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 #13 with an average rating of 6.5, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2. IBM holds a 3.9% mindshare in ALM, compared to Microsoft’s 10.3% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 20 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,624 Views
1,608 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Read 137 Microsoft Azure DevOps reviews

14,773 Views
5,761 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Microsoft Azure DevOps

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and Microsoft Azure DevOps are competing products in software development lifecycle management. IBM ELM has the upper hand in traceability and regulatory compliance, while Azure DevOps excels in continuous integration and deployment capabilities.

Features: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management focuses on requirements management, change control, and traceability. It offers robust features essential for regulated industries. Microsoft Azure DevOps emphasizes integration capabilities, agile planning, and continuous deployment pipelines, providing a developer-friendly environment with flexibility and adaptability.

Room for Improvement: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management could improve by enhancing its integration capabilities, improving user interface, and offering more flexible deployment options. Microsoft Azure DevOps should focus on expanding regulatory compliance features, improving tailored support for industries with stringent requirements, and enhancing traceability for regulated environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management deployment requires comprehensive planning and offers strong support for initial setup. Microsoft Azure DevOps benefits from flexible deployment options, facilitated by its cloud-native approach, with easier deployment across diverse IT environments and relying on the extensive Microsoft ecosystem.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management tends to have higher initial setup costs, justified by specialization and compliance strengths, resulting in strong ROI for industries with stringent requirements. Microsoft Azure DevOps offers competitive pricing, attractive for businesses leveraging the Microsoft ecosystem, with a faster ROI due to cloud-based efficiencies and integration options.

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

Buyer's Guide

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

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 880,844 peers since 2012

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

13th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

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

7.0

Number of Reviews

137

Ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.9%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 10.3%, down from 19.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Azure DevOps	10.3%
IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)	3.9%
Other	85.8%

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) 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

Bharadwaj Deepak Mohapatra

DevOps Engineer at ENTERPRISE SYSTEM SOLUTIONS LIMITED

Have built reliable end-to-end pipelines and streamlined cloud provisioning through consistent collaboration practices

I am currently working with open-source tools such as Jenkins for my main CI/CD pipeline, and for enterprise clients, I am using Microsoft Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline. For other clients, I have also implemented CI/CD YAML pipelines through GitLab CI/CD workflow and GitHub Actions. I am creating the end-to-end CI/CD pipeline from development to deployment and monitoring all of this. Azure Boards is easier than Jira for my understanding because there are very easy points to manage the Agile methodology which we work on. Because it is a GUI, sometimes the process may take a few minutes more than the CLI process since the backend is running the exact CLI, but we are commanding through the GUI. There is definitely a time lag, but it is more secure. Microsoft Azure DevOps pipelines work very seamlessly rather than other CI/CD pipelines, as of my understanding. The downside is that the process may take more time when deploying some clusters, Kubernetes, Azure AKS service, or some vast microservice architecture deployments. There may be a little bit of lag I feel, though I cannot tell very strictly that this is a disadvantage, but sometimes it takes a little more time than other cloud infrastructures. All the major things are done by GUI, which is somewhat a little slow. However, if considering automations, process, monitoring, and provisioning, then it is the best cloud service across all the other service providers. Our implementation is a hybrid cloud. Microsoft Azure DevOps is definitely easily scalable. I have worked on many Kubernetes infrastructures and microservice deployments, and I have seen that replication is very good because it is very easy. The replication process is very straightforward. I definitely advocate for using less code because it is very time-consuming. If using GCP or Amazon Web Service, there is more interaction related to work over the CLI process. In terms of Microsoft Azure DevOps, there are many things done by the GUI, which is the best part.

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

"I would rate the stability of this product a nine out of ten."

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

"It is relatively easy to use and user-friendly once the setup is complete."

"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."

"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."

"For companies in heavily regulated industries who are doing product development, IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is a good tool as it helps them create documentation that satisfies auditors."

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

"The word emulation and importing is good."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

"The solution's most valuable features are backlog management, build release pipeline, and testing."

"The most valuable features are continuous integration and deployment, and simplicity."

"Some of the valuable features are the functionality and the wide range of capabilities."

"The integration of the whole cycle is the main strength of the tool. If I want to control the cycle with other tools on the market, I would have to use several tools. However, this is not the case with Azure DevOps or TFS."

"I like the entire tool because it is a one-stop-solution for DevOps."

"My first impression of DevOps, after using Jira, is that it has a much better, more intuitive, and more user-friendly interface."

"It is possible to add third-party extensions to increase the usability of the product."

"It is good for monitoring purposes. We are using the build pipelines of Microsoft Azure. They are also valuable."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pros

Cons

"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."

"Some improvements to the user interface (UI) would be helpful, such as exposing more services to make it easier to customize to the needs of each customer."

"IBM Rational ALM should remove the features not used by the customers and keep this product as lightweight as possible."

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

"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."

"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."

"Improvement is needed in bridging DNG and Rhapsody and vice versa for better data exchange from both sides with some trigger technologies."

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

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"Azure DevOps is set up more for development and less for testing. If it is set up correctly, everyone can use it better, but it was set up from a development point of view, which means it is lacking in what I need from a testing perspective. Just like any other tool, it depends on how it is configured. I am not happy with the way it is set up. It is configured more from a development side, and it doesn't necessarily cater to all the other areas that probably need to use it, such as testing data, etc."

"I would like to automate notifications on sprint planning. When we are getting to the end of sprint planning, we would be automatically notified."

"As for room for improvement, more features need to be added to the classic pipeline. The build and release pipelines are present, but there has not been much improvement there."

"It is essential that you get buy-in from the top management down to everyone in the pipeline."

"The portfolio is one area where DevOps has room for improvement. Built-in reporting and visualization also could be better. We're using Power BI and Tableau to compile more complex reports and dashboards. Azure DevOps has some out-of-the-box reporting capabilities, but they're very simple. It's usually okay on the team level, but if you have to run a complex report, it's difficult and insufficient, so we use Power BI as an extension."

"The tutorials for building pipelines are an area that is a bit technical for a beginner."

"There may be a little bit of lag I feel, though I cannot tell very strictly that this is a disadvantage, but sometimes it takes a little more time than other cloud infrastructures."

"When we don't have some permissions, we have to research how to get them."

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."

"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."

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

"The solution is not cheap."

"The pricing is very competitive because of the whole development cycle by Azure DevOps. You don't have to buy and integrate several different tools."

"This product could maybe be cheaper. My organization handled licensing, so I'm not aware of which subscription they have."

"Microsoft Azure DevOps is an expensive solution."

"We purchase the solution on an annual basis."

"It's a good tool, quite rich, it has a lot of features, and quite a lot of analytical capabilities which are built on top of it so that you can see how your projects are going and all that stuff. It's a good tool."

"I don't know what we pay, but I do know what I've seen online. If we switched to JIRA, we will basically have to double our costs because we still have to pay for the DevOps licensing. We're probably spending $100 a month on it. It has only standard licensing fees."

"The licensing costs are reasonable."

"With Azure, you have to pay for every user."

More Microsoft Azure DevOps pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

880,844 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

22%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

University

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	42
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	69

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?

I think usability should be improved in IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) as the top priority. If you look at the UI, it was literally designed ten years ago, and even at the time it was i...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?

For companies in heavily regulated industries who are doing product development, IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is a good tool. It helps them create documentation that satisfies auditors.

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 19% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 16% of the time

Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 9% of the time

Jama Connect vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 8% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors

GitLab vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 57% of the time

Jira vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 7% of the time

Rally Software vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 5% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 3% of the time

UrbanCode Deploy vs Microsoft Azure DevOps

Compared 1% of the time

More Microsoft Azure DevOps Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

January 2026

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure DevOps

January 2026

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 (ELM) offers an integrated platform with customizable workflows, Scrum planning tools, and resource management features, enhancing project execution and collaboration.

ELM supports Agile and Scrum project management through its integration with tools like Git and IBM Doors, providing cataloging, traceability, and reporting capabilities. While users benefit from requirement management and dashboard functionalities, the interface and reporting could be improved for better navigation and customization. Its cloud-based architecture facilitates compliance and auditing, making it a valuable tool for engineering teams focusing on configuration and version control.

What are the essential features of IBM ELM?

Customizable Workflows: Tailor project processes to specific needs for adaptability.
Scrum-Based Planning: Facilitate Agile project management with Scrum tools.
Resource Management: Efficiently allocate and track resource usage.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrate with Git and IBM Doors for enhanced traceability.
Global Configuration: Manage configurations across locations for consistency.

What benefits should users consider?

Compliance Support: Provides tools essential for meeting industry regulations.
Collaboration: Streamlines team communication for smooth project execution.
Stakeholder Alignment: Enhances visibility and alignment with personalized dashboards.
Traceability: Ensures complete tracking of requirements and changes for accountability.

ELM is widely used in the automotive and manufacturing sectors for managing requirements and monitoring performance. Engineering teams leverage ELM for Agile methodologies, with central teams deploying it for end-to-end development processes including requirement gathering and backlog management. Stability and improved integration support remain critical implementation areas, along with enhanced governance features for comprehensive application.

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

December 2025

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

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Microsoft Azure DevOps and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

880,844 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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

See our list of best Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites vendors.

We monitor all Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.