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10 Best Requirements Management Tools & Software Of 2023

The Best Requirements Management Software Shortlist

These are the tools I review at a glance.

  1. 1. Jama Software — Best requirements management software for enterprises
  2. 2. codebeamer — Best for out-of-the-box and API integrations.
  3. 3. ReQtest — Best for customizability.
  4. 4. xebrio — Best requirements management tool for end-to-end traceability
  5. 5. Modern Requirements — Best rated requirements management software
  6. 6. IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next — Best for engineering requirements management
  7. 7. Accompa — Best for ease of implementation and use
  8. 8. Orcanos — Best for visualization and reporting
  9. 9. Perforce Helix RM — Best for traceability and test case management
  10. 10. ClickUp — Best for keeping your requirements visible to all stakeholders throughout the project

Collecting project requirements is an important part of setting up a new project. Although most times it needs a business analyst in your team to help you get the most out of this phase, the reality is different. Most of you are project managers/business analysts/mind readers, and you know that’s never going to change. Therefore, this post should help you find your perfect sidekick for this process.

Some of the requirements tools on this list offer reporting, versioning, and tracking features that will support your review meetings with stakeholders.

What are requirements management tools?

Requirements management tools are any tools that help you remove ambiguity from this process - assumptions, wishful thinking, gray areas, interpretations - from a project’s requirements. You use these tools throughout the development process so you can easily test a product or project to ensure it does what it’s supposed to do.

These tools will help as you collect user stories, set up brainstorming sessions, diagram process flows or put together a requirements traceability matrix.

The Best Requirements Management Tools

Here are a few of the best requirements management tools available today. You can also check out how I picked the tools on this list at any moment.

1

Jama Software

Best requirements management software for enterprises

Jama Software provides a platform for requirements, risk, and test management. Teams building complex products, systems, and software use Jama Connect to improve cycle times, increase quality, reduce rework, and minimize effort proving compliance.

This enterprise-grade tool offers the ability to accurately capture and communicate requirements, goals, progress, and interdependencies throughout the development process. It enables you to align hardware, firmware, and software development stakeholders; improve efficiency; manage change; and prove compliance.

In Jama Connect’s features, you’ll find end-to-end live traceability of people, data, and processes, as well as real-time impact analysis, reviews, and approvals with team collaboration. For requirements gathering, you can define, organize, and execute requirements-based test plans and test cases to ensure quality and compliance.

All of these features are packed into a software that provides the flexibility to support various engineering disciplines and development methodologies. Pair that with an intuitive, browser-based interface, and you’ve got a comprehensive software that’s still easy to navigate.

You can integrate Jama Connect requirements and test plans with ALM, PLM, QA, and MBSE to ensure full traceability, visibility, and collaboration across the lifecycle.

With API integrations and third-party integration hubs, teams can work in familiar tools while contributing to projects in Jama Connect. Jama Connect licenses are available on a user and floating basis through an annual subscription model.

Pricing and trial information are available upon request.

30-day free trial

Pricing Upon Request

2

codebeamer

Best for out-of-the-box and API integrations.

Intland Software’s codebeamer is a full-stack, end-to-end Application Lifecycle Management platform with strong requirements management capabilities. The tool helps manage complexity from requirements to release in the delivery of safety-critical or traditional software and systems-of-systems products.

For developers of advanced products and software, this open platform extends ALM functionalities with product line configuration, and provides unique configurability for complex processes. Align people, workflows, and tools across the parallel streams of product delivery by enabling teams with a flexible, fully integrated, and highly collaborative platform.

codebeamer is a great tool to support engineers looking for traceability, transparency, and efficient collaboration in requirements management. The platform provides gapless traceability to help track interdependencies and the impact of changes throughout the lifecycle. Requirements-based testing is supported out of the box. Use codebeamer to identify, manage, and track requirements across the lifecycle in order to reduce costs, risks, and delivery times in product development.

Custom reporting options, automated change control, and simple approval management help streamline collaboration in high-velocity development environments. For developers of regulated products, Intland’s preconfigured industry templates and domain services help reduce regulatory compliance effort and costs. 

The tool integrates with Jira, Microsoft Word, Excel, IBM Rational DOORS, and plenty more. codebeamer is available as an on-premise or cloud-hosted SaaS platform with flexible licensing options to suit the needs of every team. A free 30-day trial is provided. Pricing information is available upon request.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4 95

Free demo available

From $125/user/month

3

ReQtest

Best for customizability.

If you’re looking for a tool that’s easy to implement, access, and learn to use, ReQtest should be at the top of your list. It’s a fully cloud-based tool that you can access from anywhere, with a friendly, transparent pricing model that intentionally accommodates small, agile, and scaling teams (as well as large organizations) with a “pay for what you use” approach.

ReQtest offers a complete suite of useful requirements management tools as well as features designed for agile requirements gathering. These include test management tools, bug tracking, and visual bug reporting tools, end-to-end requirements traceability, easy data export to Excel, collaboration features, and agile task boards.

This is a lightweight but effective solution that works well if you’re happy with a stand-alone tool (ReQtest has two-way sync with Jira, but no other pre-built integrations) and have no need for it to perform the functions of a full QMS or ALM system.

Overall, it’s one of the most affordably-priced solutions out there. It starts at $10/user/month, making it a low-risk introductory solution, especially for organizations that are using a requirements management tool for the first time.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.8 3

10 days free trial

From $10/user/month

4

xebrio

Best requirements management tool for end-to-end traceability

Xebrio is a complete requirements management ecosystem that empowers teams to communicate with one another while gathering, analyzing, and finalizing requirements.

Additionally, it covers the entire project development lifecycle from requirements to releases. Xebrio’s requirement workflow allows all stakeholders to actively participate during the requirement gathering process and has an approval mechanism to ensure collective consensus.

Xebrio facilitates mapping requirements to tasks, milestones, test cases, and bugs. These requirements can then be traced to releases for end-to-end traceability. Some key features of the tool include requirements version tracking and version traceability, and real-time collaboration for requirements gathering.

Xebrio’s other significant features include task management, test coverage, milestone tracking, and bug tracking. It also supports document collaboration, time-tracking, and reporting.

In essence, Xebrio is a requirements management ecosystem with built-in project management features.

Xebrio has special pricing for startups and small teams, starting from as low as $1/user/month with a 10-user minimum. Paid plans for bigger teams start at $10/user/month and offer a 14-day free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4 1

14-day free trial

From $2/user/month with a 10-user minimum

5

Modern Requirements

Best rated requirements management software

Modern Requirements offers a 4DevOps tool as a single-application solution for everything requirements management. The easy to use tools are built directly into Microsoft’s Azure DevOps, and allow you to create, automate, manage, analyze, and report requirements straight from your Azure DevOps project.

Modern Requirements4DevOps eliminates duplicate work, creates requirements reusability, and connects your requirements directly to your assets. You can build living requirements documents, diagrams, mockups, use case models, and other assets that are updated automatically as requirements change.

The tool also includes a built-in approval process (with e-signatures), easy to create baselines, and always up-to-date trace matrices. This solution allow teams to connect requirements to both development tasks and quality assurance testing for full traceability throughout the project lifecycle.

Built directly into Microsoft’s Azure DevOps, Modern Requirements provides a simple to use interface with the options to toggle off any features that might not be used by a given user. Modern Requirements also has a free guided bootcamp to help walk users through each of the offered tools, as well as professional training and support services at the implementation phase.

Modern Requirements is fully embedded with Microsoft’s Azure DevOps and provides your team with the opportunity to turn your new and existing projects into a single source of truth. They also offer full integrations through their Sync Bridge with all of the common tools.

Licenses are available on a User and Floating basis, and can be purchased as a perpetual license or through a subscription model.

Pricing information available upon request. Free 30-day trial available.

30 days free trial

Pricing upon request

6

IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next

Best for engineering requirements management

IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next is a big hitter in the requirements management software game, with a comprehensive group of resource management software and companion products.

The main differential feature of IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next is its interoperability with other tools, including lifecycle management, team collaboration, and systems/software engineering (including MagicDraw, which makes it easy to convert spreadsheets into models that human brains can understand).

As part of the IBM ecosystem, it integrates with Jazz-based products and hosted Jazz solutions as well.

All in all, IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next offers a flexible solution that works well for large-scale enterprises, offering a high degree of granularity and configurability.

That said, IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS’ greatest strength is also its biggest drawback—it’s highly customizable, but at the same time, its large database and general complexity can make configuration management a bit cumbersome.

It’s not the easiest tool for everyone in your organization to use, although they do help you solve this potential issue by offering plenty of support: on-demand webinars, responsive support, how to’s, etc.

DOORS Next costs from $164/month as a SaaS.

Free Trial

Pricing Upon Request

7

Accompa

Best for ease of implementation and use

Accompa stands out among the crowd, not necessarily for its features but for its overall ease of use, ease of implementation, friendly pricing/payment model, and great customer service.

That said, Accompa doesn’t have the most robust feature set out there. They add new features on a continuous basis, but if you need something comprehensive in the here and now, I’d look to big players like Jama or Rational DOORS. In most cases, however, I wouldn’t be scared off by Accompa’s lack of features.

This solution does offer a truly useful collection of essential features (or else they wouldn’t be on this list!), and these include requirements traceability, automatic change and dependency tracking for impact analysis, discussion boards and alerts for collaboration, and requirements prioritization rules. It also offers some customization, such as custom fields, views, and user roles.

Another advantage of this tool: an above-average set of pre-built integrations, including Jira, FogBugz, HP Quality Center, IBM Rational, IBM Rational ClearQuest, Bugzilla, trac, VersionOne, Rally, Agilefant, Seapine Software, SmartBear, and VisualStudio Team Foundation Server.

Accompa costs from $199/month.

30 day free trial

From $199/month

8

Orcanos

Best for visualization and reporting

The Orcanos requirements management tool offers some better visualization and reporting features than others. This includes real-time dashboards that are intuitive to navigate, as well as their DocGen feature for importing/exporting Word files to easily create a software requirements doc, aided by custom templates and embedded reports.

Orcanos delivers all of your essential requirements tools—end-to-end traceability, some basic collaboration features (messaging, alerts), and test management features. Additionally, users have praised Orcanos for their responsive customer support.

Overall, this is an especially good tool if you’re eventually going to require a full QMS (Quality Management System) or ALM (Application Lifecycle Management)—with this tool, it’s simply a matter of upgrading your plan to gain access to ALM or QMS features for risk assessment, quality control, customer complaint management, etc.

The only downside of this tool is its lack of pre-built integrations (it does integrate with Zapier, however). The pricing plan could also be friendlier—they do offer free 30-day trials, but their basic plan requires a minimum of 5 users (at $69/month each), so it’s not the best fit for smaller organizations.

Orcanos costs from $69/user/month.

Free demo available

Pricing upon request

9

Perforce Helix RM

Best for traceability and test case management

Perforce’s Helix RM software is offered as a stand-alone module in their ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) suite, a product widely used among top-tier organizations.

This requirements management tool is scalable and can handle large files—it’s a great fit for large, distributed teams. Perforce has also gained a great reputation for responsive and effective customer support.

Helix RM offers a full suite of useful features, including a better offering of graphical tools than your average requirements management tool.

These include real-time collaboration features (comments, approval management, and easy file exports), impact analysis tools, requirements traceability, and test case management, file history graphs and even a time-lapse tool to visualize an item’s progress over time.

Helix resource management also stands out for its integrations—a two-way sync with Jira, as well as integrations with various Microsoft products, Slack, Eclipse, GitHub, Go2Group, Rational DOORS, and OpsHub.

Overall, Helix RM is a powerful tool, but it does take time to set up, implement, and learn to use it effectively. The good news is that they offer a wide variety of resources like video tutorials, training, and a comprehensive knowledge base to simplify the learning curve.

Perforce Helix RM costs from $179/month.

Free for 5 users

Pricing Upon Request

10

ClickUp

Best for keeping your requirements visible to all stakeholders throughout the project

ClickUp is a project management software that can help you with every aspect of your project, requirements included. You can handle requirements by using the documents feature or a list view with customized fields.

If you decide to use documents, then you should add a document called ‘project requirements.’ Then, use extra pages to record your change requests and add dates to the title to know which one is the latest version.

If you decide to use a list view, you can create each requirement as a task and record changes to any particular request in the activity log. Then, make sure you have a dropdown field with statuses like ‘original’ and ‘updated’ to keep track of which requirements have changed.

ClickUp can help you connect to your requirements documents in other apps, thanks to its integrations. It offers native integrations with Slack, G Suite, Dropbox, and many more tools, as well as over 1,000+ integrations through Zapier.

ClickUp is free with limited storage for an unlimited number of users. Paid plans start at $5/user/month and offer a free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7 4135

Freemium plan available

From $9/user/month

Need expert help selecting the right tool?

We’ve joined up with Crozdesk.com to give all our readers (yes, you!) access to Crozdesk’s software advisors. Just use the form below to share your needs, and they will contact you at no cost or commitment. You will then be matched and connected to a shortlist of vendors that best fit your company, and you can access exclusive software discounts!

The Best Requirements Management Tools Comparison Chart

The chart below provides a basic summary of the top requirements management tools included in this review. If you want more tools to expand your research, just keep scrolling!

Tool Free Option Price
1
Jama Software

Best requirements management software for enterprises

30-day free trial

Pricing Upon Request Visit Website
2
codebeamer

Best for out-of-the-box and API integrations.

Free demo available

From $125/user/month Visit Website
3
ReQtest

Best for customizability.

10 days free trial

From $10/user/month Visit Website
4
xebrio

Best requirements management tool for end-to-end traceability

14-day free trial

From $2/user/month with a 10-user minimum Visit Website
5
Modern Requirements

Best rated requirements management software

30 days free trial

Pricing upon request Visit Website
6
IBM Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next

Best for engineering requirements management

Free Trial

Pricing Upon Request Visit Website
7
Accompa

Best for ease of implementation and use

30 day free trial

From $199/month Visit Website
8
Orcanos

Best for visualization and reporting

Free demo available

Pricing upon request Visit Website
9
Perforce Helix RM

Best for traceability and test case management

Free for 5 users

Pricing Upon Request Visit Website
10
ClickUp

Best for keeping your requirements visible to all stakeholders throughout the project

Freemium plan available

From $9/user/month Visit Website

Other Requirements Management Tools List

Here are more options that didn’t make the cut for the top 10 but definitely worth your while if you are expanding your tool research.

  1. Zoho Projects

    Best for ongoing updates, communication, and collaboration

  2. Wrike

    Best for cross-departmental collaboration

  3. Jira Service Management

    Best requirements management tool + ITSM help desk

  4. Doc Sheets

    Best intuitive enterprise requirements management software

  5. ReqSuite® RM

    Best for quick startup and high level of customization

  6. Visure Requirements

    Best for enterprise requirements management with high-level customization.

How I Picked The Best Requirements Management Tools

I evaluated and compared the most popular requirements management tools on the market, both for their reviews and user interface. Then I weighed factors that make software a good requirements management solution, such as the following ones.

Visuals

This includes all graphical elements of the tool. It can be a menu, how elements are organized in the UI, how the tool displays a UML diagram or process modeling view, etcetera. This is a tool that you’ll be using every day, so it’s better if it’s nice to look at.

Usability

I look at each tool from your perspective as a user. The idea is to see if the tool is easy to use in terms of navigation through the different features. Also, I see how intuitive it is for someone new to the tool. Therefore, I also research all supporting material to help you master the tool. This includes knowledge bases, training videos, and tool walkthroughs.

Integrations

All out-of-box integrations with third-party applications, plus available APIs so you can develop custom connections. I’ll mention some of the relevant tools I think you may be using.

Pricing

I looked at each tool’s pricing structure. I’ll tell you the price at which their paid plans start on a monthly payment basis, and any information I find on free trials or free versions of the software.

Requirements Management Tools FAQs

Find answers to common questions other people have about this topic.

Requirements Management Tools Buyer's Guide

How do you pick the best tool for your team?

All things considered, learning to use and implement a requirements management tool is an investment of time and energy. Before you dive in, you want to ensure that you’re choosing the ideal fit for your projects.

I simplify the process by providing you with some of the most important questions I think you can ask during the selection process in order to narrow down the options.

requirements-management-tools-infographic-1

Identify what you need the tool for

Do you need something that’s one step up from Google Docs and a spreadsheet, or are you looking for an enterprise-grade tool that can support large volumes of data and distributed teams? Do you need additional functionalities such as task management, risk management, or the ability to create mockups? Will you be using the software specifically for software testing?

In general, here’s a basic division of the software on this list to get you started: More lightweight requirements management software includes ReQtest, Accompa, ReqSuite, and Pearls.

More robust requirements management software includes Rational Doors, Perforce Helix RM, Orcanos, and Jama Software. Middle of the road? Look to Modern Requirements4DevOps (built for Azure DevOps) and Caliber.

Decide if you want cloud-based or license-based software

Most requirements documentation software offers the selection between a cloud-based service and an on-premise installation. With this in mind, however, there are several completely cloud-based tools such as AccompaReQtest, and Orcanos. Consider your ability to host a solution on-premise. As a result, you’ll be able to narrow down the options significantly.

Consider how easy it is to implement and learn

A couple of factors contribute to how easy a solution is to learn and implement. Consider:

  • Cloud-based or on-premise? See above. Right off the bat, a cloud-based Saas will be quicker to implement than an on-premise solution.
  • Availability of training and support? If you expect your team to require some training and ongoing support, look to requirements management tools that have received praise for their above-average training and support: SpiraTeam, Rational Doors, ReqSuite, Accompa, Orcanos, and Perforce Helix RM.
  • Pre-built integrations? The tools with the largest number of pre-existing integrations (by far!) are Jama, Accompa, and Perforce Helix RM. If you’re looking to cut down on implementation with a tool that plays nicely with your existing development and business tools, those should be at the top of your list.
requirements management tools logos list

What's Next?

Now that you’ve seen this list, I recommend you read all about how we broke down the requirements-gathering process into 7 easy steps. Also, you might be interested in project scope and how it relates to your requirements.

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By Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of thedpm.com. I've been in the industry for more than 20 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients; automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda; Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony. Ben's a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut.

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8 Comments

  • It is extremely crucial to carefully monitor all facts during software development. We should have project-related information and a step-by-step plan for developing software.

    Reply

  • Nice and elaborate article. Congratulations. I missed comments about how friendly-user are those tools. I believe fully customizable and taylorable tools are good, but how difficult would that be to make it happen effectively in a timely manner, using x-ref matrices, HID and other devices useful for RM? How many of them have good examples for implementation of RM models in daily-basis duties? Or, would tha be too laborious to come-up with the RM models on our own? How many of them have good on-line training material?

    Reply

  • A really excellent article, which stands out for the clear language and thoughtful examples of the appeal of each of these options. Thank you!

    Reply

  • Nice Article. I have worked with a few tools on the list over the years but ReqSuite is definitely the best one. Easy to use, lightweight, perfectly customizable and really nice assistance features to improve quality of the rquirements.

    Reply

  • Great article! It was very helpful. Do you have information on SPEC Innovations' Innoslate. It's a MBSE and RM tool.

    Reply

  • Hi, Tnx for your article. it was very useful for me. VISURE Requirement management it's another tools for RM. Do you have any information about this features & functionality?

    Reply

  • Where is Siemens PLM' Polarion?

    Reply

  • Nice article! I loved that you gave directions to select the best fitting tool for the problem. (not just a list of tools). I'd like to add one more tool, which is lightweight, but meets with all the criteria. https://storiesonboard.com/requirements-management-software.html

    Reply