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IBM Rational ALM vs TFS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
5.0
TFS support receives mixed reviews, with praise for quick, knowledgeable service but some criticism for occasional slow responses.
 

Room For Improvement

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
6.0
TFS needs enhanced stability, features, and user interface, with improved integrations, cost efficiency, and Agile functionality for competitiveness.
I am content with how TFS is structured now, particularly the Azure version.
 

Scalability Issues

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
7.4
TFS is scalable and reliable for varying team sizes, though complex for large organizations, aided by Microsoft support.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
6.8
TFS offers cost-effective pricing with Visual Studio but is seen as complex; assess needs and explore cloud options.
 

Stability Issues

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.1
TFS is generally stable with few disruptions, but performance improvements and resource allocation are recommended for optimal use.
 

Valuable Features

No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.3
TFS provides seamless Visual Studio integration, version control, Agile support, test management, customization, and secure collaboration with an intuitive interface.
The integration with Azure DevOps also offers seamless functionality for CI/CD processes.
 

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
TFS
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
Test Management Tools (3rd)
 

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 TFS is 5.6%, down from 9.5% 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…
Pmurki@Micron.Com Praveen - PeerSpot reviewer
Version control is excellent and good for code review, branching, merging strategies and more
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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816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
24%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
61%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

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...
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...
What do you like most about TFS?
Microsoft's technical team is supportive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TFS?
There are many version control options available in the market. From a costing and licensing perspective, I would rate it around six out of ten. It is not the cheapest product, but it offers good v...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Rational ALM, MKS
Team Foundation Server
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst
Vendex KBB IT Services, Info Support, Fujitsu Consulting, TCSC, Airways New Zealand, HP
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Rational ALM vs. TFS and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.