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Jira Align vs ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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

Jira Align
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites (9th), Value Stream Management Software (1st)
ServiceNow Strategic Portfo...
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
34
Ranking in other categories
Project Portfolio Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Enterprise Agile Planning Tools category, the mindshare of Jira Align is 5.3%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management is 5.9%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Tonia Spight-Sokoya - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly with good documentation and the ability to integrate with other third arty vendors
I am really focused on identity access management and getting access to the vendors. Right now, I'm setting up vendor access through Azure. You can do that or with the IAM. Sometimes we have to create several different types of access because we have vaulted databases. We have the Unix databases, I have MySQL, and we have Mongo, where I get access to those user classes or to the databases in the host group. Those are all different access scenario forms that I submit after I do the configuration in the form with the security team. I need clarity on the IAM. I'm not clear on PAM eighter. Is there a form that they have to submit to get access to the internal cyber-risk teams to get their access for people to be able to use the tool on the Confluence side? Do they have to send some kind of form to the operation's security or enterprise security? To be able to get the access for privileged access, do they need to be working on projects that have vaulted databases? I still need to figure out how that works. Other companies that are competitors of Jira and Confluence, are able to create their active directories for the vendors that don't come in internally. They only do access through the cloud and through third-party, two-factor identification. That's something I was wondering if that was already implemented in the packages, the package for Confluence. It would be nice to have that right in the solution.
Srinivasa Neelapu - PeerSpot reviewer
Strategies and goals are aligned with demands and partners, making it a strategic approach for the enterprise but the finance part needs improvement
SPM is definitely strong for project management, but its finance capabilities are not as robust. While there is a separate Financial Management product, it would be beneficial to have more out-of-the-box support for finance integrations within SPM. I’m not suggesting replacing systems like SAP for finance, but there should be better support for financial integrations. Currently, connecting to SaaS solutions is complicated, and getting into detailed financial calculations is challenging. Forecasting is manageable, but handling actual financials is not as straightforward. The finance area needs improvement, specifically making finance application integrations easier. Generic finance capabilities should be more user-friendly and integrated into SPM. Although they have started this journey, it hasn’t been fully released yet. There seems to be a roadmap, and once complete, it will be very useful. Additionally, incorporating a Q&A feature for entire strategies or project demands and enhancing text analytics within SPM would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use Jira Align for business strategies, collaboration, and reporting."
"The tool helps us to stick with the timeline and budget of our projects. It also helps me to identify dependencies and red flags and intervene wherever possible. I have found the key metrics tab also useful."
"Jira Align has been quite a helpful tool for us because, without it, we would be juggling with all our story points or our backlog items, which would be difficult to manage."
"The most valuable features are the ability to customize the entries and to update them quickly. Since the new version they released, we started utilizing the customization features to create specific codes and symbols for our teams that were not available before. For example, in team A each person had their own symbols and we had our own demarcation. When our project or task was completed, we had a code that we could enter online that let the main project managers know that it was time to remove it."
"The biggest advantage of Jira Align, in my opinion, is its user-friendly interface, making it simple and easy for end users to navigate and utilize. The most valuable feature of Jira Align for me is its automation capabilities, allowing us to create automation rules based on logical conditions for our projects. In terms of cross-team collaboration, Jira Align's integration with our project squads has been highly effective. It enables seamless creation of stories linked to incidents and changes, facilitating better visibility and understanding of the relationships between them. Regarding road mapping and dependency tracking, Jira Align enhances our project planning by aligning with our best practices and providing robust capabilities for mapping out dependencies and tracking progress."
"The linking of PI Objectives with different features was one of the cool things. It had features, epics, and stories out of the box."
"In our workflow, we utilize a dashboard. Our product development backbone relies on two-week sprints. At the beginning of each sprint, we conduct a planning meeting to discuss and challenge the backlogs. Throughout the sprint, we conduct daily sessions to review code, ensure alignment with coding standards, and address any issues. Once all tasks are completed, we proceed with the deployment process."
"I found Confluence most valuable."
"We like the status report feature. It is something really valuable."
"Stable and scalable solution."
"The stability is excellent. ServiceNow is one of the leading platforms when it comes to stability."
"The interface is extremely user-friendly."
"The PPM module is an excellent service."
"In mature companies ready for it, the return on investment would be a nine point five."
"The new feature includes different lenses, such as the organizational lens or project manager lens, allowing us to view data through various perspectives. Previously, the journey started with demand, project, and idea management."
"Information management is very beneficial for our customers."
 

Cons

"Other companies that are competitors of Jira and Confluence, they are able to create their active directories for the vendors that don't come in internally."
"It should just have the integration with Jira. We haven't looked at it since Atlassian bought the product."
"One feature that needs improvement is the tool's ability to change schedules automatically. Users can't simply drag and drop tasks to reschedule them without notifying the entire team. This lack of functionality can hinder project management control, as changes should be communicated transparently to all team members."
"There is no linkage between the Jira records and the overarching schedule. We maintain the overarching schedule in Microsoft Project, and there is no linkage back and forth with the Jira tasks. They are independent of each other."
"In my company, we found the solution to have many issues regarding its ability to handle claims and other processes since the solution is not available on a single window."
"The solution’s stability could be improved."
"Maybe some of the terms and the connectivity could be improved."
"One area where Jira Align could be improved is mobile accessibility."
"It could be more user-friendly."
"The portfolio management tool is not as good as DevOps or Jira because it requires a Russian site and BitLocker to train users or run projects."
"Dashboard interface is limited functionally and not very user friendly"
"When we import a really big project with a lot of tasks on it, we face some issues with dependencies. The links between tasks are not working very well. There is definitely room for improvement there. Microsoft Project, in my opinion, is the best option for such a use case."
"ServiceNow IT Business Management could improve by adding better artificial intelligence."
"The adoption of the Common Service Data Model in an organization to leverage best practices is where the challenge lies. It's not that the product lacks features, but rather organizations often adopt it at a maturity level beyond their capacity."
"A major improvement we would like to see is definitely around agile management."
"The product does not give us the freedom to capture all the instances, test cases, and evidence."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Jira Align is an expensive solution."
"Jira Align was reasonably priced then, especially for a bundle license that accommodated around 50 monthly users."
"Our customers buy licenses. We are not involved in its purchase."
"Jira Align's pricing is reasonable."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate Jira Align a seven out of ten."
"My company pays approximately 399 USD per month for the solution."
"Jira Align has price packages for different purposes."
"The license for Jira Align is priced fairly."
"They sell some things in bundles, and it could be handier that some of those things could be sold in another way, like purity models and other packages. Another thing that I'm struggling with is the pricing of ServiceNow's FYE experience, which includes the tools that are positioned for supporting HR."
"The licensing is based on metrics and is tailored to customer's needs."
"The solution was quite expensive."
"The solution could improve by being less expensive and the pricing model is confusing. Many people are getting charged different amounts. There are additional fees that they are adding on."
"The cost of the solution should not be more than $50,000 annually."
"We have a team of about 6,500 employees across the globe. So, the amount of money I'm going to save by putting the money on the table for the implementation and licenses is very high."
"It's more suitable for larger companies as the licensing cost is relatively high. Not everyone can afford this tool."
"It is a little expensive. We are in Brazil, and for us, it is a little expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Insurance Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Healthcare Company
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Jira Align?
I joined the company because they had a large project, and as a startup company, they needed to scale up efficiently. My task was to review the current baseline, assess the team's capabilities, and...
What needs improvement with Jira Align?
The platform's communication features could be more robust for better team integration.
What is your primary use case for Jira Align?
We use Jira Align for business strategies, collaboration, and reporting. The solution allows us to manage the various products and features delivered on that platform.
What do you like most about ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management?
We mainly use the solution to support operations and align our ITSM operations with our business goals. This involves coordinating between our application development, support teams, and network en...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management?
If a company is prepared to get a return on the investment, the price is worth it. ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management is ready for a future organization, but if the organization isn't ready,...
What needs improvement with ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management?
The adoption of the Common Service Data Model in an organization to leverage best practices is where the challenge lies. It's not that the product lacks features, but rather organizations often ado...
 

Also Known As

AgileCraft
IT Business Management, ServiceNow IT Business Management Suite, ServiceNow ITBM Suite, ServiceNow ITBM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Anthem, nielsen, Homeland Security, NCR, dimension data
Proximus, UNT SYSTEM, SAP SuccessFactors
Find out what your peers are saying about Jira Align vs. ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.