Keep team-level, DORA-style delivery metrics in Confluence as Compass moves to DX - no enterprise platform required.
Atlassian Compass gave engineering teams a place to catalog services, track ownership, and watch a handful of DORA-style delivery metrics. With Compass moving to DX, many smaller teams are asking a practical question: do we really need a full engineering-intelligence platform just to keep an eye on cycle time and throughput?
This comparison is for teams that used Compass mainly for its delivery metrics - not the full internal developer platform. If you want PR cycle time, throughput, and review latency without standing up (or paying for) an enterprise platform, GitHub Links for Confluence renders those metrics live on the Confluence pages your team already uses.
We will be straight about the trade-offs. Compass, and its successor direction DX, does far more than delivery metrics - service catalogs, scorecards, ownership, and broader engineering intelligence. If you need that breadth, an enterprise platform is the right call. But if you mainly want a few honest, team-level signals where your team already works, a lightweight, in-context approach is likely enough - and it is included in an app you may already run.
| Feature | GitHub Links for Confluence | Atlassian Compass (moving to DX) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Team-level GitHub delivery metrics in Confluence | Internal developer platform (catalog, scorecards, DORA) |
| Where metrics live | On your Confluence pages | In the Compass / DX app |
| Availability | Available now, included in the app | Moving to DX (enterprise direction) |
| PR cycle time | Native macro | Via integrations / scorecards |
| PR throughput | Native macro | Via integrations / scorecards |
| Review latency | Native macro | Limited / via integrations |
| Service catalog & ownership | Not included | Yes (core strength) |
| Scorecards | Not included | Yes |
| Full DORA (CFR, MTTR) | Not yet | Yes (with incident data) |
| Per-developer breakdowns | No - team-level by design | Configurable |
| Stores your code / PR data | Never stored - computed live | Stores catalog / component data |
| Setup | Paste a macro on a page | Connect catalog + integrations |
| Best for | SMB / mid-market teams wanting delivery metrics in Confluence | Orgs wanting a full IDP / engineering intelligence |
Compass is moving to DX; capabilities and availability are set by Atlassian. See Atlassian's announcement for current details.
GitHub Links for Confluence focuses on one job and keeps it simple: render team-level GitHub delivery metrics live on a Confluence page. You add a macro - PR Cycle Time, PR Throughput, or Review Latency - point it at the repositories and timeframe you care about, and it renders on the spot. Everything is computed live from the GitHub API at view time and reuses the GitHub connection you already configured.
Compass is an internal developer platform. Its strengths are the service catalog, ownership, and scorecards, with DORA-style metrics available through integrations. It is broader than delivery metrics alone - and Atlassian has announced that Compass is moving to DX, its engineering-intelligence direction. If you relied on Compass for the full platform, DX is the path Atlassian is pointing you toward.
Where GitHub Links for Confluence wins: metrics live on the page your team already reads, setup is a single macro, nothing is stored, and reporting is included in the app. It is purpose-built for smaller and mid-sized teams that want a few honest signals without a platform.
Where Compass / DX wins: a true service catalog, ownership, scorecards, and the full four-metric DORA picture when paired with incident data. If you need engineering intelligence across many teams and services, that breadth matters.
Most 5-to-40-person engineering teams do not need a 30-metric platform. They need to answer a few questions in a sprint review: are PRs moving through review at a healthy pace, how much are we shipping, and is review becoming a bottleneck? PR cycle time, throughput, and review latency answer exactly those - and putting them on the team's Confluence page keeps them visible without a new tool to open.
GitHub Links for Confluence stores no code or PR data. Metrics are computed live from the GitHub API and displayed; your source and pull-request content is never copied into a third-party datastore to power the charts.
Engineering Reporting is a Cloud feature. If you are planning a move from Confluence Data Center to Cloud, migrating unlocks these metrics as part of the same app you are standardizing on. Our Atlassian migration guide covers what to expect.
Choose GitHub Links for Confluence. Keep PR cycle time, throughput, and review latency live on your Confluence pages - team-level, included, nothing stored.
Stay with the Compass-to-DX path. That breadth is what an engineering-intelligence platform is for, and a lightweight reporting macro is not a substitute.
Use an enterprise platform. Today GitHub Links for Confluence covers delivery-flow metrics (cycle time, throughput, review latency), not CFR or MTTR.
Choose GitHub Links for Confluence. The metrics render on the same pages you use for retros, sprint reviews, and team handbooks.
It replaces the delivery-metrics use case, not the full platform. If you used Compass mainly to watch cycle time and throughput, it is a strong, lightweight alternative. If you relied on the service catalog and scorecards, that is a job for an engineering-intelligence platform.
Atlassian has announced that Compass is moving to DX, its engineering-intelligence direction. See Atlassian's announcement for details and timing.
PR Cycle Time, PR Throughput, and Review Latency. Change Failure Rate and MTTR are not included yet, so this is DORA-style rather than a full DORA implementation.
No. Metrics are computed live from the GitHub API and displayed; we store no code or PR data.
No. They are team-level by design - intended to show how a team is delivering, not to rank individuals.
No. Engineering Reporting is included in GitHub Links for Confluence at the standard subscription - there is no separate add-on.
Our integration of Confluence and GitHub enhances documentation and establishes a connection between the two platforms. Now with Engineering Reporting: see your team's delivery metrics - PR cycle time, throughput, and review latency - live on the page.
We prioritize customer data privacy with GDPR-compliant data collection and processing.
