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Jira Align vs Polarion ALM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 15, 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

Jira Align
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
7th
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Value Stream Management Software (1st)
Polarion ALM
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
5th
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Jira Align is 2.0%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polarion ALM is 6.4%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Polarion ALM6.4%
Jira Align2.0%
Other91.6%
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2788377 - PeerSpot reviewer
Agile Coach/SAFe Team Coach at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Long-term agile tracking has supported development but reporting has required workarounds
I know Jira as Jira; I have used the cloud and I have used on-premise. It is an issue tracker. My experience has been positive, as it is an okay tool, but I like Azure DevOps better. I assess the dependency management feature as okay, but again, Azure DevOps is better; it is more customizable. I find the scenario planning features are okay, but if you have a good Scrum Master or Agile coach, you can get a lot better insights just by looking at the data. We export most of what is in Jira to Power BI so we can run better reports.
LasseMikkonen - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at byte
Has provided mature traceability and configuration features while supporting complex product development for mid-to-large companies
Polarion ALM can learn from Atlassian tools a lot, as the usability is not the best, and it is really narrowly focused on requirements management only. For example, if you want to do testing and test result management with it, it is very limited. Jama Connect has similar limitations, and both should really focus on developing the integrations and extendability. For example, Jama Connect does not even have an extension marketplace, whereas Polarion has a small one. However, compared to the Atlassian Marketplace where you can get whatever applications for whatever price, it is a totally different ballgame. I would highly recommend Polarion ALM add more AI features to it. I know they have started to do something, but for example, I have been developing widgets for IBM DOORS Next, AI widgets, so that you can write and analyze requirements with the AI, and I have also done the same for Jira, creating a couple of Jira applications in the marketplace as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's easy to set up."
"Jira is one of the most widely used tools in the market, and it has a vast amount of data already stored in it. Jira Align is crucial in orchestrating this data and providing valuable views and insights. However, it's essential for tools like Jira Align to offer configurable features. While complete customization might not always be feasible for enterprise-level tools, configurable features allow organizations to drive transformation accordingly."
"The deployment phase of Jira Align wasn't difficult."
"The technical support services are excellent."
"I've had no issues with Align's stability."
"The product has good visualization capabilities and helps to see the different dimensions of a plan."
"The reporting structure is great."
"The interface of Jira Align is very easy to use and manage"
"It offers good performance."
"Polarion ALM is excellent for tracking who is working on what and how many people are involved in a project."
"It is a very stable solution."
"It meets with everybody's needs without having to grab plugins."
"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."
"The technical support is quite good."
"The most valuable feature is the function of the ALM system."
"Polarion ALM's integration is very good and easy to use."
 

Cons

"The synchronization between Jira and Jira Align takes too long."
"In my company, we found the solution to have many issues regarding its ability to handle claims and other processes since the solution is not available on a single window."
"Jira Align's user interface needs improvement because its user experience is really bad."
"Maybe some of the terms and the connectivity could be improved."
"The workflows are scalable from portfolio to individual level but can sometimes be complex to navigate."
"There is no linkage between the Jira records and the overarching schedule. We maintain the overarching schedule in Microsoft Project, and there is no linkage back and forth with the Jira tasks. They are independent of each other."
"For future releases of Jira Align, I would suggest making workflows simpler and more user-friendly."
"The initial setup was a little bit complex."
"The tool needs to improve its planning. It also needs to add more integrations."
"The solution needs to improve its user experience and graphics."
"Based on my understanding, the tool's integration capabilities with multiple tools is an area of concern that Polarion needs to focus on more."
"The planning and task management aspects of the solution were not that easy."
"Polarion ALM can learn from Atlassian tools a lot, as the usability is not the best, and it is really narrowly focused on requirements management only."
"The system’s technology is not the most current, leading to missing features that are common in web-based applications."
"As Polarion ALM is a development-oriented tool, easy support or easy access is provided by default, but if I want to use detailed features, I need to write the script, particularly the VM script, and this is its area for improvement. I want Polarion ALM to have a graphical user interface that doesn't need scripting. In the next release of the tool, I'd like for it to not require scripting and programming because needing to run script language is time-consuming."
"The ease-of-use could be improved a little."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Jira Align has price packages for different purposes."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate Jira Align a seven out of ten."
"The software is very good, but the price is expensive. Our licensing costs are on a monthly basis, but there are no additional costs to the standard license fees."
"The pricing and licensing costs are rated lower, around six mainly due to significant increases in licensing costs that were not well-received by users."
"The license for Jira Align is priced fairly."
"Jira Align is quite expensive for small-to-medium companies, but it's quite reasonable for larger ones."
"Jira Align was reasonably priced then, especially for a bundle license that accommodated around 50 monthly users."
"Jira Align's pricing is reasonable."
"You have to pay around 50-60 euros per user."
"If the pricing would come down and it was more affordable then we wouldn't have to switch."
"It is an expensive product."
"The solution is expensive."
"Software for medical devices is always 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."
"The license model is okay for large companies but would be quite expensive for smaller enterprises."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
29%
Computer Software Company
11%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Jira Align?
I joined the company because they had a large project, and as a startup company, they needed to scale up efficiently. My task was to review the current baseline, assess the team's capabilities, and...
What needs improvement with Jira Align?
The platform's communication features could be more robust for better team integration.
What is your primary use case for Jira Align?
We use Jira Align for business strategies, collaboration, and reporting. The solution allows us to manage the various products and features delivered on that platform.
What needs improvement with Polarion ALM?
Polarion ALM can learn from Atlassian tools a lot, as the usability is not the best, and it is really narrowly focused on requirements management only. For example, if you want to do testing and te...
What is your primary use case for Polarion ALM?
We are in our product development using Polarion ALM's functionalities. I am a power user, partly responsible for configuring the tool. We are using it for many things. The idea was to go for a req...
 

Also Known As

AgileCraft
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Anthem, nielsen, Homeland Security, NCR, dimension data
Engineering Ingegneria Informatica, IBS AG, Zumtobel Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Jira Align vs. Polarion ALM and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.