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 #12 with an average rating of 7.5, while Inflectra is ranked #20. IBM holds a 3.7% mindshare in ALM, compared to Inflectra’s 0.3% 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

1,488 Views
1,473 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

Inflectra SpiraTeam

Read 2 Inflectra SpiraTeam reviews

280 Views
277 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Inflectra SpiraTeam

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and Inflectra SpiraTeam compete in the software development lifecycle management category. Inflectra SpiraTeam generally has the upper hand due to its flexibility, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness, while IBM ELM is more comprehensive in integration capabilities.

Features: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management provides extensive integrations with diverse engineering tools, enabling comprehensive development workflows. It offers robust tools for managing complex projects across various engineering disciplines and supports advanced collaboration features for engineering teams. Inflectra SpiraTeam stands out with its extensive customization capabilities, allowing for tailoring to specific project requirements. Its intuitive interface aids users in quickly adapting to the platform, and it supports integrations with popular software development tools, enhancing team productivity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Inflectra SpiraTeam's deployment process is straightforward and efficient, backed by strong customer service that ensures a smooth setup and ongoing support. IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management requires a more complex setup due to its intricate feature set but compensates with comprehensive documentation and resources for deployment, allowing well-prepared teams to manage the complexity effectively.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management involves a higher initial setup cost, aligning with its extensive capabilities and potential for long-term returns on investment through improved operational efficiency. Inflectra SpiraTeam offers a less expensive entry point with the possibility of rapid returns due to its ease of use and functionality, making it an appealing choice for those seeking quick ROI in specific deployment scenarios.

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

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Inflectra SpiraTeam

July 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

12th

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

20th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.7%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Inflectra SpiraTeam is 0.3%, 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

Flexible and stable with excellent technical support

I am the end user. I have a contract to provide testing for customers, however, ultimately the owner of the tool is the customer. For this reason, we're not direct customers. I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. I don't like to put 10 due to the fact that I'm sure that something can be improved. That said, if the customer gave me the option to select a product, I'd select SpiraTeam over other tools. The facilities of the tool are more or less the same as the facilities of the ALM or other tools that are in the market. However, the customer support from Inflectra makes you feel like they are working with you. That is the gap in the quality that other options lack. They fix any issue very quickly.

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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 solution is customizable."

"It's easy to use."

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

"The word emulation and importing is good."

"The transition to a SaaS-based solution is a distinct advantage."

"We have something called the GC (global configuration), which is a unique feature compared to any other competitor we have in the ALM space."

"It helped us contain critical things, like source code and several documents, which is very important to us."

"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."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

"The solution is fast and very accessible."

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

Cons

"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 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."

"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."

"The GUI is a little bit outdated."

"The reporting functionality needs to be improved."

"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."

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

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

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

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

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"The solution is not cheap."

"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."

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

24%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

11%

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?

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

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Compared 26% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

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Compared 17% 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 9% of the time

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Compared 100% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

June 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

July 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

July 2025

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Inflectra SpiraTeam

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