Planview Portfolios vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

Planview Portfolios vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Download the complete report

Helped 890,071 peers since 2012

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

8th

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 April 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of Planview Portfolios is 2.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.6%, down from 13.9% 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	8.6%
Planview Portfolios	2.6%
Other	88.8%

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.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We've brought our portfolio altogether. We have had multiple ways of reporting out what our portfolio is, whether it's in Excel, Word, or in different places. We brought all of our projects together in one place. That has worked out well for us. We've been able to manage the work on Gantt charts and our resources better. The big thing for us on research and development is around managing people's time, on which projects they are working on, and how much effort does it take to launch our projects."

"Planview has helped connect funding and strategic outcomes with work execution because we utilize the strategic module within Enterprise One to help with that work."

"Once you get a good grasp of the principles of Planview, it is a really powerful tool."

"The flexibility allows it to become more self-service, and we can on-board users that do not have an IT or enterprise role, but more like an add-on list or even a business user."

"The integration stuff from tool to tool, like Projectplace to Planview, to manage projects is the most valuable feature. It keeps all our tasks up-to-date. It closely follows up with everything, which is really cool."

"Whenever we have issues, there is always someone ready to help us. Their people are knowledgeable and responsive. They get to tickets quickly. Just three or four weeks ago, we were having issues with getting data into Planview. We submitted a ticket and the turnaround was probably 45 minutes to get a response."

"The biggest benefit that we have seen is that it's increased visibility across the board and given us a lot of data to actually make data-driven decisions, whereas before this product we didn't have the level of detail to make informed decisions around a lot of trade-offs with our strategic portfolio."

"A lot of of the value is around the project metrics so far but as I get more plugged into the strategic management, it's strategic planning and programs and then tying that into outcomes. I work with executive leadership and that's really what they're looking for, to say, "Okay, what outcomes do we want to achieve and how are we going to get there, plan that out, sequence that out, and then get the work to do that? And then track the work back to where we're headed with our outcomes.""

More Planview Portfolios pros

"The pricing of the solution is pretty good; it's reasonable, it works pretty well overall, it's easy to create all diagrams, it's easy to search within the solution, and it's very good software."

"It is now based on business drivers, goals and requirements, and linked to business and IT functions, resulting in traceability and alignment with business objectives."

"It's a very practical solution; you don't need to do an advanced course to start using this tool and it offers great intricacy so you can really do many kinds of models."

"The installation was very easy."

"With Sparx EA, models became a maintainable and reusable asset of the corporation."

"With this solution, you get a lot of value at a low cost."

"For the most part, we find that it is remarkable how inexpensive it is."

"Ability to keep inventory of reusable blocks, and use in different diagrams with views of various templates."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pros

Cons

"Allowing users to have a link that opens a specific sub-tab or folder is a challenge."

"I would like to see more documentation pieces. I would like to see more out-of-the-box features with document repository capabilities."

"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."

"I would like to see more documentation pieces. Right now, they do have the content repository. I would like to see more out-of-the-box features with document repository capabilities."

"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."

"The reporting is poor and requires improvement."

"The number one thing that needs improvement is the UI. It should be easy for a casual project manager. It should provide customizable screens that can be a choice for project managers to choose as a professional level, medium level, and a very easy level."

"I would suggest for the request module that they open up the fields and columns so it's like we are doing our work in the work module. You can't do that with today. We also have to make sure that the fields can go both ways with the request and work modules. Including fields in the column sets would be helpful, because today they only use attributes."

More Planview Portfolios cons

"In a database-server deployment there are performance/locking issues when multiple users make changes simultaneously."

"The UX/UI seems a bit dated and clunky and I would like to see a refresh of this."

"MS Office integration works only with local .eap repository files, not with our Postgres repository. Half a year ago they promised to fix this bug, but still no improvement."

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

"I think the UI could be improved and made a little bit more presentable."

"It is very difficult to implement it in our project. It is a good product, but it is difficult to implement in a non-software company."

"It would be nice to have it supported on the Linux operating system."

"It is weak in regards to data modelling. It does not provide logical or physical data modelling or the ability to migrate from conceptual to physical and back."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing part is a bit costly in comparison with the other available PPM tools."

"When we went through that process, I believe it is competitive with others on the market. However, there are less expensive options available. It's a more premium offering at a higher price."

"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."

"In the time that I've used it, we've doubled up the amount of dollars on our intended projects."

"We have portfolio managers, resource managers, project managers, and time reporting licenses. These are the licenses that we have."

"We are on the Flex licenses."

"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."

"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

"The pricing for ultimate version is steeply high."

"It’s the best deal in town, by far."

"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."

"I use my own license. So, I just bought the professional version, which costs $800 or something like that. In the company where I am working, we have floating licenses. They are probably more expensive. Its licensing is affordable, but we are talking about a large organization, and there could be modelers or viewers of the models. We don't know how much that would cost us."

"Its price is very good for the value that you get with it."

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

"We paid 1200 euros as a once-off cost. All add ons and integrations come at an additional cost."

"The license for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is paid yearly, but I don't handle that area. It's good for its price, so I'm rating it a five out of five, but I'm not using it much. I also don't have information regarding additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Architecture Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

890,071 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Construction Company

Marketing Services Firm

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

Compared 9% of the time

Planview PPM Pro vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 5% of the time

Planisware vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 4% of the time

OpenText Project and Portfolio Management vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 4% of the time

Planview AdaptiveWork vs Planview Portfolios

Compared 3% of the time

More Planview Portfolios Competitors

Visual Paradigm vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 7% of the time

Visio 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 5% of the time

MEGA HOPEX vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

Compared 4% of the time

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Competitors

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 equips leaders in strategic portfolio management to enhance investment confidence and market responsiveness through seamless strategy connection, planning, delivery, and outcomes, offering both cloud and on-premises options.

Planview Portfolios supports executives and portfolio managers by improving strategic execution with automated and adaptable processes. It integrates strategy and outcomes by aligning business and technology plans to optimize funding and resource capacity. Features include end-to-end visibility, which allows tracking of strategic initiatives and the ability to analyze performance data using key metrics. It also provides dynamic planning and funding via scenario modeling, allowing businesses to adapt funding based on outcomes while ensuring balanced investments against capacity.

What are the key features of Planview Portfolios?

Strategic Alignment: Connects OKRs with execution processes.
End-to-End Visibility: Assesses performance with KPIs for strategic decision-making.
Dynamic Planning and Funding: Scenario modeling for incremental funding.
Flexible Capacity Planning: Balances resources and dependencies.
Connected Technology Strategy: Aligns tech investments with priorities.
Adaptive Program Management: Integrates planning and cross-functional teams.

What benefits do users gain from using Planview Portfolios?

Customization and Interface: Offers tailored layouts and an intuitive interface.
Centralized Management: Manages projects and resources effectively.
Robust Reporting: Features Power BI integration for comprehensive reports.
Agile Integration: Supports agile practices alongside traditional methods.
Enhanced Collaboration: Facilitates team collaboration across departments.

Planview Portfolios sees extensive use across industries like IT, financial planning, and resource management. Global companies implement it for managing projects, resource allocation, and strategic planning. It's crucial for end-to-end project management, including investment planning, capacity management, and connecting agile with traditional resource planning, supporting departments worldwide in project execution.

Planview

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is an enterprise solution that helps streamline, accelerate, and integrate software, system, and business development. With this intuitive modeling and design solution, enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, enable collaboration, support their teams and colleagues, and manage complex projects. Software architects, business analysts, project managers, developers, support staff, and testers can unite under a single repository. Through numerous view points and potential sub-systems, users are offered a unified view in a complex environment.

With Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, users are also offered a shared model option which can be accessed quickly and securely by in-office and remote team members through the Enterprise Architect’s Pro Cloud Server. Building a coherent, verifiable model can be done by connecting and integrating a variety of behavioral and structural information in visual form. As a result, Enterprise Architect offers high performance, flexibility, and the ability to model, manage, and trace every stage of the business development and modeling process.

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Features

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect assists in creating a unified and accessible vision in business development by offering a flexible platform with a unique set of rich features. These features include:

Test and debug - Streamline software development and visualize software with the simulation process. Users can test and confirm correct behavior, set and oversee test points, and debug and examine software.

Track tasks - Track, prioritize, and assign individual and group tasks to assist in the model’s development. Users can visually monitor their progress through the Gantt chart.

Open standards - Users can visualize and analyze running software with integrated custom tools. They can also run advanced simulations, team-based repositories, testing tools, and version control. In addition, the solution supports enterprise architecture frameworks such as UPDM and TOGAF.

Simulation - Create and debug embedded solutions by simulating behaviors and state models. Users can specify events, triggers, constraints, and more. Users can also specify extensive and complex structural systems and create custom domain-specific solutions.

Reviews from Real Users

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect merges high-end tools, online availability, a dedication to open standards, and accessible pricing so enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, whether remote or in-office. Users particularly like the architectural frameworks and the scalability.

Marc L., a principal architecture enterprise solution adviser at Cronomagic Canada, notes, "The product offers very good support for all mainstream modeling notations and architectural frameworks."

An enterprise architect at a manufacturing company writes, "Scalable solution for modeling, project sharing, and collaboration. Support for it is good."

Sparx Systems

Sample Customers

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

OmniLink

Planview Portfolios vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect