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ARIS BPA vs PTC Windchill 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

ARIS BPA
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (6th), Business Process Management (BPM) (8th)
PTC Windchill
Average Rating
6.4
Reviews Sentiment
4.9
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (19th), Engineering Process (1st), PLM Tools (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

ARIS BPA and PTC Windchill aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. ARIS BPA is designed for Business Process Design and holds a mindshare of 7.0%, down 8.9% compared to last year.
PTC Windchill, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Architecture Management, holds 0.9% mindshare, up 0.5% since last year.
Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ARIS BPA7.0%
Visio12.5%
Camunda11.3%
Other69.2%
Business Process Design
Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
PTC Windchill0.9%
LeanIX13.1%
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect11.3%
Other74.7%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Tamer Eldamanhouri - PeerSpot reviewer
Empowers teams with robust business process modeling capabilities
They should examine competitor solutions to identify differentiators. One issue related to ARIS BPA is its integration with AI; it has AI features for cloud solutions, yet many in the government sector in Kuwait do not view the cloud as viable. 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. This aspect is crucial for adapting to the market's needs and streamlining custom solutions. While they have been helpful regarding pricing, I cannot compare ARIS BPA to other business process modeling tools because I understand some competitors have significantly lower costs than ARIS BPA. To maintain market share, good discounts should be provided to customers.
CW
Effective lifecycle management improves with strong version control and deep integration needs
There is room for improvement in implementing features fully. The user interface is inconsistent and outdated. It appears that different departments or locations have implemented features differently, leading to inconsistency. There is a significant need for improved integration, particularly using OSLC for connecting with other tools like SAP ERP or ALM tools. The version control, while consistent, lacks flexibility regarding changes in CAD data and requires manual intervention for BOM management analysis.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the many advantages of ARIS is that it is supported by a very strong BPM community, which is critical for us. Although it has been in business for many years, it is still at an early stage of evolution. There are so many instances where your specific use case or requirement for using ARIS hasn't necessarily been matured across the sector. So, you need access to a very active community to help you explore possible solutions and ways in which ARIS can be used to achieve those use cases."
"I like everything about ARIS BPA. I've used it for a long time and it's a fantastic tool. There is a list of things ARIS has that other solutions do not have."
"It provides the discovery functionality, and you can have a simulation on top of it to get your design corrected to ensure that it is within the right state of parameters. It is a complete package that you can use from strategy to execution because you have the design layer, and within the design, you can also do analytics."
"The maintenance capabilities of ARIS BPM and the strong underlying database are particularly valuable."
"This solution has helped us in terms of discovering business processes."
"​​ARIS process modeling and analysis allows integration of end-to-end business processes with the organization's vision, strategies, and business objectives, through visual management."
"Aris BPA has a lot of tools that are more professional than Bizagi."
"Objects can be reused across different BPMNs and processes, so we can design new processes quicker and easier.​"
"The strong point of Windchill is its close connection between the CAD structure and the bill of materials structure."
"I like how the product integrates with other technical solutions."
"The version control maintains consistent versions, which is beneficial."
 

Cons

"The reporting and the information query features could do with some improvement."
"I use it strictly for developing the business process model. I don't use it for the actual automation. I do that with Vtenext. I have standardized on Vtenext, and I don't use ARIS BPM anymore. The Vtenext UI is just as good, and it is much more tightly coupled to the underlying object model. I can get more done in one session with Vtenext rather than first going to ARIS BPM, then importing, and having to edit it for tight coupling."
"I believe the solutions BPM tools are not very good and need improvements."
"While the dashboarding solution for integrating all kinds of process-related information from company sources other than ARIS is getting ever better, my personal wish would be to have a module that is more targeted to an Agile implementation of some modeled processes (model–to-execute)."
"I find it difficult to access the database as I want with direct querying."
"End-to-end visibility and real-time are areas that will need greater attention."
"Areas for improvement include sales, prospecting, shopping, customer service, after-sales (claims and advice for the client), and all processes pertaining to customer loyalty."
"ARIS BPA needs to be more accurate when generating documents."
"I would not recommend doing business with PTC regardless of the product."
"There is room for improvement in implementing features fully."
"Some parts of the system are exclusive, so we can't work with them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Usually, our company buys technical support from the Software AG site. We bought the technical support for the first year of usage for ARIS version 6 and 7. So, when we migrated to ARIS version 7, we bought support only for the first year. Then, we didn't use it the next year. Our experience was that we use it only one to three times during the first year. Therefore, there wasn't much value for us to buy this service because we have no problem with using ARIS after the first year."
"ARIS enables you to start small and grow the use of the solution over time, although it's quite expensive. So if you want to start small, it's quite an investment for a small company."
"I would recommend the product to only enterprise companies because of the pricing."
"From my point of view, no, it is not cheap, but it is not too expensive because you get this big organization behind it, technical support, and all those things. It's not so expensive to use. It's a Rolls Royce in this field, I know that. Even for small organizations, they can get so much effect from using this tool, in a very fast way, so the money will be back in the customer's pocket very fast."
"We have a concurrent license system."
"ARIS is quite expensive."
"The product is inexpensive."
"The product is expensive."
"I rate PTC Windchill's pricing a seven out of ten since it is pricey."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
29%
Healthcare Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise47
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS BPA?
The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.
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.
What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?
ARIS BPA needs to be more accurate when generating documents. While it covers many blueprints and functions that I need, the document generation feature could be enhanced for better accuracy.
What needs improvement with PTC Windchill?
There is room for improvement in implementing features fully. The user interface is inconsistent and outdated. It appears that different departments or locations have implemented features different...
What is your primary use case for PTC Windchill?
I am using Windchill for managing CAD data and document data, specifically for product lifecycle management.
What advice do you have for others considering PTC Windchill?
I would not recommend doing business with PTC regardless of the product. Although Windchill has a commendable core functionality, it lacks refinement and complete feature implementation. On a scale...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM
Windchill, Atego Artisan Studio, Integrity Modeler, Intralink
 

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.
Bose, Valliant Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Camunda, Bizagi and others in Business Process Design. Updated: October 2025.
869,832 professionals have used our research since 2012.