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IBM DOORS Next vs Inflectra SpiraTest comparison

IBM and Inflectra are both solutions in the Application Requirements Management category. IBM is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.3, while Inflectra is ranked #12. IBM holds a 8.9% mindshare in ARM, compared to Inflectra’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 76% of Inflectra users who would recommend it.
IBM DOORS Next
Read 13 IBM DOORS Next reviews
  • 3,570 Views
  • 1,247 Comparison Views
91% willing to recommend
Inflectra SpiraTest
Read 25 Inflectra SpiraTest reviews
  • 193 Views
  • 96 Comparison Views
76% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Inflectra SpiraTest and IBM DOORS Next are competitors in the requirements management and testing domain. Inflectra SpiraTest stands out in pricing flexibility and customer support, while IBM DOORS Next is preferred for its comprehensive feature set, ideal for enterprises needing extensive functionality.

Features: SpiraTest offers a user-friendly platform with integrated test management and agile project management capabilities, such as test case repository, defect tracking, and integration with various tools. IBM DOORS Next focuses on advanced requirements management, traceability, and collaboration features, including versioning of requirements, integration capabilities, and the ability to handle complex projects.

Room for Improvement: SpiraTest could enhance its integration options and offer more advanced automation features. Additionally, expanding its detailed reporting tools and customization options would be beneficial. IBM DOORS Next may improve its ease of use to minimize complexity in setup. It could also benefit from better offline capabilities and continue enhancing its integration with other tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SpiraTest provides a simple deployment model suitable for smaller teams with responsive customer support. On the other hand, IBM DOORS Next involves a more complex setup process but offers robust support options tailored for large organizations.

Pricing and ROI: SpiraTest is attractive for small to medium-sized enterprises because of its lower setup cost and quick ROI. In contrast, IBM DOORS Next requires a higher upfront investment but offers long-term productivity gains and a return on investment with its extensive features for organizations needing extensive functionalities.

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Buyer's Guide
IBM DOORS Next vs. Inflectra SpiraTest
April 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

IBM DOORS Next
Ranking in Application Requirements Management
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Inflectra SpiraTest
Ranking in Application Requirements Management
12th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Test Management Tools (25th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Requirements Management category, the mindshare of IBM DOORS Next is 8.9%, up from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Inflectra SpiraTest is 0.5%, down from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Requirements Management
 

Featured Reviews

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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Jason Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
Intuitive enough and easy to learn, but in terms of folder organization, it could be better
Inflectra SpiraTest is the new kid on the block compared to Jira and Azure. Still, when I started exploring the tool, I realized that it was no different from other tools I've used in the past, but it all boils down to adaptability because the features would always be more or less the same. I found Inflectra SpiraTest intuitive enough. It's also easy to learn, so this is what I like about it.
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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

"It's web-based, so you don't have anything to install."
"One of the most valuable features is how you can tailor the modules."
"The most valuable features are the versioning of requirements and the possibility to reuse them."
"The most valuable features are the baselines and links."
"There are many good features with DOORS. The solution has a concept of streams and baselines, as well as a concept of components. A component is a subproject inside a project."
"As far as maintaining our requirements so that we can have copies of them, it's good. I can print it out if necessary."
"IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation is easier to expand to build a backend with several servers, so you can also use it to scale up to several hundreds of users without major problems."
"The "Link by Attribute" feature is useful for making links without needing to use the web interface manually."
More IBM DOORS Next pros
"Inflectra SpiraTest has a lot of functionality, which is good."
"We were able to add a step-by-step procedure for someone to follow to assist in testing."
"The user-friendly features are the most valuable. For example, migration of requirements and migration of test cases and the creation of traceability. You have various reports that you need. The plug-ins that are available to connect with the other tools."
"I found Inflectra SpiraTest intuitive enough. It's also easy to learn, so this is what I like about it."
"The reporting functionality helps vendors and technical resources identify bugs and issues that need to be addressed. The simple dashboard-style home page makes training end-user testers simple and straightforward. The actual testing UI is VERY straightforward and very intuitive for the end-users that test the system since very often we pull from business and operational users to help test new systems."
"The ability to reuse test cases already used across projects is the most valuable feature of this solution. We don't need to create new ones."
"The features of this product most valuable to me were the test case management and the visual status, by which it was displayed."
 

Cons

"The only additional feature would be if it had dynamic linking to other MBSE tool sets or industry-leading tools."
"Both the data storage and reporting for this solution need improvement."
"It offers a bad user experience and the usability is poor."
"It does have a tendency to condense the requirements. It kind of puts them in a tree format. Sometimes those trees are a little difficult."
"IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation has room for improvement compared to other tools like Polaris and Jama Connect. These tools offer more flexibility and options for developers, which IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation lacks. For example, you can define your link rules in Jama Connect, but you can't do that in IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation."
"When you are in Jira or Confluence, you have some freedom in how you type in text. That's also a weakness of Confluence, however, as it opens the doors to sloppy work. In DOS Next Generation, the text is very rigorous, but it might be difficult for people who don't have the discipline. Having a way to quickly enter requirements could help. It might already be in there, but I don't know. I don't have enough experience with the tool yet."
"As a web tool, DNG can be difficult to use if the server is loaded or your network connection to it is saturated."
"Be very careful how you load your DNG server. There are limits to the number of artifacts a server can handle."
More IBM DOORS Next cons
"Migrating is not very easy. It depends on the organization, how efficient and effective the decision-making process is. The plug-ins should be easier and more integrated rather than the user trying to integrate the tools which are more popular, like Jira et al."
"Two areas that can stand improvement: integration with third party products and making it more intuitive."
"The user interface is slightly complicated and not very consistent. It could be more user friendly."
"It should develop integration with JIRA. We have some complexities which caused us not to decide to integrate it with our JIRA, like synchronous data."
"The UI for managing test cases, test sets, test runs could be a little more integrated, currently, these feel disjointed at times and confusing. Also, the test steps page needs to display the test steps closer to the top of the UI so as to not have to scroll down to find."
"Being able to add scripting for testing can and does save a lot of time. When you are able to just ‘run’ a test case rather than manually add it and run it."
"The folder organization in Inflectra SpiraTest could be better, though I cannot comment whether that is structure-related. Most of what I need would probably be in the tool, but as a test manager, I need to be able to create dashboards and reports easily."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of this solution is very high, and it increases year after year."
"If the product price were not reasonable enough, our company would not use IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation."
"The cost of maintenance is €20,000 to €30,000 ($22,000 to $33,000 USD) and there are no additional fees."
"You are going to need a beefy server and a fat network pipe to it in order to make DNG and its companion tools work well for users."
"Users can buy a three-year license for about 12,000 Euros."
"The pricing was excellent. I would recommend the enterprise solution."
"I Googled the pricing for Inflectra SpiraTest, and it's about $4,000 annually."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
22%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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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.
See all answers
What needs improvement with IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation?
There is a need for improvement in user experience, as the UI is too complex and outdated. Updates should be more frequent to ensure security and functionality, especially in addressing vulnerabili...
See all answers
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Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

IBM DOORS vs IBM DOORS Next Logo
IBM DOORS vs IBM DOORS Next
Compared 36% of the time
Jama Connect vs IBM DOORS Next Logo
Jama Connect vs IBM DOORS Next
Compared 21% of the time
Polarion Requirements vs IBM DOORS Next Logo
Polarion Requirements vs IBM DOORS Next
Compared 17% of the time
Jira vs IBM DOORS Next Logo
Jira vs IBM DOORS Next
Compared 17% of the time
3SL Cradle vs IBM DOORS Next Logo
3SL Cradle vs IBM DOORS Next
Compared 5% of the time
More IBM DOORS Next Competitors
No data available
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
IBM DOORS Next
April 2025
IBM DOORS Next reportDownload IBM DOORS Next product report
Buyer's Guide
Inflectra SpiraTest
April 2025
Inflectra SpiraTest reportDownload Inflectra SpiraTest product report
 

Also Known As

Rational DOORS Next Generation, RDNG, Rational Requirements Composer and IBM RRC
SpiraTest, Spira
 

Overview


IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next (DOORS Next) is a requirements management (RM) software designed to help organizations manage engineering project requirements throughout the development lifecycle. It offers a central location for capturing, defining, and organizing project requirements, facilitating collaboration among stakeholders like engineers, system designers, and customers. Key features include requirements traceability, version control, and impact analysis. DOORS Next improves efficiency, enhances communication, reduces risks, and aids in better decision-making through clear traceability and version control. Compared to its predecessor, DOORS 9, DOORS Next is a web-based version with a modern interface that integrates with other IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) tools, while DOORS 9 offers a wider range of features in a non-web-based format.


IBM
SpiraTest is an integrated Requirements and Quality Management solution that manages your project's Requirements, Test Cases, Releases, Defects and Issues in one environment, with complete traceability throughout. After defining your project's requirements, you generate the test cases and test steps that validate the functionality. The test execution modules allows users to run through the tests, logging defects/issues as they go. SpiraTest is Fully Web-Based. Free 30-Day Trial.
Inflectra
 

Sample Customers

Major health insurer
- Morningstar - Deutsch Bank - Sopra Group - Booz Allen & Hamilton - UBS - US Government
Buyer's Guide
IBM DOORS Next vs. Inflectra SpiraTest
April 2025
Free Report: IBM DOORS Next vs. Inflectra SpiraTest
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM DOORS Next vs. Inflectra SpiraTest and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
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