IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs OpenText AccuRev comparison

IBM and OpenText are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 6.5, while OpenText is ranked #21. IBM holds a 3.9% mindshare in ALM, compared to OpenText’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of OpenText users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 20 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,624 Views
1,608 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

OpenText AccuRev

Read 8 OpenText AccuRev reviews

434 Views
434 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

OpenText AccuRev

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) and OpenText AccuRev are competitors in software development tools, each offering unique strengths. IBM ELM leads in customer support, while OpenText AccuRev is favored for integrations and ease of use.

Features: IBM ELM provides comprehensive application lifecycle management, tools for requirement capture, and integration with IBM tools. OpenText AccuRev's strengths include a stream-based architecture, flexibility with configurations, and efficient version control.

Room for Improvement: IBM ELM can enhance its user interface, provide more flexible licensing options, and reduce complexity in its tool integrations. OpenText AccuRev could improve documentation, expand its integration capabilities, and enhance its customer service offerings.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ELM benefits from strong integration within IBM's ecosystem, ensuring smooth deployment for existing IBM clients. OpenText AccuRev offers customization options and adaptability to varied environments but could improve its support infrastructure.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ELM, perceived as a premium solution, has a higher upfront cost but offers substantial ROI, particularly in large-scale settings. OpenText AccuRev is more cost-effective, providing quicker ROI through flexible licensing and streamlined version control features.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev

December 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

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

OpenText AccuRev

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

21st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.9%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText AccuRev is 0.9%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)	3.9%
OpenText AccuRev	0.9%
Other	95.2%

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) 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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Sameh-Hablas

CEO - Director General & Founder Ai/ IT Expert - Digital Transformation at Al Danah Information Systems Solutions

Helps us with our compliance goals, native quality management systems and with the legacy systems in our organization

To improve the product, it needs some enhancement to the application's interface to be more user-friendly. The product has all the features that we need and we can depend upon it. My issue with the product is that it is not easy to use without a guide or a proper manual. That is my point. It is not very friendly to use. For example, we may need the application to be more friendly in other sorts of ways. If we have an integrated module that allows access to the features we want through one click, you do not need to make it two or three clicks on the screen. The interface can be better designed to easily provide access to the features you need. The feature I would like to see in the next release is just for it to be more friendly to use and to be like a smart application that intuits your movement through the application. It needs to be something that works smoothly and intelligent without any complicated navigation of screens.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"Everyone in a team can work on the same platform and share the same information."

"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 solution is customizable."

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

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

"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

"The most valuable feature of the solution is taking snapshots while doing the execution of the test cases."

"The solution is 100% scalable. It's much more scalable than the customer's capacity for implementing it. We do plan to increase usage ourselves."

"The most valuable feature is the Business Process Testing feature, BPT, because it brings in the most revenue."

"The product has all the features that we for application managementat a lower cost."

Cons

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

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

"Improvement is needed in bridging DNG and Rhapsody and vice versa for better data exchange from both sides with some trigger technologies."

"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 stability of IBM Rational ALM could be improved."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"In the next release, I would like to have a repository for the code which is embedded. Apart from that, it has everything I need."

"What I'm missing from the solution is a repository for the code. Something like Git, for example. Some sort of depository for the code that is embedded."

"The pricing should be more competitive."

"It is difficult to gain experience with the product because resources and documentation for learning are not available."

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."

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

"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."

"It is a lower cost than other top competetors."

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881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

22%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

University

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	2

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?

I think usability should be improved in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) as the top priority. If you look at the UI, it was literally designed ten years ago, and even at the time it was i...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?

For companies in heavily regulated industries who are doing product development, IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is a good tool. It helps them create documentation that satisfies auditors.

See all answers

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Comparisons

Jira vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 19% of the time

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Compared 16% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 10% of the time

Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 9% of the time

Jama Connect vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 8% of the time

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TFS vs OpenText AccuRev

Compared 50% of the time

GoCD vs OpenText AccuRev

Compared 50% of the time

More OpenText AccuRev Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

January 2026

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

OpenText AccuRev

January 2026

Download OpenText AccuRev product report

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

Micro Focus AccuRev, AccuRev

Overview

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) offers an integrated platform with customizable workflows, Scrum planning tools, and resource management features, enhancing project execution and collaboration.

ELM supports Agile and Scrum project management through its integration with tools like Git and IBM Doors, providing cataloging, traceability, and reporting capabilities. While users benefit from requirement management and dashboard functionalities, the interface and reporting could be improved for better navigation and customization. Its cloud-based architecture facilitates compliance and auditing, making it a valuable tool for engineering teams focusing on configuration and version control.

What are the essential features of IBM ELM?

Customizable Workflows: Tailor project processes to specific needs for adaptability.
Scrum-Based Planning: Facilitate Agile project management with Scrum tools.
Resource Management: Efficiently allocate and track resource usage.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrate with Git and IBM Doors for enhanced traceability.
Global Configuration: Manage configurations across locations for consistency.

What benefits should users consider?

Compliance Support: Provides tools essential for meeting industry regulations.
Collaboration: Streamlines team communication for smooth project execution.
Stakeholder Alignment: Enhances visibility and alignment with personalized dashboards.
Traceability: Ensures complete tracking of requirements and changes for accountability.

ELM is widely used in the automotive and manufacturing sectors for managing requirements and monitoring performance. Engineering teams leverage ELM for Agile methodologies, with central teams deploying it for end-to-end development processes including requirement gathering and backlog management. Stability and improved integration support remain critical implementation areas, along with enhanced governance features for comprehensive application.

IBM

Get the governance and compliance capabilities you need to manage complexity. OpenText AccuRev helps you implement modern development practices at enterprise scale.

OpenText

Sample Customers

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

Akcelerant, SDL, CSG, Avid Technology Inc., Azimuth Systems Inc, Drivecam, Endgame, f5 Networks, Follett Software, Hyland Software, Indanet, Kronos, McAfee

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev

December 2025

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. OpenText AccuRev and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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