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Microsoft Azure DevOps vs TFS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Azure DevOps offers positive ROI, enhancing productivity and integration, especially within larger organizations using Microsoft infrastructure.
Sentiment score
7.8
TFS enhances productivity, reduces costs, and integrates well with Microsoft tools, proving valuable for efficient software development.
On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the best, I would say ROI is an eight.
Integrating TFS with Visual Studio and Azure Cloud has improved our development processes by providing better integration and reducing errors.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Microsoft Azure DevOps support is generally prompt and effective, though some users note delays and deployment support gaps.
Sentiment score
7.1
Most users find TFS support efficient, despite some wanting faster responses, with scores generally between 8 and 10.
Resolving issues took time since understanding our unique problems was not always straightforward for support teams.
as a Microsoft product, it might have limited global documentation or support options compared to GitLab.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Azure DevOps offers excellent scalability, efficiently managing numerous users and projects across various organization sizes without performance issues.
Sentiment score
7.5
TFS is scalable and integrates well with Microsoft apps, but faces challenges in large deployments with high user loads.
The scalability has left me pleased, not just for our teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, but as we expanded into North America, Africa, and even Australia.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Azure DevOps is praised for its stability, with minor issues quickly resolved, receiving high ratings from users.
Sentiment score
7.8
TFS is stable and dependable, with minor concerns addressed through updates, but lacks agility compared to Jira.
The solution is stable, and we did not encounter any stability issues.
Its stability is lacking as we have encountered security leaks and glitches.
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek improved integration, customization, reporting, and pricing in Azure DevOps, highlighting challenges with setup, updates, and project management.
TFS needs stability, interface, merging improvements, better integration, lower costs, simplified features, and enhanced agile and cloud support.
Those processes are a bit difficult for some customers who may not have technical knowledge and don't go through the entire documentation.
Enhanced system guidance highlighting best practices would be beneficial, especially if experienced personnel are not available for support.
TFS is not as fast, easy to use, or configurable as GitLab, despite moving into the cloud.
I am content with how TFS is structured now, particularly the Azure version.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Azure DevOps provides flexible, competitive pricing from $5 to $15 per user monthly, with discounts for partners and free options.
TFS pricing is competitive yet complex, favoring Microsoft's subscription for cost efficiency, especially beneficial for existing Microsoft users.
They don't even provide a POC where you can have a sandbox or stuff that you can go through and see how exactly it's costing.
I find it to be expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Azure DevOps offers comprehensive features enhancing productivity with CI/CD pipelines, user-friendly tools, and seamless team collaboration.
TFS offers versatile version control, seamless Visual Studio integration, robust lifecycle management, and efficient project and code management.
I can't approve my own request and move the code around without a review.
Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months.
The integration with Azure DevOps also offers seamless functionality for CI/CD processes.
Makes it easier for me to create builds and release pipelines without needing to program YAML files.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure DevOps
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
132
Ranking in other categories
Release Automation (1st), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (1st)
TFS
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
Test Management Tools (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 19.0%, down from 25.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TFS is 4.5%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

Ivan Angelov - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates agile transformation with potential for enhanced intuitiveness
What I liked about the solution is that it offers numerous features that are not available by default unless you are agile. Transitioning from the traditional Waterfall model to an agile methodology was challenging for us. Until 2020, our team predominantly worked with the Waterfall approach, using local tools like ServiceNow. We had a few team members who were familiar with Agile ISO, but none had experience with Azure. Therefore, we pursued Azure certification at the AZ-900 level. Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months. This preparation helped us get accustomed to the new tool, as transitioning to a new system invariably requires time. Managing a pipeline of deliverables became significantly easier with this solution. We utilized it for stories and integrated change management with Azure DevOps. Eventually, everything related to the environment was organized there, enabling us to follow up and track progress with our technical engineers on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Reports were automatically generated and sent to management, offering them insights into our progress concerning the predefined roadmap.
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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Answers from the Community

NC
Nov 9, 2021
Nov 9, 2021
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 friendly user interface. I think TFS does have a few valuable features, though, such as its project management, which happens to not only include user stories, but task management as well. It would be go...
2 out of 3 answers
Sameh-Hablas - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 14, 2021
Both, it depends on what you want to do with it and what is your technical environment. 
KM
Oct 18, 2021
Hi @Netanya Carmi,  Both are good and in fact, TFS is now rebranded as Azure DevOps server. Now the point is about your requirement, if your requirement is to work closely with Cloud Services Cloud Application and you are Ok to manage your code and CI/CD plans over the cloud platform then go for Azure DevOps whereas if you can't move the data to cloud use Azure DevOps Server.  But for such tools my first choice is Gitlab. Rest you can call me at 9717996125 or drop me at kulbhushan.mayer@thinknyx.com to discuss further.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
66%
Computer Software Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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 Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.
What do you like most about TFS?
Microsoft's technical team is supportive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TFS?
While I do not know the exact pricing, TFS is likely more expensive than GitLab.
What needs improvement with TFS?
TFS has room for improvement as there have been global security issues that many companies, including ours, have experienced. There are glitches, such as runners getting stuck, deployments generati...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps
Team Foundation Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype
Vendex KBB IT Services, Info Support, Fujitsu Consulting, TCSC, Airways New Zealand, HP
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure DevOps vs. TFS and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.