ARIS BPA vs iServer comparison

Software AG and Orbus Software are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. Software AG is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3, while Orbus Software is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.3. Software AG holds a 8.0% mindshare in BPD, compared to Orbus Software’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Orbus Software users who would recommend it.

ARIS BPA

Read 66 ARIS BPA reviews

5,122 Views
4,165 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

iServer

Read 18 iServer reviews

2,061 Views
840 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

ARIS BPA

iServer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

ARIS BPA and iServer are leading solutions in business process analysis. ARIS BPA gains an edge due to its extensive enterprise modeling features and integration capabilities, while iServer's strength lies in its ease of use complementing Microsoft Office integration.

Features: ARIS BPA provides comprehensive tools like EPC modeling and simulation, notable for an all-encompassing view of enterprise architecture. Its support for various integrations enhances process documentation and analysis. iServer offers seamless integration with Microsoft Office, intuitive use for document management, and workflow alignment with Office tools, making it user-friendly for organizations heavily invested in Microsoft products.

Room for Improvement: ARIS BPA could improve its complexity and lack of a real-time workflow engine, while its limited API support poses integration challenges. iServer could enhance its modeling capabilities and data visualization, as well as address performance issues. Both platforms can benefit from more intuitive user interfaces and streamlined integration features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ARIS BPA supports flexible deployment options including Hybrid Cloud and on-premises, receiving mixed reviews on customer service but with strong community support. iServer, offering various deployment methods except hybrid, is noted for reasonable support but may require vendor assistance for complex problems, with potential delays.

Pricing and ROI: ARIS BPA, though perceived as expensive, offers high value for large enterprises due to its features and integration capabilities, with a complex licensing model. iServer is considered more cost-effective, with a generally lower price point, appealing to organizations seeking budget-friendly solutions. The return on investment is substantial for both, enhancing process understanding and operational efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed ARIS BPA vs. iServer Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. iServer

March 2025

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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 BPA

Ranking in Business Process Design

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (8th)

iServer

Ranking in Business Process Design

13th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS BPA is 8.0%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 1.6%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

Libor Černý

Process manager at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees

I can usually find an answer to my issue on ARIS Community

From the start, there were some difficulties on how to create outputs since there wasn't a repository tool in version 6. However, in version 7, there has been a tool for creating standards for a company, and that tool has been very intuitive. While I have been using this tool for several years, other people just starting to use it find the learning curve steep. This tool is very robust and accommodates many roles, where people can participate from compliance, IT designers, etc. This can create problems for users who have no experience with similar tools. It took me a year before I felt comfortable with this tool, because when I came from university it was the first or second tool that I worked on. It took me a year to run every feature or use it for every possibility since this tool is very robust. We sometimes have to create the link to the server and the repository twice because it is deleted once for some unknown reason. Though, this is not a big problem. There should be a more intuitive tool when creating reports.

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Antonios Lazanakis

Senior IT Solution Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Flexible, easy to use, and easy to import data

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model. It is very easy to import data, and we also have good integration with Visual Drawing Tools and SharePoint. The solution is…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"I am an advanced user. ARIS BPM is intuitive for me because I know the UML, BPMN, and EPC methodologies implemented in this tool. It is very easy to create processes for restructuring a company with some descriptions."

"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the solution to fully customize the methodology according to the company's needs, and to enforce that methodology with features like filters, semantic checks, and reports."

"Business Process Analysis: We can simulate, optimize, and analyse business processes based on various business requirements. It assures our rolling out the best processes."

"ARIS has a good collaboration function. You create a portal where any authorized users can work on the models. There are simple flows for making and approving changes."

"The EPC modeling is very detailed, the semantic check is helpful, and auto-layout simplifies the formatting."

"I like everything about ARIS BPA. I've used it for a long time and it's a fantastic tool. There is a list of things ARIS has that other solutions do not have."

"Collaboration and governance over enterprise artifacts."

More ARIS BPA pros

"Integrating the Microsoft documents to the product and visualization matrix where we can see the end-to-end relationship of the network is of great importance to our company."

"iServer is a solution that helps catalog enterprise architect solutions and catalog information."

"This is a flexible tool compared to some other solutions."

"It has helped having data lineage in the business cluster, which is used as control artifacts."

"The solution is easily modified to suit your needs."

"There were lots of different requirements, and collaboration and review is one of the biggest things. There is also Office 360 integration, and there's flexibility to use it as a database as well."

"Tech support is very responsive. They solved issues within a prompt response time."

"We like the governance."

More iServer pros

Cons

"The solution is difficult and not very exciting to learn."

"ARIS has an internal fully customizable workflow system called APG, which is very good, but it’s targeted mostly at creating workflows related to ARIS content, and not general workflows to support other processes inside a company."

"One of the biggest challenges is to realistically enable the defined structures of the processes that you have in ARIS documented, and then actually implement them in the business."

"ARIS BPA is not really a platform that offers you the opportunity to execute processes that you model."

"I had this decentralization mission where I had some friendly fights with the consultants of Software AG. My opinion was the business department should be able to publish their processes and do all their evaluation stuff in ARCM themselves. It has to be a one stop shop. I want a one stop shop to go from ARIS BPM to ARIS ARCM, because having everything go through that would be an improvement due to the inputs that we made with Software AG. They will make it possible that the trigger sent from BPM to ARCM will start their object generation."

"I would like the possibility to use real data. In other words, it can use this system to integrate with others that are operating directing with users like clients, employs, and others."

"The tool needs to improve its support since they take long to respond."

"Simulation is one area that is a bit complex."

More ARIS BPA cons

"Cannot see which activities are control activities."

"The modelling needs improvement, specifically forecasting capabilities and scenarios."

"It runs relatively slowly."

"Enhancing integration options with ERP or ITSM-related solutions for triggering automated requests for process definitions, changes, and tracking them in the iServer."

"The migration tool needs to be included in the main package, and not as a separate license."

"iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io."

"The performance is slow, which is something that should be improved."

"I haven't used this solution long enough to know what areas could be improved."

More iServer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing and licensing costs are available on their website. They will assign a relationship manager to assist if you show further interest in their products."

"We have a concurrent license system."

"It depends on different parameters."

"The product is a bit pricey."

"This is absolutely not the cheapest solution in the market, but for large companies, the price is fine."

"I would recommend the product to only enterprise companies because of the pricing."

"It is on the higher side."

"The product is inexpensive."

More ARIS BPA pricing and cost advice

"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."

"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."

"The price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."

"The product has a moderate pricing."

"It's about 13K to set up and 9K for the license for three months. I think it's about 20K a year, but we haven't firmed up on pricing yet because the price depends on how long we commit to the solution."

"The solution is cheaper than its competitors."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Educational Organization

38%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS BPA?

The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS BPA?

Pricing for ARIS BPA is average, not cheap or expensive. It's cost-effective and worth the money we pay.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?

I find it difficult to access the database as I want with direct querying. I must write scripts, which requires specific knowledge. Software AG could improve this by making the database more open. ...

See all answers

What do you like most about iServer?

iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management.

See all answers

What needs improvement with iServer?

iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io. draw.io is a drawing tool used to draw architectural diagrams, flow diagrams, etc. It is an alternative to...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iServer?

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS BPA

Compared 25% of the time

ADONIS vs ARIS BPA

Compared 9% of the time

Camunda vs ARIS BPA

Compared 8% of the time

Bizagi vs ARIS BPA

Compared 7% of the time

iGrafx Process360 Live Platform vs ARIS BPA

Compared 3% of the time

More ARIS BPA Competitors

LeanIX vs iServer

Compared 27% of the time

OrbusInfinity vs iServer

Compared 19% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs iServer

Compared 15% of the time

BiZZdesign HoriZZon vs iServer

Compared 8% of the time

Visio vs iServer

Compared 6% of the time

More iServer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA

March 2025

Download ARIS BPA product report

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

February 2025

Download iServer product report

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM

No data available

Overview

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.

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.

Software AG

iServer is a unified software platform and enterprise modeling environment that extends and enhances the familiar, market leading Microsoft Visio and Office products. Core capabilities provided by iServer include an enhanced Microsoft Visio diagramming interface, a powerful central repository for all enterprise architecture or business process models and documentation, and a range of tools for visualization, analysis and decision making.

Orbus Software

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.

Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. iServer

March 2025

Free Report: ARIS BPA vs. iServer

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