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 8.4, while Siemens is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3. Atlassian holds a 22.2% mindshare in ALM, compared to Siemens’s 7.8% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Atlassian users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 86% of Siemens users who would recommend it.

Jira

Read 274 Jira reviews

16,225 Views
10,856 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Polarion ALM

Read 21 Polarion ALM reviews

4,208 Views
2,913 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

Jira

Polarion ALM

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Jira and Polarion ALM are both strong contenders in the project management and application lifecycle management space, catering to different user needs and industries. Jira seems to have the upper hand with its flexibility and integration options, while Polarion ALM stands out for industries requiring stringent compliance.

Features: Jira offers customization of workflows, manages sprint planning, and provides an adaptable Kanban board for both technical and non-technical users. It integrates well with other tools and offers easy deployment and robust reporting options. Polarion ALM excels in traceability across requirements, development, and testing, making it ideal for industries needing compliance. It integrates work management, source code management, and test automation while offering document control features.

Room for Improvement: Jira requires better requirement management integration without third-party plugins, improved report customization, and enhanced viewing and management of attachments. Polarion ALM needs to improve its ease of use and integration with external tools, with users pointing out challenges with editing capabilities, reporting, and task management complexity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Jira offers various deployment options, including public, private, and hybrid clouds, as well as on-premises. It benefits from a strong community and detailed documentation, but direct support is sometimes inconsistent. Polarion ALM is mainly available on-premises and private cloud, with mixed customer support experiences, particularly in response times and support scope.

Pricing and ROI: Jira's competitive pricing appeals to small to medium enterprises with lower initial costs and flexible subscription models, though costs can rise with add-ons. Polarion ALM is considered more expensive, posing a barrier for small enterprises, but offers significant ROI for industries with specialized compliance needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Jira vs. Polarion ALM Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Jira vs. Polarion ALM

March 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

Jira

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

274

Ranking in other categories

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

Polarion ALM

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

7th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Jira is 22.2%, down from 23.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polarion ALM is 7.8%, 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

Saroj Ekka

Technical Delivery Lead at Applied Materials

Offers good repository integration, sprint board and easy to set up

There are some features and reports we need that are not there. For example, if I have to find out the capacity of the current sprint by user and compare it with the previous sprint, that visibility isn't there. We can know the capacity and what happened with the whole sprint, but not for an individual person to see where it's falling and how it's tracking. Report and analytics capabilities are important for a product manager. That visibility is important, so we use Jira. Some of the features are there, and I use my own Excels or other data things to compensate for that.

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Dina Bindi

Information and Communication technology at CNH Industrial

Provides traceability and compliance with high flexibility

It's extremely flexible. Configuring items is straightforward and doesn't require involving the supplier each time. We find the requirement management, test management, documentation, and dashboards very effective. However, we don't use DevOps-related features, such as integration with tools like SVN or Git, because we use Azure DevOps. The aspects related to requirements, testing, changes, tasks, and agile methodology are excellent, which is why we've been using it for a long time.

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

"The informatics is the most valuable feature. It captures what we need."

"In general, the GUI is nice."

"Our company follows the Agile methodology for software development, and this product is one of the best tools for companies that do so."

"We love the bulk edit feature. Jira also integrates well with Bitbucket."

"The dashboards are useful."

"The most valuable features of this solution are workflow and reporting."

"The task management aspect of Jira is pretty pure. They have a lot of great plugins that really expand your options."

"We have around 2000 plus users, so scale wise, there are no issues. We can easily scale up with multiple users."

More Jira pros

"Polarion ALM has some valuable tools for managing our targets and requirements. I think that's its best feature."

"It offers good performance."

"Polarion ALM helps us better structure our customer requirements, and we can also validate the specs of our products against those. If anything changes on our side, we see the impact, and we can see the effect If a customer changes requirements."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its browser experience. I rate its traceability feature a ten out of ten. From the initial stage to the release, you can manage everything through a single point."

"The best feature of Polarion ALM to me is its traceability link."

"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."

"The tool helped us to more effectively and efficiently gather and structure the information (requirements, test plans, project management data, etc.), and share it with the involved stakeholders in a safe and change-controlled manner."

"It's extremely flexible. Configuring items is straightforward and doesn't require involving the supplier each time. We find the requirement management, test management, documentation, and dashboards very effective."

More Polarion ALM pros

Cons

"So at one point in time, they did a huge UI upgrade. At that time, I felt like they had changed something, so it was hard to figure out. Now that we are habituated, it's not an issue now."

"In general, although we use JIRA, we never really learned how to use it properly. The learning curve of the solution is high. It has a lot of power, and yet we don't understand its capabilities."

"The initial setup was a bit problematic in terms of getting access to Jira. That goes for a few users, including me."

"The solution's stability could be improved, and it could be made more robust."

"I struggle with Epics, how they are implemented in JIRA, because they don't work like any other Story, I see a list of Epics, but although I can order them, there are some mismatches with how the Epics are used compared to what Scrum expects, or what Story mapping expects an Epic to be."

"In terms of improvement, I think Jira (Jira Agile, specifically) can be made more user-friendly. Most of the time, when people are somewhat used to the process, they find it easy to work with. But the thing is, if I want to create a sprint, I'd like the ability for it to come out like a kind of board or something like that. For example, they could offer something like a wizard for users who want to quickly create a sprint on the spot with a few clicks. I think that could be useful."

"I would like to see it connecting to Git. That could be useful. We use it for Stash, but I think there is one for Git also. I don't know if it's a plug-in that exists already, but that could be nice."

"Jira could be easier to use, especially for administrative tasks. It's quite complex, so it's important to understand it well. While the reporting and dashboards are good, there's room for improvement in some areas where extra features would be helpful."

More Jira cons

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

"I also recently suggested that CMS consider incorporating generative artificial intelligence into the system."

"The ease-of-use could be improved a little."

"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."

"The most important thing for them to improve should be platform-independent features. They should also provide extensive pipelines and release pipelines that we can define and we can work on."

"The interface for this solution needs to be made more user-friendly to provide a better user experience."

"One of Polarion's shortcomings would be planning. It can handle plans, but the planning feature is very basic."

"The planning and task management aspects of the solution were not that easy."

More Polarion ALM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is an annual subscription to use Jira."

"There are other solutions that are free making this solution seem expensive in comparison."

"It's not very cheap. It's also not very costly. I'd rate it a five out of ten in terms of pricing."

"Jira is expensive and a lot of people are choosing DevOps because they are cheaper, open-source, easy to use, and have basic licenses. Jira should decrease its price to be more competitive."

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

"We make use of the solution free of charge."

"I rate the tool's pricing a five out of ten. It's paid yearly."

"We had a perpetual license but have changed to a subscription."

More Jira pricing and cost advice

"It is an expensive product."

"The solution is 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."

"Software for medical devices is always expensive."

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

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

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

53%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

25%

Computer Software Company

15%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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?

We operate under a nonlimited license with Jira, allowing a number of users to access it with a single enterprise license.

See all answers

What do you like most about Polarion ALM?

It is a very stable solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Polarion ALM?

I also recently suggested that CMS consider incorporating generative artificial intelligence into the system. This could greatly enhance requirement checking, improve form, content, and clarity, an...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Polarion ALM?

We use Polarion ALM for software development, including requirements management, testing, change requests, and task tracking. We set up the environment by configuring items and reports based on use...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Jira

Compared 17% of the time

IBM DOORS vs Jira

Compared 11% of the time

OpenText ALM Octane vs Jira

Compared 9% of the time

Rally Software vs Jira

Compared 6% of the time

Codebeamer vs Jira

Compared 4% of the time

More Jira Competitors

Codebeamer vs Polarion ALM

Compared 26% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Polarion ALM

Compared 16% of the time

Jama Connect vs Polarion ALM

Compared 8% of the time

PTC Integrity vs Polarion ALM

Compared 7% of the time

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Polarion ALM

Compared 4% of the time

More Polarion ALM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Jira

March 2025

Download Jira product report

Buyer's Guide

Polarion ALM

March 2025

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

March 2025

Free Report: Jira vs. Polarion ALM

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