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No Magic MagicDraw vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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

No Magic MagicDraw
Ranking in Business Process Design
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of No Magic MagicDraw is 3.2%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 11.2%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user699090 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 14, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

DiegoRangel - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced team communication and design exploration with integrated simulation tools
I was using No Magic MagicDraw to model operations, such as using different kinds of operations with ships or crafts and other systems No Magic MagicDraw facilitated great communication within the team and allowed for the exploration of different designs and architectures, which was beneficial…
Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There is a lot of documentation available on the Internet to understand its functionality."
"The initial setup was not straightforward."
"The most valuable feature is the amount of flexibility that one has to model, which is great for an individual."
"No Magic has the tools and capability to model a complete enterprise and all product lines."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to quickly build multiple layers within the organizational and business process environments, as well as in the SysML product environments, and converting to files that can be accessed by clients who do not have a system and a teamwork server access."
"It is very user-friendly, and the customer service is really good."
"I would rate MagicDraw a nine out of ten because of the price. Enterprise Architect has a lot of bugs and MagicDraw is a lot more accurate and flexible. It's a level better."
"It is pretty easy to use. It is pretty versatile."
"Its ability to reference and link to components from any diagram."
"Provides a single repository for all architecture work."
"The most valuable feature is the integrated data model, so if I change the name of an item, all models using that object are automatically updated."
"The profiles allow me to customize the tool to the corporate environment instead of the other way around saving huge amounts of time and energy on trying to turn dozens of individuals into TOGAF, ArchiMate or Zachman experts, or even Sparx EA experts."
"The solution saved a lot of time, about 30%."
"Sparx technical support is good."
"Ability to maintain cross-references for all models in all levels - great tractability."
"The profiles and ready-made templates are an extremely helpful feature. This is one of the biggest features that I find very useful in Sparx."
 

Cons

"It's very focused on specific modern languages and it doesn't do necessarily general systems software engineering with diagrams. They should expand the diagram types for the languages."
"There's lots of documentation. They process multiples of guides. They've got all kinds of guides and documentation out there, but it's kind of hard to find. There are a lot of videos. You can go to YouTube and find videos on how it's been used in different ways, but it just kind of scratches the surface."
"The technical support is not very good."
"I would like to see the ability to deploy live business process models and capture real-time data (without the need for another product tool) so you don't have to be dependent on other products for this functionality."
"The UI UX of the tool is not really user-friendly and needs to be completely reformed."
"There are some technical features that you have to study and do research on to be able to understand."
"One potential area for improvement is the recommendation feature. At times, we face challenges in locating specific features, and we have to reach out for assistance in finding the information we need."
"For the next releases, I would like to have them import requirements from other sources. They could make it very easy to do that because there are a lot requirements management tools like DOORS, D-O-O-R-S, Dynamic Object Oriented Management. A lot of folks use DOORS to create a requirement. For those requirements you allocate them to a component in the architecture and a verification method for that requirement. It would be good if we could import those into MagicDraw as components so you don't have to manually do these things."
"The automatic creation of reports based on the model elements could be improved."
"Not visually appealing."
"The database management area was not usable."
"I would like to see integration with Confluence or any other TRM, and the capability to integrate with the data storage, such as a repository similar to GitHub."
"It would be nice to have it supported on the Linux operating system."
"There used to be that feature in ArchiMate Modeling of Enterprise Architect called inherited relationships. Now it's gone."
"Using EA involves a steep learning curve if you want to understand its capabilities and functionality."
"The solution needs to offer better support for the mobile-based system. Right now, it's not working."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. It is an expensive product compared to software for model-based system engineering."
"I would say licensing would be anywhere from $3,500 to $6,500 per person or per seat (it's a per seat style license)."
"The price of No Magic MagicDraw could improve. The price of the solution is too expensive for smaller-sized companies. There should be a better pricing model."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis, and it's expensive."
"In addition to the initial cost, you have to pay annually for support in order to get the upgrades."
"The license I use is on-premise. We haven't gone to the cloud where we have to pay monthly or something like that. Sparx is cheaper than most similar tools."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"The pricing for ultimate version is steeply high."
"It is cheap."
"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"It’s the best deal in town, by far."
"It's reasonably priced for large organizations."
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Answers from the Community

it_user699090 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 14, 2017
Jul 14, 2017
Hi, You mentioned prices and I don't really know the difference between those two products. If you can, tell me what product has the reputation to be less expensive. I'm using MagicDraw with NIEM and I pay for the maintenance. NIEM is only usable on the LTD 18.0 version which is their long term version supposed to be more stable. NIEM plugin is in version 1.00. I also use the feature rich ve...
2 out of 5 answers
it_user502215 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 13, 2017
I do not know about plug-in but Sparx has six NIEM tagged values (architecture meta data)
Jul 13, 2017
I only worked in testing Sparx Enterprise Architect as a replacement for ERwin data modeler. I did not work with No Magic so I don’t know the differences. However, I found this pdf: http://www.uwm.edu.pl/wnt/technicalsc/tech_12/B15.pdf I searched on differences between no magic and sparx enterprise architect. Hope this helps. Good luck!
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
20%
Government
14%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about No Magic MagicDraw?
There is a lot of documentation available on the Internet to understand its functionality.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for No Magic MagicDraw?
Maybe the price is a little bit high for a small company to acquire this tool. However, they offer trial versions and trial licenses for members of INCOSE.
What needs improvement with No Magic MagicDraw?
I don't think there are areas that need improvement.
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.
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...
What needs improvement with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
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 ...
 

Also Known As

MagicDraw
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Northrop Grumman, Labcorp, Deposco, ClearView Training, IT Services Promotion Agency, Intelligent Chaos, Metalithic Systems Inc., Sodifrance
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Find out what your peers are saying about No Magic MagicDraw vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,388 professionals have used our research since 2012.