, or reference data live outside of Jira.

6.  Assets and Cascading Dropdowns

ProForma integrates with Atlassian Assets (formerly Insight), allowing forms to reference asset objects directly. It also supports cascading dropdowns for hierarchical selections. Neither of these is available in Smart Forms for Jira on Data Center.

Full Feature Comparison

Green highlights in the Smart Forms column indicate a capability that Smart Forms has and ProForma does not — or a meaningful functional advantage.

How to Choose

The right tool depends on who is submitting your forms and how tightly your workflow is scoped to Jira Service Management.

Summary

Smart Forms for Jira and ProForma are complementary tools, not direct substitutes. ProForma is the right choice when your form workflows are contained within a formal JSM service desk and all submitters are Jira users. Its governance controls, validation depth, and native JSM integrations are a strong fit for that context.

Smart Forms for Jira is the stronger choice when your intake needs extend beyond Jira — to external users, multiple project types, or cross-project reuse. Its responses layer, flexible public link sharing, and form portability make it a practical fit for organizations running broader intake workflows across their Jira environment.

Both tools can coexist: JSM teams often use ProForma for internal service desk intake while using Smart Forms for external-facing or cross-functional intake scenarios.