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BiZZdesign HoriZZon vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs iServer 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of BiZZdesign HoriZZon is 5.4%, up from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 4.9%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.2%, down from 14.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect8.2%
BiZZdesign HoriZZon5.4%
iServer4.9%
Other81.5%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Maamoun Hasuneh - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Enterprise Architect at EVC
Architecture repository has strengthened data‑driven decisions and supported risk‑aware planning
BiZZdesign HoriZZon needs to publish its integration scenarios and integration points with other digital transformation tools such as IT service management, risk management, asset management, customer service, and ERP. The company should first build the scenario and define its integration points in business and technology to make customers more confident about having a complete solution. Currently, there is a challenge with the company to offer transparent and documented integration. They offer five integration points at a fixed price, but other things come at additional costs. However, specific information about what those additional items are, what the scenarios entail, what the schemas are, what the workflows include, and what the application integration involves is not provided. The learning portal does not include integration documentation at a high level or in detail. The portal does have comprehensive resources explaining how to make their website, how to create dashboards, and how to publish EA content, which are clear. The high-end tool on the laptop is also explained in detail, covering elements, relations, and everything as standard.
Antonios Lazanakis - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT Solution Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Flexible, easy to use, and easy to import data
We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model. It is very easy to import data, and we also have good integration with Visual Drawing Tools and SharePoint. The solution is…
Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Enterprise Architect at Deepview S.r.o.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"BiZZdesign Architect separates model from views and has a quite extensive set of analytical stuff built in to be very useful in complex environments."
"One of the main advantages of this solution is that they have representation in the Open Group Forum, which means that any changes in ArchiMate are immediately implemented in BiZZdesign."
"The powerful editing function in teamwork project-based, common or shared modeling, based on a powerful repository and knowledge sharing in a portal are the most valuable features. These are the most important features for me. I can add the integration of individual modeling notations like Archimate plus BPMN and DMN, and so on. We travel from one location to another and the tool allows us to keep track."
"The initial setup of this solution was very straightforward."
"We can derive some meaningful insights from whatever data that we have, which is the main thing."
"The most valuable features are the application, portfolio, data, architectures, and modeling things."
"The most valuable features are the application, portfolio, data, architectures, and modeling things."
"I like the flexibility of the modeling part for standards like ArchiMate and, at the same time, BPMN. It allows us to connect elements from different areas and to have a single repository and a single source of truth. It gives us one place to do analysis throughout the organization."
"We like the governance."
"The most valuable features of iServer are the integration with Microsoft Office and the interface is similar to Microsoft applications making them easy to use."
"Overall, I would say that it's a poor man's EA repository."
"There were lots of different requirements, and collaboration and review is one of the biggest things, there is also Office 360 integration, and there's flexibility to use it as a database as well."
"iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model."
"Good and effective reporting features, which help in decision making."
"The product has a valuable customized model."
"This is a flexible tool compared to some other solutions."
"The installation was very easy."
"The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"Its ability to reference and link to components from any diagram."
"The best thing about the tool is that its database is open."
"The stability of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is fine."
"When I confronted the developer team that I plan to switch from JIRA to EA, they were not really happy, but now, after a short while, they love it because they immediately see changes, have access to all the diagrams (ERDs, Sequence Diagrams etc.), always have the big picture, and wherever they are, they can simply right-click an element, click "Find in Diagrams" and see this element in context."
"EA is a good, cheap, flexible, and capable tool."
"We use this solution for our enterprise architecture and all forms of data modeling using UML."
 

Cons

"The automatic data collection and interface need improvement."
"We tested it, and we had support from BiZZdesign, including patches, but it just didn't do what we wanted."
"In HoriZZon, there are different matrices. In some of the cases, there is an option to aggregate them, but in other cases, we have not done this, e.g., to see the proper costs. For example, if I have 10 different matrices, then I need to create an aggregate view out of those 10 matrices somewhere. That is where we have been struggling a bit. We have a counterpart from the HoriZZon product team with whom we have bi-weekly discussions. We have suggested to him that this can be improved."
"One area where BiZZdesign HoriZZon could use some improvement is in its REST APIs."
"It takes a long time to learn and understand, which is a learning curve you have to go through, but once you know how it works, it's very nice to work with."
"I have seen table charts where, if the chart is a little too big, it does not fit in HoriZZon and it is not at all visible... There have been several times where we could not publish a chart properly and we had to break the chart into small tables and create multiple artifacts, creating a complete mess. This should be seriously taken up by BiZZdesign because there is a lot of scope for improvement in terms of usability. It's not at all good, unfortunately."
"It should be more open to integrating with other existing tools."
"There is room for improvement in making it more seamless between the modeling and the analysis pieces."
"It's a very simple tool, which makes me concerned with the performance."
"The product is more expensive than Spark."
"The one issue is that if you want to import predefined work, you need to put the licensing model in."
"It definitely needs help to improve the visual aspect of the solution."
"The modelling needs improvement, specifically forecasting capabilities and scenarios."
"The modelling needs improvement, specifically forecasting capabilities and scenarios."
"The one issue is that if you want to import predefined work, you need to put the licensing model in. So if you wanted to import work that was done before, you then need to buy a separate product for that."
"It definitely needs help to improve the visual aspect of the solution."
"Look and feel."
"I'd like Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect to be more stable, and have a more improved performance."
"It could be more user-friendly. The tools could be more simple to use. It's a very complex solution. Because I am a business analyst, I use these tools to manage requirements, and I make models in UML, BPMN, and ArchiMate, and it's complex. In the next release, I would like to see more integrations."
"They should make the Save button easier to find. A simplified user interface for a lighter user would probably be useful. I am not sure if such an interface is already there."
"Customer service / technical support is via email only so is constrained to 24 hour turnaround."
"The documentation could be better. Where I work, we speak French and we don't speak English, so we don't have anything in French."
"I would like to see integration with Confluence or any other TRM, and the capability to integrate with the data storage, such as a repository similar to GitHub."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We were customers and bought licenses from them. We used their remote instance initially but upgraded to the on-device version due to lag. For pricing, we paid about 2200 pounds a year per seat for the client installation at an educational rate. I'm not sure about commercial rates. I managed to get a free copy at BBC since it was for evaluation purposes."
"In terms of this particular product usage, my clients currently only use per-user licenses."
"[The] Orbus... pricing model was based on every single functionality having a price. The pricing was comparable but if we wanted to scale, it would have ended up being a lot more expensive. BiZZdesign gave us one price with all of the functionality, and we could scale as much as we needed."
"First and foremost within the scope of improvement for the solution would be the cost. It's very costly..."
"If one is very cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as a seven out of ten."
"The pricing model is slightly on the high side and could be more competitive for long-term partnerships."
"I haven't found any issues with the scalability and licensing parts that are access-related."
"The price is reasonable."
"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."
"The price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."
"The product has a moderate pricing."
"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."
"It's about 13K to set up and 9K for the license for three months. I think it's about 20K a year, but we haven't firmed up on pricing yet because the price depends on how long we commit to the solution."
"The solution is cheaper than its competitors."
"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."
"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."
"The license for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is paid yearly, but I don't handle that area. It's good for its price, so I'm rating it a five out of five, but I'm not using it much. I also don't have information regarding additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"We paid 1200 euros as a once-off cost. All add ons and integrations come at an additional cost."
"It is cheaper than other solutions. Its cost is around $686 per year. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
4%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
5%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BiZZdesign HoriZZon?
This is one of the best tools, especially because of its collaborative nature. Anyone using it can access previous pr...
What needs improvement with BiZZdesign HoriZZon?
BiZZdesign HoriZZon needs to publish its integration scenarios and integration points with other digital transformati...
What is your primary use case for BiZZdesign HoriZZon?
BiZZdesign HoriZZon is primarily used as a repository for Enterprise Architecture and is also utilized in broad portf...
What needs improvement with iServer?
iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io. draw.io is a drawing tool ...
What is your primary use case for iServer?
We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.
What advice do you have for others considering iServer?
I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
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...
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 stra...
 

Also Known As

HoriZZon
No data available
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

T-Mobile, Shell, HSBC, Erasmus University, VIVAT Insurance
Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard
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