Rally Software vs TFS comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Rally Software and TFS based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Rally Software vs. TFS Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most valuable features of Rally Software are the executive dashboards, ease of use, and many other features. They have encapsulated everything that a GI can do, such as monitoring, maintaining, and then releasing. It's continuous integration and development.""What I like most about Rally Software, in terms of using it for the agile process, is that it's clear, useful, and user-friendly. I also like that it has every field you can use for the Scrum process.""Rally Software provides the capability to accurately estimate the time required for building large software projects, which can be challenging to predict...Rally Software enables us to schedule tasks better, allocate resources, and meet project deadlines.""The configurable Portfolio Management and parent-child relationships.""The most valuable features are in-line editing, easy custom view setup, intuitive and helpful visuals (e.g., contextual formatting) and the collaboration features.""We have teams come and go all the time. We have teams in India, America, Ireland, Poland, Italy, England... we are spread out everywhere! Rally is our key tool for scrum planning and our single source of truth, and it handles it all flawlessly.""The Defect feature. In one view you can see all your defects and you can push them into the different releases.""Agile Central allows us to log one hundred percent of the work we do and it allows for no hidden work, so teams can't go under the radar with what they're working on."

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"TFS's best features include user-friendly test management, bug reporting, and ID assignment.""The most valuable features are test case writing and bug tracking.""What I like the most is that you can set permissions on just one folder.""Stability is okay.""Complete integration with VS IDE and Office tools: This give us a possibility of high-level automation, thus minimizing human error.""The most valuable feature of TFS is the central repository, and you can see what changes other developers did from which branch.""The interface is good with TFS.""The most valuable features of TFS are the test plans. We can reproduce reusable test plans in test automation. We have a lot of queries and this feature is very useful."

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Cons
"A lot of the features that we would be looking to add, I am learning may not be within Agile Central, but part of another CA tool set.""I think there is a missing link with the development activity. Some developers are pushing in new versions of the code, but you cannot make the link from the user story to a specific application version.""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.""In Rally Software, the connection with GitLab and GitHub needs improvement.""In terms of improvement, perhaps some more metrics. If they could add some additional, that would be cool.""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).""As it is right now, it does not support automation of the quality assurance process. It just supports manual testing.""More importantly, we are seeing internal challenges from Atlassian because of their highly integrated suite that enables further automation and centralization of activities that are also highly necessary – messaging notifications cued off builds, collaboration on Solution Architecture Documentation, etc."

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"Currently, we are looking for a solution with which we can incorporate third-party development sites or third-party project teams into the system. Because it is on-premise, it is a bit problematic because we need to have a VPN or something else in the system. A cloud-based solution would be better for us, and that's what we are looking for. Our biggest problem is the external connection, which, of course, is limited by our own IT. It would be good to have some kind of publishing service for this external connection. It might be there, and it might be that our IT is making it impossible for us. Its template editor could be easier to use. Currently, customizing the project templates according to your needs requires some work.""The manageability and performance of the product are areas of concern where improvements are required.""Its pricing could be improved.""TFS on-premise does not support integration with SharePoint Online.""The solution should have better dashboards.""The program and portfolio planning facility can be improved.""The test management interface is not very handy.""The usability of TFS is not that great."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Frankly, pricing is expensive and needs to be carefully planned for when budgeting."
  • "The license costs are fairly high as compared to some of the other solutions out there."
  • "From a price point, it's a cost effective solution for our needs."
  • "It is expensive and may not be worthwhile for a small company."
  • "We are always looking for a discount, if the solution was less expensive it would be a benefit."
  • "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."
  • More Rally Software Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It's just as expensive as HPE ALM, without many of the features, best used for development tool only to avoid higher costs."
  • "TFS is on the higher side, but if you intend to use the tool as a complete ALM tool, it will reduce your costs in the long run."
  • "Use the Microsoft recommended “seat-based” licensing model. This allows a single developer with multiple machines to consume only one client license."
  • "If running TFS on-premise is expensive, maybe you could consider moving to the Cloud and use the Visual Studio Team Services."
  • "It is pretty expensive compared to other project management tools."
  • "The pricing is reasonable at this time."
  • "TFS is more competitively priced than some other solutions."
  • "We pay subscription fees on a yearly basis and the price is reasonable."
  • More TFS Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: We have teams come and go all the time. We have teams in India, America, Ireland, Poland, Italy, England... we are spread out everywhere! Rally is our key tool for scrum planning and our single… more »
    Top Answer:Rally Software costs $50 a month, and for a base account, that price is acceptable.
    Top Answer:It is hard to track the changes. For example, we're in sprint 25, and then we have 26, 27, 28, and 29. Throughout that whole time, we're developing pipelines in Azure, moving to GitHub, creating… more »
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft's technical team is supportive.
    Top Answer:There is a yearly licensing fee that needs to be paid.
    Ranking
    Views
    8,580
    Comparisons
    3,776
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    695
    Rating
    8.1
    Views
    10,519
    Comparisons
    6,261
    Reviews
    27
    Average Words per Review
    391
    Rating
    8.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    CA Agile Central, Rally Enterprise, CA Agile Training, CA Agile Coaching, CA Agile Academy, CA Agile Management , CA ALM
    Team Foundation Server
    Learn More
    Overview

    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.

    Visual Studio’s Team Foundation Server (TFS) is a powerful application development lifecycle management solution. It aids developers in managing every aspect of their DevOps and application creation. TFS combines many different types of solutions into a single powerful platform.

    Visual Studio TFS Benefits

    Some of the ways that organizations can benefit by choosing to deploy TFS include:

    • Build automation. TFS enables users to create definitions that can easily automate any and all tasks that are critical to the development of their applications. Businesses can utilize features that are built into TFS to accomplish preset tasks that can help them create the application of their choice. This can include enabling them to run automated tests when the need arises. Additionally, users can create custom tasks that will run automatically and allow users to focus their attention on the areas that most demand their focus.
    • Security. TFS is designed with the security of a user’s DevOps in mind. It enables an organization to restrict user permissions so that only developers that are meant to have access to particular parts of the development process can perform tasks related to those sections. It segments the development process to reduce the possibility of sensitive data being stolen.
    • Enables product rollbacks. TFS keeps copies of past versions of the organization’s application. Users can sift through the different versions that are available and can redeploy the version that best fits their needs should it ever become necessary to do so.

    Visual Studio TFS Features

    • Source code management. TFS comes with all of the tools that developers need to completely manage their source code. They can share their code so that multiple developers can work on the same project. Additionally, TFS enables them to do things like review the history of a particular piece of source code.

    • Project management. Organizations can leverage the wealth of project management features that TFS offers and ensure that their projects run as smoothly as possible. Project managers are able to use TFS to control every aspect of their project, from the planning stage until the application’s development has reached its conclusion.
    • Reporting. TFS enables users to generate reports that leverage critical metrics and provide them with important insights into the applications that they are creating. These comprehensive reports can be secured so that only users with the proper level of clearance can access them.

    Reviews from Real Users

    TFS is a highly effective solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Two major advantages it offers are its source code management capabilities and its powerful integration suite.

    Carl B., the vice president of engineering at Vertex Downhole Ltd, writes, “The most valuable features are related to source code management. Using TFS for source code management and being able to branch and have multiple developers work on the same projects is valuable. We can also branch and merge code back together.”

    Ashish K., the principal consultant at Wipro, says, “I have found almost all of the features valuable because it integrates well with your Microsoft products. If a client is using the entire Microsoft platform, then TFS would be definitely preferable. It integrates with the digital studio development environment as well.”

    Sample Customers
    Physicians Mutual, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Editora Abril, Tata Communications, Level 3 Communications, Seagate, TomTom, Philips, Hiscox, Physicians Mutual, MYOB
    Vendex KBB IT Services, Info Support, Fujitsu Consulting, TCSC, Airways New Zealand, HP
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Healthcare Company17%
    Comms Service Provider15%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization78%
    Financial Services Firm3%
    Healthcare Company3%
    Manufacturing Company3%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm26%
    Computer Software Company18%
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Energy/Utilities Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization51%
    Computer Software Company7%
    Manufacturing Company5%
    Financial Services Firm5%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business10%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise80%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business3%
    Midsize Enterprise79%
    Large Enterprise18%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise25%
    Large Enterprise59%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business9%
    Midsize Enterprise57%
    Large Enterprise34%
    Buyer's Guide
    Rally Software vs. TFS
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Rally Software vs. TFS and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Rally Software is ranked 8th in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 116 reviews while TFS is ranked 3rd in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 93 reviews. Rally Software is rated 8.2, while TFS is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Rally Software writes "A solution that enables users to accurately estimate the time required for building large software projects". On the other hand, the top reviewer of TFS writes "It is helpful for scheduled releases and enforcing rules, but it should be better at merging changes for multiple developers and retaining the historical information". Rally Software is most compared with Microsoft Azure DevOps, Jira, Jira Align, OpenText ALM / Quality Center and Digital.ai Agility, whereas TFS is most compared with Microsoft Azure DevOps, Jira, Visual Studio Test Professional, OpenText ALM / Quality Center and TestRail. See our Rally Software vs. TFS report.

    See our list of best Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites vendors.

    We monitor all Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.