Digital.ai Agility vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) comparison

Digital.ai and IBM are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. Digital.ai is ranked #14 with an average rating of 7.0, while IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.5. Digital.ai holds a 1.9% mindshare in ALM, compared to IBM’s 3.8% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of Digital.ai users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 76% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Digital.ai Agility

Read 6 Digital.ai Agility reviews

1,102 Views
860 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 19 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,490 Views
1,475 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

Digital.ai Agility

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and Digital.ai Agility are competing products in software engineering and project management. Digital.ai Agility has the upper hand with its focus on advanced agile features that justify the investment.

Features: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management offers comprehensive integration capabilities, end-to-end traceability, and customizable workflows, supporting large enterprise environments well. Digital.ai Agility provides a robust agile project management environment with advanced reporting, customizable boards, and strong sprint planning tools that enhance team efficiency.

Room for Improvement: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management could improve by simplifying its deployment process, enhancing its UI experience, and increasing flexibility in integration with third-party applications. Digital.ai Agility can enhance its pricing structure, offer more advanced analytics options, and simplify some of its intricate features to cater to less experienced agile teams.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Digital.ai Agility provides a cloud-based model that ensures quick onboarding along with responsive customer support. In contrast, IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management demands more complex deployment due to its integrations, but offers dedicated support to ease the process.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management offers competitive pricing suitable for cost-sensitive enterprises, providing a solid ROI when fully utilized. Digital.ai Agility, despite higher initial setup costs, delivers significant ROI through its extensive agile tools which optimize project workflows.

To learn more, read our detailed Digital.ai Agility vs. IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Digital.ai Agility vs. IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Digital.ai Agility

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

14th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Release Automation (13th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (9th), Value Stream Management Software (5th)

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

12th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Digital.ai Agility is 1.9%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.8%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

Debbie Brey

Technical Fellow at Boeing

A scalable, full-package solution with a tech support team that bends over backwards to help

There is room for improvement in getting the analytics portion of the solution more integrated with the rest of it. The feature I would like to see is already in their newer licensing structure, and that's the live integration between Agility, Jira and Azure DevOps. That's the piece that I think is really valuable.

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Juergen Albrecht

Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH

Combining tools for effective data analysis while customization and integration need improvement

The most valuable feature is how IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) allows me to present to the customer what the actual software, even hardware, will do. It helps them gain an impression of the complexity of the functionality and find an easier way to decide whether to implement it. A picture says more than one thousand words, which is why I work with the combination of ELM and the specification of DOORS. The automation capabilities I built use column-based scripts for analysis to search, fetch, and transfer information. When I open modules, it automatically analyzes the changes since the last opening by me.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"With some of the other tools, you have to buy 20 different plugins to get to the same capability that comes with the basic Agility capability."

"It allows my clients to have one central tool to manage their agile projects."

"Agility is highly flexible. It can do much more than what our client is doing with it. They use it in a defined way. Some at that company have a much broader knowledge of agile and SAFe, but they're given applications and a mandated way to work. We had to work within their parameters and provide an accurate transition so the data would be mapped and pushed through."

"It can generate reports showing a burndown chart, burnup chart, and the planned vs actual velocity."

"For visualization capabilities, the automation capabilities make it possible to support the different personas. The features and capabilities are excellent and come with excellent support."

"It is relatively easy to use and user-friendly once the setup is complete."

"IBM Rational ALM is a very good tool. I like the management and traceability features and the test management tool. The latter is not linked with the stories and fixed management. It is really useful, and we can create test plans. We can also test some metrics related to QA."

"The cataloging is a very valuable feature. For a lot of enterprises, they end up not knowing which applications do specific features. The cataloging helps with this. It's not that verbose, but it still gives you allowances to put in more detail."

"One of the key advantages of IBM Rational ALM is its workflow capabilities, which enable seamless collaboration between development and production teams and ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the progress and readiness of the solution. Additionally, the solution is good for integration."

"You can customize the board according to your needs."

"At the same time, if you're working from the architect or the designing team you, it's quite easy to manage the resources online."

"It's easy to use."

"It helped us contain critical things, like source code and several documents, which is very important to us."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

Cons

"The machine learning features are a new capability but could be improved. This is being worked by Digital.ai currently. Multicolor simulation, specifically, could be improved."

"The user interface can be improved by adding Save, Edit, Add, Cancel, and Return buttons to the popup windows that are displayed when you click on a child item."

"It was not supporting some plugins. We wanted to migrate data that we were already using."

"In my work as a contractor, it's always frustrating when a client has multiple software applications that don't talk to each other and they all perform the same function. That presents a huge challenge between their IT groups."

"There is room for improvement in getting the analytics portion of the solution more integrated with the rest of it."

"Improve how to create and track releases. Currently, I have to create child projects."

"One of the complaints from users is that they have to click buttons too many times for just a simple task. Changing this would lead to a better user experience."

"The interconnectivity between packages is a major support problem and can be improved."

"In the next release, we expect a traceability metrics configuration where we can configure the user stories. We also expect them to improve or simplify the query process."

"The solution can improve in the development area and the customized applications."

"The directory designer manager is uncivil. The design manager is clearly really unstable."

"There is not enough beginner support material in the form of FAQs or simple training to help you get started."

"I would like to see better reporting features. The out-of-box reporting is - I don't want to say limited - but the focus is on the Scrum and Sprint reports. We need more reporting features regarding the history of the work, tracking it more deeply."

"The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You get what you pay for. Don't let your development teams dictate what the portfolio management team should use as the main tool."

"Comparing the pricing to other products, I think this solution is in the middle."

"The price of the solution could be reduced. Many of our customers are not using all the features and this could be why our clients feel the price is too high."

"IBM Rational ALM has both monthly and yearly licensing options."

"We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."

"The solution is not cheap."

"This product is a little expensive and we had to pay extra to have them set it up for us."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

20%

Insurance Company

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Transportation Company

Manufacturing Company

24%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

12%

Transportation Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Digital.ai Agility?

It was not supporting some plugins. We wanted to migrate data that we were already using. The migration of data and getting it up and running from the legacy system took some time to get accustomed...

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What is your primary use case for Digital.ai Agility?

We were explaining how to set up the project itself, which describes the main use cases for Digital.ai Agility. This includes how to set up the workflow and how to manage and build a Kanban. I want...

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What advice do you have for others considering Digital.ai Agility?

Digital.ai Agility has a bigger reach because it has many good integration points. It can be a one-stop solution for different needs, eliminating the need to use multiple pieces of software. Howeve...

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What do you like most about IBM Rational ALM?

The solution is customizable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Rational ALM?

Improvement is needed in bridging DNG and Rhapsody and vice versa for better data exchange from both sides with some trigger technologies. This would provide a visual reminder of changes in a modul...

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What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?

Most of my primary use cases involve the combination of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) ( /products/ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-elm-reviews ) and DOORS, including both Classic D...

See all answers

Comparisons

Jira vs Digital.ai Agility

Compared 46% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Digital.ai Agility

Compared 13% of the time

Jira Align vs Digital.ai Agility

Compared 11% of the time

OpenText Deployment Automation vs Digital.ai Agility

Compared 7% of the time

JIRA Portfolio vs Digital.ai Agility

Compared 6% of the time

More Digital.ai Agility Competitors

Jira vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 25% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 16% of the time

Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 10% of the time

PTC Integrity vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 9% of the time

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Digital.ai Agility

August 2025

Download Digital.ai Agility product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

August 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Also Known As

VersionOne Lifecycle, VersionOne, CollabNet VersionOne, Digital.ai Continuum

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

Overview

Enterprise business agility rests on agile planning that scales and has the flexibility needed to meet the needs of customers and the market. Digital.ai Agility enables organizations to scale up agile from the team level across the product portfolio, improve collaboration and efficiency, and deliver software that provides more value.

Digital.ai

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management stands out for its robust Agile Scrum planning, lifecycle traceability, and tool management, offering cloud-based configurability and strong collaboration features.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management provides rich capabilities for Agile project management, facilitating requirements and test management, configuration management, and version control. Its integration with IBM Doors supports comprehensive requirements handling, and the cloud-based platform enhances collaborative efficiency across teams. Despite needing advances in user-friendliness and reporting, ELM's global configuration and compliance features make it invaluable in demanding environments.

What are the key features of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?

Scrum-based planning: Supports Agile methodologies with rich planning tools.
Lifecycle traceability: Offers complete traceability across development stages.
Customizable workflows: Adaptable workflows with Kanban for flexibility.
Git integration: Supports efficient version control and collaboration.
Global Configuration: Manages complex configurations globally.
Compliance and reporting: Ensures robust auditing and comprehensive reporting capabilities.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Collaboration: Enhanced sharing across platforms for seamless teamwork.
Cost-effectiveness: Delivers efficient tools that optimize project spend.
Comprehensive requirement handling: Facilitates detailed requirement management through IBM Doors integration.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management is vital in sectors like automotive and manufacturing, where it implements Agile frameworks to manage requirements, conduct testing, and handle defects. It integrates into development pipelines ensuring live traceability and visibility, supporting critical engineering processes efficiently.

IBM

Sample Customers

Siemens Health Services (HS), Cerner Corporation, Aaron's, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, Kelley Blue Book, AOL, Axway, Tideworks, bwin Interactive Entertainment, AG, Intergraph, Eos Group, PeopleCube, Liquid Machines

Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst

Buyer's Guide

Digital.ai Agility vs. IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

July 2025

Free Report: Digital.ai Agility vs. IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

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