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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
9th
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Value Stream Management Software (1st)
Polarion ALM
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
3rd
Ranking in Enterprise Agile Planning Tools
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Jira Align is 1.5%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polarion ALM is 8.3%, up from 5.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

ShyiamaKishun - PeerSpot reviewer
Has a straightforward setup process and efficient project management features .
Jira Align supports program increment planning by facilitating the planning aspect, including team setup, dependency management, and defining the layout for each step or stage in a project. The platform aids in breaking down targets into parts, aligning with Agile principles, and ensuring a structured layout. The most impactful feature of Jira Align for project management lies in its capabilities related to planning and setting up projects. The platform visually understands targets, offering a clear and detailed layout. We can determine when to speed up the process or access the project. We can address the issues related to planning and development efficiently. It is a great product to use, aiding in project planning and alignment. I recommend it to others and rate it a ten out of ten.
Dina Bindi - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides traceability and compliance with high flexibility
It's extremely flexible. Configuring items is straightforward and doesn't require involving the supplier each time. We find the requirement management, test management, documentation, and dashboards very effective. However, we don't use DevOps-related features, such as integration with tools like SVN or Git, because we use Azure DevOps. The aspects related to requirements, testing, changes, tasks, and agile methodology are excellent, which is why we've been using it for a long time.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The initial setup is very straightforward."
"I like the way the UI functions."
"The most valuable features of Jira Align are its product roadmap and reporting."
"I like Jira's structured project plan, with tasks and subtasks. Jira can use various external plugins. Third-party providers can add new features to the solution. If I need some functionality, I can usually find an app for it. They have thousands."
"The linking of PI Objectives with different features was one of the cool things. It had features, epics, and stories out of the box."
"The reporting structure is great."
"Defect tracking and dashboards are the most valuable features of Jira Align."
"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 solution offers good integration."
"Polarion ALM's integration is very good and easy to use."
"The initial setup of this solution was straightforward, and there were not too many problems with it."
"The technical support is quite good."
"It is a very stable solution."
"The best feature of Polarion ALM to me is its traceability link."
"The features I find the most valuable are requirement tracking and schematics."
"Polarion ALM is excellent for tracking who is working on what and how many people are involved in a project."
 

Cons

"One area where Jira Align could improve is in its licensing model. There was a significant change in the licensing module about six months ago, which resulted in increased costs for customers like us. This change wasn't communicated clearly, and it made it challenging for companies to adopt Jira Align without facing higher expenses. In terms of features, I would like to see improved workflows in the next release, as that would greatly benefit our organization."
"The framework could be better."
"It should just have the integration with Jira. We haven't looked at it since Atlassian bought the product."
"The tool must provide better bulk editing features."
"We have experienced errors with the internal server that occurs frequently."
"Jira Align should reduce the many information fields we need to provide while closing defects."
"One area for improvement is that Jira Align's double menu and multiple menus can be difficult for new users."
"The tool's corporate pricing is expensive."
"The ease-of-use could be improved a little."
"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."
"One of Polarion's shortcomings would be planning. It can handle plans, but the planning feature is very basic."
"The solution's editing capabilities need improvement."
"The weak point of Polarion ALM software is about reporting and time for extraction of the data...The quality of reporting needs to improve."
"The configuration aspect of the solution is not easy. A person needs a lot of programming knowledge in order to successfully handle the job."
"The planning and task management aspects of the solution were not that easy."
"Test management lacks an automated process."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"Our customers buy licenses. We are not involved in its purchase."
"Jira Align is an expensive solution."
"My company pays approximately 399 USD per month for the solution."
"Jira Align is quite expensive for small-to-medium companies, but it's quite reasonable for larger ones."
"The tool is moderately expensive."
"Software for medical devices is always expensive."
"The license model is okay for large companies but would be quite expensive for smaller enterprises."
"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."
"If the pricing would come down and it was more affordable then we wouldn't have to switch."
"The solution is expensive."
"You have to pay around 50-60 euros per user."
"It is an expensive product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Insurance Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
28%
Computer Software Company
12%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
The backlog management for Agile in Polarion ALM could be improved or enhanced in future releases. What is missing is that if you have a hierarchy in your backlog with epics, features, and user sto...
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: August 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.