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Jira vs Rally Software vs TFS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Jira users report satisfaction with its cost-effectiveness, efficiency improvements, and quick ROI despite plugin challenges and difficulties quantifying ROI.
Sentiment score
7.5
Rally Software boosts efficiency by 10%, offers 15X ROI, saves time, and is cost-effective despite some user challenges.
Sentiment score
7.2
TFS enhances productivity and cost-efficiency by automating processes, integrating with Microsoft products, and improving software development for oil and gas.
The ROI is visible, as that's why we are investing in these tools and running our projects successfully through them, despite a few challenges such as role-based access being somewhat difficult.
Integrating TFS with Visual Studio and Azure Cloud has improved our development processes by providing better integration and reducing errors.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Jira's self-service support is aided by documentation and forums, though response times vary when escalations need direct contact.
Sentiment score
6.8
Rally Software's customer service is responsive, with quick, knowledgeable support and proactive communication, generally satisfying users despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
6.9
Users praise TFS support for its excellence, quick responses, and resources, although some suggest improvements in response time and SLAs.
I did not face any issues with stability or upgrades.
as a Microsoft product, it might have limited global documentation or support options compared to GitLab.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Jira is scalable and integrates well, but flexibility and customizations can impact scalability, affecting cost-effectiveness and performance.
Sentiment score
7.2
Rally Software offers strong scalability supporting large enterprises, despite occasional performance issues, effectively handling significant user volumes globally.
Sentiment score
7.4
TFS is scalable, suitable for enterprises, but larger organizations may encounter challenges; rated 6 to 8 out of 10.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Jira is highly stable, with few issues often linked to user infrastructure, upgrades, or customizations, and cloud stability strong.
Sentiment score
7.4
Rally Software is generally stable and reliable, with occasional slowness and downtime, but users appreciate the responsive support.
Sentiment score
7.7
TFS is reliable and robust, though minor issues under load or specific setups can impact performance, requiring proper hardware.
Its stability is lacking as we have encountered security leaks and glitches.
 

Room For Improvement

Jira requires improvement in customization, usability, integration, and performance, while users seek better training resources for seamless experiences.
Rally Software struggles with navigation, integration, user-friendliness, and requires improvements in reporting, customization, and workflow efficiency.
TFS requires improved interface, tool integration, agile features, merging, reporting, affordability, stability, cloud synergy, and performance enhancements.
To improve Jira, maybe some AI features could be added.
One area for improvement might be the rigidity in role and access configurations, which require many process changes to fit the tool.
TFS is not as fast, easy to use, or configurable as GitLab, despite moving into the cloud.
I am content with how TFS is structured now, particularly the Azure version.
 

Setup Cost

Jira pricing increases with user count and plugins, offering competitive rates but rising costs for larger enterprises.
Enterprise users find Rally Software pricing high but valuable for large-scale agile projects, suggesting a more flexible model.
Enterprise TFS users experience varied costs; many manage expenses with agreements, praising integration despite fewer features than HPE ALM.
Rally Software is affordable because our customers also prefer it.
 

Valuable Features

Jira is praised for its user-friendly interface, customization, integrations, agile support, and features enhancing productivity and collaboration.
Rally Software offers user-friendly Agile project management with real-time dashboards, customizable reporting, and robust integration capabilities.
TFS integrates with Visual Studio, enhancing version control, lifecycle management, and Agile support, valuable for diverse development needs.
Rally Software provides real-time dashboards for different kinds of stakeholders and governance, giving clear insights into project progress, team velocity, and potential risks.
The integration with Azure DevOps also offers seamless functionality for CI/CD processes.
Makes it easier for me to create builds and release pipelines without needing to program YAML files.
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Jira is 17.4%, down from 23.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rally Software is 5.8%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TFS is 4.1%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Jira17.4%
TFS4.1%
Rally Software5.8%
Other72.7%
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

AmitUbale - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient project management that's comprehensive and and helps with time efficiency
We use Jira primarily for project management within the organization. It helps us manage tasks, bug management, and tracking tickets effectively. We assign tickets to individual team members and track them easily For project management, Jira has helped facilitate efficient task segregation and…
Rakhee Srivastava - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time dashboards provide clear insights into project progress and team velocity
Rally Software is easy to use for Agile project methodology because it follows Scrum and Kanban, helping with sprint planning and backlog management. Rally Software provides real-time dashboards for different kinds of stakeholders and governance, giving clear insights into project progress, team velocity, and potential risks. Backlog management is present in the product, allowing prioritization of tasks. The dashboards provide all types of insights through analytics. Capacity planning helps optimize resource allocation, ensuring balanced workload and realistic sprint commitments for our projects. The solution integrates with GitHub, and we can also integrate with Excel and CI/CD pipelines.
Pmurki@Micron.Com Praveen - PeerSpot reviewer
Version control is excellent and good for code review, branching, merging strategies and more
I've worked with TFS for source control and Agile project management. We also used TFS for seamless team collaboration and tracking.  I used TFS for a couple of years. Now, we use Azure DevOps. It's a wonderful tool for source control and CI/CD pipelines It's a really valuable tool for…
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Comparison Review

it_user355629 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 19, 2015
JIRA can do incident management, work configuration, and a lot of other different things. But we haven't found anything as compelling as CA Agile.
The tools are not overly complex for Agile. It appears that CA has recognized that. They're not just building the connector for Rally, but they are also allowing other groups to build connectors from JIRA into CA PPM and from other tools to CA PPM. If you are looking at open source products, why…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Insurance Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business103
Midsize Enterprise56
Large Enterprise149
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise110
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise64
 

Questions from the Community

Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?
Hi Netanya, Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below d...
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 a...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jira?
We operate under a nonlimited license with Jira, allowing a number of users to access it with a single enterprise lic...
What do you like most about Rally Software?
Rally offers many features that help the management of activities, coordination, alignment and reports, which applies...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rally Software?
Rally Software is affordable because our customers also prefer it, and I have never heard concerns about pricing prev...
What needs improvement with Rally Software?
While I'm not heavily involved in project management tools, I am familiar with these tools. One area for improvement ...
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 improvement...
What do you like most about TFS?
Microsoft's technical team is supportive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TFS?
While I do not know the exact pricing, TFS is likely more expensive than GitLab.
 

Also Known As

Jira Software
CA Agile Central, Rally Enterprise, CA Agile Training, CA Agile Coaching, CA Agile Academy, CA Agile Management , CA ALM
Team Foundation Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.
Physicians Mutual, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Editora Abril, Tata Communications, Level 3 Communications, Seagate, TomTom, Philips, Hiscox, Physicians Mutual, MYOB
Vendex KBB IT Services, Info Support, Fujitsu Consulting, TCSC, Airways New Zealand, HP
Find out what your peers are saying about Atlassian, Microsoft, Nutanix and others in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites. Updated: September 2025.
868,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.