IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Parasoft Development Testing Platform comparison

IBM and Parasoft are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.2, while Parasoft is ranked #20. IBM holds a 3.9% mindshare in ALM, compared to Parasoft’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 76% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Parasoft users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 19 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,497 Views
1,482 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

Parasoft Development Testin...

Read 4 Parasoft Development Testing Platform reviews

473 Views
298 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Parasoft Development Testin...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and Parasoft Development Testing Platform both compete in the software development sector, with each excelling in different areas. IBM ELM generally offers a more extensive lifecycle management suite, while Parasoft shines in testing and quality assurance, making it a strong contender for development testing needs.

Features: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management supports agile methodologies, DevOps, and regulatory compliance with robust integration capabilities and comprehensive lifecycle management tools. Parasoft Development Testing Platform facilitates enhanced code quality with advanced test automation, coverage analysis, and static analysis, providing critical support in reducing time to market.

Room for Improvement: IBM ELM could benefit from simplifying its initial configuration process and enhancing the user interface for better usability. Enhancing integration flexibility could further support hybrid environments. Additionally, improving scalability in larger contexts would be advantageous. Parasoft could expand its lifecycle management capabilities for broader applicability and improve documentation for more intuitive operation. Adding more customizable reporting options could aid in deeper analysis, while better integration with external tools could offer enhanced flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ELM typically involves extensive configuration requiring dedicated support and guidance from IBM during deployment. In contrast, Parasoft provides a streamlined deployment experience with proactive customer service, facilitating faster setup times and effective assistance to users.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management tends to have a higher initial cost due to its extensive features, promising long-term ROI when fully utilized. Parasoft Development Testing Platform, however, offers competitive pricing emphasizing testing efficiencies, ensuring a quicker ROI by optimizing testing processes and improving code quality, often seen as a more economically feasible solution for immediate testing needs.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Parasoft Development Testing Platform Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Parasoft Development Testing Platform

September 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

Parasoft Development Testin...

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

20th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Requirements Management (16th), Test Management Tools (29th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.9%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Parasoft Development Testing Platform is 0.7%, up from 0.3% 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%
Parasoft Development Testing Platform	0.7%
Other	95.4%

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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Ujjwal Gupta

Project Lead at Mphasis

A complete test management tool that facilitates developers' unit testing

Parallel execution: It would help it multiple executions could be done at the same time. This would reduce the execution time, helping achieve goals on time, and with less effort required. I use the different licenses to manage this issue and it can be controlled by different users for functional testing.

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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 word emulation and importing is good."

"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."

"I would rate the stability of this product a nine out of ten."

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

"The solution is customizable."

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

"The integration with Git works well."

"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 most valuable feature is code coverage."

"It really helps developers execute scenarios through DTP and share reports/results across the teams."

Cons

"The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex."

"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."

"The product must be more user-friendly."

"IBM Rational ALM should remove the features not used by the customers and keep this product as lightweight as possible."

"The reporting functionality needs to 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 stability of IBM Rational ALM could be improved."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"The solution's speed has room for improvement."

"Parallel execution: It would help it multiple executions could be done at the same time."

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."

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

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

"The solution is not cheap."

"Costly."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

23%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

12%

Transportation Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	12

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?

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...

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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...

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Comparisons

Jira vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 23% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 12% of the time

Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 10% of the time

PTC Integrity vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors

PractiTest vs Parasoft Development Testing Platform

Compared 54% of the time

Jira vs Parasoft Development Testing Platform

Compared 46% of the time

More Parasoft Development Testing Platform Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

September 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

September 2025

Parasoft Development Testing Platform report

Download Parasoft Development Testing Platform product report

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

Parasoft Concerto, Parasoft DTP

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

Parasoft DTP aggregates the results from across testing practices, providing intelligent and continuous monitoring of the testing outcomes for greater visibility into what is working — and what isn’t. Includes:

- Comprehensive Reports & Dashboards

- Preconfigured compliance reporting

- Customized Advanced Analytics

- Interactive Navigation of Results

- Traceability

Parasoft

Sample Customers

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

General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Qualcomm, AAI Textron, Boeing, Fidelity, Johnson & Johnson, CIBC, Penske, Thales, Dell,

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Parasoft Development Testing Platform

September 2025

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Parasoft Development Testing Platform

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