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IBM Rational ALM vs Rally Software comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Rational ALM
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Rally Software
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.9
Number of Reviews
119
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Rational ALM is 2.5%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rally Software is 6.8%, up from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

Harold Pogue - PeerSpot reviewer
A complex deployment that is not stable, but is cloud-based
The team of 15 to 20 software engineers uses IBM Rational ALM and Jira for testing. They coupled different online packages together because the Duration Enterprise was impossible to use IBM Rational ALM did not help the organization and we ended up moving to another solution. The most valuable…
Deep Maini - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps you collaborate on various effects and solutions from the top to the bottom of the organization
We use Rally Software extensively in our agile development processes. We have program boards set up where we write and break down stories. We assign story points and map dependencies between different stories, showing how stories from one team may depend on stories from another team. It integrates these functions well, especially compared to Jira, which has some limitations in this area. The tool keeps improving based on how teams actually work in Scaled Agile, continually upgrading their software versions to meet our needs. I find the whole Rally Software tool integrated very nicely. In Jira, we often go to Confluence for documentation using two separate tools. But in the product, it's not like that. The documentation is tightly integrated. I don't feel like switching to another tool, like going from Jira to Confluence. The tool is designed for collaboration. It shows your organization's view, showing different teams and verticals. It helps you collaborate on various effects and solutions from the top to the bottom of the organization. It has an ecosystem that supports this. All the dependencies between different teams can be easily mapped in Rally Software. They have a program board for that purpose.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is the reporting of the CPU usage on the dashboard."
"The solution is customizable."
"It's easy to use."
"The planning feature is rich with Scrum concepts: Sprint, Sprint retrospective, the rules in the Scrum framework."
"The tools for requirement capture we have found very useful."
"It allows us to work in a more dynamic fashion and track more of the development lifecycle."
"Helps me plan an estimate of how soon or how far out we'll be able to deliver something."
"Gives me a dashboard where I can see what things are not being worked on, what things are blocked."
"Helps me determine how fast I can launch, go to production."
"CA Agile Central provides visibility into how teams are meeting business objectives."
"My teams uses it for their daily agile management. They describe their user stories and track the progress of their projects."
"The effect of these kind of tools drives the way you organize things. It helps you shape the way you flow."
"The configurable Portfolio Management and parent-child relationships."
 

Cons

"IBM Rational ALM should remove the features not used by the customers and keep this product as lightweight as possible."
"In the next release, we expect a traceability metrics configuration where we can configure the user stories. We also expect them to improve or simplify the query process."
"The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex."
"The product must be more user-friendly."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The directory designer manager is uncivil. The design manager is clearly really unstable."
"It requires better scalability for the implementation of the whole suite. We do not use it in that fashion, and visibility is sometimes a problem."
"The stronger CA can get on dependency mapping the better. That's the biggest hiccup. As you're setting up your features, ​they should make it easier to flag the dependencies, either across features or across projects. Then you're more set up for success."
"The Reporting feature can improve, especially around executive summaries and dependency mapping."
"We'd like better dashboards to make visibility better."
"I would like for workspace admins to be able to hide projects in the Project Picker and not lose any historical data; make them invisible to certain users, visible to certain users, depending on permission sets. That would be lovely."
"It is hard to track the changes. For example, we're in sprint 25, and then we have 26, 27, 28, and 29. Throughout that whole time, we're developing pipelines in Azure, moving to GitHub, creating pipelines, and working with teams. But sometimes, we need to revisit specific decisions made in previous sprints, like pipeline details. Maybe it's in our Azure Wiki, GitHub, or Teams, but it's not always consistent. I wish I could search for all tasks or stories related to that particular effort without needing to know everyone's individual stories or features."
"Customization features may not be exposed or unavailable, so people may be looking for them. So, customization is an area people have told me is more desirable."
"There's a lot of support for Scrum and Agile, but it needs something for the Kanban side."
 

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."
"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."
"We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."
"I don't know the exact pricing, but I think the tool is priced high. They provide quality workmanship, good software, regular upgrades, and they're always attentive and listen to users. Everything comes with a price. I think it's an expensive solution compared to Jira or other competitors, but it's a complete package."
"The license costs are fairly high as compared to some of the other solutions out there."
"Frankly, pricing is expensive and needs to be carefully planned for when budgeting."
"Rally Software costs $50 a month, and for a base account, that price is acceptable."
"From a price point, it's a cost effective solution for our needs."
"It is expensive and may not be worthwhile for a small company."
"I understand it's a little more expensive. That is why many people prefer Jira."
"We are always looking for a discount, if the solution was less expensive it would be a benefit."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
24%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
80%
Manufacturing Company
3%
Financial Services Firm
3%
Healthcare Company
2%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Rational ALM?
The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex. For business users with no experience in IT, it can be particularly challenging to understand the UI and create test cas...
What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?
We use IBM Rational ALM as part of our overall application suite for our manufacturing company. It is used by our engineering team to capture requirements, perform testing, and manage defects. Spec...
What do you like most about Rally Software?
Rally offers many features that help the management of activities, coordination, alignment and reports, which applies agility across the organization. If I were to highlight a particular feature, i...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rally Software?
I don't know the exact pricing, but I think the tool is priced high. They provide quality workmanship, good software, regular upgrades, and they're always attentive and listen to users. Everything ...
What needs improvement with Rally Software?
The product itself seems to have a lot of bugs. One issue is that it sometimes allows people to modify data inappropriately. For example, team members can change numbers at will. While we have a me...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Rational ALM, MKS
CA Agile Central, Rally Enterprise, CA Agile Training, CA Agile Coaching, CA Agile Academy, CA Agile Management , CA ALM
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst
Physicians Mutual, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Editora Abril, Tata Communications, Level 3 Communications, Seagate, TomTom, Philips, Hiscox, Physicians Mutual, MYOB
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Rational ALM vs. Rally Software and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.