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IBM Blueworks Live vs Visio 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

IBM Blueworks Live
Ranking in Business Process Design
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Visio
Ranking in Business Process Design
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Mind Mapping Software (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.6%, up from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visio is 12.3%, down from 13.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Tugrul TASCI - PeerSpot reviewer
We have seen return on investment in the form of time savings but should have more design tools
I am generally using Visio to create some diagrams Visio should implement more complex tools or graphics to facilitate processing and use flexible templates. It should allow users to easily drag and drop some previously created diagrams. The tools supplied or provided are very basic, and there…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The stability is pretty good. It is highly available, which is key. You don't lose your work and can autosave."
"It is a stable solution since there has not been any downtime. Everything loads fast."
"Collaboration is most valuable. You can collaborate online with many people. People can comment, and you can comment back. It is just like a social network, and that, for me, is very good."
"It enables decisions based upon processes that we do model, and ultimately move forward with."
"It has a built-in capability to capture process owners and managers against processes along with other process governance roles."
"IBM Blueworks Live is cloud-based and provides easy access to all your processes in one place."
"For me the most valuable feature is that it's one depository for our bank. So it's not like everybody has their critical processes on SharePoint or on their desktops. Everything is centrally located. It's very intuitive, easy to use. The support that I get from IBM is always great."
"It's very easy, very quick to create a process map. It has templates. The look and feel is very nice. What we want to achieve out of the process map, we can achieve it using Blueworks."
"The fact that you could program in VBA is most valuable."
"Simple to use and very intuitive."
"If you are a knowledgeable individual, the initial setup isn't too difficult."
"Overall, Visio is stable for my needs."
"Visio has allowed us to create good diagrams for our technical employees to consume. The solution provides templates, is straightforward, and has tools for the easy creation of diagrams."
"What I like most about the solution is that It's quite easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is the set of diagramming tools."
"The fact that it's on-premises allows you to get fantastic speed. It's got a faster response rate, it doesn't lag, and it doesn't have any latency when you're working on it."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is neither straightforward nor complex however you do need to know what you are doing."
"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."
"Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use it very effectively."
"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 haven't yet been able to dabble in case management with Blueworks Live, as it is not yet offered with the product."
"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."
"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."
"In the solution Signavio, they have a customer journey mapping feature that should be added to IBM Blueworks Live. It's valuable to map or document the customer journey to identify the pains and opportunities in this process."
"The export and import functionality from Visio to other tools and the import and export functionality from other tools to Visio are areas with shortcomings."
"In terms of enterprise architecture, Visio is limited."
"The price could be better."
"The tools panel at the top, et cetera, seems really complicated."
"Visio could be improved by adding more features. If you look at draw.io, they have more features. Also, if you want to design something for the cloud, Microsoft Azure still isn't enabled, so you need to install the plugin. This prototype is easily available, though."
"Lacks an interface with workflow capability."
"There is a limitation in Visio."
"They could improve the drawing function, other solutions provide easier drawing capabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."
"Making it less expensive would be good."
"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."
"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"The popularity of a product is an indicator of its price. Because of the popularity of Visio, its price is on the higher side. We need better pricing for it."
"The product is inexpensive if you already have Microsoft products in your environment. The license encompasses all the required services."
"We probably have an M-365 E3 license."
"Personally, I think the price of this solution is too high."
"The pricing is reasonable and I would rate it 6 out of 10."
"My organization has paid for the solution. However, I have used it personally without payment. There is a free option available."
"We have an enterprise license. I'm not sure what the cost is."
"The price is reasonable for individual use but for an organization, the costs is high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

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 any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.
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 it very effectively.
How easy is it to migrate process flow charts (modeled using tools like Visio) into Bizagi?
I have been using Bizagi with a major project for a state government agency for about four years now. It is pretty straightforward to load in files that are BPMN 2.0 compliant. The option to load V...
What do you like most about Visio?
The diagrams Visio creates are quite impressive in the sense that we can cooperate with more colleagues in one task and see the flow of the process.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visio?
One of the main problems with Visio is its licensing options and associated issues, which lead to discussions about the price with a Microsoft representative. If asked to rate the price, I would gi...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint
Microsoft Visio
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
Thomas College, Hamburg Port Authority, Portigon AG, Conseil G_n_ral du d_partement des Hautes-Alpes, AAA Auto a. s., Commonwealth Financial Network, ICA, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Blueworks Live vs. Visio and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.