JIRA vs TFS

JIRA is ranked 1st in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 21 reviews vs TFS which is ranked 4th in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 26 reviews. The top reviewer of JIRA writes "Using this for backlog prioritization is the key to either kanban or scrum processes". The top reviewer of TFS writes "Can Provide A Centralized Place To Store All Source Code And Build Information For Entire Organization". JIRA is most compared with TFS, Micro Focus ALM and IBM Rational Team Concert (IBM ALM). TFS is most compared with JIRA, Micro Focus ALM and CA Agile Central. See our JIRA vs TFS report.

JIRA

TFS

20594

JIRA

Based on 21 reviews.

18628

TFS

Based on 26 reviews.

Most Helpful Review

Joe Friedrichsen

Managing Director Business Change and Quality Assurance at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island

Using this for backlog prioritization is the key to either kanban or scrum processes.

Working in a dev shop that is 100% scrum, this tool is invaluable in its insights to how the process is working. Are the stories written well? Is... Read more »

SeniorSyb114

Senior System Engineer at a manufacturing company

Not just a source code repository, but a real and complete ALM solution

The TFS is not just a source code repository, but a real and complete ALM solution. Among other things, we use it as a ticketing tool. It is a... Read more »

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Quotes From Members Comparing JIRA vs TFS

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

Pros
The ability to change and rewrite tasks is valuable. You can add a lot of columns, change the owners and the change the components.JQL, JIRA Query Language enables me to filter all the issues, display the items as I want.It's very flexible. I can define workflows and custom fields and dependencies between issues and projects. And every project can have a custom configuration with my fields, my names for fields, my validations, and my workflows. It's very customizable.I found it super useful, as it is customizable for different teams and users.It improved communication, as it was a popular tool, and most people enjoyed using it.Kanban board: The board is easy to use and visually impressive to non-IT users, who found it easy to relate to.It is very flexible, so we can do pretty much what we want with it.It handles all of the issues that we need it to do. Read more »	Build definitions and releases within the product. allow us to put our latest applications in the field.It has great functionality: work items, backlogs, source code, build releases, and it's easy to use.Complete integration with VS IDE and Office tools: This give us a possibility of high-level automation, thus minimizing human error.Version Control: TFS offers both the centralized “TFVC” version control technology as well as the distributed “Git” version control technology.I like its MTM (Microsoft Test Manager) section which gives us options to create various test plans and add test cases into it.The API for managing TFS programmatically is very powerful, you can listen on work items changes by TFS events.Work item management integration with source control.TFS’s test management capability without the expensive licensing has large gaps. Users will be unable to access performance testing and coded UI testing capabilities. Read more »
Cons
I would like to see it connecting to Git. That could be useful. We use it for Stash, but I think there is one for Git also. I don't know if it's a plug-in that exists already, but that could be nice.The following definitely need improvement: UI, speed, and mobile app functionality.Out-of-the-box reporting is limited. It would be helpful if more customisation was possible.I would like integrated requirements management, so we do not have to buy plug-ins for JIRA, since it was hard to get requirements management for it.I do know the initial setup was pretty complicated. The user interface could be better organized and easier. I struggle with Epics, how they are implemented in JIRA, because they don't work like any other Story, I see a list of Epics, but although I can order them, there are some mismatches with how the Epics are used compared to what Scrum expects, or what Story mapping expects an Epic to be.I would like to see visualization of release planning. I can list the releases and I can give dates to releases, but to show how they are happening on a timeline, I would need to order the Portfolio part. But just for this, it may be too much to use the Portfolio for that.It should have its own repository for test case creation, so that one does not have to resort to third-party tools and plugins. Read more »	TFS on-premise does not support integration with SharePoint Online.Not all of the functionality, which is exposed by the command line interface (tf.exe) is available in the Visual Studio GUI.TFS and MTM have their own style of working and they are different from other tools like Jira or TestRail, which are simpler and easy to use.Sometimes we feel that it need more CPU, and RAMs on TFS server, either we implemented the hardware with the product minimum requirements.Microsoft should discontinue the use of SharePoint as I don’t really see any value add to TFS, document management features can be included in TFS web portal itself, if required!Access and permissions are confusing when attempting to include basic manual testing functionalities. Read more »

Pricing and Cost Advice

It does not cost that much.Almost everybody uses JIRA nowadays because it is the most cost-effective solution.The licensing model is annoying. They nickel and dime you.It is very cheap if you forego the local instance and stick to the cloud.

If running TFS on-premise is expensive, maybe you could consider moving to the Cloud and use the Visual Studio Team Services.Use the Microsoft recommended “seat-based” licensing model. This allows a single developer with multiple machines to consume only one client license.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.It's just as expensive as HPE ALM, without many of the features, best used for development tool only to avoid higher costs.

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Answers from the Community

Rhea Rapps

Content Specialist at IT Central Station

Question: Compare JIRA and TFS; How Do I Choose?

Claudette Steynberg

We use both. It depends on your application and your budget.

For us, the Atlassian suite of tools required to do end-to-end ALM processing is very expensive (currency conversions also does not help). We, therefore, only use JIRA as an incident/support/planning tool.

We are a Microsoft partner and hence the VSTS/TFS tool suite is much more affordable to us. The visibility of this tool from backlog item to code, build test and released into production is amazing, but it lacks some of the basic admin capabilities that are well automated in JIRA e.g. as tasks are moved, the status of parent items/stories/epics are not automatically updated in VSTS. This adds a lot of admin overhead for product owners, scrum masters and team members.

If it weren’t for budget, the Atlassian suite will be my first choice. If you combine, JIRA, Bitbucket, and Bamboo you would get the same visibility.

We also use Confluence extensively as all our documentation are done Wiki style. We found SharePoint just becomes a repository and not a knowledge share platform.

Hope this helps!
Shout if you have questions.

13 March 18

See 20 answers

Ranking

RANKING

1st

out of 35

In Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Views

63,346

Comparisons

44,383

Reviews

Followers

1,824

Avg. Rating

8.1

4th

out of 35

In Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites

Views

28,657

Comparisons

22,382

Reviews

Followers

1,351

Avg. Rating

8.3

Top Comparisons

TFS vs. JIRA

Compared 34% of the time.

Micro Focus ALM vs. JIRA

Compared 20% of the time.

IBM Rational Team Concert (IBM ALM) vs. JIRA

Compared 6% of the time.

See more JIRA competitors »

JIRA vs. TFS

Compared 64% of the time.

Micro Focus ALM vs. TFS

Compared 13% of the time.

CA Agile Central vs. TFS

Compared 5% of the time.

See more TFS competitors »

Also Known As

Team Foundation Server

Website/Video

Atlassian

Microsoft

Overview

JIRA has multiple deployment options to provide the flexibility your organization needs.

Cloud is a fully hosted service for customers who want to iterate quickly and have us take care of managing the infrastructure.

For customers who need to run our applications behind their firewall, we have Server and Data Center options. Server delivers greater capacity for a larger user base and gives you more control, allowing you to remain compliant with your enterprise IT, security, IP and privacy policies. For our largest customers, Data Center provides all the capability of our Server option, along with high availability, instant scalability and performance at scale.

Atlassian also offers premium support and strategic services for enterprise customers. Technical Account Managers are cross-functional technical advisors providing proactive planning and strategic guidance across your organization. Premier Support goes above and beyond our standard offerings to give you account-wide support from a team of senior support engineers.

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS) is the collaboration platform at the core of Microsoft's application lifecycle management (ALM) solution. TFS supports agile development practices, multiple IDEs and platforms locally or in the cloud and gives you the tools you need to effectively manage software development projects throughout the IT lifecycle.

OFFER

Learn more about JIRA

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Learn more about TFS

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Sample Customers

Square, Nasa, eBay, Cisco, SalesForce, Adobe, BNP Paribas, BMW and LinkedIn, Pfizer, Citi.

Vendex KBB IT Services, Info Support, Fujitsu Consulting, TCSC, Airways New Zealand, HP

Top Industries

REVIEWERS

Insurance Company

17%

Healthcare Company

17%

Software R&D Company

17%

Retailer

VISITORS READING REVIEWS

Financial Services Firm

21%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Insurance Company

REVIEWERS

Financial Services Firm

37%

Manufacturing Company

16%

Software R&D Company

11%

Retailer

11%

VISITORS READING REVIEWS

Financial Services Firm

25%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

REVIEWERS

Small Business

38%

Midsize Enterprise

15%

Large Enterprise

46%

VISITORS READING REVIEWS

Small Business

20%

Midsize Enterprise

18%

Large Enterprise

62%

REVIEWERS

Small Business

11%

Midsize Enterprise

24%

Large Enterprise

66%

VISITORS READING REVIEWS

Small Business

10%

Midsize Enterprise

18%

Large Enterprise

72%

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Find out what your peers are saying about JIRA vs TFS and others in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites.

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279,610 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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.