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SAP PowerDesigner vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

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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

SAP PowerDesigner
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (6th)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of SAP PowerDesigner is 9.0%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.7%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP PowerDesigner9.0%
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect8.7%
Other82.3%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

HemantKUMAR6 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Architect at Sopra Steria
Customer support has delayed successful upgrade to supported version
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 latest version. I tried to upgrade to a trial version before purchasing a new license. During that process, I had some technical issues. When trying to go from 12.5 to 16.5, I could migrate but faced technical challenges. When I approached customer support, they informed me that even 16.5 is not supported. They stated I would need to go to 16.7 before they could look at my issue. They didn't spend any time on the issue because according to them, 16.5 is not supported. Until I get 16.7 and complete the migration, I'm not getting any help from them. I was not too happy with the customer support. This was my only interaction with customer support, and I haven't received any resolution to my issue. It can be rated as low as zero because that's the only time I approached them. I cannot even say zero out of ten because I approached only once. Perhaps they are correct that they don't support 16.5, so they don't want to spend any time on that.
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

"PowerDesigner is definitely stable."
"One of the key reasons for choosing this solution above others is because of the repository features which we're able to consolidate and work on a single repository where we store all our models in one location."
"Technical support is good... for a price."
"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."
"If you have the money for it, buy it."
"It offers a lot of features in one solution, and you would have to get multiple other products to bundle together all of the capabilities that you get in just this product."
"The most valuable feature is that it is a very fast reverse engineering process. It does a very expansive comparison."
"It's a great tool for documentation."
"It's a stable and scalable solution. I like that it's similar to Rational Rose."
"However, it works."
"The product overall is quite good."
"I am sure that the process of the developing of our product is faster and more secure through using Sparx."
"Support for different modeling standards in one package allows to have one tool for many roles."
"The ROI is extremely high."
"The system provides powerful tools for obtaining reports and documentation."
"Automated document generation is a real time saver, no more cut and paste, no more keeping track of which diagrams are in which reports, no more last minute update panics. Just click a mouse and you've got an up to date report."
 

Cons

"This product lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements."
"The meta-model (a.k.a. how objects are supposed to be connected to each other) seems to be proprietary."
"SAP PowerDesigner could improve by making the repository easier to understand. It is difficult to understand how the repository works because when I used logical models as part of the team, we wanted to use them together and update the older versions of the data model version but it was confusing. The repository needs to be explained."
"Based on my experience with SAP PowerDesigner, I'd like to see improvements in the DMM feature."
"However, the pricing for small consultancies needs to be improved. The competing vendors often have special offers that make the tool more affordable, which is vital for data management consultancies that have to buy the tools that their clients use."
"Checking-in models to the repository, especially when working remotely, is a slow process than can sometimes have problems with models being corrupted."
"Not very intuitive or user-friendly."
"They didn't spend any time on the issue because according to them, 16.5 is not supported."
"Modeling could be more user-friendly ArchiMate - support for derived relations Define features and attributes as separate components More flexible document generation features"
"We would like to see improvements in the documentation generator: templates, styles, and content."
"I think the UI could be improved and made a little bit more presentable."
"I cannot get businesses to use Enterprise Architect as it is too complicated for them."
"It really did not work for logical modeling. The look is very old-fashioned. You can't make the diagrams easy on the eye, so we ended up drawing them again in Visio anyhow."
"Sparx can be a bit slow. If you are trying to design software architecture, sometimes we run into issues and need to refresh."
"Sparx is built by software tech-guys for software tech-guys. It's not an everyday architect or other office-worker mostly loved tool."
"One of the drawbacks is that it is oriented on architecture and not user-presented."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Regarding costs, SAP PowerDesigner is pricey, as I've heard from my team manager, which is why the company has been thinking of bringing another solution on board."
"The ROI has been 43%."
"The price of the solution is too expensive. When we asked for certain licenses in different countries it was unattainable."
"I would like SAP to prove free licenses to professionals that are using the solution. The free version is limited."
"I bought the software outright and do not pay a licensing fee."
"SAP PowerDesigner is cheaper than eriwin."
"The price of the solution is low."
"When you purchase the license for SAP PowerDesigner, you have to buy one year of support. The tool is worth the money."
"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."
"It’s the best deal in town, by far."
"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."
"We had a yearly license."
"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."
"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."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Retailer
5%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
Synchronization is vital since I experience multiple problems, such as mismatched models and manual DDL handling. Improving the synchronization between models and databases can enhance integration ...
What is your primary use case for SAP PowerDesigner?
I use SAP PowerDesigner for data modeling, which greatly enhances the clarity of my data management processes. I manage data across multiple databases, including cloud databases, Teradata, and Orac...
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 ...
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...
 

Also Known As

Sybase PowerDesigner
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP PowerDesigner vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,533 professionals have used our research since 2012.