Azure Test Plans vs Qase

From $52 per user/month (Basic + Test Plans, 30-day trial)

From $35 per user/month (Teams, billed annually; $42 monthly)

Azure DevOps Basic alone is free for the first 5 users then $6 per user/month; adding Test Plans takes it to $52. One of the more expensive per-user test management licences, but it folds into an existing Azure DevOps agreement.

The old Startup tier is gone — it is now Free, Teams and Enterprise. Read-only collaborator seats are $10 each, which keeps the cost down where many people only need to see results.

Included exploratory testing extension is free; Test Plans itself requires a licence.

Free plan aimed at students, hobbyists and non-profits: 2 projects, 500 MB storage, 30-day history.

Established

Microsoft · since 2018

Established

Qase · since 2018

• Native traceability between work items, code, pipelines and tests.
• No extra vendor if you already run Azure DevOps.
• Solid exploratory testing capture through the browser extension.

• Fast, modern interface that testers actually enjoy using.
• Excellent first-party reporters for Playwright, Cypress, pytest and others.
• Free tier makes evaluation and small-team use realistic.

• Expensive per user compared to standalone alternatives.
• Weak outside the Microsoft ecosystem.
• Interface and reporting lag dedicated test management tools.

• Smaller vendor than Idera or SmartBear; enterprise procurement may push back.
• Fewer enterprise compliance features than the incumbents.
• Jira integration is good but not Jira-native.

Enterprises fully committed to Azure DevOps.

Startups and mid-market teams that find TestRail overpriced and dated.