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IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Jira comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

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
12th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Jira
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
274
Ranking in other categories
Application Requirements Management (1st), Project Management Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.8%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Jira is 20.0%, down from 23.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

Juergen Albrecht - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
AmitUbale - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient project management that's comprehensive and and helps with time efficiency
We use Jira primarily for project management within the organization. It helps us manage tasks, bug management, and tracking tickets effectively. We assign tickets to individual team members and track them easily For project management, Jira has helped facilitate efficient task segregation and…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It helped us contain critical things, like source code and several documents, which is very important to us."
"The solution is customizable."
"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 most valuable feature is the reporting of the CPU usage on the dashboard."
"The tools for requirement capture we have found very useful."
"You can customize the board according to your needs."
"The integration with Git works well."
"We have something called the GC (global configuration), which is a unique feature compared to any other competitor we have in the ALM space."
"We use Jira for project management and tracking."
"This is a user friendly solution."
"I found it super useful, as it is customizable for different teams and users."
"It improved communication, as it was a popular tool, and most people enjoyed using it."
"JIRA stores history of changes, which helps a lot to track who, when, and why the issue was modified​."
"The adaptability of the Scrum and Kanban boards for other uses, with careful use of the customization features."
"Jira's collaborative features, such as comments, notifications, and real-time updates, facilitate better communication."
"What I really like about Jira is that it ticks off all the boxes for any agile project. It's easy to set up, easy to use, and it has excellent notification features. Jira is the top choice for anyone working on agile projects like ours."
 

Cons

"The GUI is a little bit outdated."
"The features should be more intuitive. If I'm looking for something, its location should be easy to locate."
"The solution can improve in the development area and the customized applications."
"The stability of IBM Rational ALM could be improved."
"The interconnectivity between packages is a major support problem and can be improved."
"Of course it would be related to customer experience. The solution is not user friendly at all. It needs an expert to use it, although the reporting feature was okay."
"The product must be more user-friendly."
"The reporting functionality needs to be improved."
"Users can be confused about how to use this tool as it's very complex."
"Of course, the price could always be cheaper."
"Once a story is closed, all the records, versions, and documentation associated with it are gone. We lose the traceability of what was done."
"It should have its own repository for test case creation, so that one does not have to resort to third-party tools and plugins."
"The integration could be better in Jira."
"​I would like integrated requirements management, so we do not have to buy plug-ins for JIRA, since it was hard to get requirements management for it.​"
"There are no fields to search or to filter by, mainly the ones which use a data around a date and time when something changes."
"I don't know whether there is a Jira problem or a test risk problem, however, sometimes, we face issues on fetching the reports."
 

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."
"IBM Rational ALM has both monthly and yearly licensing options."
"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."
"We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."
"It is subscription-based, and we probably pay yearly. I would rate it a four out of five in terms of price."
"Its price is fine, but we would like it to be less expensive. We are paying on a yearly basis."
"The price is quite competitive."
"It is certainly a long-term solution for our company and for previous companies that I have worked for. They have these long-term term licenses, but I'm not sure if they really pay on a yearly basis. They are certainly using it for a really long period and for a lot of users."
"One of my customers told me that they were receiving better pricing for a similar tool from Microsoft."
"There are no additional costs to the standard licensing."
"The price of Jira is reasonable."
"If I compare Jira's licensing model with that of other products, I think that the other products have a much better licensing model."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
25%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
13%
Transportation Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?
Hi Netanya, Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below data may be relevant to you for identifying your needs and deciding on the approp...
Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jira?
We operate under a nonlimited license with Jira, allowing a number of users to access it with a single enterprise license.
 

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS
Jira Software
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst
Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Jira and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,155 professionals have used our research since 2012.