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ARIS BPA vs IBM Blueworks Live vs Visio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.2
ARIS BPA varies in ROI timelines, enhancing process understanding and control but with hard-to-quantify financial impacts.
Sentiment score
8.5
IBM Blueworks Live enhances productivity, reduces costs, and is preferred for its simplicity in business process management over competitors.
Sentiment score
1.3
Visio streamlines documentation, enhancing efficiency and reducing delivery timelines, offering significant ROI within three to four years.
IBM Blueworks Live seems very easy to use compared to similar products on the market.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
ARIS BPA's support is praised for technical assistance and flexibility but could improve in responsiveness and communication.
Sentiment score
8.3
IBM Blueworks Live support is responsive and competent, with quick resolutions and high user satisfaction, despite occasional delays.
Sentiment score
6.4
Most Visio users avoid direct support, preferring documentation and online resources, though premium support users find it helpful.
I would give ten points to the technical support from Software AG for ARIS BPA product, from zero to ten, with ten being the best.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
The consultants are fine, however, reliance on single experts for modules can be risky.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Support deserves a rating of nine out of ten.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
While I like Microsoft products in general, the main issue is with the licensing options and the problems associated with them.
IT Professor at Sakarya University
The cost to deploy this 170-page solution was too high and the needed time was months. It was almost not an answer.
Chief Executive Officer at Easy Touch
I would rate their support a nine or even 9.5, recognizing that their support system is robust and cooperative.
Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
ARIS BPA is scalable for small to large enterprises, offering flexibility, modular features, and easy licensing for process management expansion.
Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Blueworks Live is scalable and adaptable, though performance and cost challenges arise with increased user numbers.
Sentiment score
7.2
Visio is manageable for organizations but faces challenges with scalability, compatibility, and broader deployment due to desktop constraints.
For user scalability, it is a matter of licenses, while functional scalability is supported and easy to implement.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
ARIS BPA has high scalability and wide scalability for any enterprise or organization.
Enterprise Architect at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Egypt
IBM Blueworks Live is easily scalable, but it can be expensive to scale and there may be some limitations.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
ARIS BPA is generally stable, with minor issues primarily in large environments, but responsive support enhances stability perception.
Sentiment score
8.7
IBM Blueworks Live is praised for its reliable cloud version but may experience latency and glitches with connectivity issues.
Sentiment score
8.3
Visio is mostly stable, with improved recent versions, though complex tasks or hardware limits may cause occasional issues.
The stability of ARIS BPM is quite strong, rated eight out of ten.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We do experience a lot of glitches with ARIS BPA.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
For the on-premise version, there aren't speed challenges, but sometimes the server goes down, preventing work.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
 

Room For Improvement

ARIS BPA needs better integration, user interface, scripting, documentation, training, pricing, and simplicity for wider accessibility.
IBM Blueworks Live struggles with orchestration, lacks simulation and reporting features, and has limited compliance and deployment options.
Visio users encounter challenges with templates, integration, performance, costs, and licensing, seeking better functionality and user experience.
Software AG should focus on developing AI models for ARIS BPA on-premises, particularly in user interfaces, as well as creating predefined business processes for common areas such as HR and finance.
Software Engineering & Manager at Arab Infromation Management Services
Software AG could improve this by making the database more open.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
ARIS BPA needs to be more accurate when generating documents.
Enterprise Architect at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Egypt
Normal business users or consultants cannot perform the installation as it requires extensive technical knowledge.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
I would prefer an on-premises solution for IBM Blueworks Live, and this could be a recommendation.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
Visio should implement more complex tools or graphics to facilitate processing and use flexible templates.
IT Professor at Sakarya University
Licensing cost is one of the major points for improvement since it is quite high for personal use.
Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The visual icons and shapes for different vendors like Cisco network could be improved.
field service manager at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
 

Setup Cost

ARIS BPA pricing is high but valued by large enterprises; smaller firms may find costs prohibitive due to complex licensing.
IBM Blueworks Live offers flexible, affordable pricing with scalable enterprise options, including minimal licensing costs and free subscriptions.
Enterprise buyers must navigate varied Visio pricing, with options like cloud subscriptions offering cost efficiency through integration and discounts.
ARIS BPA does save a lot of effort because this is one tool which can be used for multiple purposes and the viewers have the capability to perform different kinds of analysis, extract reports, and see processes.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
If asked to rate the price, I would give it around nine points out of ten, indicating it is somewhat expensive.
IT Professor at Sakarya University
 

Valuable Features

ARIS BPA offers powerful modeling, customization, and collaboration tools, integrating SAP and databases, ensuring strategic alignment and governance.
IBM Blueworks Live enhances efficiency with real-time modeling, BPMN compliance, intuitive collaboration, and excellent customer service for cloud-based access.
Visio enhances productivity with seamless Microsoft integration, diverse templates, and user-friendly features for creating professional diagrams.
ARIS BPA is a tool to build models and frameworks for organizations or reengineer business processes from both functional and business perspectives.
Software Engineering & Manager at Arab Infromation Management Services
Everything related to ARIS BPA is helping us with regards to enhanced processes, strengthened controls, identifying risks, assessing process capabilities, and identifying where the gaps are and what kinds of activities within the processes are automated and manual.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
The maintenance capabilities of ARIS BPM and the strong underlying database are particularly valuable.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
IBM Blueworks Live provides clear ROI as it saves both time and money.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
IBM Blueworks Live helps improve operational efficiency, especially where requirements are uncertain and clarity is needed.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
When you use this template, you find directly the related buttons. It saves time and effort.
Chief Executive Officer at Easy Touch
The main benefits Visio provides me include simplifying processes, saving time on manual work with diagram creation, and delivering a clean architecture, whether it is network architecture or application flow.
Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Visio allows me to create detailed diagrams that provide value to customers by giving them a clear view of their network and devices.
field service manager at Saudi Business Machines - SBM
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS BPA is 6.8%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.0%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visio is 9.9%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Visio9.9%
ARIS BPA6.8%
IBM Blueworks Live3.0%
Other80.3%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

BM
Consultant at KAFD DMC
Has improved process modeling and analysis while supporting integration with organizational data
The process design in ARIS BPA does help with our operational efficiency. What we are doing is object library management for various kinds of objects that we are using in ARIS BPA during our process modeling. We are using that to do a lot of analysis on how many times a system is being used in how many processes, who are the major stakeholders, and if we enhance one system, how is it going to impact other processes and integrated processes. This is helping us a lot. Everything related to ARIS BPA is helping us with regards to enhanced processes, strengthened controls, identifying risks, assessing process capabilities, and identifying where the gaps are and what kinds of activities within the processes are automated and manual. We are doing a lot of things with regards to the processes as it is at our heart. Processes are one thing and then we have different kinds of things which are related to it, such as SLAs, guidelines, and policy. We are identifying areas of improvement in other documents as well.
Nupur Wadhwa - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
Enables efficient process mapping but requires improvement in maintaining server stability
The pricing of the solution can be quite expensive when compared to competitors, though IBM Blueworks Live stands out from a technical standpoint. IBM Blueworks Live provides clear ROI as it saves both time and money. I have successfully imported Visio flowcharts into both IBM Blueworks Live and ARIS. Both tools handled the imports successfully, though some manual intervention was required because Visio is quite a basic tool. Importing flowcharts into advanced tools such as ARIS and IBM Blueworks Live requires some manual effort. The primary advantage is the ease of use. I have not encountered any features in other tools that I couldn't find in ARIS. This is a major factor because I don't have to switch between tools to find specific features. Using ARIS for the past three years has built confidence and trust in the tool.
NitinSharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Specialist at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Created detailed rack and network diagrams that streamline documentation and collaboration
For creating diagrams, I definitely use Visio for HLD, LLD, and traffic flow diagrams. Apart from Visio, I use Jira only if the customer specifically requests it; otherwise, I do not use an in-house version of Jira in my organization. One of the good features of using the Microsoft umbrella product is that if I create a big diagram and then work on the HLD or LLD in Word, I can select everything from Visio and paste it as an image without needing to resize it, which streamlines the process of creating documentation for customers. The main benefits Visio provides me include simplifying processes, saving time on manual work with diagram creation, and delivering a clean architecture, whether it is network architecture or application flow. I have created diagrams for AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises data centers, including rack elevation diagrams and organization charts. Modifications can be made easily and reflected immediately, and I can create PNG images to share with the executive team.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business36
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise61
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS BPA?
It is a bit expensive regarding ARIS BPA. However, ARIS BPA does save a lot of effort because this is one tool which ...
What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?
We are not using any what-if scenario features in ARIS BPA. Currently, we are not using the performance monitoring an...
What is your primary use case for ARIS BPA?
ARIS BPA is being used for process modeling, and we are planning to upgrade and enhance it for process mining and oth...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
I do not have exposure to IBM Blueworks Live pricing since this is managed by other personnel who handle the financia...
What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?
I do not use Security Identity Governance and Intelligence, as it is not implemented here. I would prefer an on-premi...
What is your primary use case for IBM Blueworks Live?
IBM Blueworks Live and security management are my primary products within the IBM suite. I particularly work on autom...
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 st...
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 t...
What needs improvement with Visio?
Licensing cost is one of the major points for improvement since it is quite high for personal use. People often turn ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM
IBM Lombardi Blueprint
Microsoft Visio
 

Overview

 

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
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 Camunda, Microsoft, Bizagi and others in Business Process Design. Updated: March 2026.
885,837 professionals have used our research since 2012.