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Microsoft Azure DevOps vs TFS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Azure DevOps offers positive ROI, enhancing productivity and efficiency, with challenges in integrating non-Microsoft tools noted.
Sentiment score
7.2
TFS enhances productivity and cost-efficiency by automating processes, integrating with Microsoft products, and improving software development for oil and gas.
On a scale of one to ten, where ten is the best, I would say ROI is an eight.
Integrating TFS with Visual Studio and Azure Cloud has improved our development processes by providing better integration and reducing errors.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Microsoft Azure DevOps support is generally responsive and helpful, with high documentation ratings but occasional delays in complex issues.
Sentiment score
6.9
Users praise TFS support for its excellence, quick responses, and resources, although some suggest improvements in response time and SLAs.
Resolving issues took time since understanding our unique problems was not always straightforward for support teams.
I would rate technical support from Microsoft for Microsoft Azure DevOps an eight out of ten.
as a Microsoft product, it might have limited global documentation or support options compared to GitLab.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Azure DevOps is highly scalable, adaptable for small to large teams, supporting seamless growth and complex projects effectively.
Sentiment score
7.4
TFS is scalable, suitable for enterprises, but larger organizations may encounter challenges; rated 6 to 8 out of 10.
The scalability has left me pleased, not just for our teams in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, but as we expanded into North America, Africa, and even Australia.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Azure DevOps is highly stable with excellent support, quick issue resolution, and users rating its reliability highly.
Sentiment score
7.7
TFS is reliable and robust, though minor issues under load or specific setups can impact performance, requiring proper hardware.
Its stability might be attributed to its legacy as an on-premise solution that has been in development for more than 25 years.
Everything works ninety-nine percent well.
The solution is stable, and we did not encounter any stability issues.
Its stability is lacking as we have encountered security leaks and glitches.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Azure DevOps users seek enhancements in integration, project management, UI, testing, collaboration, documentation, and workflow integration.
TFS requires improved interface, tool integration, agile features, merging, reporting, affordability, stability, cloud synergy, and performance enhancements.
Those processes are a bit difficult for some customers who may not have technical knowledge and don't go through the entire documentation.
Enhanced system guidance highlighting best practices would be beneficial, especially if experienced personnel are not available for support.
Instead of customers having to try many options themselves, they benefit from practitioner recommendations.
TFS is not as fast, easy to use, or configurable as GitLab, despite moving into the cloud.
I am content with how TFS is structured now, particularly the Azure version.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Azure DevOps is cost-effective, especially for small teams, but prices can vary with additional features and usage.
Enterprise TFS users experience varied costs; many manage expenses with agreements, praising integration despite fewer features than HPE ALM.
They don't even provide a POC where you can have a sandbox or stuff that you can go through and see how exactly it's costing.
I find it to be expensive.
The price and licensing of Microsoft Azure DevOps were fair.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Azure DevOps offers seamless tool integration, intuitive UI, and comprehensive CI/CD features ideal for software development management.
TFS integrates with Visual Studio, enhancing version control, lifecycle management, and Agile support, valuable for diverse development needs.
No organization would use just one vendor, and the goal is about what works well, is scalable, performs well, and offers a reasonable total cost of ownership.
Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months.
I can't approve my own request and move the code around without a review.
The integration with Azure DevOps also offers seamless functionality for CI/CD processes.
Makes it easier for me to create builds and release pipelines without needing to program YAML files.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Azure DevOps
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
135
Ranking in other categories
Release Automation (1st), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (1st)
TFS
Ranking in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Test Management Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites category, the mindshare of Microsoft Azure DevOps is 14.8%, down from 23.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of TFS is 4.4%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites
 

Featured Reviews

Ivan Angelov - PeerSpot reviewer
Facilitates agile transformation with potential for enhanced intuitiveness
What I liked about the solution is that it offers numerous features that are not available by default unless you are agile. Transitioning from the traditional Waterfall model to an agile methodology was challenging for us. Until 2020, our team predominantly worked with the Waterfall approach, using local tools like ServiceNow. We had a few team members who were familiar with Agile ISO, but none had experience with Azure. Therefore, we pursued Azure certification at the AZ-900 level. Our company organized a training session with a certified Azure expert, which was extremely beneficial for adopting best practices during the initial three months. This preparation helped us get accustomed to the new tool, as transitioning to a new system invariably requires time. Managing a pipeline of deliverables became significantly easier with this solution. We utilized it for stories and integrated change management with Azure DevOps. Eventually, everything related to the environment was organized there, enabling us to follow up and track progress with our technical engineers on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. Reports were automatically generated and sent to management, offering them insights into our progress concerning the predefined roadmap.
Pmurki@Micron.Com Praveen - PeerSpot reviewer
Version control is excellent and good for code review, branching, merging strategies and more
I've worked with TFS for source control and Agile project management. We also used TFS for seamless team collaboration and tracking.  I used TFS for a couple of years. Now, we use Azure DevOps. It's a wonderful tool for source control and CI/CD pipelines It's a really valuable tool for…
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Answers from the Community

NC
Nov 9, 2021
Nov 9, 2021
TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very friendly user interface. I think TFS does have a few valuable features, though, such as its project management, which happens to not only include user stories, but task management as well. It would be go...
2 out of 3 answers
Sameh-Hablas - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 14, 2021
Both, it depends on what you want to do with it and what is your technical environment. 
KM
Oct 18, 2021
Hi @Netanya Carmi,  Both are good and in fact, TFS is now rebranded as Azure DevOps server. Now the point is about your requirement, if your requirement is to work closely with Cloud Services Cloud Application and you are Ok to manage your code and CI/CD plans over the cloud platform then go for Azure DevOps whereas if you can't move the data to cloud use Azure DevOps Server.  But for such tools my first choice is Gitlab. Rest you can call me at 9717996125 or drop me at kulbhushan.mayer@thinknyx.com to discuss further.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which is better - Jira or Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Jira is a great centralized tool for just about everything, from local team management to keeping track of products and work logs. It is easy to implement and navigate, and it is stable and scalabl...
Which is better - TFS or Azure DevOps?
TFS and Azure DevOps are different in many ways. TFS was designed for admins, and only offers incremental improvements. In addition, TFS seems complicated to use and I don’t think it has a very fri...
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Valuable features for project management and tracking in Azure DevOps include a portal displaying test results, check-in/check-out activity, and developer/tester productivity.
What do you like most about TFS?
Microsoft's technical team is supportive.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for TFS?
While I do not know the exact pricing, TFS is likely more expensive than GitLab.
What needs improvement with TFS?
From a testing perspective, while the build and deploy automation capability and pipeline integration are already present to a great extent, these are areas where TFS can improve further.
 

Also Known As

Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps
Team Foundation Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype
Vendex KBB IT Services, Info Support, Fujitsu Consulting, TCSC, Airways New Zealand, HP
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure DevOps vs. TFS and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.