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Jira Align vs Polarion ALM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 2024

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

Jira Align
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
14th
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Value Stream Management Software (1st)
Polarion ALM
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
5th
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Jira Align is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polarion ALM is 4.5%, down from 8.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Polarion ALM4.5%
Jira Align2.0%
Other93.5%
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2788377 - PeerSpot reviewer
Agile Coach/SAFe Team Coach at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Long-term agile tracking has supported development but reporting has required workarounds
I know Jira as Jira; I have used the cloud and I have used on-premise. It is an issue tracker. My experience has been positive, as it is an okay tool, but I like Azure DevOps better. I assess the dependency management feature as okay, but again, Azure DevOps is better; it is more customizable. I find the scenario planning features are okay, but if you have a good Scrum Master or Agile coach, you can get a lot better insights just by looking at the data. We export most of what is in Jira to Power BI so we can run better reports.
LasseMikkonen - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at byte
Has provided mature traceability and configuration features while supporting complex product development for mid-to-large companies
Polarion ALM can learn from Atlassian tools a lot, as the usability is not the best, and it is really narrowly focused on requirements management only. For example, if you want to do testing and test result management with it, it is very limited. Jama Connect has similar limitations, and both should really focus on developing the integrations and extendability. For example, Jama Connect does not even have an extension marketplace, whereas Polarion has a small one. However, compared to the Atlassian Marketplace where you can get whatever applications for whatever price, it is a totally different ballgame. I would highly recommend Polarion ALM add more AI features to it. I know they have started to do something, but for example, I have been developing widgets for IBM DOORS Next, AI widgets, so that you can write and analyze requirements with the AI, and I have also done the same for Jira, creating a couple of Jira applications in the marketplace as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The interface of Jira Align is very easy to use and manage"
"Velocity and reporting provide good visibility, burndown charts, and particularly velocity measurement."
"Jira is great for small and enterprise organizations and I highly recommend it for startups."
"I like Jira's structured project plan, with tasks and subtasks. Jira can use various external plugins. Third-party providers can add new features to the solution. If I need some functionality, I can usually find an app for it. They have thousands."
"The product's most valuable feature is CMDB for services desk management and backlog projects."
"It's easy to set up."
"Jira Align's most valuable feature is the view of strategic control reports for high-level directors."
"The epic linking part is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
"Polarion ALM has some valuable tools for managing our targets and requirements. I think that's its best feature."
"Polarion ALM is excellent for tracking who is working on what and how many people are involved in a project."
"The tool helped us to more effectively and efficiently gather and structure the information (requirements, test plans, project management data, etc.), and share it with the involved stakeholders in a safe and change-controlled manner."
"There are similar solutions out there such as Jira and Confluence, but they are not as good."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its browser experience. I rate its traceability feature a ten out of ten. From the initial stage to the release, you can manage everything through a single point."
"The technical support is quite good."
"The software is stable."
"Polarion ALM's integration is very good and easy to use."
 

Cons

"The tool must provide better bulk editing features."
"AI is utilized worldwide; they could implement the functionality for notifications and other organizational operations in the product."
"The framework could be better."
"I think the customizable reporting in Jira is inadequate as well compared to Azure DevOps."
"The solution’s stability could be improved."
"One feature that needs improvement is the tool's ability to change schedules automatically. Users can't simply drag and drop tasks to reschedule them without notifying the entire team. This lack of functionality can hinder project management control, as changes should be communicated transparently to all team members."
"Jira Align has price packages for different purposes. Users must do their own research and see if it fits their purpose."
"Jira Align can improve the visibility of executive teams."
"The weak point of Polarion ALM software is about reporting and time for extraction of the data...The quality of reporting needs to improve."
"The user interface of Polarion ALM needs improvement as it can experience changes that disrupt workflows, especially during major updates."
"We use PTC Windchill, and Polarion ALM doesn't have native integration, so we had to purchase the connector to integrate it with Polarion ALM. We still haven't implemented it."
"Test management lacks an automated process."
"The solution can be improved by making it more user-friendly, and a server-based application rather than client based."
"Nowadays, the dashboard is too complex to be created."
"Polarion ALM can learn from Atlassian tools a lot, as the usability is not the best, and it is really narrowly focused on requirements management only."
"Based on my understanding, the tool's integration capabilities with multiple tools is an area of concern that Polarion needs to focus on more."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Jira Align is quite expensive for small-to-medium companies, but it's quite reasonable for larger ones."
"Our customers buy licenses. We are not involved in its purchase."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate Jira Align a seven out of ten."
"The software is very good, but the price is expensive. Our licensing costs are on a monthly basis, but there are no additional costs to the standard license fees."
"I would rate this solution a nine out of ten for pricing. The price of the solution depends on the number of people using it and the projects you are working on."
"The license for Jira Align is priced fairly."
"Jira Align's pricing is reasonable."
"Jira Align was reasonably priced then, especially for a bundle license that accommodated around 50 monthly users."
"If the pricing would come down and it was more affordable then we wouldn't have to switch."
"It is an expensive product."
"The license model is okay for large companies but would be quite expensive for smaller enterprises."
"Our license for Polarion ALM is yearly. And it's not the cheapest tool that we've looked at. So if we had made our decision purely based on the licensing cost, we wouldn't have selected Polarion."
"Software for medical devices is always expensive."
"You have to pay around 50-60 euros per user."
"The solution is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
30%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jira Align?
When it comes to pricing, the last time we did pricing options, they were pretty comparable; it all depends on what sort of Microsoft licensing agreements the company has as to whether one is going...
What are the main differences between Jira Align and Azure DevOps?
Feature/Aspect Jira Align Azure DevOps Primary Focus Enterprise agility, SAFe, alignment Team-level Agile, CI/CD, DevOps Scalability Enterprise-level Team to medium-sized organizations Key...
What needs improvement with AgileCraft?
I think it is probably better in almost all aspects over Jira; the dashboards are better, the filters or the queries are better, and it is more aligned to Scaled Agile. To sum it up, the main room ...
What needs improvement with Polarion ALM?
Polarion ALM can learn from Atlassian tools a lot, as the usability is not the best, and it is really narrowly focused on requirements management only. For example, if you want to do testing and te...
What is your primary use case for Polarion ALM?
We are in our product development using Polarion ALM's functionalities. I am a power user, partly responsible for configuring the tool. We are using it for many things. The idea was to go for a req...
What advice do you have for others considering Polarion ALM?
The pricing of Polarion ALM and IBM ELM is pretty much aligned. They are not at the same level, but I would say aligned according to the capabilities of the tools, with DOORS being more expensive b...
 

Also Known As

AgileCraft
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Anthem, nielsen, Homeland Security, NCR, dimension data
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, IBS AG, Zumtobel Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Jira Align vs. Polarion ALM and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.