IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Microsoft Azure DevOps comparison

IBM and Microsoft are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.5, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. IBM holds a 3.7% mindshare in ALM, compared to Microsoft’s 15.4% mindshare. Additionally, 76% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 19 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,473 Views
1,007 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Read 133 Microsoft Azure DevOps reviews

8,967 Views
6,479 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Microsoft Azure DevOps

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 30, 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and Microsoft Azure DevOps compete in software development optimization. Microsoft Azure DevOps appears to have the upper hand due to its flexibility and integration capabilities.

Features: IBM ELM offers comprehensive requirement management, change management, and traceability features that improve collaboration. Microsoft Azure DevOps includes continuous integration, delivery pipelines, and robust version control for a seamless development experience. Azure DevOps' integration with other Microsoft services is a key differentiator.

Room for Improvement: IBM ELM's complex deployment can delay setup, and enhancements in documentation could improve usability. Updates in integration capabilities could widen its appeal. Microsoft Azure DevOps may improve in multilingual support and simplify configurations for new users. Additional training resources could aid in deeper feature utilization.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Azure DevOps offers cloud-based deployment, simplifying implementation with extensive online support resources. Its customer service is responsive, aiding adoption. IBM ELM, despite its rich features, requires more setup effort, which may lengthen the deployment period. Enhancements in customer service could facilitate smoother initial deployment.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ELM's infrastructure needs can lead to higher setup costs, potentially affecting ROI. Conversely, Microsoft Azure DevOps has a scalable pricing model, accessible to businesses of various sizes, with faster ROI stemming from lower initial costs and extensive features, giving it a budgetary advantage.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

June 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

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

133

Ranking in other categories

Release Automation (1st), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (1st)

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 Microsoft Azure DevOps is 15.4%, down from 23.4% 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.

Read full review

Ivan Angelov

Project Executive at synergyc

Facilitates agile transformation with potential for enhanced intuitiveness

What I liked about the solution is that it offers numerous features that are not available by default unless you are agile. Transitioning from the traditional Waterfall model to an agile methodology was challenging for us. Until 2020, our team predominantly worked with the Waterfall approach, using local tools like ServiceNow. We had a few team members who were familiar with Agile ISO, but none had experience with Azure. Therefore, we pursued Azure certification at the AZ-900 level. Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months. This preparation helped us get accustomed to the new tool, as transitioning to a new system invariably requires time. Managing a pipeline of deliverables became significantly easier with this solution. We utilized it for stories and integrated change management with Azure DevOps. Eventually, everything related to the environment was organized there, enabling us to follow up and track progress with our technical engineers on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Reports were automatically generated and sent to management, offering them insights into our progress concerning the predefined roadmap.

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

"You can customize the board according to your needs."

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

"IBM Rational ALM is a very good tool. I like the management and traceability features and the test management tool. The latter is not linked with the stories and fixed management. It is really useful, and we can create test plans. We can also test some metrics related to QA."

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

"The integration with Git works well."

"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."

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

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

"The tool's most efficient feature is the integration of its services in one place. It is an easy-to-use product that improves productivity. Microsoft Azure DevOps is also user-friendly. Its documentation is clear and can be found on Google."

"I really like the Microsoft DevOps survey."

"Azure enables us to create a staging environment through to a production environment in an easier way and then get the code and run that."

"What I like the most is the DevOps Boards. It's easy to create a hierarchical project structure, assign tasks to people, and to track their tasks."

"We are able to generate many different types of reports from Azure."

"The one thing that really stands out to me is how you can filter and how you can do your reporting and filter the tasks and everything by user."

"The solution is easy to implement and easy to use."

"Microsoft Azure DevOps has been very good for creating pipelines, and all the solutions for creating task management for developers and for the business."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pros

Cons

"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."

"The stability of IBM Rational ALM could be improved."

"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."

"In the next release, we expect a traceability metrics configuration where we can configure the user stories. We also expect them to improve or simplify the query process."

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

"The product must be more user-friendly."

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

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"Its price can also be reduced. It would be great if they are a little bit more competitive in terms of pricing because many open-source products are currently available in the market."

"Compared to JIRA, I think Azure DevOps is missing some management elements, like some reporting features. It would be helpful if some things were clearer when we're adding attributes. For instance, sometimes we want to add some categories or attributes, and it's not so easy."

"The initial three months were particularly challenging, and without the help of an external consultant, adapting to the change in work processes would have been difficult."

"Some of the queries, the way they're built, need to be looked at. We need better query tools."

"Templates could be improved."

"They do very frequent releases, there's a complete change in UI kind of stuff. Sometimes it feels like they change it too often."

"The user management in the solution could improve."

"Better integration with the Linux operating system would be an improvement for this solution."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps cons

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."

"The solution is not cheap."

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

"There is a license for this solution."

"The price is cheaper than Jira and some of the other competing tools."

"When compared to other vendors, it is cheaper."

"Licensing cost per user is approximately $11 to $15. We have about 400 users, but not all are active. We have around 200 to 300 active users."

"The price is reasonable, but of course, you can find others that are cheaper such as Atlassian."

"There are other solutions available that are open source and free, such as GitLab."

"For the basic license, it is around five euros per month."

"Compared to other tools, Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cheap solution."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

24%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

11%

Transportation Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Which is better - TFS or Azure DevOps?

TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very fri...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.

See all answers

Comparisons

Jira vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 27% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 18% of the time

Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 11% of the time

PTC Integrity vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 9% of the time

Atlassian ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors

GitLab vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 32% of the time

Jira vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 15% of the time

Rally Software vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 7% of the time

TFS vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 5% of the time

Jama Connect vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 2% of the time

More Microsoft Azure DevOps Competitors

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

Microsoft Azure DevOps

March 2025

Download Microsoft Azure DevOps product report

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps

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

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cloud service that enables developers to collaborate on code development projects and create and deploy applications quicker than ever before. The service helps unite developers, project managers, and software development experts through a collaborative experience while using the application. For the users' convenience, Azure DevOps offers the user cloud services through Azure DevOps Services or an on-premises service using Azure DevOps Server. In addition, it supports integration with additional services and adding extensions, including the ability for the user to create their own custom extensions.

Azure DevOps provides a variety of unified features that can be accessed through their web browser or IDE client, such as:

Azure Pipelines - Develop and deploy services to support ongoing application integration and delivery. Azure pipelines, which work with almost every project type and most languages, will automatically test code projects in order to make them available to others.
Azure Artifacts - Share packages and integrate package sharing between teams. Packages include NuGet, npm, and Maven, in addition to other private and public sources. Developers can now share and consume packages with other developers from different public registries.
Azure Repos - Offers source control of your code through Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) or Git repositories. Developers can now keep track of any changes that are made in their code over the course of their project.
Azure Test Plans - Offers continuous and manual/exploratory app testing through several tools. Test Suites, or a collection of Test Cases, are grouped together in a container called a Test Plan.
Azure Boards - Provides a suite of Agile tools to track work, support planning, code defects, and general issues while using Kanban and Scrum software. Teams are in need of tools that are flexible and will help them grow. Azure Boards is a service that helps developers manage their software projects.

Benefits of Microsoft Azure DevOps

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers many benefits, including:

A quick setup and easy deployment
An elastic scale
Exceptional security
No-maintenance operations
Effortless collaboration through domains
The ability to create and deploy products faster than traditional software

Reviews from Real Users

Microsoft Azure DevOps stands out among its competitors for a variety of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to forecast how long each task will take and the ability for users to follow the entire development process.

PeerSpot viewers note the effectiveness of this solution. An executive chief operating officer for a cloud provider notes, “We can forecast tasks and the number of hours a task will take and can compare it with how long a task actually takes.”

Carlos H., a product and system director at SPCM, writes, “I think the most usable thing is that you can follow the whole progress of the development process. This makes it very useful for us.”

Microsoft

Sample Customers

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

Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

June 2025

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps

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