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Helix ALM vs IBM DOORS Next comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.1
Helix ALM improved traceability, collaboration, and efficiency, reducing project delays and costs, while enhancing project visibility, control, and defect detection.
Sentiment score
6.9
IBM DOORS Next shortens project completion times and possibly reduces costs by easing reporting for frequently audited companies.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
Helix ALM's customer service is praised for being responsive, knowledgeable, and efficient, aiding users with excellent support and onboarding.
Sentiment score
7.1
IBM DOORS Next offers generally efficient customer service, with knowledgeable support, though resolution delays vary by issue complexity.
We are happy with the technical support from IBM.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.0
Helix ALM is praised for its scalability, integration, and stable performance, making it ideal for large, growing teams and projects.
Sentiment score
7.4
IBM DOORS Next efficiently handles large-scale projects and complex data, supporting scalability and is appreciated for improved document management.
The whole company, at least the development department, used the solution.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Helix ALM is praised for its robust performance, reliability, and high responsiveness, especially during complex tasks and updates.
Sentiment score
6.8
IBM DOORS Next stability varies, with some initial setup issues, but many report stability after resolving infrastructure challenges.
 

Room For Improvement

Users find Helix ALM slow, unintuitive, with limited reporting, poor integration, and inadequate documentation.
IBM DOORS Next struggles with stability, user interface issues, limited integration, outdated features, and slow support response times.
In my opinion, IBM DOORS Next does not have any Agile support, and that is why for requirement analysis, IBM DOORS Next is correct, but for someone who is working in an Agile process, IBM DOORS Next is not the solution because it is not integrated into the Agile working process.
 

Setup Cost

Helix ALM provides scalable, flexible pricing with per-user costs based on modules, and discounts for higher user counts.
IBM DOORS Next is costly with complex licensing but valued for its support, despite limited future development speculation.
I give eight points only because the price is a bit high.
 

Valuable Features

Helix ALM excels in managing requirements, tracking issues, and test management with flexibility, customization, robust traceability, and integration capabilities.
IBM DOORS Next provides traceability, integration, and scalability, with features like artifact linking, versioning, and web-based efficient management.
We were able to define well-structured requirements with links, and it was similar to using a Word document.
The solution has easy operation, is user-friendly, easily understood, and has better tracking for requirement management.
 

Categories and Ranking

Helix ALM
Ranking in Application Requirements Management
7th
Average Rating
6.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (18th), Test Management Tools (14th)
IBM DOORS Next
Ranking in Application Requirements Management
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Application Requirements Management category, the mindshare of Helix ALM is 3.1%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM DOORS Next is 9.1%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Requirements Management
 

Featured Reviews

Harold Pogue - PeerSpot reviewer
Helix ALM is insanely configurable, with great traceability, and flexibility
The most valuable features of Helix ALM are traceability and flexibility. One thing that distinguishes Helix ALM from other solutions is that it is a hybrid cloud model. Helix ALM is not a full cloud implementation like Valerian, Jira Jama, or Atlassian, where we just go through a browser onto the cloud. In the case of Helix, we have code that goes on our computer and then that communicates to the cloud. We have the backup and distribution capability of the cloud, but we have code executing on our machine, and we don't need to worry much about speed and internet lag problems.
Roger Trackwell - PeerSpot reviewer
An industry-leading tool to demonstrate traceability between requirements, with valuable features for tailoring modules and managing several thousand requirements
The biggest thing is that it shows cradle to grave traceability between the initial parent requirement and the lowest level, or what we call a CID, a critical item development spec. You can establish your verification plans in DOORS, and then as you get test results, you can put them in DOORS as a link or as a pointer to where that specific test resides on a company database. Then you can also write compliance rationale and add a column for coding, like pass, fail, green, yellow, red, meets, does not meet, partially meets, or whatever scoring criteria you want to use. Like I said, the best thing about it is that it provides you that visibility of your verification, allowing you to know how close you are to your pre-production activities, prototyping, go ahead, or whatever it is.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
22%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Helix ALM?
I rate the product price a nine on a one to ten scale, where one is low price and ten is high price.
What needs improvement with Helix ALM?
Helix ALM should be able to integrate with other systems better. Helix ALM should also have an easier user interface, and the solution needs to have drag-and-drop tools included in it.
What do you like most about IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation?
The tool's most valuable feature is displaying requirements in a tabular format. This means you can see everything laid out in columns and rows. It is more aesthetic compared to other tools. The tr...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation?
The pricing is considered unreasonable, and there is speculation that IBM may not be putting much effort into further development, possibly treating it as a cash cow.
What needs improvement with IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation?
The improvement for IBM DOORS Next is related to the exportation of documents. We had to install an additional tool to export Word documents. We needed additional tools, and the whole exploitation ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

TestTrack
Rational DOORS Next Generation, RDNG, Rational Requirements Composer and IBM RRC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Invision, Softing, CACI, Hunter Industries, ITSO, Itron, EEC, Database Consultants Australia, VirtualScopics, March Networks, WorkForce
Major health insurer
Find out what your peers are saying about Helix ALM vs. IBM DOORS Next and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.