ARIS Cloud vs Microsoft Azure comparison

The compared Software AG and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. Software AG is ranked #15 in BPD , with an average rating of 7.2, and holds a 2.2% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in ISI , with an average rating of 8.4, and holds a 17.3% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

ARIS Cloud

Read 14 ARIS Cloud reviews

1,066 Views
657 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Microsoft Azure

Read 316 Microsoft Azure reviews

12,019 Views
9,686 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

ARIS Cloud

Microsoft Azure

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ARIS Cloud and Microsoft Azure based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Camunda, SAP and others in Business Process Design.

To learn more, read our detailed Business Process Design Report (Updated: June 2025).

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Business Process Design

June 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 Cloud

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (15th), Business Process Management (BPM) (22nd)

Microsoft Azure

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

316

Ranking in other categories

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (1st), PaaS Clouds (1st)

Mindshare comparison

ARIS Cloud and Microsoft Azure aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. ARIS Cloud is designed for Business Process Design and holds a mindshare of 2.2%, up 1.9% compared to last year.
Microsoft Azure, on the other hand, focuses on Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS), holds 17.3% mindshare, down 18.2% since last year.

Business Process Design

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

Featured Reviews

BPMexp67

BPM Expert at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

The dynamic and flexible approach, akin to outsourcing, is beneficial for both small and large enterprises

Security is a consideration when migrating to the cloud. It's crucial to address potential risks and include security measures in the contract with the cloud provider. While there haven't been issues so far, acknowledging the risks is essential, especially when dealing with applications like ARIS. With the increasing capabilities and advancements in technology, many current challenges are likely to be resolved in the future. Despite security concerns, utilizing opportunities in the cloud and the internet offers significant advantages. Regarding areas for improvement, security remains a key consideration, especially when deploying ARIS in the cloud. However, this is not solely a product-specific concern but also pertains to the cloud environment. Beyond security, the strength of ARIS lies in its ability to serve as a unified repository for enterprise architecture. Having all information in one place facilitates alignment with the company's vision, strategy, and business objectives. Reducing redundancies across departments is crucial for maintaining service quality and minimizing costs. It ensures that everyone is on the same page, fostering collaboration and preventing discrepancies in information and services. While I currently use Guardis for this purpose, the concept of enterprise architecture is applicable, and ARIS stands as a valuable tool to support business processes and technology alignment within the company.

Read full review

SubodhThakar

Program Manager at eClerx

Integrates various functionalities and have good documentation but have high pricing

Cosmos DB offered better scalability. In Azure SQL, we had to carefully manage the storage tier, switching back and forth based on needs. But when we first implemented Cosmos DB, we had a good understanding of the required data volume over the past three months. This helped us select the appropriate tier because we had those figures. If we had done it the other way around, it would have been much harder to estimate the data accurately. While you can get a rough idea, whether it works out in practice is more of a hit-and-miss approach, which we have already experienced with Cosmos DB. We applied the knowledge gained from that exercise to build a similar solution over Azure SQL. On the DevOps side, our team consisted of five members, ranging from senior to junior roles. We would raise requests for specific services needed in the development environment. The process typically takes three to five business days, including all necessary approvals, from submitting the request to receiving the resources and verifying access.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's very easy to collaborate with. It's very user-friendly"

"Aris Connect opens collaboration opportunities between team members within the organization where they can actually submit change requests, navigate processes, and offer comments. It opens up the potential for BPM within the organization. I didn't see such an angle of a BPM portal with any other products. So I would say that's the best selling feature."

"The solution's most valuable feature stems from its being very easy to use, making it a very user-friendly tool."

"The most valuable feature is GUI; it is very intuitive and easy to use."

"ARIS Cloud is scalable."

"This solution has improved the way our organization does training."

"From a total cost of ownership perspective, running this on the cloud is more efficient than having someone in the company take care of the infrastructure."

"In terms of using the cloud version, if you're somebody who, like myself, has got a lot of experience and understands measures and notations and things, basically it's unrestricted. You can do so many things. You can do your Archimaze, you can do BPMN. There's lots of stuff you can do in there and if you're a good field person and you cause yourself re-using things or whatever, then it's very nice, it's very easy to use."

More ARIS Cloud pros

"I like the ExpressRoute because that makes it easy to configure connectivity to Azure-hosted services."

"One of the most valuable features of Microsoft Azure is the compatibility with all of our Windows applications and other Microsoft technologies"

"The user interface is very good for administrators."

"I like a lot of features. For example, the Windows virtual solution has helped in such a way that our client-based application was converted into a web-based version through the use of the Windows Virtual Desktop."

"The most valuable aspect of the solution is the limitless possibilities of the infrastructure."

"The most valuable features are the interface and customizability."

"We have found the most valuable feature to be the pricing calculator."

"The tool's most valuable aspect is the account management side. This involves tasks such as assigning credentials to different individuals, managing user accounts, and implementing Privileged Access Management."

More Microsoft Azure pros

Cons

"Initial setup is rather complex. You have to find a way to isolate the complexity, and find common ground."

"There is room for improvement in the support."

"It would be very helpful if this solution were more open and could integrate with other solutions like ServiceNow."

"If you have multiple tiers of approvals into that update of the policy, or the process design itself, it takes ages to prepare those internal flows within the system."

"On an enterprise level, the ability to onboard somebody quickly is cumbersome because it just has too many things in it. It's got something like a hundred or more techniques and things in it."

"It seems that there could be innovations in fostering spontaneous cooperation between departments and individuals. This extends to case management and finding new paradigms for enhancing such cooperation. While some approaches, like basic case management tools, have been tried in the past, they may not have met expectations entirely. However, ongoing efforts in administrative science are focused on these areas. Companies with innovative ideas can contribute to progress, possibly involving concepts related to trust, even within the context of web 3. There are intriguing developments in how economic and business organizations can be formed. When it comes to learning about these concepts, starting with simple examples and gradually moving to more complex ones is advisable. Begin with the basics, excluding unnecessary details that might hinder understanding. Over time, you can delve into more intricate aspects, such as Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, to gain a deeper understanding of these technologies."

"I encounter challenges, and I am using Yuri to establish principles, define rules, conduct training sessions, and offer coaching to application owners, SMEs, and individuals responsible for technologies. This aids in providing support during these migrations. Security is a consideration when migrating to the cloud. It's crucial to address potential risks and include security measures in the contract with the cloud provider. While there haven't been issues so far, acknowledging the risks is essential, especially when dealing with applications like ARIS. With the increasing capabilities and advancements in technology, many current challenges are likely to be resolved in the future. Despite security concerns, utilizing opportunities in the cloud and the internet offers significant advantages. Regarding areas for improvement, security remains a key consideration, especially when deploying ARIS in the cloud. However, this is not solely a product-specific concern but also pertains to the cloud environment. Beyond security, the strength of ARIS lies in its ability to serve as a unified repository for enterprise architecture. Having all information in one place facilitates alignment with the company's vision, strategy, and business objectives. Reducing redundancies across departments is crucial for maintaining service quality and minimizing costs. It ensures that everyone is on the same page, fostering collaboration and preventing discrepancies in information and services. While I currently use Guardis for this purpose, the concept of enterprise architecture is applicable, and ARIS stands as a valuable tool to support business processes and technology alignment within the company."

"The stability was poor, with frequent outages."

More ARIS Cloud cons

"Improvements are needed in Azure to enhance integration tools and support for effectively migrating and managing third-party dependencies."

"The integration pipeline could be a bit more broad in terms of applications."

"Azure does not handle scalability as well as its competitors. Sometimes a 10 percent increase in a server with 20 percent of CPU usage pushes the server up to 100 percent load, and you start having performance issues."

"The diagnostics should have more logs."

"There is a need to be better on-premise solutions that are more helpful. However, I don't think that is the goal of Microsoft Azure. They want the solution to be secure cloud solutions with cloud applications. This is their main goal at the moment."

"Difficult to understand how it works and it's an expensive solution."

"The authentication method only allows me to have up to 90 users, and there are 2,300 people in the company."

"The cost of the product is too high. It would be ideal if they could lower it a bit for their customers."

More Microsoft Azure cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing model of ARIS Cloud is leaner and more beneficial to the customer. The new license model is great. With the on-premise, you needed to subscribe to many more types of licenses. Now there are licensed bundles available on the cloud."

"There is a student version of this solution that can be used for free."

"The cloud deployment is not more expensive. In the cloud, you pay for what you use, and there's no need for maintaining infrastructure or additional personnel, making it cost-effective. On-premises deployment, on the other hand, involves infrastructure costs and maintenance expenses."

"Azure costing can be multi-layered."

"The cost structure is like most cloud-based services. The solution could be cheaper, it is always better to be cheaper."

"It is not an expensive product and is adaptable to various requirements. It offers a free tier for small-scale usage and the ability to scale up as needed when requirements grow."

"One piece of feedback from other users I have heard from is that Azure is somewhat expensive, so I would advise anyone thinking about this solution to be aware of the cost. You need to take into account the configuration you are going with or it could turn out to be a more expensive solution than you anticipated."

"Microsoft Azure is a cost-effective solution where you use it as per your requirement and pay for it."

"The pricing of the solution could be reduced. We are not able to create a free account in my country."

"I pay for a yearly subscription."

"If you are not aware of costs, pricing, etc., you can end up with a hefty bill. However, I found that the Azure price calculator is a valuable tool to use before starting to deploy VMs in Azure. This tool will give you an overview of the costs you should expect on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis."

More Microsoft Azure pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user8586

Engineer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Aug 14, 2013

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

15%

Insurance Company

Government

Educational Organization

26%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS Cloud?

The solution's most valuable feature stems from its being very easy to use, making it a very user-friendly tool.

See all answers

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

The price of ARIS Cloud is relatively high and not every firm can afford it, especially if the company is not mature enough to require such extensive process modeling and optimization.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ARIS Cloud?

It would be beneficial for ARIS Cloud to add more customization options, such as having a landing page. Improving the importation script from Microsoft Visio ( /products/visio-reviews ) would also ...

See all answers

Which is preferable - IBM Public Cloud or Microsoft Azure?

IBM Public Cloud is IBM’s Platform-as-a-Service. It aims to provide organizations with a secure cloud environment to manage data and applications. One of the features we like is the cloud activity ...

See all answers

Which is better - SAP Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure?

One of the best features of SAP Cloud Platform is that it is web-based and you can log in from anywhere in the world. SAP Cloud Platform is suitable for companies of any size; it works well with bo...

See all answers

How does Microsoft Azure compare to Google Firebase?

I would recommend Google Firebase instead of Microsoft Azure, simply for the array of features that it has to offer. In particular, the Firebase library grants you access to a shared data structure...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Blueworks Live vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 19% of the time

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 19% of the time

ARIS Architect and Designer vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 14% of the time

Salesforce Platform vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 8% of the time

Qlik Sense vs ARIS Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

More ARIS Cloud Competitors

Alibaba Cloud vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 13% of the time

Pivotal Cloud Foundry vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 10% of the time

Red Hat OpenShift vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

SAP Cloud Platform vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Microsoft Azure

Compared 8% of the time

More Microsoft Azure Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS Cloud

July 2025

Download ARIS Cloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Azure

December 2024

Download Microsoft Azure product report

Also Known As

Process Live, ARIS Simulation, ARIS Aware, ARIS Connect

Windows Azure, Azure, MS Azure

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

Windows Azure is Microsoft's cloud platform, where developers can create, deploy, and maintain their apps. This cloud application platform allows developers to concentrate on the actual applications, while it takes care of all the elements behind the apps.

Windows Azure works across multiple frameworks and languages. It is fully scalable, localized in that it is hosted globally in many datacenters, and has widespread capabilities with elements of application development, deployment, and management.

Azure is comprised of several different service modules, including Infrastructure; Web; Mobile; Dev & Test; Big Data; Media;Storage, Backup & Recovery; and Identity & Access Management.

Microsoft Azure works as a:

Platform as a service (PaaS)
Software as a service (SaaS)
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

Microsoft Azure is available:

On-premises
Hybrid
Multi-cloud
At the edge

Compared to its competitors, Microsoft Azure:

Has more affordable features
Has easier migration for organizations already using other Microsoft tools
Has several educational resources available
Provides robust support
Is ideal for small and large businesses

Microsoft Azure Features:

Scalability
Stability
Flexibility
Azure Site Recovery
Active Directory
Monitoring features
Cloud-based
Automated tasks
Change capability cadence
Showback capabilities
Information protection
Azure Data Lake
Excellent portal
Intuitive user interface
Remote desktop
Fast provisioning
Data security
Data resiliency
Speed of service
Integrated delivery pipeline
Disaster recovery
Robust templates
Flexible coding languages
Virtual systems testing

Benefits of Microsoft Azure:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Because Microsoft Azure is an IaaS, organizations can deploy as well as manage applications easily and quickly. Azure also provides you with the ability to customize the cloud software to meet your specific business needs.
Seamless integration: Microsoft Azure is built to seamlessly integrate with existing IT departments via hybrid databases, secure private connections, and storage solutions.
Cost-effective: Because Azure can harmoniously exist in your business environment with your data center, it is a very cost-effective solution.
Analytics support: Azure is designed with built-in support that is used to analyze data and provide key insights. Azure offers Cortana Analytics, Stream Analytics, Machine Learning, and SQL services.
Unique storage system: Compared to other cloud services, Microsoft Azure has more data centers and delivery points, which helps create an optimal user experience and also helps deliver content faster. In addition, Microsoft Azure makes it possible for organizations to exchange content across several virtual machines.
Enhanced flexibility: Azure provides extreme flexibility by allowing you to choose any level of functionality you require. It also supports many of the same technologies IT teams and developers usually depend on, making it easier for them to manage.
Easy implementation: Microsoft Azure is easy and quick to deploy. If necessary, you can change web apps to Azure with almost zero downtime.

Reviews from Real Users:

"It is a flexible solution that is straightforward to use," says the principal consultant at a computer software company.

OmarJ., future datacenter consultant: Microsoft Azure Cloud at a tech company, adds that "The user interface is very nice and makes everything easy to use."

“You can build an environment in minutes. It's very good in terms of being an infrastructure as a service, and I found that really fascinating,” says an information technology consultant at a computer software company.

"I think Azure's level of automation to achieve efficiency or agility is valuable. I also like the change capability cadence, the showback capabilities, and understanding what our costs are," says an enterprise architect at an energy/utilities company.

Marco C., Ing. at Wolters Kluwer, says "The valuable features of Microsoft Azure are that it is cloud-based and has good storage. The storage is completely managed by Azure. We do not need to do any patching of security because it is handled by Azure which is a benefit. The solution is fully compatible with the Microsoft technology stack and is very scalable."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Azure is it has everything together in one place. It is one large tool with lots of small tools that are updated often," says the owner of a media company.

Microsoft

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 and 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.

BMW, Toyota, easyJet, NBC Sports, HarperCollins, Aviva, TalkTalk Business, Avanade, and Telenor.

Buyer's Guide

Business Process Design

June 2025

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