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IBM Blueworks Live vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect 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
13th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.0%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 7.0%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect7.0%
IBM Blueworks Live3.0%
Other90.0%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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

"The mega process maps are very easy to use."
"Blueworks Live gives insight into where processes can be more productive, providing that "Ah ha!" moment from a visual perspective and making it easy to tweak, update, and refine processes, which drives continuous improvement and better decisions."
"The stability is pretty good. It is highly available, which is key. You don't lose your work and can autosave."
"It is a stable solution since there has not been any downtime. Everything loads fast."
"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."
"The licenses are transferrable between different users."
"Currently, there is no other tool that is more cost-effective on the market."
"Valuable features include real-time modeling and design work, the ability to perform workshops with clients in real-time with the tool, and getting instant output."
"Some of the business processes are very easy to compare when you have the diagrams."
"Sparx has got a range of modeling features, and I am comfortable with all its offering. I've used a lot of tools over the phone. I found EA Spark, probably the most feature rich product all in all compared to other products. The solution is very cost-effective and that is its best feature. It's a very good delivery architecture tool, which also has enterprise architecture capabilities, and it's got full life cycle processes and software development. So for me, it's a pretty comprehensive tool"
"In this way, the quality of the documentation has improved."
"We use it to develop and maintain the Enterprise Conceptual Model, migrated from erwin a couple of years ago."
"From an architectural point of view it is easy to define the application landscape and maintain the relationships between components, which helps when the current state application architecture is considered especially by architects new to an organisation and also assists the embedded architects to design the future state architecture more effectively."
"It is a useful tool for modeling and testing automated processes."
"Sparx offers good flexibility."
"Its traversability is most valuable; I can use ArchiMate, and I can create a UML model, and BPMN for business processes, build multiple traversable models, segment a huge organization into separate models for business technology or internal resource management, and then very easily create documentation from templates in whatever format is needed, which is a very powerful feature."
 

Cons

"There are a couple of things which are not there right now: The ability to create a very structured rule."
"Sometimes, the tool is automatic, which can complicate it, but once you're accustomed to manipulating it, you can use it very effectively."
"I think the spaces could be improved, it's not well organized so it's really convoluted."
"Some of the import functionality was a bit restrictive, in terms of loading data in from other data sources. Something as simple as Excel, loading data tables from Excel, wasn't great. And vice-versa. Some of the export and import functionality with something like Visio - which, I know it's a slightly different tool - but being able to work seamlessly with those other tool sets would've been quite useful. I know it was something that was in the pipeline to be looked at. So that would be useful."
"While it is scalable, I don't see it being equal with other enterprise solutions."
"The solution is a very basic discovery product so it doesn't have that much modeling capability. This can be improved."
"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."
"We'd also like to see it be Six Sigma or Lean compatible, a lot of people have asked about that."
"Performance of remote rdbms is nightmare and the reason is that every link and every attribute is separate sequential insert/update to db."
"It would be great if we could decrease the use of different parts of the Toolbox."
"The reporting needs improvement."
"I have found the solution is lacking options. The general usability needs improvement and more compliance to CML definitions."
"Their technical support is not good in India. I wrote to them because I had a question, but I never got an answer."
"It is weak in regards to data modelling. It does not provide logical or physical data modelling or the ability to migrate from conceptual to physical and back."
"There were scalability issues. The HTML generation with very large models, over 4000 diagrams, can be problematic."
"Enterprise Architect is not very good for mockups."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Making it less expensive would be good."
"Price wise, IBM Blueworks Live is in the middle range, and I would give it a five out of ten."
"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."
"They have a free subscription model that gives a lot of power to the users."
"The solution is very, very cost-effective."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"We are seeing ROI from this solution. The solution has saved us time."
"There are editor licenses that are around 50 euros per month, and contributor licenses that are around 30 euros per month."
"The licensing is not as expensive as some of the other data modeling tools such as Erwin."
"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."
"It's reasonably priced for large organizations."
"It is very economical and low cost. You have to pay for a one-time license, and it is active forever."
"It's affordable. The only additional cost that we haven't yet figured out is the floating license. If you buy a floating license, you have to have a license management server, which comes at an additional cost that's not discussed. So, we haven't yet used the floating license. That’s because I haven't had a chance to figure that out."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

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 financial aspects of licenses.
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-premises solution for IBM Blueworks Live, and this could be a recommendation. Regardi...
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 automation-related items, so most of my automation work lies with IBM, and I oversee ...
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-performance ratio. While it might be cumbersome to learn, it still delivers exc...
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 straightforward. Although it's a powerful product with plenty of features, it's not ...
 

Also Known As

IBM Lombardi Blueprint
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Blueworks Live vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,264 professionals have used our research since 2012.