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Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer vs IBM Rational Performance Tester comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 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

Broadcom Agile Requirements...
Ranking in Test Management Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Application Requirements Management (6th), Test Design Automation (3rd)
IBM Rational Performance Te...
Ranking in Test Management Tools
15th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Test Management Tools category, the mindshare of Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer is 3.5%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Rational Performance Tester is 3.4%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Test Management Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer3.5%
IBM Rational Performance Tester3.4%
Other93.1%
Test Management Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Hosney Osman - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solution Architect at Vodafone
Integration capabilities enhance testing and workflow automation
I rate Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer as 8 out of 10. It will be very nice if Broadcom has questions or comments related to my review and can reach me via email to clarify something. I want to be a reference for Broadcom. I don't have any information regarding the visual modeling function specifically. I'm not dealing with modeling requirements or generating optimized test cases in Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer. Broadcom takes a lot of information from us as end-users, and they provide fixes within two to five days maximum. My team has raised many enhancement requests and discussed them with Broadcom, and they are adding some of these features to the product itself. I look forward to receiving an email regarding these reviews, and I can add anything later if I forgot something, earning some points for this contribution on the website.
KashifJamil - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO at Xcelliti
Supports web and mobile applications, very scalable, very stable, and wonderful support
There are some features that Micro Focus LoadRunner provides, but they are not available in IBM Rational Performance Tester. They should include such features. It can also have more reports similar to what HP provides. It might also need some improvement in terms of the tools and support for other technology areas. Certain technologies are not supported by every tool. They need to support all sorts of technologies and platforms on which web applications and mobile applications are built. They need complete support for all sorts of technologies.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The optimization technique helps in giving us the minimum number of test cases with maximum coverage."
"I like the way Broadcom ARD inserts test cases in execution mode."
"The support that we get from Broadcom is great."
"Regarding advice to a colleague looking at this type of solution, I would say buy it."
"In terms of meeting business challenges, it helped to shorten the dev/testing cycle by identifying requirements gaps early in the process, by having models shared within the development team, and it helped increase test coverage and reduce the number of issues experienced by clients/customers."
"It takes away all the time to construct test cases, so it is all automatic now, but it also levels the playing field."
"It helped us to move from manual testing to automation testing."
"It gives us an idea of creating the visual diagrams, which are quite easy to use. It is helpful in creating our business processes."
"It's definitely helped in scaling the performance of our application."
"ROI is big because we do not need vendors to assist some with performance testing."
"Rational Performance Tester was perfectly suited to provide the means to monitor the availability and performance of our web services."
"With each new version, the tool gets better and better features."
"I strongly recommend this solution to others."
"This tool is very scalable, and for large scale tests, i.e., 5000 virtual users and up, it performs very well."
"Helped in improving response times in a few of our transactions."
"Once you are used to this tool, it is user friendly and provides very good analysis for web applications."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve security and authentication."
"A template in App Test should be created in advance. This has proven to be time consuming. The process is not fully automated, because there is a lot of manual intervention is required."
"Data flexibility is something which I would like to see, along with more integration with App Test."
"I think it's already coming, but it needs more automation aspects. There is a tab for Automation, but I think it's not robust. I think that it's going to be a crucial element of the tool."
"At present, there is no option for test data parameters from ARD for virtual databases. We have to create them in TDM and push them as well. Virtual database connectivity needs to be improved. They need to come up with some areas where they can create synthetic data parameters easily from the test cases that have been designed."
"Integration with Agile management tools can be improved, i.e., mainly test case maintenance and linking test cases to the automation script."
"When you have long flows or models, the display can be problematic, as it necessitates zooming in on the GUI and you lose the full display."
"I think it's already coming, but more automation aspects involved with it. There is a tab for Automation, but I think it's not robust."
"As intuitive as a product can be, its use could still benefit from a decent set of manuals or guides."
"We had open many PMRs for problems found in the products, and I'm not sure if all of them have been fixed."
"Support for more protocols is required."
"Installation and configuration processes, and support from IBM all need to be improved."
"Now, the price slightly expensive especially if you are in small-medium company, but if you are in a medium-high company, and need the powerful tools with IBM great name, just use it."
"User friendliness can be better, as this is one area where it lacks."
"Reporting needs improvement to provide more customization options in the performance test analyst to build custom reports."
"Sometimes new versions have bugs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​The cost of the tool was well worth the benefit that we saw on the back-end."
"The pricing model is based on how many people are using it. We have an annual license. There are not any additional costs."
"This tool reduces the cost associated with test cases, automation script generation, and maintenance costs."
"At present, Broadcom works through partners rather than dealing directly with the consumer. When there are discounts given, it's up to the partner as to whether they want to give that discount to the customer. Sometimes, the partners decide to take the discount themselves. Pricewise, I would give ARD's price a rating of three out of five."
"We were able to scale down some resources to basically self-fund our ability to purchase the tool."
"It is less costly when compared to other tools on the market."
"Recommendation is to go with concurrent licenses as oppose to seat license; this gives more flexibility."
"It is much cheaper than Micro Focus LoadRunner. We need perpetual licenses. Support is included in the first sale. After that, you need to renew support every year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Transportation Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
7%
Government
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer?
It's not affordable; it's very expensive. It would be suitable only for large customers, and a large customer will think twice before making a deal with Broadcom.
What needs improvement with Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer?
Integration with AI is an area that needs to be improved quickly. To be clear, this relates to how to use AI to improve use cases, break down applications, and review designs, as this area needs to...
What is your primary use case for Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer?
This solution saves a lot of time in the software testing cycle because, with Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer specifically, I am doing a flowchart, and I can extract test cases and use cases t...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

Grid Tools Agile Designer, CA ARD, CA Agile Requirements Designer
Rational Performance Tester
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Williams, Rabobank
andagon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom Agile Requirements Designer vs. IBM Rational Performance Tester and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.