Should I go Cloud or Server?

In this article we explain the differences between Refined for Confluence Cloud and Refined for Confluence Server DC to help you decide which would be best for your clients.

Refined for Confluence - What's the same on Cloud and Server?

Refined for Confluence Cloud, Server and DC for the most part function the same on Cloud and Server. The key features such as the theme editor, layout editor, site builder for site organization, site structure and content modules are the same across hostings. There are some differences we explain below.

Refined for Confluence - What are the differences on Cloud and Server?

Refined for Confluence Cloud	Refined for Confluence Server DC
A SAAS product integrating Atlassian Tools Refined for Confluence Cloud is an app connected to Confluence. It reads the API’s from Confluence Cloud and pulls in the data. This means on Cloud you will always have the standard Confluence site, together with the Refined Confluence site. Whereas on Server you switch on or off Refined to activate it on Confluence.	An app installed onto Confluence On Refined for Confluence Server and DC the app is installed onto Confluence. Refined sits on top of Confluence, like a skin that changes the structure, navigation and look and feel. This means you need to switch off Refined if you wish to go back to the standard Confluence. Whereas on Cloud the two exist in parallel.
Hosted by Refined Refined for Confluence Cloud is hosted by Refined at refined.site.	Hosted On-Premise Refined for Confluence Server DC is hosted in the same place as Confluence.
An independent Refined platform pulling in external data from multiple data sources On Refined for Confluence Cloud you can select Atlassian content from Jira, Jira Service Desk and Confluence and expose the content on Refined’s interface. You can choose to activate only Confluence as the source of content to display in Refined. Or you can choose to activate both Jira/JSD and Confluence. Please note, you will need to purchase both Refined for Jira and Refined for Confluence Cloud to display both Jira and Confluence content. Once the content sources are activated, you can add in Jira projects and Confluence spaces to your site builder. Think of Refined as a CMS or website content builder for Atlassian Tools.	Embedded on Atlassian Jira’s customer facing portals and projects On Refined for Confluence Server DC you can add links to Jira and Jira Service Desk but these will not display in-frame. However from Refined for Jira Server you can display Confluence KB articles in-frame.
A Confluence space becomes a dashboard in Refined On Refined Cloud, Confluence spaces work differently to on Server. On Cloud a space home is a page you build up using sections and content modules in the inbuilt layout editor.	A Confluence space remains the same but with a cleaner layout On Refined for Confluence Server DC a space home is a Confluence space but with a cleaner and customizable side bar. The space itself functions very much the same as a native space.
Terminology and navigation On Cloud we call the menu items in the top navigation ‘pages’. Confluence spaces are organized into Refined ‘pages’. ‘Pages’ are the same thing as ‘categories’ on prem. Each Refined ‘page’ that groups content in the top navigation menu has a page home (dashboard). On Refined Cloud, you cannot deactivate the ‘page homes’. You can however make a ‘page’ or ‘page home’ a custom link to anywhere on the site. On Refined Cloud, you can create ‘pages’ and sub Refined ‘pages’ in the site builder. Both have ‘page homes’ (dashboard/layouts) by default. You cannot deactivate the page homes or sub page homes. Use the layout editor ‘modules’ to add further navigation on your page homes including links, Confluence content, images and more.	Terminology and navigation On Prem we call the menu items in the top navigation ‘categories’. Confluence spaces are organized into Refined ‘categories’. ‘Categories’ are the same thing as ‘pages’ on Cloud. Each Refined ‘category’ that groups content in the top navigation has a category home (dashboard). On Prem, you can deactivate the ‘category homes’. Meaning when you click the category you will be shown the dropdown menu only, and not view a dashboard. On Prem, you can create categories and subcategories in the site builder. Both have dashboards by default. You can deactivate the category and subcategory dashboards. Subcategories are a good way to create a column feel. Customers often deactivate the dashboard on subcategories.
On Refined for Confluence Cloud page and space permissions rule. Permissions cannot be added to a Refined site or Refined page (a page is called a category on Server). However you can add view permissions to content sections in page layouts. On Cloud you can direct users to the right site by simply linking them the URL for a site.	On Refined for Confluence Server/DC page and space permissions rule, but it’s also possible to add view permissions for sites and categories. See Manual Category Permissions. On Server you can set start sites for users. E.g., ‘employee user group’ can be set to start at the ‘intranet site’ when they login.
Refined for Confluence Cloud is not compatible with 3rd party apps and cannot yet render all items on a Confluence page (macros and markups). We are continually adding new support for new macros. Got a macro you really need rendered for a client? Get in touch with support.	Refined for Confluence Server DC is compatible will the most popular 3rd party apps and all macros and markups render as you would expect.
On Cloud you can add custom domains to individual sites. Giving you the option of having multiple use cases connected to the one Refined platform.	On Server you can configure custom domains for Refined just as you would when configuring the domain for native Confluence.
When editing a Confluence page in Refined for Confluence Cloud the page editor will open in a new tab, opening Confluence itself. Changes will take effect as you would expect on the Refined page.	On Refined for Confluence Server the page editor will open in the same window and frame.