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IBM Rational Performance Tester vs Inflectra SpiraTest comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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 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
Inflectra SpiraTest
Ranking in Test Management Tools
18th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Application Requirements Management (11th), AI Quality Assurance (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Test Management Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Rational Performance Tester is 3.4%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Inflectra SpiraTest is 2.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Test Management Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Rational Performance Tester3.4%
Inflectra SpiraTest2.6%
Other94.0%
Test Management Tools
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Jason Lopez - PeerSpot reviewer
Test Manager at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Intuitive enough and easy to learn, but in terms of folder organization, it could be better
Inflectra SpiraTest is the new kid on the block compared to Jira and Azure. Still, when I started exploring the tool, I realized that it was no different from other tools I've used in the past, but it all boils down to adaptability because the features would always be more or less the same. I found Inflectra SpiraTest intuitive enough. It's also easy to learn, so this is what I like about it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It can support both web applications and mobile applications, and in certain cases, it can also support testing of desktop applications or software-based applications. You can write web applications, mobile applications, and software-based applications."
"With each new version, the tool gets better and better features."
"It's one of the most cost-effective products on the market."
"Virtual Users."
"ROI is big because we do not need vendors to assist some with performance testing."
"Helped in improving response times in a few of our transactions."
"This tool is very scalable, and for large scale tests, i.e., 5000 virtual users and up, it performs very well."
"Rational Performance Tester was perfectly suited to provide the means to monitor the availability and performance of our web services."
"Previously, before purchasing SpiraTest, the support was superb."
"The ability to reuse test cases already used across projects is the most valuable feature of this solution. We don't need to create new ones."
"I like the way how we can manage our test cases to test sets, and a great benefit is that the information about what, when, and who was done is anytime visible from every test case, set, and run menu."
"It has helped our company to centralise our testing efforts and create better visibility into our testing."
"Before there was nothing, so implementing this was a big step towards a structured test process, so it's priceless."
"The reporting functionality helps vendors and technical resources identify bugs and issues that need to be addressed. The simple dashboard-style home page makes training end-user testers simple and straightforward. The actual testing UI is VERY straightforward and very intuitive for the end-users that test the system since very often we pull from business and operational users to help test new systems."
"We were able to add a step-by-step procedure for someone to follow to assist in testing."
"Most solutions that did what SpiraTest could do, cost significantly more, while solutions that were of comparable price or lower, didn’t have nearly the robustness offered by SpiraTest."
 

Cons

"As intuitive as a product can be, its use could still benefit from a decent set of manuals or guides."
"Sometimes new versions have bugs."
"Since it is Java-based, it is expected to be a resource eater on Windows."
"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."
"We had open many PMRs for problems found in the products, and I'm not sure if all of them have been fixed."
"The installation and tool setup can take some time, since this involves several components."
"I’d like to see a tighter integration with Rational Quality Manager and the Jazz platform."
"For a rational performance testing solution, the initial setup is very complex. The setup was difficult and the documentation was not very up to date."
"Two areas that can stand improvement: integration with third party products and making it more intuitive."
"Being able to add scripting for testing can and does save a lot of time. When you are able to just ‘run’ a test case rather than manually add it and run it."
"Requirement/test case baseline functionality would be a great feature to add."
"One of the main issues encountered was around scalability."
"The folder organization in Inflectra SpiraTest could be better, though I cannot comment whether that is structure-related. Most of what I need would probably be in the tool, but as a test manager, I need to be able to create dashboards and reports easily."
"We have faced some performance issues. Inflectra may check the performance of SpiraTest."
"Only works fine in Firefox but not in other browsers."
"However, when you need to apply a change to a workflow which is used in multiple projects, you need to modify the projects one by one."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I Googled the pricing for Inflectra SpiraTest, and it's about $4,000 annually."
"The pricing was excellent. I would recommend the enterprise solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
7%
Government
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise7
 

Also Known As

Rational Performance Tester
SpiraTest, Spira
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

andagon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
- Morningstar - Deutsch Bank - Sopra Group - Booz Allen & Hamilton - UBS - US Government
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Rational Performance Tester vs. Inflectra SpiraTest and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.