IBM Rational ALM vs Rally Software comparison

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1,578 views|1,153 comparisons
73% willing to recommend
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8,518 views|3,687 comparisons
91% willing to recommend
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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Rational ALM and Rally Software 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 IBM Rational ALM vs. Rally Software Report (Updated: March 2024).
767,496 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 planning feature is rich with Scrum concepts: Sprint, Sprint retrospective, the rules in the Scrum framework.""IBM Rational ALM is a very good tool. I like the management and traceability features and the test management tool. The latter is not linked with the stories and fixed management. It is really useful, and we can create test plans. We can also test some metrics related to QA.""The tools for requirement capture we have found very useful.""We have something called the GC (global configuration), which is a unique feature compared to any other competitor we have in the ALM space.""The solution is customizable.""The cataloging is a very valuable feature. For a lot of enterprises, they end up not knowing which applications do specific features. The cataloging helps with this. It's not that verbose, but it still gives you allowances to put in more detail.""It helped us contain critical things, like source code and several documents, which is very important to us.""It's easy to use."

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"It helps me evaluate teams' historical performance using velocity charts.""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.""We've actually used it for virtual PI planning. We have teams in different locations, and we actually virtually do PI planning, big-room planning, using the tools.""CA Agile Central provides visibility into how teams are meeting business objectives.""We use the roadmap features, and we're getting better at using dates to use the roadmap so that we can see if we're on target for work.""Its ability to scale.""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.""It's designed around Agile, so it has all of the pieces that match up with the process."

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Cons
"Some improvements to the user interface (UI) would be helpful, such as exposing more services to make it easier to customize to the needs of each customer.""The features should be more intuitive. If I'm looking for something, its location should be easy to locate.""In the next release, we expect a traceability metrics configuration where we can configure the user stories. We also expect them to improve or simplify the query process.""The stability of this solution can be improved.""The GUI is a little bit outdated.""The interconnectivity between packages is a major support problem and can be improved.""The reporting functionality needs to be improved.""There is not enough beginner support material in the form of FAQs or simple training to help you get started."

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"I'd like to be able to color code timeboxes, so I have an easy visual way to track the success of sprints.""I think there needs to be some simplification. The team-level side can be challenging and complicated.""I would like to see more Kanban support. As it stands, it doesn't seem to have the features or the layouts that the teams really need to be able to execute their tasks. It almost tries to force you into more of a Scrum style.""There's a lot of support for Scrum and Agile, but it needs something for the Kanban side.""The navigation within the tool sometimes is a little tricky for me. I'm sure with more use, more practice, I'll become accustomed to it, but some of the things just aren't intuitive.""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.""We want Rally to generate OKRs, to allow teams to record the OKRs, and then the OKRs can be mapped to the epics and there is organizational alignment.""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."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The price of the solution could be reduced. Many of our customers are not using all the features and this could be why our clients feel the price is too high."
  • "We have a contract, but I am not aware of the details."
  • "This product is a little expensive and we had to pay extra to have them set it up for us."
  • "IBM Rational ALM has both monthly and yearly licensing options."
  • "The solution is not cheap."
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  • "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 →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:We have some special needs. The product does not support our needs perfectly. The GUI is a little bit outdated. There are not many diagrams that help us organize or plan the work for the team. The… more »
    Top Answer:We have three modules. The DOORS module is for requirements. RTC is for storage planning and workflow planning. We also use the module for quality. We use IBM Rational ALM as the main tool to plan… more »
    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 »
    Ranking
    Views
    1,578
    Comparisons
    1,153
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    396
    Rating
    7.4
    Views
    8,518
    Comparisons
    3,687
    Reviews
    5
    Average Words per Review
    767
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Rational ALM, MKS
    CA Agile Central, Rally Enterprise, CA Agile Training, CA Agile Coaching, CA Agile Academy, CA Agile Management , CA ALM
    Learn More
    Overview
    Lifecycle management capabilities built on the open, unifying IBM Rational Jazz platform can help agile and traditional teams: see at-a-glance status, access better data for decisions, manage costs, reuse the most efficient processes across the organization, manage cloud, web, SOA and mobile application design and development. Teams can also gain real-time traceability, manage work across vendors, unify across a diverse set of lifecyle tools, and provide collaborative development for continuous delivery as part of the IBM DevOps solution.

    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.

    Sample Customers
    Tennis Australia, WeCloud AB, Port Otago Limited, Logicalis US, Valmer, The Chevrolet Volt, Ashurst
    Physicians Mutual, Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Editora Abril, Tata Communications, Level 3 Communications, Seagate, TomTom, Philips, Hiscox, Physicians Mutual, MYOB
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company38%
    Manufacturing Company23%
    Comms Service Provider15%
    Government8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Manufacturing Company22%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Government8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Healthcare Company17%
    Comms Service Provider15%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization78%
    Financial Services Firm3%
    Manufacturing Company3%
    Healthcare Company3%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise58%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business12%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise77%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business10%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise80%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business3%
    Midsize Enterprise79%
    Large Enterprise18%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM Rational ALM vs. Rally Software
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Rational ALM vs. Rally Software and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    767,496 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM Rational ALM is ranked 10th in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 17 reviews while Rally Software is ranked 8th in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 116 reviews. IBM Rational ALM is rated 7.2, while Rally Software is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of IBM Rational ALM writes "A complex deployment that is not stable, but is cloud-based". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Rally Software writes "A solution that enables users to accurately estimate the time required for building large software projects". IBM Rational ALM is most compared with Jira, Codebeamer, Microsoft Azure DevOps and Polarion ALM, whereas Rally Software is most compared with Microsoft Azure DevOps, Jira, TFS, Jira Align and OpenText ALM / Quality Center. See our IBM Rational ALM vs. Rally Software 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.