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LeanIX vs PTC Windchill vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of LeanIX is 9.5%, down from 15.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PTC Windchill is 1.5%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.6%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
LeanIX9.5%
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect8.6%
PTC Windchill1.5%
Other80.4%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

NG
Managing Director at Global Information Technology Corporation
Building Strategic Enterprise Architecture Journeys with Comprehensive Process Mapping and Risk Management
They will continue to improve LeanIX. I'm actually supposed to be at the SAP Sapphire this year. There are a couple of recommendations I know some of my colleagues have made. For me, I have not looked into additional recommendations for LeanIX because I've been held in really just utilizing it for the purposes it has. One of the things that I know I've had is being able to build it into decent process flows for changes. While LeanIX does have the capability, one of the challenges that I've found, even with working with Subway, was that being able to build that out into a detailed solution for a developer or for new process design was one of the challenges, just making that leap. But there's enough information that comes out of LeanIX to be utilized, and that would be one of the areas I would suggest.
CW
Process Method and Tool Developer at ZF Group NAO
Effective lifecycle management improves with strong version control and deep integration needs
There is room for improvement in implementing features fully. The user interface is inconsistent and outdated. It appears that different departments or locations have implemented features differently, leading to inconsistency. There is a significant need for improved integration, particularly using OSLC for connecting with other tools like SAP ERP or ALM tools. The version control, while consistent, lacks flexibility regarding changes in CAD data and requires manual intervention for BOM management analysis.
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

"It offers neat visualization and referencing functionality while enabling the creation of landscape maps and showing the relationship between different applications."
"One of the most valuable features of LeanIX is the Enterprise Architecture Management tool."
"The solution provides a single window view of business, application, data, and technology views of the IT ecosystem."
"I can develop a report and then do a presentation, or develop a report and some other diagrams and then put them all in one presentation, and from there, I can present things directly, so there is no need to move images."
"Ease of use is the most valuable feature. From an enterprise architecture perspective, it's not too cumbersome with too many functionalities, yet it has a lot of attributes for the content it covers."
"The solution has a very useful assessment tool that automatically populates from input data to produce a detailed analysis of customer's environments."
"One of the product's most valuable features is its ability to configure hardware devices."
"I like the tool’s integration and maps."
"The version control maintains consistent versions, which is beneficial."
"The strong point of Windchill is its close connection between the CAD structure and the bill of materials structure."
"I like how the product integrates with other technical solutions."
"Customizable and tailored to the environment. Several template frameworks are provided."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is the integrated data model, so if I change the name of an item, all models using that object are automatically updated."
"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."
"It's like a repository. So far, we use it only for Information Modelling."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect was easy to set up and it took just twenty minutes."
"Ability to model and create view under same roof."
"Artifact templates are most valuable."
 

Cons

"One of the challenges that I've found, even with working with Subway, was that being able to build that out into a detailed solution for a developer or for new process design was one of the challenges, just making that leap."
"Report generation could be more detailed. There are some shortcomings when creating reports. We can't create tag-based reports or go beyond basic technical reports."
"LeanIX has limited in-build diagramming capabilities, requiring the purchase of another tool. That is the main drawback of LeanIX because they don't have a built-in add-on product for diagramming."
"They're probably positioned pretty well. I hope that they would not focus that much on the business architecture, and they would focus more on the overall cloud strategy and how we can leverage multi-cloud and transition back and forth from other cloud providers. With a lot of current vendors, you get locked in with one cloud, and then you try to migrate to someone else, and it becomes very problematic. What they need to do is to look at the overall data strategy, and they probably need to amplify their data strategy, especially around multi-cloud."
"Another area for improvement is that when you're starting to look into more advanced information, using the solution's APIs and its customizations, documentation for that specific aspect is not very good. There is not too much support built into the offering for that aspect, for a developer."
"What would make LeanIX better is more variety in terms of reporting, and more flexibility with its data importing feature."
"The solution uses Gartner's time-based framework for application rationalization. One more thing that you can consider is having some add-on frameworks for the same, not just Gartner."
"I find LeanIX's pricing expensive for the functionality it offers. However, with the acquisition by SAP, the pricing might become more affordable due to scale and tiered application pricing. Currently, it offers different tiers for the first 400 applications: 400 to 600 and 600 to 1,000, making it expensive from a pricing standpoint."
"Some parts of the system are exclusive, so we can't work with them."
"I would not recommend doing business with PTC regardless of the product."
"There is room for improvement in implementing features fully."
"The initial setup of the Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect It's very complicated. It's very difficult to start with the right templates because there are many possibilities. The deployment took approximately two days."
"The Business Process Modeling or BPM feature can be improved to make it more interactive and user friendly because it is a tool for technical people. My current use is only for business process modeling notation and putting in the icons etc. You need to take them in as a class, which makes things very complex. Because of this complexity, it is not an easy-to-handle solution. Enterprise Architect is not very good for mockups. We cannot create user screens and other similar kinds of stuff, which is bad. For these things, we prefer to use Axure RP and other similar solutions. They should either remove this feature from this product or provide some kind of connectivity with Axure RP so that people can do better mockups of screens and import them. They need to augment and strengthen the BPM feature, which is the main feature. They need to put in some elements like artificial intelligence and augmented reality. They should look into such features because these things are coming up."
"Not visually appealing."
"It would be nice to have it supported on the Linux operating system."
"Their technical support is not good in India. I wrote to them because I had a question, but I never got an answer. So, I just left it behind."
"Weak in regards to data modelling. No logical or physical modelling or migration from conceptual to physical."
"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."
"Inconsistent UI elements must be tidied up with the toolbox gaps removed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As the tool is cloud-based, its cost is more affordable."
"I would rate the pricing a one out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"There is a sweet spot of where they need to be on pricing right now. They could go up a little bit in pricing, but it has to do with the cost savings, and it has to do with the practitioners using it. I use it where I get cost savings and I can justify it, but they probably have the ability to flex a 10% up channel on their sales on that. So, they could increase their settle price, not their offering price, when they sell. They can probably hold that up a little bit higher than it is because there are cost savings that we can drive from it."
"The solution's pricing is based on a licensing model that is competitive and in line with other products."
"It cost me $91,000 a year for 300 applications. For any enterprise, 300 applications are minimal, as many have well over 1,000 applications."
"The pricing is very good. We definitely get good value for the money."
"LeanIX uses application-based account licensing, where the cost is multiplied by the number of applications in the software implementation."
"The tool needs to include more flexible licensing options. We do not use the tool all the time. So pricing should be considered only when we use the tool."
"I rate PTC Windchill's pricing a seven out of ten since it is pricey."
"It is cheap."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"There is a license for this solution. When comparing this solution to others it is priced well."
"We had a yearly license."
"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."
"The licensing is not as expensive as some of the other data modeling tools such as Erwin."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
"It’s the best deal in town, by far."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
6%
Manufacturing Company
32%
Healthcare Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise13
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

Any experience with Strategic Project Portfolio Management Solutions?
Hi @Cheryl Joseph ​Looking at the crossover between Project and Portfolio management with EA, then Planview could be ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for LeanIX?
My experience with pricing is not directly known, as it was handled by others, but it is subscription-based. The tool...
What needs improvement with LeanIX?
From a pricing perspective, it is not a cheap tool. It is relatively expensive compared to some of its competitors. I...
What needs improvement with PTC Windchill?
There is room for improvement in implementing features fully. The user interface is inconsistent and outdated. It app...
What is your primary use case for PTC Windchill?
I am using Windchill for managing CAD data and document data, specifically for product lifecycle management.
What advice do you have for others considering PTC Windchill?
I would not recommend doing business with PTC regardless of the product. Although Windchill has a commendable core fu...
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...
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 stra...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Windchill, Atego Artisan Studio, Integrity Modeler, Intralink
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bosch Rexroth, NSW Department of Education, Yamaha Motor Corporation, Tetra Pak, Deutsche Bahn, Flynn, SKF AB, NTT Group, Travis Perkins, SEEK, Haworth, Asahi Beverages, MediaMarktSaturn, KAO USA, Ørsted, The Mark Anthony Group of Companies, AmTrust, Banco Itaú Unibanco, SHL Medical,...
Bose, Valliant Group
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP LeanIX, Quest Software, MEGA International and others in Enterprise Architecture Management. Updated: February 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.