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 #12 with an average rating of 7.5, while PTC is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.5. IBM holds a 3.7% mindshare in ALM, compared to PTC’s 4.4% mindshare. Additionally, 76% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 68% of PTC users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 19 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,488 Views
1,473 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

PTC Integrity

Read 13 PTC Integrity reviews

1,882 Views
1,863 Comparison Views

68% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

PTC Integrity

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

PTC Integrity and IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management compete in software development lifecycle management. IBM ELM holds an edge due to its comprehensive feature set, making it more suitable for complex project environments despite higher pricing.

Features: PTC Integrity offers configuration management, process control, and integration with existing PTC tools. IBM ELM, on the other hand, provides extensive requirements management, architectural tools, and enhanced traceability.

Room for Improvement: PTC Integrity could enhance its traceability capabilities, user interface customization, and integration options with third-party tools. IBM ELM could improve its user interface complexity, deployment complexity, and initial training requirements for new users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PTC Integrity stands out with straightforward deployment and attentive support, enabling quicker integration into existing processes. IBM ELM, despite a more complex deployment due to its broader toolset, offers competent customer service to tackle implementation challenges.

Pricing and ROI: PTC Integrity is associated with lower setup costs, offering favorable ROI for cost-conscious organizations. In contrast, IBM ELM requires higher initial investment but delivers long-term strategic benefits and a comprehensive approach.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. PTC Integrity Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. PTC Integrity

July 2025

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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

12th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

PTC Integrity

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

13th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.7%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PTC Integrity is 4.4%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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) ( /products/ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-elm-reviews ) 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.

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Neha Wanjari

Technical Lead at KPIT Technologies

Helps to create tasks, change requests and documentation

I personally like PTC Integrity because it provides everything within the software. You can store and access your data and perform various tasks. Compared to other products, I find it user-friendly, which can sometimes feel complex. I think PTC Integrity is user-friendly, making it nice to use. The tool is easier to learn. The tool has a dashboard that details our projects and products, including the number of tasks, change requests, and their statuses (incomplete or complete). Having all this data within the solution makes collaborating easy for our project team. Unlike using multiple tools, having everything we need in one software platform is convenient. I rate the tool's user experience and interface a nine point five out of ten.

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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

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"At the same time, if you're working from the architect or the designing team you, it's quite easy to manage the resources online."

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

"The solution is customizable."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

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

"We have been using it because it gives certain abilities in the automotive industry, such as auditing or keeping track of information."

"Complete traceability as per process requirements."

"The most valuable feature is traceability starting from the requirements until the end of a project."

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

"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."

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

"PTC Integrity has good stability."

More PTC Integrity pros

Cons

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

"The interconnectivity between packages is a major support problem and can be improved."

"There is not enough beginner support material in the form of FAQs or simple training to help you get started."

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

"The GUI is a little bit outdated."

"The solution can improve in the development area and the customized applications."

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

"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."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"The web version does not have all the functionalities of the non-web version. Administration and adding/removing fields, etc. cannot be done on the web version. People want solutions that are compatible with Android. I also want to have a version by which I can bulk edit all the fields."

"The tool's web-based UI needs improvement. Some functionalities don't work yet, and querying items is slow. Also, it's not in the cloud yet. I don't know if they'll do it in the future because they already have core agreements with customers. If they offer these functionalities, customers will likely buy their product."

"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."

"We are unhappy because everything that we needed required customization and this is not a plug-and-play type of solution at all."

"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."

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

"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."

More PTC Integrity 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."

"The solution is not cheap."

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

"This product is a little expensive and we had to pay extra to have them set it up for us."

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

"The product is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

25%

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

12%

Transportation Company

Manufacturing Company

26%

Computer Software Company

17%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

Improvement is needed in bridging DNG and Rhapsody and vice versa for better data exchange from both sides with some trigger technologies. This would provide a visual reminder of changes in a modul...

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What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?

Most of my primary use cases involve the combination of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) ( /products/ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-elm-reviews ) and DOORS, including both Classic D...

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

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Compared 26% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 18% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 17% of the time

Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 10% of the time

Atlassian ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 7% of the time

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Codebeamer vs PTC Integrity

Compared 59% of the time

Polarion ALM vs PTC Integrity

Compared 13% of the time

Jira vs PTC Integrity

Compared 9% of the time

Rally Software vs PTC Integrity

Compared 3% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs PTC Integrity

Compared 3% of the time

More PTC Integrity Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

July 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

PTC Integrity

June 2025

Download PTC Integrity product report

Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

MKS

Overview

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management stands out for its robust Agile Scrum planning, lifecycle traceability, and tool management, offering cloud-based configurability and strong collaboration features.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management provides rich capabilities for Agile project management, facilitating requirements and test management, configuration management, and version control. Its integration with IBM Doors supports comprehensive requirements handling, and the cloud-based platform enhances collaborative efficiency across teams. Despite needing advances in user-friendliness and reporting, ELM's global configuration and compliance features make it invaluable in demanding environments.

What are the key features of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?

Scrum-based planning: Supports Agile methodologies with rich planning tools.
Lifecycle traceability: Offers complete traceability across development stages.
Customizable workflows: Adaptable workflows with Kanban for flexibility.
Git integration: Supports efficient version control and collaboration.
Global Configuration: Manages complex configurations globally.
Compliance and reporting: Ensures robust auditing and comprehensive reporting capabilities.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Collaboration: Enhanced sharing across platforms for seamless teamwork.
Cost-effectiveness: Delivers efficient tools that optimize project spend.
Comprehensive requirement handling: Facilitates detailed requirement management through IBM Doors integration.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management is vital in sectors like automotive and manufacturing, where it implements Agile frameworks to manage requirements, conduct testing, and handle defects. It integrates into development pipelines ensuring live traceability and visibility, supporting critical engineering processes efficiently.

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

July 2025

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. PTC Integrity

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