IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs Rally Software comparison

IBM and Broadcom are both solutions in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category. IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.5, while Broadcom is ranked #10 with an average rating of 6.8. IBM holds a 3.8% mindshare in ALM, compared to Broadcom’s 6.1% mindshare. Additionally, 76% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Read 19 IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) reviews

1,490 Views
1,475 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

Rally Software

Read 119 Rally Software reviews

3,558 Views
3,345 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Rally Software

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 6, 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management and Rally Software compete in lifecycle management. Rally Software appears to have the upper hand due to its collaboration features enhancing team productivity, while ELM excels in integration capabilities, making it ideal for complex systems.

Features: IBM ELM is known for comprehensive integration, requirements management, and versatile tools for complex projects. Rally Software shines with its agile capabilities, real-time collaboration, and productivity-enhancing features. Its agile focus is particularly appealing to teams aiming for rapid iteration.

Room for Improvement: IBM ELM could improve by simplifying its deployment complexity and enhancing ease of use. Additional intuitive design improvements could further benefit user experience. Rally Software may enhance reporting capabilities and provide more robust support for enterprise-level project lifecycle management.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ELM offers flexible deployment models but might take longer due to its complexity. It provides superior customer service throughout deployment. Rally Software features quicker, simpler deployment and satisfactory customer support, making it suitable for faster project starts.

Pricing and ROI: IBM ELM involves a significant investment with a strong ROI for large-scale projects. Its cost may deter smaller teams, though extensive functionalities justify the price for enterprises. Rally Software, with competitive pricing, offers fast ROI by efficiently supporting agile transformations.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Rally Software Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Rally Software

July 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

IBM Engineering Lifecycle M...

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

12th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Rally Software

Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

10th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

119

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) is 3.8%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rally Software is 6.1%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Featured Reviews

Juergen Albrecht

Managing Director at CCC Systems Engineering Suisse GmbH

Combining tools for effective data analysis while customization and integration need improvement

The most valuable feature is how IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) allows me to present to the customer what the actual software, even hardware, will do. It helps them gain an impression of the complexity of the functionality and find an easier way to decide whether to implement it. A picture says more than one thousand words, which is why I work with the combination of ELM and the specification of DOORS. The automation capabilities I built use column-based scripts for analysis to search, fetch, and transfer information. When I open modules, it automatically analyzes the changes since the last opening by me.

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Deep Maini

Agile CSM - Sr. Scrum Master at Alliant Energy Corporation

Helps you collaborate on various effects and solutions from the top to the bottom of the organization

We use Rally Software extensively in our agile development processes. We have program boards set up where we write and break down stories. We assign story points and map dependencies between different stories, showing how stories from one team may depend on stories from another team. It integrates these functions well, especially compared to Jira, which has some limitations in this area. The tool keeps improving based on how teams actually work in Scaled Agile, continually upgrading their software versions to meet our needs. I find the whole Rally Software tool integrated very nicely. In Jira, we often go to Confluence for documentation using two separate tools. But in the product, it's not like that. The documentation is tightly integrated. I don't feel like switching to another tool, like going from Jira to Confluence. The tool is designed for collaboration. It shows your organization's view, showing different teams and verticals. It helps you collaborate on various effects and solutions from the top to the bottom of the organization. It has an ecosystem that supports this. All the dependencies between different teams can be easily mapped in Rally Software. They have a program board for that purpose.

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

"You can customize the board according to your needs."

"The cataloging is a very valuable feature. For a lot of enterprises, they end up not knowing which applications do specific features. The cataloging helps with this. It's not that verbose, but it still gives you allowances to put in more detail."

"At the same time, if you're working from the architect or the designing team you, it's quite easy to manage the resources online."

"The word emulation and importing is good."

"The planning feature is rich with Scrum concepts: Sprint, Sprint retrospective, the rules in the Scrum framework."

"We have something called the GC (global configuration), which is a unique feature compared to any other competitor we have in the ALM space."

"One of the key advantages of IBM Rational ALM is its workflow capabilities, which enable seamless collaboration between development and production teams and ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the progress and readiness of the solution. Additionally, the solution is good for integration."

"I would rate the stability of this product a nine out of ten."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) pros

"It's very user-friendly."

"It's designed around Agile, so it has all of the pieces that match up with the process."

"The most valuable feature is actually creating a field within there for architectural review. So when teams are struggling or have questions on the architecture or strategy that they take, they can actually flag that particular story, release, or project. Those can then be reviewed by the architecture team and the teams actually get additional information on how to course-correct, build on the architecture that we're trying to build throughout the organization, and get over road blocks much quicker."

"Tech support is very responsive, helpful, and available."

"The configurable Portfolio Management and parent-child relationships."

"It's a good platform to keep track of all the user stories across all projects. So rather than having one off Excel spreadsheets with all of the requirements, it is a good place to have all of that."

"The Defect feature. In one view you can see all your defects and you can push them into the different releases."

"The reporting, and being able to roll that up across the verticals, was an important selling point for us."

More Rally Software pros

Cons

"The user interface requires significant improvement as it is overly complex."

"The product must be more user-friendly."

"The directory designer manager is uncivil. The design manager is clearly really unstable."

"The stability of this solution can be improved."

"Of course it would be related to customer experience. The solution is not user friendly at all. It needs an expert to use it, although the reporting feature was okay."

"The reporting functionality needs to be improved."

"The solution can improve in the development area and the customized applications."

"In the next release, we expect a traceability metrics configuration where we can configure the user stories. We also expect them to improve or simplify the query process."

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) cons

"It requires better scalability for the implementation of the whole suite. We do not use it in that fashion, and visibility is sometimes a problem."

"The stronger CA can get on dependency mapping the better. That's the biggest hiccup. As you're setting up your features, they should make it easier to flag the dependencies, either across features or across projects. Then you're more set up for success."

"The solution is expensive."

"There's a lot of support for Scrum and Agile, but it needs something for the Kanban side."

"The Reporting feature can improve, especially around executive summaries and dependency mapping."

"I wish there was a view, like the Kanban view, where you could see the parent, and see all the children visually, so you could drag and drop where you want it to go. Something like that might help."

"There are few customisation options. For instance, the workflow for story cards cannot be changed out of the box from the standard (Defined, In-Progress, Completed and Accepted)."

"I'd like the ability to customize reports without having to incur Professional Services, or having to write my own code GitHub and then implement that as a custom report. That's untenable. It's not sustainable."

More Rally Software cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM Rational ALM has both monthly and yearly licensing options."

"The price of the solution could be reduced. Many of our customers are not using all the features and this could be why our clients feel the price is too high."

"This product is a little expensive and we had to pay extra to have them set it up for us."

"The solution is not cheap."

"We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."

"I understand it's a little more expensive. That is why many people prefer Jira."

"Rally Software costs $50 a month, and for a base account, that price is acceptable."

"I don't know the exact pricing, but I think the tool is priced high. They provide quality workmanship, good software, regular upgrades, and they're always attentive and listen to users. Everything comes with a price. I think it's an expensive solution compared to Jira or other competitors, but it's a complete package."

"It is expensive and may not be worthwhile for a small company."

"Frankly, pricing is expensive and needs to be carefully planned for when budgeting."

"We are always looking for a discount, if the solution was less expensive it would be a benefit."

"From a price point, it's a cost effective solution for our needs."

"The license costs are fairly high as compared to some of the other solutions out there."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

24%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

12%

Transportation Company

Manufacturing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Insurance Company

11%

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Rational ALM?

The solution is customizable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Rational ALM?

Improvement is needed in bridging DNG and Rhapsody and vice versa for better data exchange from both sides with some trigger technologies. This would provide a visual reminder of changes in a modul...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Rational ALM?

Most of my primary use cases involve the combination of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) ( /products/ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-elm-reviews ) and DOORS, including both Classic D...

See all answers

What do you like most about Rally Software?

Rally offers many features that help the management of activities, coordination, alignment and reports, which applies agility across the organization. If I were to highlight a particular feature, i...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rally Software?

I don't know the exact pricing, but I think the tool is priced high. They provide quality workmanship, good software, regular upgrades, and they're always attentive and listen to users. Everything ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Rally Software?

The product itself seems to have a lot of bugs. One issue is that it sometimes allows people to modify data inappropriately. For example, team members can change numbers at will. While we have a me...

See all answers

Comparisons

Jira vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 25% of the time

Codebeamer vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 16% of the time

Polarion ALM vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 10% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) Competitors

Microsoft Azure DevOps vs Rally Software

Compared 30% of the time

Jira vs Rally Software

Compared 29% of the time

TFS vs Rally Software

Compared 6% of the time

OpenText Application Quality Management vs Rally Software

Compared 5% of the time

Digital.ai Agility vs Rally Software

Compared 2% of the time

More Rally Software Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM)

August 2025

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) report

Download IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Rally Software

August 2025

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Also Known As

IBM Engineering Rhapsody, Rational ALM, MKS

CA Agile Central, Rally Enterprise, CA Agile Training, CA Agile Coaching, CA Agile Academy, CA Agile Management , CA ALM

Overview

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management stands out for its robust Agile Scrum planning, lifecycle traceability, and tool management, offering cloud-based configurability and strong collaboration features.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management provides rich capabilities for Agile project management, facilitating requirements and test management, configuration management, and version control. Its integration with IBM Doors supports comprehensive requirements handling, and the cloud-based platform enhances collaborative efficiency across teams. Despite needing advances in user-friendliness and reporting, ELM's global configuration and compliance features make it invaluable in demanding environments.

What are the key features of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management?

Scrum-based planning: Supports Agile methodologies with rich planning tools.
Lifecycle traceability: Offers complete traceability across development stages.
Customizable workflows: Adaptable workflows with Kanban for flexibility.
Git integration: Supports efficient version control and collaboration.
Global Configuration: Manages complex configurations globally.
Compliance and reporting: Ensures robust auditing and comprehensive reporting capabilities.

What benefits should be evaluated in reviews?

Collaboration: Enhanced sharing across platforms for seamless teamwork.
Cost-effectiveness: Delivers efficient tools that optimize project spend.
Comprehensive requirement handling: Facilitates detailed requirement management through IBM Doors integration.

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management is vital in sectors like automotive and manufacturing, where it implements Agile frameworks to manage requirements, conduct testing, and handle defects. It integrates into development pipelines ensuring live traceability and visibility, supporting critical engineering processes efficiently.

IBM

With Rally Software, you can plan, prioritize, manage, track, and continuously improve your work so that you can deliver the value that your customers need with speed, quality, and efficiency. Our enterprise-class Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) SaaS platform provides visibility into progress, roadblocks, and dependencies across multiple teams, projects, and programs. This allows you to align to your strategic goals and create better business results, and to do it all in a single system of record.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst

Physicians Mutual, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Editora Abril, Tata Communications, Level 3 Communications, Seagate, TomTom, Philips, Hiscox, Physicians Mutual, MYOB

Buyer's Guide

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Rally Software

July 2025

Free Report: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Rally Software

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) vs. Rally Software and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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