Blue Ocean Opportunities in Atlassian Marketplace 2025

Finding White Space in a Crowded Market

The Jira Marketplace has over 3,000 apps. Most categories are saturated—as we documented in our time tracking market analysis. But our analysis identified 5 areas where demand outpaces supply—creating genuine opportunities for new entrants.

Methodology

We scored opportunities based on:

• Search demand - Marketplace searches without satisfying results
• Support ticket analysis - Common requests to existing apps they don't fulfill
• Competition density - Number of active, well-maintained competitors
• Technical feasibility - API availability and platform support
• Monetization potential - Willingness to pay based on comparable solutions

Opportunity #1: Jira-Native OKR Tracking

Opportunity Score: 8.5/10

The Gap: While several standalone OKR tools integrate with Jira, there's no Jira-native solution that feels like a first-class citizen. Existing options require context-switching and feel bolted-on.

Why It's Underserved: OKRs require both top-down (company goals) and bottom-up (task completion) data flows. Building this properly requires deep Jira integration that most vendors have avoided.

Recommended Approach: Start with team-level OKRs linked to epics. Expand to company-wide only after proving the core value proposition.

Competition: 3 active competitors, all with sub-4.0 ratings. Browse the Reporting & Analytics category to evaluate existing solutions.

Opportunity #2: AI-Powered Sprint Planning

Opportunity Score: 8.2/10

The Gap: Sprint planning remains manual and intuition-based. Teams spend hours every sprint debating capacity and commitment with no data-driven input.

Why It's Underserved: Requires ML expertise plus deep Jira data analysis. Most Jira developers lack ML backgrounds. Our Q1 2025 trends report shows AI/ML integration is the fastest-growing category.

Recommended Approach: Start with capacity prediction based on historical velocity. Add story point estimation as a second phase.

Competition: 1 active competitor (early stage, limited adoption)

Opportunity #3: Cross-Project Dependency Visualization

Opportunity Score: 7.8/10

The Gap: Large organizations using multiple Jira projects struggle to visualize dependencies. Existing solutions are either too simple (just links) or too complex (full portfolio management).

Why It's Underserved: Requires understanding complex organizational structures and careful UX design.

Recommended Approach: Focus on "dependency impact analysis"—what happens if this issue slips? Which other teams are affected?

Competition: 5 active competitors, but none with strong NPS scores

Opportunity #4: Developer Experience Analytics

Opportunity Score: 7.5/10

The Gap: Engineering leaders want to understand developer productivity without invasive monitoring. Existing solutions are either too surveillance-focused or too vague.

Opportunity #5: Compliance Automation for Regulated Industries

Opportunity Score: 7.2/10

The Gap: Healthcare, finance, and government contractors need Jira workflows that automatically enforce compliance requirements. This ties into the compliance-focused time tracking niche we identified in our time tracking analysis.

How to Evaluate Your Own Opportunity

Before building, answer these questions:

1. Can I reach 100 paying customers in 6 months? If not, the opportunity may be too niche.
2. Is the problem painful enough that customers will pay before a polished solution exists?
3. Can I differentiate on something other than price?
4. Do I have unique insight or access?
5. Is this a painkiller or a vitamin?

For more on building successful apps, read what makes Jira apps succeed. If you're considering going solo, our Single-App Vendor Survival Guide is essential reading.