ARIS BPA vs IBM Blueworks Live comparison

Software AG and IBM are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. Software AG is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3, while IBM is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.6. Software AG holds a 7.7% mindshare in BPD, compared to IBM’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of IBM users who would recommend it.

ARIS BPA

Read 66 ARIS BPA reviews

4,824 Views
3,926 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

IBM Blueworks Live

Read 20 IBM Blueworks Live reviews

2,383 Views
1,543 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

ARIS BPA

IBM Blueworks Live

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

ARIS BPA and IBM Blueworks Live compete in the business process management and modeling category. ARIS BPA appears to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set, including robust reporting and integration capabilities.

Features: ARIS BPA offers a robust module design, strong reporting capabilities, and comprehensive process modeling. It excels in object reusability, database structure, and flexibility, which are suitable for process modeling, analysis, and architecture. IBM Blueworks Live provides cloud-based process modeling with easy collaboration features, BPMN 2.0 support, and integration with Microsoft Office, valued for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

Room for Improvement: ARIS BPA could enhance its pricing structure and simplify installation. Users seek improvements in report formatting, team activity tracking, and stability, along with a more intuitive scripting language and unified interface. IBM Blueworks Live lacks process execution and simulation features, with users suggesting enhancements in reporting, integrations, and customization options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ARIS BPA offers versatile deployment options across on-premises and cloud environments. Customer support is generally good, though responsiveness varies. IBM Blueworks Live is praised for its simple cloud-based deployment, with user support receiving positive feedback but with room for improvement in communication.

Pricing and ROI: ARIS BPA is considered expensive with complex licensing, yet its robust features are valued by large enterprises for ROI. IBM Blueworks Live is noted for its cost-effectiveness and subscription model, appealing to businesses seeking affordable solutions with quick adoption.

To learn more, read our detailed ARIS BPA vs. IBM Blueworks Live Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. IBM Blueworks Live

April 2025

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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

ARIS BPA

Ranking in Business Process Design

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (9th)

IBM Blueworks Live

Ranking in Business Process Design

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS BPA is 7.7%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.6%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

Libor Černý

Process manager at a insurance company with 5,001-10,000 employees

I can usually find an answer to my issue on ARIS Community

From the start, there were some difficulties on how to create outputs since there wasn't a repository tool in version 6. However, in version 7, there has been a tool for creating standards for a company, and that tool has been very intuitive. While I have been using this tool for several years, other people just starting to use it find the learning curve steep. This tool is very robust and accommodates many roles, where people can participate from compliance, IT designers, etc. This can create problems for users who have no experience with similar tools. It took me a year before I felt comfortable with this tool, because when I came from university it was the first or second tool that I worked on. It took me a year to run every feature or use it for every possibility since this tool is very robust. We sometimes have to create the link to the server and the repository twice because it is deleted once for some unknown reason. Though, this is not a big problem. There should be a more intuitive tool when creating reports.

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AjarMathur

Global Innovation Director at Ernst & Young

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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is a scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

"Features like SAP SolMan sync, Alfabet EA integration (another Software AG product)."

"Collaboration and governance over enterprise artifacts."

"The whole ARIS BPM solution is a bit special, because from the very beginning it was targeted more to Business users and the Management."

"This solution has helped us in terms of discovering business processes."

"The most valuable feature in the latest versions is the connect portal, where you can do very simple modeling using the web-based portal."

"The tool defines the processes. It's the documentation of everything."

"It brings transparency and 360-degree views of end-to-end processes."

More ARIS BPA pros

"It enables decisions based upon processes that we do model, and ultimately move forward with."

"It is a stable solution since there has not been any downtime. Everything loads fast."

"The reporting that we can generate from IBM Blueworks Live has been interesting. We found the KPIs, risks, process modeling, format, and colors, to be very good. We use the EY template and it is interesting to generate reporting in this format."

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

"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 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."

"We are you using the product as a process mapping tool and as part of a larger process improvement project. We use it with IBM BPM and IBM ODM. We get an automated workflow solution for our customers, an improved workflow automation."

"It has a built-in capability to capture process owners and managers against processes along with other process governance roles."

More IBM Blueworks Live pros

Cons

"Training is one of the important aspects for process awareness. As soon as a process is rolled out, process training is required. If ARIS could generate output in PowerPoint, it would be great for business users."

"The solution's processes are huge and it is not easy to get an overview of how things work. It needs to improve the interface. I would like to see the product include a better overview of processes and improve search."

"We should have the ability to download ARIS EPCs to Visio."

"I had a hard time with ARIS's access and licensing policy. It requires you to pay for each step you want to take forward with the solution."

"Displaying role allocation matrix models in ARIS Connect needs improvement."

"There are reports available in ARIS and you can modify them a bit if you want something more specific, but it's not that easy to adjust them and make modifications. It would be nice to have some kind of tool to do that, something that is more user-friendly for people who are not too technical, so that they could create reports the way they want them."

"The Risk and Compliance Management tool is rather complex and moreover, it needs to be customized if you want to use it."

"I could use more icons and other graphical elements."

More ARIS BPA cons

"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."

"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 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."

"There should be an option to import from and export to Microsoft Visio. Being able to move files back and forth between Blueworks Live and Visio would be good."

"IBM Blueworks is BPMN 2.0 compliant, but it does not adapt to the overarching BPMN 2.0 concepts."

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

"The initial setup is neither straightforward nor complex however you do need to know what you are doing."

"Spaces are not well organized; space controls are lacking."

More IBM Blueworks Live cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing for ARIS BPA is average, not cheap or expensive. It's cost-effective and worth the money we pay."

"The price could be better."

"Pricing is a bit on the higher side."

"It is on the higher side."

"ARIS is quite expensive."

"Prices are high. However, they are worth it if the organization utilizes the tool to its full potential."

"I would recommend the product to only enterprise companies because of the pricing."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

More ARIS BPA pricing and cost advice

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

"Making it less expensive would be good."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS BPA?

The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS BPA?

Pricing for ARIS BPA is average, not cheap or expensive. It's cost-effective and worth the money we pay.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?

I find it difficult to access the database as I want with direct querying. I must write scripts, which requires specific knowledge. Software AG could improve this by making the database more open. ...

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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.

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 it very effectively.

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS BPA

Compared 25% of the time

ADONIS vs ARIS BPA

Compared 10% of the time

Camunda vs ARIS BPA

Compared 7% of the time

Visio vs ARIS BPA

Compared 6% of the time

iServer vs ARIS BPA

Compared 2% of the time

More ARIS BPA Competitors

Visio vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 32% of the time

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 18% of the time

Lucidchart vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 15% of the time

ARIS Cloud vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 11% of the time

Camunda vs IBM Blueworks Live

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Blueworks Live Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

IBM Blueworks Live

April 2025

Download IBM Blueworks Live product report

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM

IBM Lombardi Blueprint

Overview

ARIS is the market-leading solution for professional business process management and modeling. Whether you want to document the "as-is" state of your operations for quality or certification reasons or design the "to-be" in terms of continuous improvement in your transformation program, ARIS is the best choice for establishing a single source of truth regarding all process excellence topics in your organization. It is for any organization looking to digitally transform their business, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution. ARIS helps you to make the most out of your processes with Process Mining, Risk & Compliance Management, RPA and much more.

What makes the difference?

The most comprehensive platform for process excellence in the market
Easy to use
Covers business & IT architecture from all angles
Full flexibility and >100 diagram types
Customer-driven development based on best practices
Strong partner ecosystem

ARIS is the market-leading solution for any organization and ideally suited to digitally transform the organization, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution.

Software AG

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.

IBM

Sample Customers

Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market, 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.

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

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. IBM Blueworks Live

April 2025

Free Report: ARIS BPA vs. IBM Blueworks Live

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