We study qualitative properties of positive solutions of noncooperative, possibly nonvariational, elliptic systems. We obtain new classification and Liouville type theorems in the whole Euclidean space, as well as in half-spaces, and deduce a priori estimates and existence of positive solutions for related Dirichlet problems. We significantly improve the known results for a large class of systems involving a balance between repulsive and attractive terms. This class contains systems arising in biological models of Lotka-Volterra type, in physical models of Bose-Einstein condensates and in models of chemical reactions.