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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs iServer 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

iServer
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
8th
Ranking in Business Process Design
16th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
2nd
Ranking in Business Process Design
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of iServer is 4.2%, down from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 11.5%, down from 16.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect11.5%
iServer4.2%
Other84.3%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user153078 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 23, 2014
 

Featured Reviews

Antonios Lazanakis - PeerSpot reviewer
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
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 solution has wide use within Microsoft products. The integration with Microsoft products, and, in particular, Microsoft Office, is great."
"iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model."
"Integrating the Microsoft documents to the product and visualization matrix where we can see the end-to-end relationship of the network is of great importance to our company."
"I have to think less with this solution. It's simple."
"iServer is a solution that helps catalog enterprise architect solutions and catalog information."
"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 has valuable features for workflow and document management."
"It has helped having data lineage in the business cluster, which is used as control artifacts."
"For the most part, we find that it is remarkable how inexpensive it is."
"Using Sparx Enterprise Architect allowed my customer to detail and make the company's IT strategy visible and accessible to all. The system provided clear roadmaps for IT development and helped to keep up-to-date documentation of systems and processes."
"The most valuable feature of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the value streams."
"Sparx offers good flexibility."
"The solution is easy to use, supports SysML and UML, and is able to connect to MATLAB. This is very important for us."
"It's a very practical solution. You don't need to do an advanced course to start using this tool."
"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."
"The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"The product is more expensive than Spark."
"I haven't used this solution long enough to know what areas could be improved."
"iServer is a solid tool. Occasionally, we needed to contact the vendor to clarify details such as porting issues, missing components, and model specifics."
"Cannot see which activities are control activities."
"Enhancing integration options with ERP or ITSM-related solutions for triggering automated requests for process definitions, changes, and tracking them in the iServer."
"There can be some performance issues using the solution that should be improved. When you make modifications modify to files there are embedded data within that can take a while to process."
"There are other solutions out there that have a better user interface."
"iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io."
"Sparx can be a bit slow. If you are trying to design software architecture, sometimes we run into issues and need to refresh."
"Its best features are not intuitive or easy to learn. Most companies I have worked with, when I see what they are doing with it , are not using more than 5% of what they could and should be doing with it."
"The templates for documentation should be enhanced to include complex documents such as template RFP, or Non functional requirements template."
"Insufficient control of metadata and standards."
"The stability and performance of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect could still be improved. Setup for it is also slightly complicated and could be improved."
"Because its easy to create diagrams one needs to be vigilant on the housekeeping of orphaned fragments - I have written my own scripts to do this, maybe they are available now."
"It would be great if we could decrease the use of different parts of the Toolbox."
"The UI could be improved and made a little bit more presentable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 product has a moderate pricing."
"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."
"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."
"The price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."
"The solution is cheaper than its competitors."
"Use floating licenses strategically."
"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 Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"It is cheaper than other solutions. Its cost is around $686 per year. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"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."
"The licensing is not as expensive as some of the other data modeling tools such as Erwin."
"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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Answers from the Community

it_user153078 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 23, 2014
Sep 23, 2014
Thanks Dorian. We've had look at IBM Systems Architect, but due to the size of our organization and IBM licensing structure, hence we opted for the two in question.
2 out of 4 answers
it_user96945 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 22, 2014
I have not used those two. I have used/use IBM Systems Architect, Visual Paradigm and Rational Rose and my experience with those is that is you want true team cooperation, they always ask you to buy something more. Usually there is a separate tool/SW to make teamwork work. Give them all the specs ahead of time so that if something is not there, you can go back and ask for them to fix the problem. Dorian W Smith
it_user78465 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 22, 2014
I have no experience with these solutions. John Becker
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Government
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

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 Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iServer?
iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management.
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 used to draw architectural diagrams, flow diagrams, etc. It is an alternative to...
What is your primary use case for iServer?
We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.
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

Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard
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Find out what your peers are saying about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. iServer and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
866,755 professionals have used our research since 2012.