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IBM Blueworks Live vs SAP Signavio Process Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

IBM Blueworks Live
Ranking in Business Process Design
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP Signavio Process Manager
Ranking in Business Process Design
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.5%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Signavio Process Manager is 9.5%, up from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

AjarMathur - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Enas Selim - PeerSpot reviewer
Transforming banking process documentation with effective collaboration tools
The free trial needs to have more options for end users, such as including Process Intelligence as a trial version. Although mentioned on the website, the governance feature is not available in the free trial. More guidance from support is also needed, as users can get lost on the website when looking for specific features.

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, very quick to create a process map. It has templates. The look and feel is very nice. What we want to achieve out of the process map, we can achieve it using Blueworks."
"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."
"IBM Blueworks Live is cloud-based and provides easy access to all your processes in one place."
"For me, what I find to be the most valuable is its simplicity and the association with Microsoft Office."
"Collaboration is most valuable. You can collaborate online with many people. People can comment, and you can comment back. It is just like a social network, and that, for me, is very good."
"I like the two-tiered approach, that is, discover and then drill down to the main steps. You can right click and attach risk, policies, and much more. It is a user-friendly solution."
"In terms of the collaboration features, from the point of discovery, it was useful to go to load up the policies and the rule sets that the client had. And in terms of exploring options and being able to model a variety of different processes, that was incredibly useful as well."
"You can use if from your mobile device or you can be on the desktop. It doesn't matter. You are always connected. It is cloud-based, so you don't have to install anything."
"The benefit of this application is that I can immediately describe processes and form normative documents for these processes. For me, this is definitely a plus. Сurrently, I work in a company that is not involved in the structural alignment of business processes. They have huge gaps in this. Nothing is described and there are no norms. Therefore, the formation of regulatory documents, rules, and descriptions of processes, not only in graphic form, but also in documentary form is an absolute plus. I have not found this in other process programs."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the portal for spreading it over the organization, the usability, and the workflow generator in the background."
"The most valuable feature of SAP Signavio Process Manager is the ability to do business process models."
"The Collaboration Hub is especially useful for collaborative tasks and ensuring transparency across teams."
"I have done a lot of modeling over quite a number of years, and I think that the modeling capabilities in Signavio are state of the art."
"The product's most valuable feature is the transformation process."
"It is a scalable solution."
"As a business transformation suite, Signavio offers a number of integrated helpful tools. The Process Modeler helps with the conceptual work, but is directly integrated with the components of the Workflow Accelerator (Automation) and the Process Intelligence (Mining). This makes Signavio an indispensable service package."
 

Cons

"It is BPMN-compliant but the tool needs to be more involved to get into a completely 2.0 oriented tool. It has a few things but it's not the complete BPMN model."
"The ability to create a very structured rule. With the capability that we have right now, Blueworks Live is more process focused. We should be able to enhance it to include a lot more of decisions as well."
"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."
"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 Blue Works Live software boxes and lines are automatically placed by the programme and can't be easily manipulated."
"Spaces are not well organized; space controls are lacking."
"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 user interface is quite easy at first but process analysts soon run into roadblocks of limited functionality, which is disappointing."
"I think the intuitive handling is an issue which they should be more focused on, especially as we have issues with the glossary. If you want to implement Signavio within procedures in contact with other software, it's quite difficult to integrate and you will have several points where you have to double and triple the work, because you cannot maintain the data centrally. With other solutions, we can integrate it and have only one data transfer, to import and export with other solutions. A glossary is still limiting us."
"The performance metrics appearing in the collaboration hub needs to be improved."
"The workflow automation of the solution is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Signavio already offers a wonderful range of functions. If variant management and customer journeys are optimized, Signavio can definitely bask in the glory of BPM tools. We also see optimization potential in the management of licenses, e.g. no named users but rather floating licenses and integration into the company's active directory."
"The reporting is too slow and there is a limit of 250 processes."
"It is difficult to quickly digest the vast power of the suite and make use of those capabilities fully."
"We sometimes experience downtime or a dropped connection, so I think that the stability can be improved for the SaaS solution."
"We would like a better way to give users the correct permissions for processes, whether to view or design."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"Making it less expensive would be good."
"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."
"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."
"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."
"The solution is expensive."
"We are only able to use the free academic licenses because we have a financial constraint. We are not able to pay for commercial licenses to use this kind of tool."
"My client purchased one editor license and the collaboration hub, which covers up to a hundred people."
"Lower than the competition with highly flexible licensing plans."
"Comparatively, it is a bit costly when you look at similar tools with similar features."
"We are using the free trial version."
"SaaS has no setup cost, just licensing fees."
"The solution is quite expensive compared to other vendors."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution costs around 600-700 dollars/year, which is quite affordable.
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.
Which is better - Signavio Process Manager or Celonis?
SAP Signavio Process Manager is a very robust industrial-grade business process modeling tool. It is easy to use and does not require too much technological involvement. This solution has a collabo...
What do you like most about Signavio Process Manager?
The visual representation is extremely powerful and easy to use in process modeling and analysis. I can show it to someone who doesn't know business process mapping, and they still understand bec...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Signavio Process Manager?
After SAP acquired Signavio, the prices increased significantly, making it too expensive for our small company to afford.
 

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint
Signavio Process Editor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
DHL, Coca Cola EP, Prudential, Zalando, T-Systems, Jabil, Endress+Hauser, Rakuten
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Blueworks Live vs. SAP Signavio Process Manager and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
858,038 professionals have used our research since 2012.