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Avolution ABACUS vs iServer 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

Avolution ABACUS
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
iServer
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
7th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of Avolution ABACUS is 3.8%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 4.7%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

JoseCamacho - PeerSpot reviewer
Supports evaluating architecture through corporate objectives
I conducted an evaluation of enterprise architecture at the European Court in Luxembourg, reviewing and analyzing existing implementations to identify potential improvements and providing recommendations I conduct evaluations to identify potential improvements and make recommendations, forming a…
Antonios Lazanakis - PeerSpot reviewer
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…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ease of modeling and the ease of showing interconnectivity and relationships is the most valuable. It is fairly simple and out of the box. It is customizable in many ways. It is a pretty good tool."
"Avolution ABACUS allows for flexible enterprise architecture analysis."
"It's more than just an enterprise architecture tool as it has a lot of nice features, e.g. messaging, simulation, etc."
"The technical support is very good. They are responsive and the answers they provide are detailed."
"Avolution ABACUS allows for flexible enterprise architecture analysis."
"Scalable and stable tool for roadmapping and modeling, with a good dashboard, end-to-end impact analysis, and portfolio management."
"The most valuable feature is the traceability, you can trace any object to the other."
"There are plenty of features available such as the ability to test applications for issues and a user-friendly dashboard."
"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."
"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 very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model."
"The initial setup is easy."
"This is a flexible tool compared to some other solutions."
"We like the governance."
"The solution has wide use within Microsoft products. The integration with Microsoft products, and, in particular, Microsoft Office, is great."
"The solution is easily modified to suit your needs."
 

Cons

"The usability of the tool is an area with shortcomings that need improvement."
"The tool doesn't have any intelligence built in. We have to design the dashboards ourselves, which is a challenge because we have to depend on the vendor for customizations."
"Having more control over page size is lacking in this product. Print utilization also needs to be improved."
"Their local presence in the Middle East could be scaled more, particularly in customer service. It would be good if they'd also have mobile dashboards for executive management out of the box."
"Avolution ABACUS has the drawback of needing data filtering at the development level, unlike some tools that offer filtering at deployment. Two areas where Avolution ABACUS could be improved are regional support and flexibility in model selection. Sometimes, it's challenging to access support or updates in certain regions, which can slow down progress. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the tool allowed more flexibility in selecting multiple models within a single unit."
"If they want to expand in the European market then they are going to have to improve their technical support."
"They should take more initiative to implement things that competing products have already come out with."
"While Avolution ABACUS is flexible, it can be complex to work with as it requires knowledge of specific configurations to customize the product."
"The migration tool needs to be included in the main package, and not as a separate license."
"I haven't used this solution long enough to know what areas could be improved."
"Cannot see which activities are control activities."
"The product is more expensive than Spark."
"There could be features for process mining, process simulation, and analytics."
"The one issue is that if you want to import predefined work, you need to put the licensing model in. So if you wanted to import work that was done before, you then need to buy a separate product for that."
"There are other solutions out there that have a better user interface."
"The modelling needs improvement, specifically forecasting capabilities and scenarios."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I'm paying on a yearly basis. I don't know whether it's a highly expensive tool or not. I'm getting a single version of it, and I don't have the enterprise part on it because I don't need the server component, and I don't need a web browser component. My estimate would be that it's a very reasonably priced tool given that you don't need to have licenses with everyone in order to get the information and the decision support capabilities out of the tool. You use the enterprise edition on top of the studio, which is the heart of the tool. I am not aware of any additional costs."
"This solution is expensive for some people's budgets and they need to offer a Lite version at a cheaper price"
"It is expensive."
"The pricing is quite good compared to the competition and it is part of the reason we chose the product."
"The solution's pricing is not an issue."
"The cost of Avolution ABACUS is reasonable, given the features they offer in comparison to other tools."
"My company makes annual payments toward the licensing costs of the solution. Considering the product's capabilities, its prices are very reasonable."
"To get a fairly extensive license for Enterprise Architects from Spark is approximately US $400.00, maybe less, but with Avolution Abacus it was approximately US $2000.00 per year, and that includes maintenance with the Abacus tool."
"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."
"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."
"The product has a moderate pricing."
"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Educational Organization
38%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Avolution ABACUS?
The tool's implementation is straightforward as everything is readily available. For instance, setting up a portal is seamless, allowing easy publishing and access to data. However, integrating wit...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Avolution ABACUS?
It's pricey compared to Essential, Deltek, or Essential Cloud. However, its diagramming capabilities and metamodel design make it worth it. But it's not for large user bases. It has modules for app...
What needs improvement with Avolution ABACUS?
While Avolution ABACUS is flexible, it can be complex to work with as it requires knowledge of specific configurations to customize the product. It would be beneficial to have seminars or other met...
What do you like most about iServer?
iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management.
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...
What is your primary use case for iServer?
We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Barclays
Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about Avolution ABACUS vs. iServer and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
841,004 professionals have used our research since 2012.