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ARIS Architect and Designer vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

ARIS Architect and Designer
Ranking in Business Process Design
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS Architect and Designer is 0.8%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 11.2%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

Angie Ibrahim Eissa - PeerSpot reviewer
Utilizing advanced features to optimize and improve process modeling capabilities
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.
Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient documentation generation through organized model structure with a good price-performance ratio
Whenever I begin a new project with Sparx, I have to spend time training people on how to use it since it is not straightforward. Although it's a powerful product with plenty of features, it's not easy for even experienced users to find their way without guidance. This is not the most user-friendly solution.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is suitable for banks, insurance companies, public administration, etc. The method is very adaptable and can be applied independently of the business."
"It's really fast. It's much faster compared to Enterprise Architect."
"One of the most valuable features is how user-friendly ARIS is, compared to other BPM tools. This tool has very diverse types of assets available. ARIS also has a lot of customizable options, different model types, object types, a number of attributes, and a lot of customization is possible. In comparison, Signavio is very limited in terms of model types and object types. So these customizations ARIS offers are really valuable to any client who wants to create a BPM repository."
"Its user interface is highly regarded, especially when compared with Visual Paradigm."
"We use the product for modeling, conducting process checks, doing process flow, running, and analyzing the report."
"The support team is very responsive."
"The most important feature is ARIS's ability to turn a process design into data to analyze anything you want. For example, we have some analysis reports in ARIS that can guide us when we want to change a system. It shows us how this change will affect all of the organization's processes."
"One of the standout features for me is its synchronization to a publication server. It makes sharing diagrams and links with non-users easy."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect was easy to set up and it took just twenty minutes."
"This is a useful tool for IT people who need to design their solution architecture."
"A feature I like most about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is its ease of use."
"It is a very rich tool in terms of the functionality, and the types of diagrams, that you can create in this tool."
"The most valuable feature of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the value streams."
"Provides a single repository for all architecture work."
"The system provides powerful tools for obtaining reports and documentation."
"Its ability to reference and link to components from any diagram."
 

Cons

"The simulation part still has some way to go. It's a good feature, and it's something that other vendors don't have right now, but it can still be improved. Some features are needed in ARIS Architect, so advanced users can do things through drag-and-drop functionality."
"Sometimes, it's not easy to convince customers to use this methodology because it's a bit rigid."
"You can have a collaboration feature, but it's necessary to have ARIS Connect which is a separate, costly product."
"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."
"The product is not flexible."
"This product could be improved by lowering the licensing cost. More organizations could use ARIS if they slashed the licensing costs even a little bit."
"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."
"The support team takes a long time to respond to our queries."
"The stability and performance of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect could still be improved. Setup for it is also slightly complicated and could be improved."
"The window froze for five or ten seconds. You can click and click again and it takes a second to come up. It might have been specific to a version."
"The elements of the modeling sets can have better customization and visual representation. It would be great to have a mobile version."
"There should be a MATLAB-specific toolbox added to the solution with better compatibility. The connections currently are good but in the future, it needs a huge improvement."
"I have found the solution is lacking options. The general usability needs improvement and more compliance to CML definitions."
"The Portfolio Management features can be added in the next release. As it helps you to manage more portfolio of projects and architectures of cost projects on a portfolio level. This would be an important feature in the next release."
"In a future release, they should improve portfolio planning."
"It could be more user-friendly. The tools could be more simple to use. It's a very complex solution. Because I am a business analyst, I use these tools to manage requirements, and I make models in UML, BPMN, and ArchiMate, and it's complex. In the next release, I would like to see more integrations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The product is expensive."
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"The licenses are very costly. I've seen many people who are hesitant or not able to use ARIS Suite just because of the license cost. Even though they like all the functionalities and understand the value of everything ARIS provides, they aren't able to implement it."
"The license I use is on-premise. We haven't gone to the cloud where we have to pay monthly or something like that. Sparx is cheaper than most similar tools."
"Use floating licenses strategically."
"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."
"Its price is very good for the value that you get with it."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"It is cheaper than other solutions. Its cost is around $686 per year. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
11%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with ARIS Architect and Designer?
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 diag...
What is your primary use case for ARIS Architect and Designer?
I use ARIS Architect and Designer ( /products/aris-architect-and-designer-reviews ) for process modeling, enterprise architecture, and business process design. I only use it for customers because i...
What do you like most about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
One of the reasons many public sector institutions in the Czech Republic use it is that it provides a very good price-performance ratio. While it might be cumbersome to learn, it still delivers exc...
What needs improvement with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
Whenever I begin a new project with Sparx, I have to spend time training people on how to use it since it is not straightforward. Although it's a powerful product with plenty of features, it's not ...
 

Also Known As

ARIS Architect & Designer, ARIS Architect, ARIS Designer
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample 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.
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about ARIS Architect and Designer vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.