We compared Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Visual Paradigm based on our user's reviews in several parameters.
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect offers advanced visualizations, industry-standard modeling languages, and powerful customization capabilities, with praised customer service. In contrast, Visual Paradigm is highlighted for its intuitive user interface, comprehensive diagramming capabilities, and robust project management functionalities. Users find both software solutions valuable but suggest different areas for improvement, such as collaboration features for Sparx Systems and certain software functions for Visual Paradigm.
Features: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect offers a comprehensive repository, seamless integration with development tools, industry-standard modeling support, advanced visualizations, powerful customization, and extensive documentation and user community support. Visual Paradigm excels in its intuitive interface, diagramming capabilities, collaboration options, documentation generation tools, project management functionalities, and wide range of platforms and integrations.
Pricing and ROI: Both Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Visual Paradigm have received positive feedback regarding their pricing, setup cost, and licensing. Users find the setup cost of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect straightforward and relatively easy, while Visual Paradigm offers a hassle-free setup experience. Both products provide flexible licensing options to accommodate users' needs., Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect offers a substantial ROI, providing significant value. Visual Paradigm's positive ROI is attributed to its features, ease of use, and effectiveness in managing complex projects. Users appreciate the time-saving and cost-effective benefits.
Room for Improvement: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect could improve its user interface, collaboration features, and performance. Additionally, users requested better integration with other tools and more intuitive functionalities. Visual Paradigm has received feedback on desired improvements for certain features or functions.
Deployment and customer support: In the reviews, users reported that the duration for establishing a new tech solution varies between Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Visual Paradigm. Some users mentioned separate timeframes for deployment, setup, and implementation with Sparx Systems, while others mentioned similar timeframes for deployment and setup with Visual Paradigm., Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect's customer service is highly praised by users for its responsive, knowledgeable, and efficient assistance. Visual Paradigm's customer service is praised for its prompt, helpful, and reliable support, with an efficient and friendly support team.
The summary above is based on 22 interviews we conducted recently with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Visual Paradigm users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.
"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 system provides powerful tools for obtaining reports and documentation."
"Some of the business processes are very easy to compare when you have the diagrams."
"There are a couple of things. Price is one thing, but we also like the scriptability of it. We got into scripting it and automating tasks with it, and it is super duper easy to do and helpful. The API has improved over the years. We automate everything, and I love the automation aspects of it."
"We use it to develop and maintain the Enterprise Conceptual Model, migrated from erwin a couple of years ago."
"Large variety of profiles and frameworks available out-of-the-box without the need for customization."
"There are a lot of features in Enterprise Architect. It allows us to take on a lot of tasks."
"The installation was very easy."
"I find it very user-friendly for my purposes, which is creating business process models that I can publish as HTML pages. It has worked flawlessly for my project, and my clients are able to utilize it as an internal web portal for their process documentation and other needs."
"I like the fact that this solution is complete."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The most valuable feature of the Visual Paradigm that I use is process modeling. Additionally, the solution has a complete set of features."
"Stable design software with multiple functions and features. It's simple to install and easy to use."
"Some of the most valuable features of this process modeling tool are process simulation and process animation."
"The initial setup is extremely straightforward."
"Visual Paradigm is super user-friendly, especially for new team members. I always have them start with it because the interface is so simple to pick up. They usually spend about six months to a year using only Visual Paradigm before moving on to other tools. We also use the cloud repository for collaborative work, but I've had some trouble with code reviewing and limitations. Sometimes, customers even request the source file or exported XML because it's easier for them to access and review."
"It would be great if we could decrease the use of different parts of the Toolbox."
"There should be a MATLAB-specific toolbox added to the solution with better compatibility. The connections currently are good but in the future, it needs a huge improvement."
"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 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."
"Even if there are web-based tools in the Enterprise Architecture tool ecosystem (like Prolaborate), the main modeling application is still a fat client application."
"It took me a while to figure out how to use the report generation features effectively. So, it would be really nice if they had a way to make that a little bit more interactive and a little bit more straightforward."
"In general, we now have a problem with Sparx Enterprise Architect because many analysts think it's too complicated to use in a giant environment."
"The UI is a little bit outdated. It should be more fresh and clean."
"The product's versioning capability needs improvement."
"Visual Paradigm can improve by having better process mining tools and model integration."
"There is room for improvement in the licensing model. I would suggest implementing country-specific pricing, as many other products in India do. This would make Visual Paradigm more affordable and accessible."
"It's still early for me to comment since I've only been using it for two months, but the responsiveness when diagramming needs to be improved."
"I was looking to generate code from the diagrams, but it was not totally clear how to do it."
"For me, what needs improvement in Visual Paradigm is the limited features included in the $99 license, which is the cheapest option. If more features could be included in the cheapest licensing package, Visual Paradigm would be better, especially for businesses that have a limited budget for buying software."
"The solution can be heavy on resource usage."
"There are some connectivity issues that crop up rarely when used with SQL Server."
More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Pricing and Cost Advice →
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is ranked 4th in Business Process Design with 97 reviews while Visual Paradigm is ranked 7th in Business Process Design with 25 reviews. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is rated 8.0, while Visual Paradigm is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect writes "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". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Visual Paradigm writes "Very flexible and easy to use with a good pricing model". Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is most compared with Visio, No Magic MagicDraw, Lucidchart, LeanIX and ARIS BPA, whereas Visual Paradigm is most compared with Visio, Lucidchart, Bizagi, No Magic MagicDraw and ARIS BPA. See our Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. Visual Paradigm report.
See our list of best Business Process Design vendors.
We monitor all Business Process Design reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
