Jira vs Polarion ALM comparison

Atlassian and Siemens are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. Atlassian is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5, while Siemens is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. Atlassian holds a 12.6% mindshare in ALM, compared to Siemens’s 6.1% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Atlassian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of Siemens users who would recommend it.

Jira

Read 279 Jira reviews

13,931 Views
7,523 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Polarion ALM

Read 24 Polarion ALM reviews

3,475 Views
3,197 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Jira

Polarion ALM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

Jira and Polarion ALM are prominent in the project management and requirements management category, respectively. Jira seems to have the upper hand in flexibility and integration capabilities, making it appealing for various organizational needs.

Features: Jira supports Agile methodologies and offers customizable workflows. It provides extensive options for issue and bug tracking, with robust integration capabilities. Polarion ALM excels in requirements management and provides strong traceability across the development lifecycle, ideal for sectors requiring comprehensive documentation.

Room for Improvement: Jira could improve its customization complexity and search functionalities. It's less robust for large enterprises and lacks built-in requirements management. Polarion ALM faces challenges with easy integration with external tools and could enhance task management and reporting for broader Agile needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Jira offers versatile deployment options, but customer satisfaction leans more toward self-help resources than direct service. Polarion ALM, with private and on-premises deployment, is appreciated for its technical support.

Pricing and ROI: Jira is cost-effective for smaller teams with its cloud offerings. It offers substantial ROI despite higher pricing for large enterprises due to its flexibility. Polarion ALM is more expensive, limiting accessibility for smaller companies but providing strong value in regulated industries.

To learn more, read our detailed Jira vs. Polarion ALM Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Jira vs. Polarion ALM

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

Jira

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

279

Ranking in other categories

Application Requirements Management (2nd), Project Management Software (1st)

Polarion ALM

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Jira is 12.6%, down from 22.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polarion ALM is 6.1%, down from 7.4% 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 (%)
Jira	12.6%
Polarion ALM	6.1%
Other	81.3%

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

Akhil Viswam

Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Agile workflows have streamlined sprint planning and tracking for faster feature delivery

Jira has a very good interface and it is very easy to manage sprints, tasks, and epics. The main feature is the hierarchy, as features can be converted into epics and topics, allowing bigger tasks to be partitioned into smaller ones. The hierarchy feature in Jira helps the team significantly compared to other tools that have been used, such as Trello, which is mainly useful only for a waterfall model. For modern Agile practices, Jira is the most adapted tool in the industry. Another valuable feature is that Jira APIs have been used for data science projects to analyze tasks and get insights. This has also been very helpful in the project.

Read full review

LasseMikkonen

CEO at byte

Has provided mature traceability and configuration features while supporting complex product development for mid-to-large companies

Polarion ALM can learn from Atlassian tools a lot, as the usability is not the best, and it is really narrowly focused on requirements management only. For example, if you want to do testing and test result management with it, it is very limited. Jama Connect has similar limitations, and both should really focus on developing the integrations and extendability. For example, Jama Connect does not even have an extension marketplace, whereas Polarion has a small one. However, compared to the Atlassian Marketplace where you can get whatever applications for whatever price, it is a totally different ballgame. I would highly recommend Polarion ALM add more AI features to it. I know they have started to do something, but for example, I have been developing widgets for IBM DOORS Next, AI widgets, so that you can write and analyze requirements with the AI, and I have also done the same for Jira, creating a couple of Jira applications in the marketplace as well.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the test cases in Jira. The orange dash items view was great, and I like the features and layout of the data. It's quite different, and people are now getting their items so quickly."

"It was very easy to learn Jira. As a scrum master, I run daily stand-ups, and they are run directly from Jira. The feature that I really love in Jira is called Issue Navigator. It allows me to customize how I want to show the user stories within Jira to my squad."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the source linking on the commit level to git."

"All of the tracking features are the most valuable because it allows me to see where we stand today and every day."

"I'm working in the IT department, and the ticketing system is the most important service for us. We are also using some automation add-ons. It a very good product for handling tickets and tasks and managing processes. It is also very useful and easy to use."

"It is easy to deploy in the cloud and other environments. It is also easy to view the reports of the sprint review or the sprint plan and the relation between the backlog and the repositories."

"We integrate Jira with QRadar which is helpful."

"It is easy to integrate Jira within our current IT environment. Jira has connectors and supports various integration."

More Jira pros

"I am impressed with the solution’s stability."

"Polarion ALM delivers both document views and table views simultaneously and organizes configurations according to norms and standards."

"Polarion ALM is powerful in easily creating your own workflows for completely different kinds of things."

"It offers good performance."

"It is a very stable solution."

"The software is stable."

"It meets with everybody's needs without having to grab plugins."

"You can see the work ticket and you can circulate that within the teams. You can define your flows, customize according to your needs, and you can create dashboards and create the reports according to your needs."

More Polarion ALM pros

Cons

"The next-generation software projects lack a lot, and I found quite a few bugs. There are some really basic things that you still cannot do. For instance, to put a mandatory due date for a task that you create in one of these projects is still not available. That's a bit of a block because people, especially those who are not technical, are not going to add anything if it's not mandatory. It's going to be difficult to teach them that they should do it anyway."

"In the way it is deployed, I think Jira is too dependent on the third-party applications that are available in its marketplace. If we could get some of the basic functionalities which are offered by these third-party applications, that would be ideal because each time we need a new functionality, we have to purchase a new plugin as an add-on."

"I find the dashboard to be Jira's most problematic feature."

"I do know the initial setup was pretty complicated. The user interface could be better organized and easier. "

"Its search and reporting can be improved. They are already nice, but they can be further improved."

"What I don't like is that perhaps there are not so many different apps that can add value over the management side of the product."

"It should have Behavior Driven Development (BDD). There should be an option to add macros to help with that. A lot of people are using it now, and it would be nice if there was a way in there to be able to generate the BDD of commands whenever you're creating a story."

"It is not capturing the number of hours for which each person has worked on certain things. We use many add-ons to let resources enter the time in the user story itself. We use an add-on called Tempo, but it is kind of a lousy add-on. It is not straightforward. Rather than helping us, it creates a lot of confusion. So, instead of looking out for the additional add-on, I would prefer to have the timesheet entered as a part of Jira itself. They are anyways capturing every information they could for each user story, and then we are able to break down all the task lists. For each task, we're also assigning a resource. So, while we're doing it, why can't they allow the users to enter the time that can be created as a report? Right now, we need to acquire the add-on, and the add-on is not great. It is not helping. The add-on is also not free."

More Jira cons

"The solution can be improved by making it more user-friendly, and a server-based application rather than client based."

"Test management lacks an automated process."

"Technical support needs some improvement."

"The solution's editing capabilities need improvement."

"The user interface is not yet optimized."

"The configuration aspect of the solution is not easy. A person needs a lot of programming knowledge in order to successfully handle the job."

"The system’s technology is not the most current, leading to missing features that are common in web-based applications."

"Integration requires a lot of effort. You typically need to work with an implementation partner to get it done. Most connectors available for Polarion ALM are paid. Unlike other vendors offering several standard connectors for free, integrating third-party software with Polarion ALM involves discussing and coordinating with the third-party software providers, which requires effort."

More Polarion ALM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are a regional research and education institute. We're using the free license provided for educational institutes."

"We used to be on a perpetual license provided by our clients."

"The basic price of Jira is reasonable, but for each plugin, we have to keep paying more. When you add it all up, it can be expensive. The main problem we face is we are forced to purchases plugin licenses for users who are not going to use them. For example, we have Jira licenses for approximately 450 people but if we only want a purchase a plugin for few people it is mandatory to buy the license for the 450 people who have Jira licensees. This is a problem because sometimes we need plugins for the product manager or for people in charge of the report, not everyone. For us, it can be very expensive in the end, they should alter this policy to allow plugins for only a set number of licenses."

"The price seems reasonable to me. It's very similar to Splunk."

"Its price is fine, but we would like it to be less expensive. We are paying on a yearly basis."

"Worth the extra cost."

"The price is quite competitive."

"As a company, we get a subsidized price, and it's lower than what's quoted on their website."

More Jira pricing and cost advice

"If the pricing would come down and it was more affordable then we wouldn't have to switch."

"The license model is okay for large companies but would be quite expensive for smaller enterprises."

"You have to pay around 50-60 euros per user."

"It is an expensive product."

"Software for medical devices is always expensive."

"Our license for Polarion ALM is yearly. And it's not the cheapest tool that we've looked at. So if we had made our decision purely based on the licensing cost, we wouldn't have selected Polarion."

"The solution is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

29%

Computer Software Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	107
Midsize Enterprise	56
Large Enterprise	150

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	12

Questions from the Community

Is Jira better or would you go with Micro Focus ALM Octane?

Hi Netanya, Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below data may be relevant to you for identifying your needs and deciding on the approp...

See all answers

Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?

Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Jira?

Jira itself is fairly priced for the features it provides, but pricing is a bit higher than some alternatives, mostly because many plugins and add-ons are paid and licensed per user. So even if onl...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Polarion ALM?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Polarion ALM?

We are in our product development using Polarion ALM's functionalities. I am a power user, partly responsible for configuring the tool. We are using it for many things. The idea was to go for a req...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Polarion ALM?

The pricing of Polarion ALM and IBM ELM is pretty much aligned. They are not at the same level, but I would say aligned according to the capabilities of the tools, with DOORS being more expensive b...

See all answers

Comparisons

OpenText Software Delivery Management vs Jira

Compared 8% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Jira

Compared 7% of the time

IBM DOORS vs Jira

Compared 6% of the time

Asana vs Jira

Compared 4% of the time

TFS vs Jira

Compared 2% of the time

More Jira Competitors

Codebeamer vs Polarion ALM

Compared 27% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Polarion ALM

Compared 11% of the time

Jama Connect vs Polarion ALM

Compared 7% of the time

PTC Integrity vs Polarion ALM

Compared 6% of the time

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Polarion ALM

Compared 5% of the time

More Polarion ALM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Jira

February 2026

Download Jira product report

Buyer's Guide

Polarion ALM

February 2026

Download Polarion ALM product report

Also Known As

Jira Software

No data available

Overview

Jira is a powerful cloud- and subscription-based application lifecycle and issue management solution. It is designed to aid users both in project management and in resolving any issues that arise at any point in the software development process. It is especially concerned with easing the ability of developers to collaborate.

Jira Benefits

Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy Jira include:

DevOps lifecycle visibility and planning. Jira provides application developers with tools that enable them to track and visualize where they are in the development process. This means that a DevOps team can measure their progress at all times. Jira’s roadmapping feature also enables a DevOps team to work more efficiently by setting goals for their projects, keeping them on track. Additionally, they are able to track whether they are meeting the goals that they set for their projects.

Regular product updates. Atlassian is constantly updating Jira so that it is continuously evolving into an ever more powerful and user-friendly solution. Users can be sure that the product that they are using is always being tweaked so as to provide them with the best possible project management solution.

Flexibility. Jira enables users to customize their workflows and dashboard so that the solution is operating in a way that best matches their needs. Jira can also integrate with more than 3,000 other applications and integrations. Organizations can use it to expand their project management and DevOps capabilities in many different ways.

Jira Features

Security capabilities. Jira is equipped with a number of useful security features. It gives administrators the ability to restrict access to certain tools so that only users who are authorized to complete certain tasks have access to the tools related to the completion of that task. Users can also set default permissions so that only particular users can work on new projects or particular projects.

Real-time notification feature. Users can set Jira so that it offers them notifications that contain critical information in real time. It can send users email notifications when pressing issues have been updated. They can also set it to notify them about tasks that may be due, or other similar events.
Activity log. Jira has the ability to track any and all changes that are taking place within the software framework. Users can keep a close eye on everything that is going on. This promotes a high level of visibility and can be leveraged to aid developers in their collaboration efforts.

Reviews from Real Users

Jira is a powerful solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its workflow engine and its highly customizable dashboard.

Bharath R., the tool implementation and project management lead at a financial services firm, writes, “I feel the strongest feature of Jira is its workflow engine. It empowers us to automate our workflows within our organization. It's the one characteristic of Jira which I think can help any organization, be it in any domain.”

Uday J., a staff engineer at a computer company, says, “Another thing that I like a lot about Jira is that in the dashboard, you can plug the modules that you want. You can enable certain sections. For example, you can show trend history, open Jira tickets, etc. Some of the managers have created a dashboard for each engineer.”

Atlassian

The world’s first 100% browser-based ALM enterprise solution, which enables seamless collaboration across disparate teams, multi-directionally linked work items, full traceability, accelerated productivity and automated proof of compliance.

Siemens

Sample Customers

Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.

Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, IBS AG, Zumtobel Group

Buyer's Guide

Jira vs. Polarion ALM

February 2026

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