TFS Reviews

Name: TFS
Brand: Microsoft
Rating: 4 (96 reviews)

Vendor: Microsoft

4.0 out of 5

96 reviews
88% willing to recommend

4,683 followers

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What is TFS?

Visual Studio’s Team Foundation Server (TFS) is a powerful application development lifecycle management solution. It aids developers in managing every aspect of their DevOps and application creation. TFS combines many different types of solutions into a single powerful platform.

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TFS is the #3 ranked solution in top Quality Management Tools and #4 ranked solution in top Application Lifecycle Management Suites. PeerSpot users give TFS an average rating of 8.0 out of 10. TFS is most commonly compared to Microsoft Azure DevOps: TFS vs Microsoft Azure DevOps. TFS is popular among the midsize enterprise segment, accounting for 65% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a educational organization, accounting for 60% of all views.

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Featured reviews

Pmurki@Micron.Com Praveen

VP & GM, Client Storage at Micron Technology

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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CarlBrown

Vice President Engineering at Vertex Downhole Ltd

So far, so good. We've had one external developer consultant that had to come in and access it as well, and that went well. I don't have any gauge about how it would be for a team of 50 developers. The hardware we're running on it right now probably wouldn't be enough, but I don't feel that it wouldn't be able to scale to a larger number of developers. From a security model perspective and from a functionality perspective, it seems to have all the features to be scalable. I just don't know about the performance. That's all. Currently, there are five of us who work with this solution. We have one project manager and four developers. We have one firmware developer who does not work in the Visual Studio environment. This firmware developer works in a microchip MPLAB X environment. All other developers work in the Visual Studio development world. So, it's more integrated, but both roles work. The same people also take care of its maintenance. From a source code management perspective, it is being used very extensively. From a build server perspective, it is used extensively. We don't do release management with it, and we don't have integrated automated testing turned on in it as well. Those are two fairly large areas of functionality that we don't use currently. We may in the future, but we're not using them right now. We're using about 60% of the functionality.

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Ashish-Kamat

Principal Consultant at Wipro

I have found almost all of the features valuable because it integrates well with your Microsoft products. If a client is using the entire Microsoft platform, then TFS would be definitely preferable. It integrates with the digital studio development environment as well. So, almost all the features for TFS are useful. The good thing is, unlike other products, you get a complete suite of features. Many of the other vendors don't have an entire suite of features available. If you take Jira for example, the requirements might be captured in a different tool. Or maybe there are other features in the lifecycle development environment and different tools might be used, but TFS offers a consolidated package. You don't have to go to other tools to capture your requirements, or maybe even if you're doing build and release planning.

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TFS mindshare

Product category:

As of November 2024, the mindshare of TFS in the Test Management Tools category stands at 8.6%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Test Management Tools

Key learnings from peers

Last updated Sep 16, 2024

Valuable Features

TFS features highly valued include its dashboards, Kanban boards, build management, and task-selection capabilities. Integration with Jenkins, backtracking, and test case writing are notable. Test plans, version control, source code management, user interface, and traceability are significant. Collaborative tools, user stories, and project management are essential. Comprehensive integration with Microsoft products, continuous integration, and secure code handling are appreciated. Users find the interface user-friendly, efficient, and easy to navigate.

"Once TFS is installed, there are no major issues."
"The initial setup was straightforward: creating a new project, importing code, and setting up branches."
"The initial setup is easy, it is easy to understand and use."

Room for Improvement

Users would like TFS to improve integration, dashboards, user interface, and lifecycle management. They also seek better test management, reporting, and easier project management features. Enhanced support for third-party tools, improved merging, and more agile functionalities are desired. They want TFS to be more user-friendly and streamlined, with better customization, performance, and cloud capabilities. Improved stability and easier migrations are also noted areas for enhancements.

"TFS should have capabilities similar to Git, like storing all types of artifacts in the repository."
"The product access management features and connectivity need improvement. Rights management is also complex and could be simplified."
"There is room for improvement from reporting point of view."

ROI

Users experienced significant time savings with TFS, reducing validation package creation from six weeks to one. Microsoft product interoperability minimized learning curves and costs. They valued quick issue resolution, essential for high-stakes environments such as drilling rigs, enhancing efficiency and cost savings. TFS significantly boosted cost efficiency and productivity in software projects, aiding planning, estimation, task tracking, and source control. TFS generated positive ROI, with users noting its worth and average return on investment.

Pricing

TFS licensing can be confusing, requiring careful review and a good user management strategy. Many users pay yearly subscription fees, finding them affordable. Compared to other tools like Rational Team Concert, TFS is competitively priced and cheaper. Some deem Microsoft products expensive but acknowledge their quality. The licensing is often on a per-user basis. Additional costs include a Windows Server license. Enterprise users value TFS for its reasonable overall pricing.

"There is a yearly licensing fee that needs to be paid."
"TFS is expensive, and the licensing costs are yearly. I rate the tool's pricing an eight out of ten."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily use TFS for version control, project management, test management, and software development. They utilize it for tasks such as bug tracking, code repository management, and lifecycle management. Teams leverage TFS for handling work items, user stories, and test cases, while also integrating it into CI/CD pipelines. Common functionalities include branching, merging, task assignments, code versioning, and collaboration within development frameworks. Many deploy it on-premises, while others are exploring cloud options.

Service and Support

Customer opinions on TFS customer service and support are mixed. While some highlight fast resolution and high satisfaction, others express difficulties and lack of responsiveness from Microsoft. Many rely on internal teams or online resources for assistance. Despite varied experiences, Microsoft’s technical support is often rated positively, especially for initial setups and specific technical queries. Some users have never needed to contact support due to effective internal handling or infrequent issues.

Deployment

Users found TFS's initial setup generally straightforward, with some citing ease of deployment and availability of helpful resources. While customization presented challenges, especially in cloud environments, many completed setup in a day. Expert support was sometimes needed, and complexity increased with larger teams or customized environments. Deployment duration varied based on environment complexity, and some users faced issues adapting existing setups or the agile method. Customization of templates also required effort.

Scalability

TFS demonstrates scalability, supporting various user counts from small teams to thousands of users. Companies report its successful implementation across different project sizes, with a mix of developers, testers, and managers. Some encounter difficulties, but generally, TFS scales well within organizations. Users highlight its capacity to accommodate expansion and provide robust hardware support. However, a few note challenges in managing large projects and branch issues.

Stability

TFS is widely regarded as stable, with many users reporting no issues, crashes, or bugs. It is reliable and highly available, used daily for new projects. Some found initial setup challenging, but stability improved with updates. A few users noted it could be more stable, with ratings varying from six to ten out of ten. Despite some minor performance issues, it remains a preferred and robust tool for many organizations.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our TFS Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

60%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Healthcare Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Insurance Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

University

Retailer

Media Company

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Logistics Company

Non Profit

Hospitality Company

Compare TFS with alternative products

Learn more about TFS

Visual Studio TFS Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy TFS include:

Build automation. TFS enables users to create definitions that can easily automate any and all tasks that are critical to the development of their applications. Businesses can utilize features that are built into TFS to accomplish preset tasks that can help them create the application of their choice. This can include enabling them to run automated tests when the need arises. Additionally, users can create custom tasks that will run automatically and allow users to focus their attention on the areas that most demand their focus.

Security. TFS is designed with the security of a user’s DevOps in mind. It enables an organization to restrict user permissions so that only developers that are meant to have access to particular parts of the development process can perform tasks related to those sections. It segments the development process to reduce the possibility of sensitive data being stolen.

Enables product rollbacks. TFS keeps copies of past versions of the organization’s application. Users can sift through the different versions that are available and can redeploy the version that best fits their needs should it ever become necessary to do so.

Visual Studio TFS Features

Source code management. TFS comes with all of the tools that developers need to completely manage their source code. They can share their code so that multiple developers can work on the same project. Additionally, TFS enables them to do things like review the history of a particular piece of source code.
Project management. Organizations can leverage the wealth of project management features that TFS offers and ensure that their projects run as smoothly as possible. Project managers are able to use TFS to control every aspect of their project, from the planning stage until the application’s development has reached its conclusion.

Reporting. TFS enables users to generate reports that leverage critical metrics and provide them with important insights into the applications that they are creating. These comprehensive reports can be secured so that only users with the proper level of clearance can access them.

Reviews from Real Users

TFS is a highly effective solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its source code management capabilities and its powerful integration suite.

Carl B., the vice president of engineering at Vertex Downhole Ltd, writes, “The most valuable features are related to source code management. Using TFS for source code management and being able to branch and have multiple developers work on the same projects is valuable. We can also branch and merge code back together.”

Ashish K., the principal consultant at Wipro, says, “I have found almost all of the features valuable because it integrates well with your Microsoft products. If a client is using the entire Microsoft platform, then TFS would be definitely preferable. It integrates with the digital studio development environment as well.”

TFS was previously known as Team Foundation Server.