Planview Portfolios vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

Planview Portfolios vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

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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

Planview Portfolios

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Project Portfolio Management (4th)

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

4th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of Planview Portfolios is 2.8%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.9%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect	8.9%
Planview Portfolios	2.8%
Other	88.3%

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

Monabi Kingsley

Project Manager at 3M

Centralized planning has improved resource visibility and supports data‑driven financial decisions

The best features Planview Portfolios offers are visibility enhancement, robust system performance, and comprehensive resource management. This enhanced visibility in Planview Portfolios ensures that all users can easily track progress, identify bottlenecks, and make informed decisions to optimize workflow efficiency. When discussing robust system performance, the system's robust performance in meeting our various work requirements effectively and efficiently stands out. It is very stable and reliable, contributing to a seamless user experience, which enables users to focus on their tasks without disruptions. I also love the financial breakdown, planning and prioritization, and attribute collection on projects in Planview Portfolios. Planview Portfolios has positively impacted my organization since I started using it. It has enabled me to gain insights into the full scope of work consuming resources. I am able to know where the resources are being consumed more, especially which resources are consuming the most. I have been able to leverage resources management and resource time reporting, which enabled the generation of $90 million in annual revenue through labor billing to customers.

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Milan Sterba

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Planview has helped connect funding and strategic outcomes with work execution. That is the key use that we have for it. We use it to validate the work that we're doing and the funding that we need. The difference between the previous version and current version for us would be the ICPM and the way it gives us different scenarios. We can go in and build that out."

"The look and feel of it is pretty clean."

"Planview has helped connect funding and strategic outcomes with work execution."

"Having a single source of the truth, specifically with the integration with Power BI, enables us to give leadership more relative content for decision-making and it is now being leveraged heavily in the executive decision-making process."

"I like that everyone is able to see the same data. All of our users who aren't just time reporters have read access to all the data that is out there. So, it is one source of truth where everybody can go in and see the exact same data that everybody else sees. It is transparent."

"I like that the data that we store is available for everybody. We're not trying to hide anything. Being an administrator, I know a lot about the tool. It is very easy to show somebody how to use the tool and get used to it. Hopefully that user doesn't come back and ask the same question twice is really what it is about. It's a very intuitive product as well. For what we use the tool for today, it's easy to learn and pick up."

"Troux has an easily extensible meta model and UI which other tools don't have."

"One of the reasons why I love Enterprise One so much is due to the fact that, when I first started using it in 2014, when I was given the role to help administrators, there was an assumption that this tool was too complex."

More Planview Portfolios pros

"It's like a repository; so far, we use it only for Information Modelling."

"The most valuable feature of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the value streams."

"Ability to model and create view under same roof."

"The business process management of Sparx is valuable."

"It has led some teams to do better code reviews - to be less focussed on coding conventions (syntax) and more focussed on the semantics because of the abstraction level clear design affords."

"We have found the stability to be very reliable."

"We previously used rational tools (Rose, RSA and some other rational tools as well), and this product is much cheaper and enough for our needs."

"The best thing about the tool is that its database is open."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pros

Cons

"The solution out-of-the-box that we established was insufficient. I don't believe that it's a great solution out-of-the-box but eventually you can get there."

"There can be improvement on the sense of urgency because a lot of times we've exhausted everything that we can, and now, we're reaching out."

"I would like a bit more flexibility, as far as the configuration, and have additional capabilities to configure, making it more flexible for our use."

"So far, it has been good, but we've been in conversation with the vendor product team to improve the performance of the Work and Assignments module, because right now it is a bit slower."

"Recently, we have gotten on a newer version. We're currently on version 15. Some of the things that we've been running into roadblocks on, it looks like the solutions will be coming out in versions 17 or 18. So, we have to upgrade before somethings can get completed."

"We've been using it for a while, so it's about maturity. It's about being able to build out things in Agile groups and teams and some of that. Then really trying to drive into the direction of Lean Portfolio Management and more Agile program management, I think is where we're heading."

"We have almost like a third-party group who has to do a lot of our configurations. It's a bit painful for us anytime we want to make a change. The other issue is that we have different groups all in the same instance. So, if one group wants to make a change, it impacts everyone. Then, we all have to come together, to say, "Yes, we approve this change, or no, we do not." Thus, it has not been as flexible for us."

"I would like to be able to integrate with Oracle to supplement what we're currently doing with reporting."

More Planview Portfolios cons

"It would be great if we could decrease the use of different parts of the Toolbox."

"I'd like Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect to be more stable, and have a more improved performance."

"Greater OMG UML and XMI compliance"

"It took me a while to figure out how to use the report generation features effectively, so it would be really nice if they had a way to make that a little bit more interactive and a little bit more straightforward."

"The model integrity is not the same as MagicDraw, so MagicDraw is a bit better as a tool."

"I think the solution could be improved visually. It's not as visually appealing as other solutions."

"Its usability needs to be improved. For non-technical users, it is a little difficult to understand how Enterprise Architect works."

"For data modeling, it is not very mature when comparing with other data modeling tools."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our licensing costs are probably $150,000 to $180,000 a year with 270 licenses total."

"Planview is a little pricey. From a licensing perspective, for just a simple timesheet user who does nothing in the system but reports time, the licensing is a little pricey, but you have to look at it from what it is that you get. We have 6,000 users, and I don't manage the system at all. I just have to do add them to the system. The servers, maintenance, OS levels, security patching for the OS, and all other things are not something that we maintain. So, you have to look at it from an operational perspective. It is not just the product itself. A holistic view has to be taken when you look at the product and how you're going to support it. I would have to hire an entire operation staff to bring it in-house, and at the end of the day, that might cost me more."

"The cost of other pieces and integrating them in needs improvement."

"With the costs, they were very understanding. Knowing that we were an existing customer, they were very much willing to work with us to make sure that we were able to transition to Enterprise One from PPM Pro."

"Our licensing fees are approximately $50,000 USD annually."

"I don't know about the actual pricing. I have not come across any costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"We recently did a new bundle for all of Enterprise One. It includes some of the newer pieces, like Projectplace and LeanKit. It bundled our CTM in with it as well. I think the total came out to be about $900,000 a year. This is for unlimited licenses."

"We have unlimited licenses for all of our functionalities. Since we went global, we went with that model."

More Planview Portfolios pricing and cost advice

"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."

"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."

"There is no license required for this solution."

"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is priced well. The price we pay is approximately $20 per month. Other solutions I have found to be much more expensive."

"It's reasonably priced for large organizations."

"We had a yearly license."

"There is a license for this solution. When comparing this solution to others it is priced well."

"It is cheaper than other solutions. Its cost is around $686 per year. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Marketing Services Firm

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	66

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	39
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	58

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Planview Portfolios?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing has been that Planview Portfolios is one of the best and a very cost-effective tool.

What needs improvement with Planview Portfolios?

Planview Portfolios can be improved as the user interface defaults to the last opened portfolio, which can waste a lot of time loading a large portfolio if that is not what I need at that moment. J...

What is your primary use case for Planview Portfolios?

My main use case for Planview Portfolios is to ensure governance and decision auditability by incorporating embedded workflows, approval management, and key document retention supporting a single c...

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?

What is your primary use case for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

We are mostly using the ArchiMate language to describe enterprise or solution architecture, along with a bit of use cases. We are producing quite large models, with over 10,000 elements and relatio...

Broadcom Clarity vs Planview Portfolios

Comparisons

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Planview PPM Pro vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 5% of the time

OpenText Project and Portfolio Management vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 4% of the time

Planisware vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 4% of the time

LeanIX vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 3% of the time

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Visual Paradigm vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 7% of the time

Visio vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 5% of the time

MEGA HOPEX vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 5% of the time

No Magic MagicDraw vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 5% of the time

Lucidchart vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Planview Portfolios

Download Planview Portfolios product report

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Download Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect product report

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect report

Also Known As

Planview Enterprise One, Troux

No data available

Overview

Planview Portfolios empowers executives, finance, and portfolio leaders by enhancing strategic investments, improving market responsiveness, and connecting strategy and execution for optimal visibility.

Planview Portfolios offers comprehensive strategic and project portfolio management to organizations. Automating and scaling these processes, it enhances speed-to-value, aligns strategic objectives with execution, and connects business and technology planning for optimal funding and resource capacity. Users gain end-to-end visibility, track progress, and improve decision-making by utilizing integrated financial and capacity planning.

What key features does Planview Portfolios offer?

Strategic Alignment: Aligns objectives and OKRs with execution to ensure strategic goals are met.
End-to-End Visibility: Tracks performance across the organization to support timely decision-making.
Dynamic Planning and Funding: Utilizes scenario modeling for flexible strategic investment funding.
Flexible Capacity Planning: Balances programs and staffing levels against available capacity.
Connected Technology Strategy: Aligns technology investments with strategic digital initiatives.
Adaptive Program Management: Manages dependencies, risk, and progress through integrated planning.

What benefits can users find in reviews of Planview Portfolios?

Workflow Efficiency: Enhances efficiency by minimizing bottlenecks and optimizing execution.
Improved Decision-Making: Provides comprehensive insights for better informed strategic decisions.
Financial Insights: Offers detailed financial tracking across projects for greater transparency.
Organizational Agility: Increases productivity and adaptability through a unified platform.

Planview Portfolios is implemented across projects in industries requiring strategic planning, resource allocation, and financial tracking. Organizations manage project lifecycle and integration with ERP systems on a centralized platform, utilizing customizable workflows and reporting tools to enhance efficiency and streamline team processes.

Planview

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect supports modeling standards like UML, ArchiMate, and TOGAF. Its strengths include collaboration, scalability, and affordability, making it adaptable to enterprise architecture tasks.

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect provides a robust and versatile platform for enterprises by offering comprehensive modeling capabilities and integration with diverse tools. It supports diagram creation, automatic documentation, and reverse engineering, making tasks efficient. Though user interface improvements are needed for intuitiveness, its overall framework support and affordability remain attractive. Users typically integrate it with other solutions for enhanced functionality, benefiting from its version control and adaptability in IT landscapes.

What are the most important features?

Support for Multiple Standards: Offers UML, ArchiMate, TOGAF compatibility.
Collaboration Capabilities: Encourages effective teamwork and data sharing.
Scalable Solutions: Grows with enterprise demands.
Extensive Framework Support: Provides diverse modeling options.
Automatic Documentation: Generates essential documents efficiently.
Reverse Engineering and Code Generation: Supports software development processes.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Affordability: Cost-effective compared to competitors.
User-Friendliness: Easy to navigate for experienced users.
Integration: Works well with existing systems and tools.
User Flexibility: Adapts to specific needs without significant cost.

In specific industries, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is often implemented for developing detailed architecture frameworks and business process models. Organizations leverage its capabilities in establishing application inventories and managing projects. Its use in data modeling and solution design is particularly valued in sectors requiring comprehensive IT landscape mapping.

Sparx Systems

Sample Customers

UPS, NatWest, Ingram Micro, Canadian Tire, Viessmann, Volvo, NASCO, UNESCO

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Planview Portfolios vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect