Microsoft Azure DevOps vs OpenText ALM Octane comparison

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25,110 views|19,203 comparisons
95% willing to recommend
OpenText Logo
8,146 views|4,128 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Azure DevOps and OpenText ALM Octane 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 Microsoft Azure DevOps vs. OpenText ALM Octane Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Q&A Highlights
Question: What is the biggest difference between Micro Focus ALM Octane and Microsoft Azure DevOps?
Answer: Azure DevOps is well suited if you have a big team that is collaborating their codes and need to have devops pipeline for all build and release work. Also since this tool provides bug management facility, you don't need to purchase any other tool for that purpose. Moreover if you have your infrastructure built over Azure cloud then this is a best match for your requirements as it integrates well with it. If someone is already using ALM Octane, then it is worth the pain to go through the upgrade process to get the current versions. If you need it to tie into Jira, it can do that. Just be prepared for a rough road. If you have some other product that you use for DevOps, PM, and QA, you will probably be better off sticking with what you have. DaVita also uses TFS, but not in a full implementation (i.e. not with a build server for code deployment), so for them, ALM makes a lot of sense. If you are using TFS with a build server, there are other methodologies that won't end up making you want to pull your hair out trying to make it integrate with what you are using.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"DevOps is easy to use because we can arrange each task in a project and follow up with the testing, development, and business teams. We manage everything through this.""The most valuable feature is that we can run integrations with DevOps. From a QA perspective and a testing perspective, we can run those tests and integrate automation tools. Then we can run those tests as part of the deployment process. Every time we are deploying something, it automatically runs all the tests.""Azure is an advantage when working with other Microsoft solutions.""My team likes the integration that Microsoft Azure DevOps has with GitHub and Microsoft Teams. The solution is well integrated with other Microsoft tools in one place, it is very good.""I like the entire tool because it is a one-stop-solution for DevOps.""It's very user-friendly, and the documentation is good. The most valuable feature is backlog item creation, where we pick features and other things. The burndown chart created for projects to be maintained by the development teams is also useful.""Detailed logs allow us to pinpoint the exact cause of any issues, making troubleshooting efficient and accurate.""Before using this solution, we had to deploy our applications, from pre-production to production, manually."

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"The dashboards and metric reporting are valuable features.""Backlog management is the most valuable feature. This was a capability that was missing or difficult to achieve in ALM Quality Center.""It is a very stable tool. The tool has been in the industry for so many years. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.""The key feature is the usability. It is fast to learn and easy to use. It's very intuitive to work with. Most of the important functions are available via a few clicks, compared to other tools where I have to open a sub-menu and then a sub-menu and another sub-menu, and then press a button.""We are seeing some real improvements in the way we do things. We are becoming more agile in the way we do it because of that and in a way that stories are managed. Stories are given lifecycles as opposed to just being entities within a tool.""An improvement on previous versions because it comes as preconfigured as possible.""The way testing is closely tied into the product Backlog has made it more intuitive, or easier to manage the relationship between building out an application and testing it. In other tools, that is more segregated. The way it's designed in Octane, people have said it makes more sense to them, and that it's easier for them to understand their data and to maintain and test their solutions.""Octane works well with the Jira portfolio to track the project with two methods: Agile and Waterfall. We can track all the testing in Waterfall or Agile and synchronize it with Agile tools."

More OpenText ALM Octane Pros →

Cons
"I think Azure DevOps could improve the traceability or business intelligence about the execution of DevOps processes.""The solution could work to improve their reporting.""Microsoft Azure DevOps should create some training materials.""I can't think of anything I would like to improve, since I don't have complete knowledge of the platform yet. I'm sure that as I gain more experience, I will understand it better. The price could maybe be cheaper, but I'm sure I'll have more ideas as to improvements and additional features once I've used it more.""With an ecosystem that has been up and running for some time, you won't have the full-flexibility that you would have with a new ecosystem.""The solution's roadmap and Gantt charts could be improved.""Better integration with the Linux operating system would be an improvement for this solution.""There are certain areas in Azure DevOps that are better in other products."

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"The biggest problem with ALM Octane is that it's very complex, so it's difficult to use and scale.""Security and security management, meaning the integration of the security, could be enhanced. We know about Fortify, but it would be better to have security features in the original Octane platform without the need for another solution or another application.""It could use just some small improvements. I would like additional features, like planning features, user story mapping, or connection to collaboration tools.""When I manage projects that are being created in ALM, I have a standard template, but I don't have a template for them in Octane. I literally have to create the project from the ground up every time, which for an administrator, is a nightmare solution""They don't support all IDEs yet. We have Visual Studio code, which is not supported, and loved by our developers. This integration is missing. We also had to do our own in-house integration with the Confluence. That is also something that they could add.""The reporting is lacking from a requirements matrix and a traceability perspective.""What could be improved in Micro Focus ALM Octane is its integration with Jira.""The cluster architecture that we implemented was server to server communication: Octane application to Elasticsearch and Elasticsearch to another Elasticsearch service. Recently, we found this is a security gap. The Octane application is interacting with Elasticsearch server, but that was missing from the requirements and prerequisites in the setup. The Micro Focus team has not given advice on how to implement authentication-based communication between Octane to Elasticsearch, and we found it as a gap later, then our security team asked us to fix that gap. So, there was a lot of time spent on rework."

More OpenText ALM Octane Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's a good tool, quite rich, it has a lot of features, and quite a lot of analytical capabilities which are built on top of it so that you can see how your projects are going and all that stuff. It's a good tool."
  • "There is a licensing fee of $6/user per month."
  • "The price is cheaper than Jira and some of the other competing tools."
  • "It is the least expensive product in this class."
  • "I find that the pricing is good, and it is competitive with the other vendors in the market."
  • "Microsoft Azure DevOps is free for up to five users and allows you to track a maximum of three projects."
  • "It is a subscription model and I only pay for what I use."
  • "The price of this solution is fair."
  • More Microsoft Azure DevOps Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing is the weakest point. It is expensive, but the tool has plenty of features. The main problem we have is that the pricing is very high compared to some other solutions."
  • "It will be as expensive as ALM.NET, if not more expensive. But here's a good tip: If you have ALM.NET, you are able to share your licenses from ALM.NET to Octane. You just have to define a dedicated number of licenses on ALM.NET and then you can share them with ALM Octane, with some configuration effort. This is something that you have to take into account, that there is a possibility of such license sharing that could decrease your costs. Compared to open-source tools, the price the ALM Octane is definitely higher, in terms of the licensing cost."
  • "It's pretty pricey, one of the most expensive ones on the market... The value depends on if you use all the features that it has. It comes with a lot of features. The difference between the license structure of ALM and Octane versus JIRA, is that you get everything with ALM and Octane... For JIRA, you buy the pieces one piece at a time."
  • "It's expensive. HPE products, and now Micro Focus, have always been expensive. The license is not cheap, and it will always be a challenge, particularly for small organizations like ours."
  • "For what it does, it's very reasonably priced. I like the licensing model as well, because it's very flexible. You can scale licenses up and down for short periods of time."
  • "In terms of pricing, it's comparable to what we had previously. It's not priced at the higher end of the scale by any means. It's priced nicely, in the middle of the market. For what you're getting, it's a very good tool."
  • "Going forward, I think we will want to explore adding more licenses."
  • "The solution has reduced our testing costs."
  • More OpenText ALM Octane Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Answers from the Community
    Monica Aguilar
    Randy Masciana - PeerSpot reviewerRandy Masciana
    Real User

    Sadly, I have no experience with Micro Focus ALM, however, such facts may well hint at the answer to your question. By contrast, Azure DevOps has gained an incredible following, based on accelerating solid reputation, leaving many competitors behind. Also, as has often been stated, "No one ever got fired for buying Microsoft." That said, there are fact-based comparisons, which actually rate Azure DevOps higher (e.g., www.trustradius.com).

    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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 scalable… 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:The most valuable feature of the solution is task management.
    Top Answer:Hi Netanya Basically , it all depends on the use cases for your environment and the business needs. Hope the below data may be relevant to you for identifying your needs and deciding on the… more »
    Top Answer:The platform's most valuable feature is pipeline integration or continuous integration services.
    Top Answer:The product is highly priced compared to other tools. However, it offers substantial value. There is a distinction between OEM pricing and the final pricing for customers. They could understand the… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    25,110
    Comparisons
    19,203
    Reviews
    22
    Average Words per Review
    650
    Rating
    8.2
    Views
    8,146
    Comparisons
    4,128
    Reviews
    12
    Average Words per Review
    534
    Rating
    8.0
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Azure DevOps, VSTS, Visual Studio Team Services, MS Azure DevOps
    Micro Focus ALM Octane, Micro Focus Octane
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Azure DevOps is a cloud service that enables developers to collaborate on code development projects and create and deploy applications quicker than ever before. The service helps unite developers, project managers, and software development experts through a collaborative experience while using the application. For the users' convenience, Azure DevOps offers the user cloud services through Azure DevOps Services or an on-premises service using Azure DevOps Server. In addition, it supports integration with additional services and adding extensions, including the ability for the user to create their own custom extensions. 

    Azure DevOps provides a variety of unified features that can be accessed through their web browser or IDE client, such as:

    • Azure Pipelines - Develop and deploy services to support ongoing application integration and delivery. Azure pipelines, which work with almost every project type and most languages, will automatically test code projects in order to make them available to others.

    • Azure Artifacts - Share packages and integrate package sharing between teams. Packages include NuGet, npm, and Maven, in addition to other private and public sources. Developers can now share and consume packages with other developers from different public registries.

    • Azure Repos - Offers source control of your code through Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) or Git repositories. Developers can now keep track of any changes that are made in their code over the course of their project.

    • Azure Test Plans - Offers continuous and manual/exploratory app testing through several tools. Test Suites, or a collection of Test Cases, are grouped together in a container called a Test Plan.

    • Azure Boards - Provides a suite of Agile tools to track work, support planning, code defects, and general issues while using Kanban and Scrum software. Teams are in need of tools that are flexible and will help them grow. Azure Boards is a service that helps developers manage their software projects. 

    Benefits of Microsoft Azure DevOps

    Microsoft Azure DevOps offers many benefits, including:

    • A quick setup and easy deployment
    • An elastic scale
    • Exceptional security
    • No-maintenance operations
    • Effortless collaboration through domains
    • The ability to create and deploy products faster than traditional software

    Reviews from Real Users

    Microsoft Azure DevOps stands out among its competitors for a variety of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to forecast how long each task will take and the ability for users to follow the entire development process.

    PeerSpot viewers note the effectiveness of this solution. An executive chief operating officer for a cloud provider notes, “We can forecast tasks and the number of hours a task will take and can compare it with how long a task actually takes.” 

    Carlos H., a product and system director at SPCM, writes, “I think the most usable thing is that you can follow the whole progress of the development process. This makes it very useful for us.”

    OpenText ALM Octane helps organizations implement a “quality everywhere” approach and improve Agile and DevOps development and testing processes to improve the flow of work across the software delivery value stream. You can tightly align quality efforts from development to release, employ a broad range of tests anchored by automation, and continuously monitor and improve for increased throughput. OpenText fosters an open approach so that quality is visible, traceable, and continuously improved. By synchronizing quality and testing with Agile and DevOps processes, risks are mitigated early in the software delivery value stream – speeding the way for faster delivery and improved customer satisfaction.

    ALM Octane facilitates a tailored and scalable approach for large enterprises. You can deploy your way and minimize infrastructure needs with deployment options spanning on-premises, SaaS, and public cloud (Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure Marketplaces). Similarly, various licensing options can tailor the features to meet specific needs with support for thousands of concurrent users in geographically disperse locations.

    Sample Customers
    Alaska Airlines, Iberia Airlines, Columbia, Skype
    Orange, Airbus, Haufe Group, Kellogg's, Claro, Bon Secours, World Wide Technology
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company23%
    Financial Services Firm15%
    Energy/Utilities Company11%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company13%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Government9%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider27%
    Financial Services Firm27%
    Transportation Company19%
    Energy/Utilities Company4%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm28%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Government8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business31%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise51%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise68%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise3%
    Large Enterprise79%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business13%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise79%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Azure DevOps vs. OpenText ALM Octane
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Azure DevOps vs. OpenText ALM Octane and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,857 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Azure DevOps is ranked 1st in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 124 reviews while OpenText ALM Octane is ranked 5th in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites with 38 reviews. Microsoft Azure DevOps is rated 8.2, while OpenText ALM Octane is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Microsoft Azure DevOps writes "Good support, helpful management capabilities, and great Kanban boards". On the other hand, the top reviewer of OpenText ALM Octane writes "Reporting engine, widgets, and dashboards are a huge plus, and powerful REST interface means we can interact with other tools". Microsoft Azure DevOps is most compared with GitLab, Jira, TFS, Rally Software and Octopus Deploy, whereas OpenText ALM Octane is most compared with Jira, OpenText ALM / Quality Center, Rally Software, GitLab and Codebeamer. See our Microsoft Azure DevOps vs. OpenText ALM Octane report.

    See our list of best Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Suites vendors and best Enterprise Agile Planning Tools 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.