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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs iGrafx Process360 Live Platform 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

iGrafx Process360 Live Plat...
Ranking in Business Process Design
18th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (25th), Process Mining (9th)
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 (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of iGrafx Process360 Live Platform is 1.6%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 9.5%, down from 12.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect9.5%
iGrafx Process360 Live Platform1.6%
Other88.9%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

Ganesh-Iyer - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps simplify processes of a business
One of the more important updates that have happened lately in the tool is related to the tool's ability to process data mining. What I mean by data mining is that now you have the ability to take the timestamp of the data from the ERP or transactional data, create your process maps, and then try to see how much compliance is actually happening within your processes. The aforementioned area is one capability that has been added to the tool over the last few years. You can now tell with the tool how much of your process is actually following the required path where everything is approved and where it goes for exception handling, how many transactions are going, what type of transactions really get into exceptions, and then take care of the management and make improvements. One of the areas in the product with certain shortcomings where improvements are required includes the tool's reporting capabilities. The ability to get into customer template requirements and then create different reports from the data they have is one area which can be improved.
Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"Web diagramming and RACI have helped expedite the process, capture, and ownership initiatives of our organization."
"This product fulfills ninety percent of our needs, and we're happy as users of it."
"The solution's technical support is of good quality since they offer fast and seamless services."
"One of the biggest plus points of the product stems from the fact that I have never seen any glitches in it."
"We found the technical support to be helpful."
"Finding the right symbol and creating links, horizontal and vertical are the features I use."
"Another good feature is that the numbering of the shapes in iGrafx is much easier and more convenient, in comparison to what is found in Visio. So far I haven't found anything similar to what I have with iGrafx, in that regard."
"The solution is very stable."
"Automated document generation is a real time saver, no more cut and paste, no more keeping track of which diagrams are in which reports, no more last minute update panics. Just click a mouse and you've got an up to date report."
"We use it to develop and maintain the Enterprise Conceptual Model, migrated from erwin a couple of years ago."
"Its traversability is most valuable. I can use ArchiMate, and I can create a UML model. ArchiMate is for logical enterprise architecture, UML is for software engineering, and BPMN is for business processes. I can build it to have multiple models, and they are also traversable, which is not something that every tool allows. If there is a huge organization, you can segment it and have separate models for business technology or internal resource management system. You don't need to keep them in one model, and you can decide to segregate them."
"Scalability is not a problem. You can always increase the footprint of what the thing can do because it's so powerful."
"It is a very flexible product. It can do a lot. It is also a reliable product."
"Its ease of use and the breadth of the toolkit are most valuable. It has an incredible repository of artifacts to work with, and they're all cross-referenced. It works with a whole bunch of different standards. It works with BPMN, which is Business Process Modeling Notation, and it also works with something called TOGAF, which is the Open Group Architecture Foundation. There are different layers when you're dealing with architecture. There is the user interface, application, data, data servers, and all that kind of stuff. You have the infrastructure, hardware, and software layers, and then you have the application and business capability layers. You can model a business process and decompose it into all of the applications, data, and hardware to support it."
"Customizable and tailored to the environment. Several template frameworks are provided."
"It's easy to search within the solution."
 

Cons

"With iGrafx, the implementation and the licensing were pretty complex."
"It can be more user-friendly."
"One of the areas in the product with certain shortcomings where improvements are required includes the tool's reporting capabilities."
"The solution could benefit from improvements to its interface. More specifically, when compared to other tools, the process modeling features lack symbols or object types that are used to represent the information or data within the process."
"The price could be more competitive."
"The look and feel, along with the ease of use of the solution's web modeling version, is an area with certain shortcomings."
"In the next release, I would like to see more layers like three, four, and five. It might be possible but I haven't seen it yet."
"Dragging and dropping shapes is not as user-friendly as in Visio. In Visio, it's very easy to work with shapes and in very few minutes you can plot a whole, multi swim-lane, cross-functional process."
"The integration could be improved."
"No way to implement data integrity and referential integrity constraints."
"Weak in regards to data modelling. No logical or physical modelling or migration from conceptual to physical."
"The stability and performance of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect could still be improved. Setup for it is also slightly complicated and could be improved."
"This solution is quite complex to use. It would be nice if the learning curve wasn't so steep."
"The product could be improved in terms of its ease of use and documentation. While it offers a lot of functionality, it can be difficult to grasp how to utilize these features effectively."
"There should be a MATLAB-specific toolbox added to the solution with better compatibility. The connections currently are good but in the future, it needs a huge improvement."
"It would be great if we could decrease the use of different parts of the Toolbox."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I have heard that the solution's pricing is very competitive."
"The licensing part is one of the problems. Its licensing depends on the number of users, so it sometimes gets expensive."
"Earlier, the licensing part was complex because there were so many modules and elements in the tool. Over the last one and a half years, a lot of work has gone into how the product has priced and positioned its tools in the market."
"Our license is a subscription-based model that is per user. The solution is not expensive, I believe a subscription-based model is $10 per user."
"My company is trying to replace iGrafx because the license is a little bit expensive."
"Use floating licenses strategically."
"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."
"I use my own license. So, I just bought the professional version, which costs $800 or something like that. In the company where I am working, we have floating licenses. They are probably more expensive. Its licensing is affordable, but we are talking about a large organization, and there could be modelers or viewers of the models. We don't know how much that would cost us."
"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."
"The license I use is on-premise. We haven't gone to the cloud where we have to pay monthly or something like that. Sparx is cheaper than most similar tools."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iGrafx?
The solution's technical support is of good quality since they offer fast and seamless services.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iGrafx?
I have heard that the solution's pricing is very competitive.
What needs improvement with iGrafx?
If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right. We have a strategic approach for the customer. I was involved in almost 100 sess...
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 ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Multinational Bank
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. iGrafx Process360 Live Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.