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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
16th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (23rd), Process Mining (9th)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of iGrafx Process360 Live Platform is 1.5%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 10.5%, down from 12.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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

"This product fulfills ninety percent of our needs, and we're happy as users of it."
"The solution is very stable."
"It has simplified compliance with regulations and company standards."
"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's technical support is of good quality since they offer fast and seamless services."
"Web diagramming and RACI have helped expedite the process, capture, and ownership initiatives of our organization."
"iGrafx gives you the capability of documenting your process and then the ability to use it as a tool for analysis to identify the loopholes and shortcomings of your process."
"One of the biggest plus points of the product stems from the fact that I have never seen any glitches in it."
"The profiles allow me to customize the tool to the corporate environment instead of the other way around saving huge amounts of time and energy on trying to turn dozens of individuals into TOGAF, ArchiMate or Zachman experts, or even Sparx EA experts."
"I like that there is support for software patterns."
"The installation was very easy."
"Some of the business processes are very easy to compare when you have the diagrams."
"It is simple to build the first model for the solution."
"Ability to maintain cross-references for all models in all levels - great tractability."
"Scalable solution for modeling, project sharing, and collaboration. Support for it is good."
"Ability to model and create view under same roof."
 

Cons

"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."
"With iGrafx, the implementation and the licensing were pretty complex."
"It would be helpful to be able to do more analytics and generate reports on historical documents that have already been uploaded to the server."
"If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right."
"It would be nice to have a Spanish user interface available to us."
"The look and feel, along with the ease of use of the solution's web modeling version, is an area with certain shortcomings."
"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."
"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."
"The window froze for five or ten seconds. You can click and click again and it takes a second to come up. It might have been specific to a version."
"In a future release, they should improve portfolio planning."
"If you just want to create some diagrams with shapes and arrows, then use Visio."
"The UI is a little bit outdated. It should be more fresh and clean."
"From a practical point of view, we need speed and reliability for creating a model and doing some really meaningful tasks such as application landscape, refactoring, etc. These are two primary criteria. Sometimes, when you import something, it creates the object duplicates, or it allows you to do something that you're not supposed to do. For example, validation is missing. This could be frustrating because when you work at a high speed, you need to come back and start fixing things that the tool allowed you to go with, which is not quite good. So, there should probably be some internal mechanisms to advise you about what you're doing and what is probably not the best idea."
"Its usability needs to be improved. For non-technical users, it is a little difficult to understand how Enterprise Architect works. Users who are not engineers find it difficult to understand how this tool works. This is something they need to work on. They can develop a BPM model to simulate processes."
"The fact that you can do a lot yourself is a plus point, but it also becomes a challenge because you need an understanding of the programming languages to get things to work. It becomes challenging for those who are not very good at programming. You have standard reports, but if you want to make your own reports, you have to program it. Similarly, if you want validations rules, you have to take care of them yourself."
"Insufficient control of metadata and standards."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company is trying to replace iGrafx because the license is a little bit expensive."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."
"There is a license for this solution. When comparing this solution to others it is priced well."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"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 Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"We have an annual license, and it's very affordable."
"The licensing is not as expensive as some of the other data modeling tools such as Erwin."
"It is very economical and low cost. You have to pay for a one-time license, and it is active forever."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
University
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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: July 2025.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.