ARIS BPA vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

Software AG and Sparx Systems are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. Software AG is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.1, while Sparx Systems is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.1. Software AG holds a 7.5% mindshare in BPD, compared to Sparx Systems’s 10.5% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Sparx Systems users who would recommend it.

ARIS BPA

Read 68 ARIS BPA reviews

6,121 Views
4,223 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...

Read 99 Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect reviews

9,932 Views
6,356 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

ARIS BPA

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

ARIS BPA and Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect compete in the business process modeling and enterprise architecture domains, respectively. ARIS BPA seems to have an edge in process modeling and comprehensive analysis, whereas Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect offers more flexibility and support for multiple modeling standards, which could be advantageous depending on user requirements.

Features: ARIS BPA provides extensive business process modeling capabilities with tools for thorough process analysis and optimization. It includes a robust integration framework and advanced relational database management, allowing enterprises to effectively manage IT, processes, and organizational elements. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect supports diverse modeling standards, such as UML, BPMN, and ArchiMate. It enables detailed code engineering and project management and excels at managing and reverse-engineering intricate software models for enterprise architecture.

Room for Improvement: ARIS BPA lacks a built-in execution engine, limiting its potential in automation. Its integration with other tools can be challenging and costly, suggesting a need for streamlined integration. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect has a steep learning curve and an outdated user interface, which may deter new users. Enhancements are needed in its data modeling capabilities and support for documentation generation and diagram consistency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ARIS BPA supports various deployment infrastructures, including Hybrid Cloud, Public Cloud, and On-premises, enhancing flexibility but sometimes complicating the setup. Customer service is generally good, although support inconsistencies are reported. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is mostly On-premises with cloud options, known for competitive pricing and ease of setup, though its support may be inconsistent, needing improvements in responsiveness and clarity.

Pricing and ROI: ARIS BPA is expensive, using complex licensing schemes suited for large enterprises, potentially limiting accessibility for smaller firms. While process optimization can lead to significant ROI, it requires time. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is valued for its cost-effectiveness and lower licensing expenses, offering significant functionality which can lead to a faster ROI. Its affordability makes it an appealing option for organizations with budget constraints.

To learn more, read our detailed ARIS BPA vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

July 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

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (7th)

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...

Ranking in Business Process Design

4th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS BPA is 7.5%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 10.5%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

Tamer Eldamanhouri

Software Engineering & Manager at Arab Infromation Management Services

Empowers teams with robust business process modeling capabilities

They should examine competitor solutions to identify differentiators. One issue related to ARIS BPA is its integration with AI; it has AI features for cloud solutions, yet many in the government sector in Kuwait do not view the cloud as viable. Software AG should focus on developing AI models for ARIS BPA on-premises, particularly in user interfaces, as well as creating predefined business processes for common areas such as HR and finance. This aspect is crucial for adapting to the market's needs and streamlining custom solutions. While they have been helpful regarding pricing, I cannot compare ARIS BPA to other business process modeling tools because I understand some competitors have significantly lower costs than ARIS BPA. To maintain market share, good discounts should be provided to customers.

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Milan Sterba

Senior Enterprise Architect at Deepview S.r.o.

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.

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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

"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."

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

"In addition to our applications, we have also stored, in ARIS, the footprint of where those applications have been implemented. That means we know in which country a given application has been implemented. With embedded geolocation, we have a very visual world map, where we can see the footprint of each application."

"The whole ARIS BPM solution is a bit special, because from the very beginning it was targeted more to Business users and the Management."

"I reviewed ARIS BPA, and I noticed it was recommended by Gartner in 2024."

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

"The initial setup is easy."

"Good at controlling the workflow and relevant key processes."

More ARIS BPA pros

"The solution allows us to quickly present designs and concepts to customers and get their feedback, thereby moving the project forward step by step."

"It is a very rich tool in terms of the functionality, and the types of diagrams, that you can create in this tool."

"The Business Process Modeling or BPM part is the most valuable. Its ability to simulate scenarios is also very useful. It can also create descriptions of the workflows. It has a feature in which if you create some BPMN process, a workflow diagram, and the description inside, you can actually simulate the whole scenario, and you get the description. That's very handy."

"We use it to develop and maintain the Enterprise Conceptual Model, migrated from erwin a couple of years ago."

"It provides good utilization and it's a convenient tool for building exact architectural work."

"We can easily use it with our new customers."

"Ability to maintain cross-references for all models in all levels - great tractability."

"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect was easy to set up and it took just twenty minutes."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pros

Cons

"User interface (UI)."

"The areas of ARIS where we see room for improvement are actually related to the background services that support it. Over the last number of years, Software AG has moved from an on-premises solution into deploying a SaaS solution to their enterprise base. That has been really successful from my point of view, as I have been a customer of ARIS, managing the relationship, for a couple years. Certain support functions around the knowledge base, customer service, and the cross and upselling of modules within the core ARIS component are lagging behind the SaaS movement."

"The Risk and Compliance Management tool is rather complex and moreover, it needs to be customized if you want to use it."

"Areas for improvement include sales, prospecting, shopping, customer service, after-sales (claims and advice for the client), and all processes pertaining to customer loyalty."

"Regarding stability, when there are any customized settings being done at customer end - post upgrade to newer versions - it makes the customer environment unstable for a short duration."

"I could use more icons and other graphical elements."

"Making it more customizable and easy to learn would be a benefit."

"The user experience's usability (in general) should be improved as the tool is updated."

More ARIS BPA cons

"For data modeling, it is not very mature when comparing with other data modeling tools."

"It would be nice to have it supported on the Linux operating system."

"Inconsistent UI elements must be tidied up with the toolbox gaps removed."

"The modeling tool is targeted toward a sophisticated user."

"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 initial setup of the Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect It's very complicated. It's very difficult to start with the right templates because there are many possibilities. The deployment took approximately two days."

"If you just want to create some diagrams with shapes and arrows, then use Visio."

"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."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is a bit pricey."

"The product is expensive."

"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."

"It is on the higher side."

"ARIS has different licensing mechanisms for different modules, but they are perpetual licenses. So you pay once."

"Usually, our company buys technical support from the Software AG site. We bought the technical support for the first year of usage for ARIS version 6 and 7. So, when we migrated to ARIS version 7, we bought support only for the first year. Then, we didn't use it the next year. Our experience was that we use it only one to three times during the first year. Therefore, there wasn't much value for us to buy this service because we have no problem with using ARIS after the first year."

"You will never get a fixed price for this product because they will go in and ask you what kind of environment would you like to set up? How many people will you work with? How big is your organization? Today, they have a fixed price to say, "Okay, just to start the business area, buy two licenses for modeling and eight people that can look into the product." They have this kind of fixed price. It's 50,000 Danish Krone. If you divided that by about six, then you get the pricing in dollars. Still, when you are going out, negotiate and find the right price. You will never get a fixed price: "It costs this and, if you take ten of these, seven of these and eight of these, and then it costs this." No, you negotiate every time."

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

More ARIS BPA pricing and cost advice

"The licensing is not as expensive as some of the other data modeling tools such as Erwin."

"The license for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is paid yearly, but I don't handle that area. It's good for its price, so I'm rating it a five out of five, but I'm not using it much. I also don't have information regarding additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees."

"Its price is very good for the value that you get with it."

"Use floating licenses strategically."

"This product has a paid license, with a yearly subscription option."

"The solution is quite expensive."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"There is no license required for this solution."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

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.

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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?

ARIS BPA needs to be more accurate when generating documents. While it covers many blueprints and functions that I need, the document generation feature could be enhanced for better accuracy.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS BPA

Compared 23% of the time

ADONIS vs ARIS BPA

Compared 10% of the time

Camunda vs ARIS BPA

Compared 8% of the time

Visio vs ARIS BPA

Compared 6% of the time

Pega Platform vs ARIS BPA

Compared 4% of the time

More ARIS BPA Competitors

Visual Paradigm vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 15% of the time

Visio vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 10% of the time

No Magic MagicDraw vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 10% of the time

LeanIX vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 8% of the time

Camunda vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 3% of the time

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA

July 2025

Download ARIS BPA product report

Buyer's Guide

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

July 2025

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect report

Download Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect 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

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is an enterprise solution that helps streamline, accelerate, and integrate software, system, and business development. With this intuitive modeling and design solution, enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, enable collaboration, support their teams and colleagues, and manage complex projects. Software architects, business analysts, project managers, developers, support staff, and testers can unite under a single repository. Through numerous view points and potential sub-systems, users are offered a unified view in a complex environment.

With Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, users are also offered a shared model option which can be accessed quickly and securely by in-office and remote team members through the Enterprise Architect’s Pro Cloud Server. Building a coherent, verifiable model can be done by connecting and integrating a variety of behavioral and structural information in visual form. As a result, Enterprise Architect offers high performance, flexibility, and the ability to model, manage, and trace every stage of the business development and modeling process.

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Features

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect assists in creating a unified and accessible vision in business development by offering a flexible platform with a unique set of rich features. These features include:

Test and debug - Streamline software development and visualize software with the simulation process. Users can test and confirm correct behavior, set and oversee test points, and debug and examine software.

Track tasks - Track, prioritize, and assign individual and group tasks to assist in the model’s development. Users can visually monitor their progress through the Gantt chart.

Open standards - Users can visualize and analyze running software with integrated custom tools. They can also run advanced simulations, team-based repositories, testing tools, and version control. In addition, the solution supports enterprise architecture frameworks such as UPDM and TOGAF.

Simulation - Create and debug embedded solutions by simulating behaviors and state models. Users can specify events, triggers, constraints, and more. Users can also specify extensive and complex structural systems and create custom domain-specific solutions.

Reviews from Real Users

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect merges high-end tools, online availability, a dedication to open standards, and accessible pricing so enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, whether remote or in-office. Users particularly like the architectural frameworks and the scalability.

Marc L., a principal architecture enterprise solution adviser at Cronomagic Canada, notes, "The product offers very good support for all mainstream modeling notations and architectural frameworks."

An enterprise architect at a manufacturing company writes, "Scalable solution for modeling, project sharing, and collaboration. Support for it is good."

Sparx Systems

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.

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Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

July 2025

Free Report: ARIS BPA vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

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