IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs PTC Integrity comparison

IBM and PTC are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 6.5, while PTC is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.7. IBM holds a 3.7% mindshare in ALM, compared to PTC’s 4.1% mindshare. Additionally, 77% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 70% of PTC users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 20 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,744 Views
1,727 Comparison Views

77% willing to recommend

PTC Integrity

Read 14 PTC Integrity reviews

1,959 Views
1,959 Comparison Views

70% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

PTC Integrity

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

PTC Integrity and IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management compete in the software development and lifecycle management space. Users generally favor the comprehensive features of IBM ELM, although PTC Integrity offers advantages in cost and support, suggesting a balance between price and capability.

Features: PTC Integrity offers robust change and configuration management with seamless platform integration, excellent requirement capture tools, and powerful workflow creation. IBM ELM provides extensive reporting capabilities, strong traceability for complex projects, and a customizable auditing trail.

Room for Improvement: PTC Integrity could improve its cloud deployment options and streamline its complex interface. It requires enhanced integration capacity with tools like Git. IBM ELM may benefit from a more intuitive user interface and simpler learning curve. It should also focus on enhancing real-time collaboration and better version control features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ELM's cloud-based model facilitates flexibility and quick setup, paired with proactive customer support. PTC Integrity's on-premises deployment requires more initial effort but offers dedicated service. They differ in the choice between cloud-friendly and traditional setup options.

Pricing and ROI: PTC Integrity shows a lower initial cost, appealing to budget-conscious users, although longer ROI realization may occur due to feature depth. IBM ELM presents higher upfront costs but potentially faster ROI through feature integration and productivity improvements, highlighting a clear cost versus benefit divide.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. PTC Integrity Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. PTC Integrity

February 2026

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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

13th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

PTC Integrity

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

12th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.7%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PTC Integrity is 4.1%, up from 4.0% 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 (%)
PTC Integrity	4.1%
IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)	3.7%
Other	92.2%

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

LasseMikkonen

CEO at byte

Has supported highly regulated documentation needs but requires a modernized user experience

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 introduced, it was already somewhat outdated. Even though it is a professional tool, nowadays people expect at least some level of usability from their tools, regardless of how professional the task is. Additionally, if you want to utilize it on a wide scale in an organization, you need to train every person to use it. There is always a threshold for new users to start using it.

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SHRINIVAS ALAGERI

Architect at a media company with 10,001+ employees

Customization has enabled long-term document and requirement management for complex projects

PTC Integrity should get rid of the old thick client and move everything to the thin client. The thin client should be made the single source of truth, the way it is for Codebeamer. PTC Integrity should try to integrate this with AI and should have automatic requirement to test case mapping and other AI features that are in Codebeamer. It is not easy for people to migrate from one tool to another, even though it is from the same product. PTC took over the In-Link product, so if I have to migrate my Integrity to In-Link, why would I replicate everything here? People are happy with what they have. The only headache is the thick client, which is a problem for the installation team. By having a thin client, people can directly open it from the web browser and it would be much easier and much better than a thick client on the system. With a thick client, you have Java installation that needs to be done and you have all those certificates to be installed for SSL. With a thin client, it would be much better and you could do all the administrative things also in that. I don't understand why they want a thick client. They could replace it with a thin client, the way it is for Codebeamer. They should incorporate all the AI things. PTC Integrity should become another tool with all the new features and new enhancements, and they should eliminate the thick client altogether.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tools for requirement capture we have found very useful."

"The solution is customizable."

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

"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."

"It's easy to use."

"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."

"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."

"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."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

"PTC Integrity has good stability."

"The most valuable feature of PTC Integrity is its integration with our existing PTC tools, especially for drawing release activities."

"The solution is flexible in terms of customization. You can bend and reformat it in many ways. You can also customize the APIs and public functions."

"I have found that previously, the OEM sector was managing everything, possibly manually. However, with the introduction of the product, it has become much easier for customers to handle their products. Previously, customers were using different software to manage their products. However, PTC Integrity offers a solution for requirements management, test management, and even development to support live ticket management. So instead of using multiple software tools, we can use it for all these purposes."

"We found the requirement management and the version control features to be the most useful for our client."

"It's a good tool to manage software versions, update the status, and manage tasks."

"Complete traceability as per process requirements."

"The tool is quite structured and has a good command set."

More PTC Integrity pros

Cons

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

"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."

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

"The GUI is a little bit outdated."

"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."

"If you look at the UI, it was literally designed ten years ago, and even at the time it was introduced, it was already somewhat outdated."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"The user-friendliness of PTC Integrity can be improved. The interface is not intuitive for first-time users and takes time to get accustomed to."

"It's not so customizable. Compared to other tools, defining user stories is a slightly more cumbersome process as an ALM engineer."

"From my experience over the years, I believe there might be room for improvement in PTC Integrity. While it's already a good product, it tends to be slower than other software. When it becomes bulky, it slows down even more, sometimes leading to crashes or hangs that require restarting the computer before being able to use PTC Integrity again. This has been my experience multiple times."

"PTC Integrity is causing us a headache. We have to install it in 3,000 different systems."

"For complex businesses, the internal templates could have more flexibility and compatibility."

"To be honest, the third controller system is kind of old. There are lots of transactional changes that have not been implemented in PTC. If you have a larger project, for example, whenever you give bits and need to change 10,000 files you can just commit them. But here the work style is a little more file based, so you'll have to take care of almost all the files individually. It's not a single commit like you do here, but rather you have to allocate time for each component or file that you want to check in or commit. That's a very big issue."

"There are not enough reports. People would like to see something similar to what is available in JIRA."

"I would like to see better integration from the architectural side."

More PTC Integrity cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."

"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."

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

"The solution is not cheap."

"The product is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

20%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

25%

Computer Software Company

14%

Healthcare Company

University

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	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	13

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?

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

What do you like most about PTC Integrity?

I have found that previously, the OEM sector was managing everything, possibly manually. However, with the introduction of the product, it has become much easier for customers to handle their produ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PTC Integrity?

PTC Integrity is expensive, but it is cheaper compared to IBM Rational. The comparative affordability in pricing is an advantage.

See all answers

What needs improvement with PTC Integrity?

The user-friendliness of PTC Integrity can be improved. The interface is not intuitive for first-time users and takes time to get accustomed to. A more straightforward and intuitive interface would...

See all answers

Comparisons

Jira vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 19% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 15% of the time

Jama Connect vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 9% of the time

Atlassian ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors

Codebeamer vs PTC Integrity

Compared 41% of the time

Jira vs PTC Integrity

Compared 12% of the time

Polarion ALM vs PTC Integrity

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs PTC Integrity

Compared 7% of the time

Kovair Intelligent DevOps vs PTC Integrity

Compared 4% of the time

More PTC Integrity Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

February 2026

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

PTC Integrity

January 2026

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Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

MKS

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

The PTC Integrity Software Suite provides a comprehensive set of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and Systems Engineering capabilities that enable cross-discipline collaboration, improve time-to-market, streamline compliance, and reduce product risk. Simplify the complexity involved in developing today's complex engineered and smart, connected products.

PTC

Sample Customers

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

TRW Automotive

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. PTC Integrity

February 2026

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