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LeanIX vs SAP PowerDesigner 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
8.0
LeanIX enhances ROI through efficient data management, cost reduction, and long-term savings, with benefits realized in 6-24 months.
Sentiment score
3.4
SAP PowerDesigner users report a 43% ROI, with improved efficiency and quick returns outweighing licensing costs.
In 24 months, after you've deployed the tool and you've got a lot of good validated data, you're probably looking at consolidating and saving your organization ongoing savings that is equatable to how much the tool would cost you on a yearly basis.
The ROI is seen more on the optimization side and the ability to map applications comprehensively rather than direct cost savings.
I cannot put a number on it, but if you think about developing software manually or using a tool to generate software and considering the license cost of SAP PowerDesigner, the ROI is pretty positive relatively quick because it's not that expensive.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.9
LeanIX support is generally fast and effective, despite occasional delays and variability in staff experience and SAP integration issues.
Sentiment score
5.8
SAP PowerDesigner support is efficient but has issues with slow response times, complex systems, and accessibility concerns.
The support includes engagement from Technical Advisable Management, who helps us understand and utilize new product features effectively.
Sometimes the challenges with the first level that you actually speak to, they don't understand the problem.
For support, I'll probably give them a seven.
It relies heavily on VBScript, which is something that will be end of life in a few years in Windows.
Regarding technical support, after a recent licensing issue caused a temporary halt, we realized the importance of tracking licensing and version updates to avoid future disruptions in service.
Until I get 16.7 and complete the migration, I'm not getting any help from them.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
LeanIX is praised for scalability and flexibility, with some performance issues; costs rise but remains user-friendly.
Sentiment score
7.3
SAP PowerDesigner is highly scalable, effectively supporting varied team sizes and models, with generally positive feedback on its performance.
I've never seen any issues with being able to scale up or scale down the capabilities of the solution at all.
Currently, there are no scalability limitations in SAP PowerDesigner, allowing us to create numerous data models for various projects.
The scalability of SAP PowerDesigner is very good.
Our main objective is to upgrade to the supported version and be able to do whatever we are doing at the moment.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
LeanIX is praised for reliability and stability, with minor performance issues not impacting overall user satisfaction and functionality.
Sentiment score
7.0
SAP PowerDesigner is generally stable, though challenges may arise with remote access, complex models, and specific configurations.
We've had issues where we've had to go back to SAP and ask for help with issues that we've had with core capabilities that were supposed to be there but weren't working.
If you use a lot of customizations, especially using VBScript, it becomes less stable.
This may lead to frequent downtimes requiring server maintenance; thus, it is not suitable for highly complex solutions, but moderate complexities can be handled.
The product is reliable.
 

Room For Improvement

LeanIX users suggest improved features, better integrations, comprehensive support, intuitive interfaces, advanced AI tools, and cost-effective pricing.
SAP PowerDesigner faces challenges with high pricing, limited database integration, poor usability, and inadequate collaboration, requiring improvements.
They should implement their ticketing system natively within the application instead of relying on email.
A default framework would provide a base that organizations can quickly adopt and customize, reducing the time and effort spent on adoption.
The challenge with support was probably the response time.
SAP PowerDesigner does not have a cloud option. It's only on-premise.
I would like to see a feature added to SAP PowerDesigner where, upon extracting data from a source, it automatically identifies relationships between tables.
The web portal is unstable and does not work. It freezes up all the time.
 

Setup Cost

LeanIX pricing varies by usage, with concerns over predictability and scalability; flexibility and planning are highly recommended.
SAP PowerDesigner pricing varies, manageable for large firms but costly for small consultancies, considering licensing and setup expenses.
It cost me $91,000 a year for 300 applications.
Our usage and costs depend on the number of applications, and as the number of applications grows, so does the cost.
One issue is the cost, as it is a high-priced tool coming from SAP.
 

Valuable Features

LeanIX provides customizable reporting, user-friendly interfaces, cost optimization, and seamless integration for both technical and business users.
SAP PowerDesigner is praised for its data modeling, customization, user interface, and collaboration features enhancing data management efficiency.
It ensures cost optimization by identifying duplicate applications and stopping unnecessary application onboarding.
Being able to do the lineage all the way through so that each one of those you can pull them out into their component parts to determine exactly which areas you need to resolve, fix, plan, or build a strategy around.
When you align it or map it to your business capabilities, this is how you identify duplication of technologies in your business.
The best features of SAP PowerDesigner, from my perspective, are its ability to keep the connectivity between the source database and the new system, data redundancy and availability, and impact analysis.
SAP PowerDesigner doesn't only allow you to model the structure of your database, but you can also model data mappings or data flows or lineage.
What I appreciate best about SAP PowerDesigner is that it is a very detailed and comprehensive tool.
 

Categories and Ranking

LeanIX
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP PowerDesigner
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of LeanIX is 13.1%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP PowerDesigner is 8.0%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
LeanIX13.1%
SAP PowerDesigner8.0%
Other78.9%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

SidneyWong - PeerSpot reviewer
Has provided a structured way to align business capabilities with IT while showing potential for support improvements
What it does is it creates a register in the documentation of all your applications and technologies. When you align or map it to your business capabilities, this is how you identify duplication of technologies in your business and how you can potentially rationalize and standardize on them. In conjunction with my business policies, LeanIX is quite effective because using it as a tool to determine what is an endorsed technology can prevent other technologies from being used. I would call it effective in preventing technology sprawl in my environment if it is used alongside my business policies. It does assist in aligning IT with business goals.
Kopparapu Venkatesh Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Data modeling tool improves data management and decision-making efficiency
The lineage analysis helps my organization understand data dependencies at an enterprise level. As a SAP PowerDesigner developer, I monitor data across the organization, creating data models that reflect not just one data warehouse but comprehensive organizational information. If you have a small company, lineage helps track employee data across different areas such as finance and HR. Data governance prevents duplicate records, so when tracking employee details, SAP PowerDesigner highlights where data exists in various areas, helping ensure we only use the appropriate sources. This functionality allows us to assess the impact of data deletions effectively. I utilize the reverse engineering capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner. Reverse engineering is helpful, especially since I have colleagues new to SAP PowerDesigner. They often do not know which columns are available where. In SAP PowerDesigner, we can reverse engineer existing data from its source and identify errors in production. For instance, by using Ali's example, if an error arises, I can trace it back to the table and environment it originated from using the reverse engineering feature. The best features of SAP PowerDesigner, from my perspective, are its ability to keep the connectivity between the source database and the new system, data redundancy and availability, and impact analysis. The first feature acts as a bridge between systems. The second allows us to see what data is already available and what new data can be brought in. The third, impact analysis, helps determine how many tables will be affected if a specific table is deleted. This critical point allows us to capture how much data will be lost if any table is removed. Currently, these features shape my daily work. SAP PowerDesigner primarily benefits business management units by offering three types of data modeling structures: conceptual, logical, and physical models. The conceptual model communicates high-level insights to top executives, while logical and physical models address complex queries faced by developers in analytics. SAP PowerDesigner enhances the clarity of our data management significantly, as around 80% of data can be searched quickly and maintained in our SAP systems. The tool enables mapping from end to end, making my work faster and more efficient than using other ER data modeling solutions. The interface allows easy creation of data models and searching for existing data, ensuring I can complete my tasks significantly quicker. The importance of SAP PowerDesigner's collaboration capabilities lies in fostering a unified data management approach. It acts as a unified tool, preventing the duplication of existing data in analytical processes, thus saving both effort and storage costs, which is essential for effective data management. We utilize collaboration capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner with various source systems such as PG admin, Postgres, Oracle, and Snowflake. Recently, we have added Snowflake for cloud data modeling and POC work, streamlining the collaboration process across different systems.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise13
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise18
 

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 a good choice. If looking at Portfolio Management from an EA perspective then Le...
What do you like most about LeanIX?
The ability to import data and generate reports from it. That's where its power lies.
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 was part of the RISE license in a previous project.
What do you like most about SAP PowerDesigner?
It allows us to have proper documentation in terms of the databases.
What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
It was a long time back when my company purchased it, but I am now participating in upgrading it to the latest version. I found customer support to be tedious during the upgrade process to the late...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sybase PowerDesigner
 

Interactive Demo

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,...
Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
Find out what your peers are saying about LeanIX vs. SAP PowerDesigner and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.