Camunda vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

Camunda and Sparx Systems are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. Camunda is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2, while Sparx Systems is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.1. Camunda holds a 11.6% mindshare in BPD, compared to Sparx Systems’s 11.8% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Camunda users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Sparx Systems users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Camunda compete in the modeling and business process management categories. Enterprise Architect has the upper hand in architecture modeling due to its comprehensive UML support, while Camunda excels in business process management through its BPMN capabilities and flexibility.

Features: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect delivers extensive support for modeling standards such as UML, ArchiMate, and BPMN, enabling various architectural practices. It offers sequence, class, and use case modeling, along with automated documentation generation. Camunda focuses on business process management with robust modeling of BPMN, CMMN, and DMN standards, providing flexibility and scalability with its open-source platform.

Room for Improvement: Enterprise Architect could benefit from a more intuitive interface, improved integration and collaboration features, and modernized project management tools. Camunda could enhance its user experience by improving interfaces and extending integration with non-Java platforms. Better process visualization and user form creation are also areas for enhancement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect offers flexibility across on-premises and hybrid environments, supported by detailed documentation and community resources, though its email-only support is noted as a limitation. Camunda is praised for its open-source community and flexibility, benefiting from extensive troubleshooting resources.

Pricing and ROI: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is affordable, with competitive pricing and diverse licensing options that align with various organization sizes, enhancing ROI with productivity improvements. Camunda offers cost-effective solutions with its open-source version, appealing to enterprises for BPM capabilities at a lower cost, although the enterprise edition can become expensive depending on process instances managed.

To learn more, read our detailed Camunda vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Camunda vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

IBM Blueworks Live

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.5%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Camunda is 11.6%, up from 10.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 11.8%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur

Global Innovation Director at Ernst & Young

Jul 5, 2023

An easily scalable and affordable solution that enables users to document and digitize processes with ease

IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts. There is only one kind of BPMN 2.0 diagram. It is a process diagram. It doesn't have the concept of separate tools, which other products offer. If I had to do a hardcore BPMN 2.0 modeling, the product would have its own reservations. There were features we could not explore from a BPMN 2.0 perspective. Most of the time, people who are shifting from Microsoft Office tools to a digitized way of working still want the reporting capabilities to be strong. Some tools, like ARIS or Signavio, offer customized solutions from the reporting perspective. If I have documented my whole finance process and want to fetch out a complete SOP report in a very customized manner, IBM Blueworks cannot provide it. We have to rely on some other services. So that's one area in which we always struggled, how to really customize the reporting aspects. I understand that we need to keep the tool a little more asset-light. It's very difficult to keep adding many options, but at least a few BPMN 2.0 options were needed. We have been suggesting to IBM that we should have some way of customizing the reporting. At least we should get a custom way of reporting it into different formats like Excel or putting up a logo for one of the clients so that their SAP can be printed that way.

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Peter Broucke

Enterprise Architect at Proximus

Apr 23, 2024

Support is good (even the basic one), documentation is readily available and matches the need for agile development

Probably one area I look forward to has to do with AI and how Camunda sees the AI angle on workflow. I know they're working on that or at least communicating about it. They already have versions to run on the cloud, so they've tackled that. We're looking at what they will come up with otherwise. As long as the product gets enough traction and evolves, we're happy. With open source, you can monitor what's happening. If the product is being left by many customers, that's a sign. We're also users of Camunda, and you can watch one of our guides' presentations in the States about one of our implementations. Our focus now is on developing service management and DMN APIs for the platform. AI is something we take into consideration, but we'll see what additional benefits it could bring and how to interconnect it with our data or AI engineering.

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Anthony Houghton

Data Architect at UK Research and Innovatio

May 15, 2022

Easy to set up and had no issues with stability, but it's not a very friendly tool, and its database modeling and entity-relationship modeling functions need improvement

I didn't find any valuable features in Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect because you cannot use it for re-engineering. I wanted to re-engineer the database, and it was almost impossible. I couldn't find a way. One room for improvement in Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is that it's not very friendly. Another room for improvement in the tool is that it doesn't enable you to import the metadata from a database very easily, so reverse engineering of a database was very difficult. Its database modeling and entity-relationship modeling functions need improvement. An additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the re-engineering of databases into logical models, if that feature's not yet there, because I haven't checked.

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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 has the ability to document in different formats. It is not tied to a specific model. You can look at it from different angles and see the intuitive nature of it. It always generates a valid diagram. You cannot create something that is not BPMN compliant."

"Business users understand it really well, which means we can then help them automate their business processes."

"In terms of the collaboration features, from the point of discovery, it was useful to go to load up the policies and the rule sets that the client had. And in terms of exploring options and being able to model a variety of different processes, that was incredibly useful as well."

"Valuable features include real-time modeling and design work, the ability to perform workshops with clients in real-time with the tool, and getting instant output."

"The business process discovery is excellent. The diagram or blueprinting functionality of the solution are very good. It's quite easy. You can link the sub-processes and get a big overview of the whole process then."

"The ease of documenting and digitizing the processes was valuable to us."

"The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic."

"This solution is good at utilizing standards rules for connectivity."

More IBM Blueworks Live pros

"The most valuable feature is the scheduling."

"The solution is good for data models."

"Camunda Platform is better than IBM BPM, and Azure. It is more elaborate."

"Camunda is a scalable product."

"The integration with almost any language, product, and even human tasks, is valuable. It's very seamless to integrate into existing systems. It doesn't require you to rewrite a lot of your existing system. That's where it really stands out."

"We are documenting all of the processors and VPN. Then we are sharing it with our business users."

"The platform's approach to BPMN modeling is straightforward and versatile, making it easy to adopt and use effectively."

"We have been able to save costs using this solution compared to the product we used before."

More Camunda pros

"The system provides powerful tools for obtaining reports and documentation."

"There are a lot of features in Enterprise Architect. It allows us to take on a lot of tasks."

"The best thing about the tool is that its database is open."

"Some of the business processes are very easy to compare when you have the diagrams."

"It has led some teams to do better code reviews - to be less focussed on coding conventions (syntax) and more focussed on the semantics because of the abstraction level clear design affords."

"Scalable solution for modeling, project sharing, and collaboration. Support for it is good."

"It's like a repository. So far, we use it only for Information Modelling."

"It is a handy tool for visual modeling that provides opportunities for analysis, design, and support of models using ArchiMate, UML."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pros

Cons

"The APIs are great, except the normal business user doesn't know how to create APIs. So it's hard because IBM comes to us as the business users and tell us to create reporting with APIs, except we don't know that, so we have to turn around and flip it to our IT people."

"In the Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."

"I wish Blueworks Live had simulations built in, but it doesn't. It also lacks a feature of reporting; ad hoc, drag and drop reporting. A lot of senior people are always asking for reports, and there's no reporting feature within IBM Blueworks."

"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."

"The user interface is quite easy at first but process analysts soon run into roadblocks of limited functionality, which is disappointing."

"I can't insert any images. For example, within the process map, if I want to put it in the box or rectangle, or circle. If I have to use one image or icon, that's not possible."

"It is BPMN-compliant but the tool needs to be more involved to get into a completely 2.0 oriented tool. It has a few things but it's not the complete BPMN model."

"The font size is really, really small and it's really not useful to print out process models because you cannot read what's written in different boxes. This makes it necessary for people to have access to the tool. We view licenses to see how the printing or output is. It's not very good."

More IBM Blueworks Live cons

"Probably one area I look forward to has to do with AI and how Camunda sees the AI angle on workflow."

"The product does not have a dictionary."

"The user interface needs improvement. It should be more tailored to the end-user and offer a better user experience design over the user interface itself."

"Customization and tech stack could be up-to-date."

"There are a few things that I'm missing. For instance, the user interface creator, which I know other systems have, like Aurea or Lombardi, which are IBM solutions. The interface creator, including the data model creator or some module which would allow the users who are not programmers or business consultants and who are not technically skilled in database and Java programming, to create data models and user interfaces."

"When trying to design rule tables the solutions graphical user interface could improve, it could be more user friendly."

"The migration strategy needs to be improved."

"In the future, I would definitely like to see the process administration (migration, audit, tracking) and process evaluation (optimize) features added to the community edition."

More Camunda cons

"It should be made Windows compatible."

"It really did not work for logical modeling. The look is very old-fashioned. You can't make the diagrams easy on the eye, so we ended up drawing them again in Visio anyhow."

"The stability and performance of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect could still be improved. Setup for it is also slightly complicated and could be improved."

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

"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."

"The automatic creation of reports based on the model elements could be improved."

"The database management area was not usable."

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

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."

"Making it less expensive would be good."

"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."

"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."

"The solution is not very expensive."

"Based on the licenses purchased, from a footprint perspective, you can have as many people as you want. You have multiple different categories of licenses to keep the cost low."

"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."

"The solution is very, very cost-effective."

"Cheaper licensing and resources than competitors"

"There is a bit of scope for improvement in how the licensing and pricing are done. They are based on the number of processing instances you execute on the cluster... but on the self-hosted mode, the pricing model should be customized."

"It is less cost-prohibitive than other solutions on the market. This solution was in our price range."

"Camunda is much cheaper."

"The cost of this solution is better than some competing products."

"We're using the open-source version for now."

"The most attractive feature of the product is that it is open source."

"The price is competitive with products like Bonitasoft and RHPAM (Red Hat Process Automation Manager). We have two versions of Camunda. The first version was open source, without support, but then we got a supported version."

More Camunda pricing and cost advice

"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."

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

"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."

"We had a yearly license."

"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."

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

"The pricing for ultimate version is steeply high."

"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

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

16%

Government

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Blueworks Live?

The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put an...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?

The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?

Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use...

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How does Bonita compare with Camunda Platform?

One of the things we like best about Bonita is that you can create without coding - it is a low-code platform. With B...

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Which do you prefer - Appian or Camunda Platform?

Appian is fast when building simple to medium solutions. This solution offers simple drag-and-drop functionality with...

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Which would you choose - Camunda Platform or Apache Airflow?

Camunda Platform allows for visual demonstration and presentation of business process flows. The flexible Java-based ...

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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?

The pricing is reasonable, with the ultimate version costing around 290 Euros for renewal and the initial purchase ar...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

The product could be improved in terms of its ease of use and documentation. While it offers a lot of functionality, ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Visio vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 37% of the time

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 17% of the time

Lucidchart vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 15% of the time

ARIS Cloud vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 9% of the time

Bizagi vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM Blueworks Live Competitors

Apache Airflow vs Camunda

Compared 15% of the time

Bizagi vs Camunda

Compared 10% of the time

Bonita vs Camunda

Compared 7% of the time

IBM BPM vs Camunda

Compared 7% of the time

Pega Platform vs Camunda

Compared 7% of the time

More Camunda Competitors

Visual Paradigm vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 17% of the time

Visio vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 12% of the time

No Magic MagicDraw vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 10% of the time

Lucidchart vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 9% of the time

Bizagi vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 2% of the time

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Blueworks Live

October 2024

Download IBM Blueworks Live product report

Buyer's Guide

Camunda

November 2024

Download Camunda product report

Buyer's Guide

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

October 2024

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect report

Download Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect product report

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint

Camunda BPM

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IBM

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Camunda

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Sparx Systems

Overview

IBM Blueworks Live is a cloud-based business process modeling tool that helps you discover, map and document your processes. It is easy to use, allowing you to learn and perform business process modeling in minutes.

With Blueworks Live you can:

Simplify business process modeling
Quickly build business processes in a straightforward, cloud-based interface designed for both IT and business users.

Improve process efficiency and accuracy
A central process repository eliminates version control and consistency issues by providing users real-time access to process workflows.

Enhance cross-team collaboration
A shared team workspace engages all business process owners, encouraging cross-team participation and continuous process improvement.

Camunda enables organizations to orchestrate processes across people, systems, and devices to continuously overcome complexity and increase efficiency. A common visual language enables seamless collaboration between business and IT teams to design, automate, and improve end-to-end processes with the required speed, scale, and resilience to remain competitive. Hundreds of enterprises such as Atlassian, ING, and Vodafone orchestrate business-critical processes with Camunda to accelerate digital transformation. To learn more visit camunda.com.

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."

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council

24 Hour Fitness, Accruent, AT&T Inc., Atlassian, CSS Insurance, Deutsche Telekom, Generali, Provinzial NordWest Insurance Services, Swisscom AG, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VHV Group, Zalando

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Buyer's Guide

Camunda vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

October 2024

Free Report: Camunda vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

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