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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs Visual Paradigm comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 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

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd)
Visual Paradigm
Ranking in Business Process Design
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.8%, down from 11.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visual Paradigm is 5.1%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect8.8%
Visual Paradigm5.1%
Other86.1%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Angie Ibrahim Eissa - PeerSpot reviewer
A software application designed for software development teams to model business information systems and manage development processes
Setting up Visual Paradigm is easy. There's hardly any configuration needed, unlike some other tools. You just choose your method and diagram type, and you're good to go. As for improvements, integrating project management features with diagrams could be better. Viewing outputs could also be smoother, especially when working with multiple files.Deployment is quick and painless. It practically takes no time at all to set up. And because I also teach at the university, I use Visual Paradigm for my classes and case studies. It's easy to switch between products, and my students have no trouble using it on their own.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The most valuable feature of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the value streams."
"Ability to keep inventory of reusable blocks, and use in different diagrams with views of various templates."
"It's a stable and scalable solution. I like that it's similar to Rational Rose."
"The features I find most valuable is the ability to create a document and then put it into a OneCare artifact."
"The solution allows us to quickly present designs and concepts to customers and get their feedback, thereby moving the project forward step by step."
"The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"I love Visual Paradigm because it has many different types of diagrams. For any field of engineering, we can find a diagram."
"Visual Paradigm allowed me to create UML diagrams efficiently."
"Some of the most valuable features of this process modeling tool are process simulation and process animation."
"Stable design software with multiple functions and features. It's simple to install and easy to use."
"The application is easy to use and provides informative diagrams."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The solution is stable. It hasn't crashed, stopped or caused any issues in any way."
"The most valuable feature of Visual Paradigm is the ability to design form flows, add libraries, create organizational charts, and connect them all together."
 

Cons

"The presentation graphics need to be improved in future builds."
"The reporting needs improvement."
"The documentation needs a bit of improvement. What I find is that when I'm trying to do something specific for some part of a project, in terms of documentation, it's kind of hard to get at figuring out if you don't use it all the time."
"If you just want to create some diagrams with shapes and arrows, then use Visio."
"From a practical point of view, we need speed and reliability for creating a model and doing some really meaningful tasks such as application landscape, refactoring, etc. These are two primary criteria. Sometimes, when you import something, it creates the object duplicates, or it allows you to do something that you're not supposed to do. For example, validation is missing. This could be frustrating because when you work at a high speed, you need to come back and start fixing things that the tool allowed you to go with, which is not quite good. So, there should probably be some internal mechanisms to advise you about what you're doing and what is probably not the best idea."
"Their technical support is not good in India. I wrote to them because I had a question, but I never got an answer. So, I just left it behind."
"The fact that you can do a lot yourself is a plus point, but it also becomes a challenge because you need an understanding of the programming languages to get things to work. It becomes challenging for those who are not very good at programming. You have standard reports, but if you want to make your own reports, you have to program it. Similarly, if you want validations rules, you have to take care of them yourself."
"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."
"The solution can be heavy on resource usage."
"More flexibility when choosing the type of diagram would be nice."
"The product's versioning capability needs improvement."
"The user interface is not easy to navigate, so it should be made easier."
"Visual Paradigm is heavier and has more complexity than one of its competitors, e.g. Lucidchart. It could have been better if it was more simplified."
"The solution is not user-friendly. It uses a lot of memory and CPU. You have to have a good computer to use it."
"Visual Paradigm can improve by having better process mining tools and model integration."
"Takes up a lot of resources."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."
"Enterprise licensing is competitive. What would be helpful if they load the pricing for consultants, you know, people who are consultants for clients. So the license is fine for end-user organizations. Still, they should consider lowering the license to support this adoption, particularly for people who are consultants like myself."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"It is cheap."
"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."
"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."
"I use my own license. So, I just bought the professional version, which costs $800 or something like that. In the company where I am working, we have floating licenses. They are probably more expensive. Its licensing is affordable, but we are talking about a large organization, and there could be modelers or viewers of the models. We don't know how much that would cost us."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
"I rate the pricing a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"In terms of pricing, I find Visual Paradigm's subscription services reasonable, especially for the modern and standard editions. However, the premium products can be a bit pricey, especially considering our location in the Middle East. Currently, paying around a hundred dollars per user translates to almost six hundred Egyptian pounds, which can add up. For enterprise licensing, I think the perpetual license option could be more affordable. If it were cheaper, say around five hundred dollars, I would have invested in multiple perpetual licenses long ago. Sometimes, to manage costs, we share accounts among team members or switch access on and off for certain members who aren't actively working on projects. As for additional costs, there are charges for cloud services, which I'm considering because I've already exceeded the free capacity."
"This is an open-sourced solution, it is free to use."
"Visual Paradigm's pricing is not expensive."
"You can use Paradigm on a subscription basis and you can choose from different tiers of subscription."
"I rate Visual Paradigm's pricing a five out of ten."
"You can move between the tiers from month to month so you are not restricted to one pricing model."
"Pricing for Visual Paradigm is a four out of five for me. I'm happy with its pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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 ...
What do you like most about Visual Paradigm?
The solution is the best application for data modeling. It helps to architect business processes. Its best features are pricing and functionality.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visual Paradigm?
I purchased Visual Paradigm on my own, and it was competitively priced, so I was fine with the pricing.
What needs improvement with Visual Paradigm?
The product can always get better as the industry changes, however, I didn't necessarily feel it was lacking for what I did with it.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

OmniLink
Adobe, Apple, at&t, Caterpillar, Intel, NASA, Nokia, Toyota
Find out what your peers are saying about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. Visual Paradigm and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.
873,085 professionals have used our research since 2012.