ARIS Architect and Designer Reviews

Name: ARIS Architect and Designer
Brand: Software AG
Rating: 3.9 (9 reviews)

3.9 out of 5

9 reviews
80% willing to recommend

What is ARIS Architect and Designer?

ARIS is the market-leading solution for professional business process management and modeling. Whether you want to document the "as-is" state of your operations for quality or certification reasons or design the "to-be" in terms of continuous improvement in your transformation program, ARIS is the best choice for establishing a single source of truth regarding all process excellence topics in your organization. It is for any organization looking to digitally transform their business, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution. ARIS helps you to make the most out of your processes with Process Mining, Risk & Compliance Management, RPA and much more.

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ARIS Architect and Designer is the #16 ranked solution in Business Process Design tools. PeerSpot users give ARIS Architect and Designer an average rating of 7.8 out of 10. ARIS Architect and Designer is most commonly compared to Camunda: ARIS Architect and Designer vs Camunda. ARIS Architect and Designer is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 67% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 21% of all views.

Buyer's Guide

ARIS Architect and Designer

March 2025

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Helped 844,944 peers since 2012

Featured ARIS Architect and Designer reviews

Angie Ibrahim Eissa

Founder & Managing Partner at BBL

ARIS Architect and Designer needs to improve its cloud version reliability, as I experienced data corruption that reverted diagrams to earlier versions. This issue, especially with large-scale diagrams, led to significant inconvenience due to the lack of partial data restoration capability. Additionally, an academic license would be beneficial to accommodate educational purposes.

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BPMexp67

BPM Expert at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

At this moment, we are moving all of these features to the web, which makes it easier to use in a browser. It can be improved because Architect and Designer are the core models of the suite, where you design your processes, your data, your applications, and so on. From this base, you have other features to implement improvements. For instance, to improve a process, we have a specific model, the simulation module, where we can create different scenarios and show the customer the benefits of each. But Architect and Designer are just tools to capture and administer the method, the filters, the templates, and so on. This is important, but for me, it's not enough to bring value to the customer. We need to identify improvements, implement them, and demonstrate the benefits. We need to control the benefits. Thus, the main area for improvement means bridging the gap between creating process models and actually realizing tangible benefits from process optimization. In future releases, I would like to see more features around AI.

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RemkeRutgers

IT architect at Rutgers IT

One of the standout features for me is its synchronization to a publication server. It makes sharing diagrams and links with non-users easy. The main value comes from having a shared repository for architectural models. However, the benefits depend on how effectively the user uses the tool. Creating a good model and avoiding modeling the same things multiple times is essential. Ultimately, the value lies in the user's discipline and approach rather than solely relying on the tool.

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ARIS Architect and Designer mindshare

As of April 2025, the mindshare of ARIS Architect and Designer in the Business Process Design category stands at 0.8%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design

PeerAnalyst reports based on ARIS Architect and Designer reviews

Type	Title	Date
Category	Business Process Design	Apr 2, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Apr 2, 2025	Download
Comparison	ARIS Architect and Designer vs Camunda	Apr 2, 2025	Download
Comparison	ARIS Architect and Designer vs Visio	Apr 2, 2025	Download
Comparison	ARIS Architect and Designer vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect	Apr 2, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Camunda	4.1	12.5%	89%	77 interviews Add to research
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect	3.9	10.9%	87%	99 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

ARIS Architect and Designer excels in process design speed, detailed enterprise architecture management, and user-friendly interface. It offers extensive customization with diverse model and object types, robust reporting capabilities, and metadata definition. Features include collaboration tools, compliance governance, and publication server synchronization. It provides cross-notational alignment, facilitating seamless diagram connectivity. The tool's popularity stems from its stable performance and ease of use compared to other vendors, making it a valuable BPM repository.

"Its user interface is highly regarded, especially when compared with Visual Paradigm."
"It is suitable for banks, insurance companies, public administration, etc. The method is very adaptable and can be applied independently of the business."
"One of the standout features for me is its synchronization to a publication server. It makes sharing diagrams and links with non-users easy."

Room for Improvement

ARIS Architect and Designer lacks built-in collaboration and needs reduced licensing costs. The support response time is slow, and the software isn't flexible for data export and import. The user interface and simulation features require enhancements. Cloud version reliability needs improvement due to data corruption issues. More features should be available to smaller clients, and the academic license would be helpful. Usability and the on-premises process mining capabilities need further development.

"The customer service of ARIS Architect and Designer was disappointing. It took forty days to conclude that partial data restoration was not possible, and it was suggested that the data might have been accidentally deleted, despite evidence to the contrary."
"Sometimes, it's not easy to convince customers to use this methodology because it's a bit rigid."
"Even with a formal modeling language, users can still draw freely and make a bit of a mess in your repository. It should also improve usability."

Pricing

ARIS Architect and Designer users consider the product's licensing and pricing as complex and expensive, often comparing it to comparable tools like MEGA. The licensing configuration is confusing, with high costs deterring some from implementation. Typically, licenses require a yearly subscription and on-premise solutions incur additional server costs. License renewal can be as high as 22% annually, impacting organizations' budget decisions when evaluating these business process management tools.

"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"The product is expensive."
"Many customers find the licensing configuration confusing. There are many different sub-details in the licensing, making it very difficult for us to understand what we are buying and what we are using with what."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily utilize ARIS Architect and Designer for documenting processes, identifying bottlenecks, and fostering project initiation with reference models. They create detailed process manuals and job descriptions, contribute to HR analytics with generated reports, and facilitate process modeling and architecture diagrams. Some users focus on enterprise architecture design, while others emphasize customization and scalability, gradually expanding its use. Despite various applications, business processing and governmental applications remain significant, with future plans to shift entirely to web-based use.

Service and Support

ARIS Architect and Designer's customer service varies. It receives praise for responsiveness and knowledge, with issues typically resolved in two to three days, yet finding remote support is challenging, requiring email communication. Improvements are noted, though accessing someone directly remains difficult. A disappointing experience involved a lengthy and unsatisfactory process for data restoration. They benefit from a user knowledge base, alleviating some need for direct support interaction.

Deployment

Users find the initial setup generally easy, though complex for larger deployments. A straightforward process involves a few days of planning for necessary infrastructure discussions. On-premises installations are less complex than multi-node setups for large data volumes. Documentation sometimes lacks comprehensive details, leading to support inquiries. Setup typically requires a few people and takes from one day up to over a month, with initial installations often completed in a week. Some server configuration challenges were noted.

Scalability

ARIS Architect and Designer is perceived as highly scalable and stable. However, it requires significant CPU resources, necessitating an explanation to IT departments. Users have expressed a desire for more documentation to support their case. Companies typically begin at mid-level scalability and expand to larger scales. Organizations report having over a hundred users with multiple administrators, reflecting its adaptable nature.

Stability

Users find ARIS Architect and Designer generally stable, with ratings varying between 6.5 to 9 out of 10. They recommend avoiding the newest version due to lack of patches, noting unwanted changes and missing Turkish language support. While on-premises management maintains performance, concerns exist about cloud stability after an incident with diagrams reverting to earlier versions when handling large data models. Regular maintenance is required for migration.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our ARIS Architect and Designer Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

10%

Government

Energy/Utilities Company

Manufacturing Company

Legal Firm

Educational Organization

Media Company

Retailer

Real Estate/Law Firm

Hospitality Company

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Leisure / Travel Company

Transportation Company

Mining And Metals Company

International Affairs Institute

Outsourcing Company

University

Performing Arts

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Consumer Goods Company

Healthcare Company

Logistics Company

Maritime Company

Marketing Services Firm

Compare ARIS Architect and Designer with alternative products

Learn more about ARIS Architect and Designer

What makes the difference?

The most comprehensive platform for process excellence in the market
Easy to use
Covers business & IT architecture from all angles
Full flexibility and >100 diagram types
Customer-driven development based on best practices
Strong partner ecosystem

ARIS is the market-leading solution for any organization and ideally suited to digitally transform the organization, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution.

ARIS Architect and Designer was previously known as ARIS Architect & Designer, ARIS Architect, ARIS Designer.

ARIS Architect and Designer customers

Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market, 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.