IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Inflectra SpiraTeam comparison

IBM and Inflectra are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.8, while Inflectra is ranked #22. IBM holds a 3.3% mindshare in ALM, compared to Inflectra’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 76% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Inflectra users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 19 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,404 Views
991 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

Inflectra SpiraTeam

Read 2 Inflectra SpiraTeam reviews

236 Views
68 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Inflectra SpiraTeam

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 30, 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management ELM and Inflectra SpiraTeam are comprehensive project management solutions. ELM has the edge with its robust integration capabilities across engineering processes, making it suitable for large enterprises with complex project requirements. SpiraTeam is advantageous for smaller teams due to its flexibility and ease of use.

Features: ELM provides comprehensive requirements management, deep integration with IBM tools, and enhanced collaboration for large teams. SpiraTeam offers a flexible architecture, built-in project management functionalities, and task tracking with real-time dashboards.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ELM provides extensive support for deployment in complex IT environments with detailed documentation and dedicated customer service. SpiraTeam offers a straightforward deployment process, requiring less IT involvement, ideal for quick implementation.

Pricing and ROI: ELM involves significant initial setup costs but offers high ROI in large-scale implementations with its in-depth engineering applications. SpiraTeam is a cost-effective solution with lower upfront investment, providing substantial ROI for companies maximizing flexibility across varied projects.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Inflectra SpiraTeam Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Inflectra SpiraTeam

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 Engineering Lifecycle M...

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

13th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Inflectra SpiraTeam

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

22nd

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.3%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Inflectra SpiraTeam is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

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) ( /products/ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-elm-reviews ) 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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Jorge Ambrosio

Quality Management Office (QMO) Manager at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Great technical support with excellent integration and a fairly easy initial setup

The integration is really better than it was in the past. The initial setup was pretty simple. Their documentation is excellent. The solution is fast and very accessible. Organization time is free of charge in terms of licensing. This is until you finalize the migration from one tool to the other. That way, we don't need to pay to license two solutions at the same time. The maintenance team doing the support gives you a lot of knowledge. They often have up to ten years of support experience. Those leading the support teams are very knowledgeable. There seems to be very little turnover or team change, which helps retain the knowledge

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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

"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."

"The planning feature is rich with Scrum concepts: Sprint, Sprint retrospective, the rules in the Scrum framework."

"It's easy to use."

"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."

"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."

"The word emulation and importing is good."

"The most valuable feature is the reporting of the CPU usage on the dashboard."

"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."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

"The initial setup and configuration are straightforward and relatively simple."

"The solution is fast and very accessible."

Cons

"Some improvements to the user interface (UI) would be helpful, such as exposing more services to make it easier to customize to the needs of each customer."

"I think nowadays people are getting into Jira and other tools. What is happening is, this solution is becoming more traditional, whereas Jira and other tools are more attractive for the new users to learn and start using because of the graphical interfaces."

"The reporting functionality needs to be improved."

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

"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 GUI is a little bit outdated."

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

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

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"They need to continue improving the interface with the third-party options."

"It would be great if they worked more closely with other solutions. There needs to be better integration with the platform for development purposes."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"The solution is not cheap."

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

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

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

Transportation Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Rational ALM?

The solution is customizable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Rational ALM?

The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex. For business users with no experience in IT, it can be particularly challenging to understand the UI and create test cas...

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What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?

We use IBM Rational ALM as part of our overall application suite for our manufacturing company. It is used by our engineering team to capture requirements, perform testing, and manage defects. Spec...

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Comparisons

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Compared 28% of the time

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Compared 20% of the time

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Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

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No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

April 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

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Buyer's Guide

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

April 2025

Download Inflectra SpiraTeam product report

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

SpiraTeam

Overview

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

Need to manage your entire project lifecycle? From requirements and test cases, to tasks and code SpiraTeam has you covered. Powerful, straightforward, and flexible, SpiraTeam helps you get started fast. With SpiraTeam, manage your tasks and bugs quickly and easily, sync them with your team, and get back to developing. Integrated version control, testing (manual and automated), and customizable reporting, help you track it all.

Inflectra

Sample Customers

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

Cenduit, Maas Database Applications, DHHS Tasmania, Rota Yokogawa, ASI Business Solutions, ComputaCenter

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Inflectra SpiraTeam

April 2025

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