We performed a comparison between Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Visio based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Visio comes out slightly ahead in this comparison. Sparx users mention performance difficulties when dealing with large volumes of data. Sparx does come out ahead in the pricing category, however.
"The system provides powerful tools for obtaining reports and documentation."
"Its ability to reference and link to components from any diagram."
"This is a useful tool for IT people who need to design their solution architecture."
"There are a couple of things. Price is one thing, but we also like the scriptability of it. We got into scripting it and automating tasks with it, and it is super duper easy to do and helpful. The API has improved over the years. We automate everything, and I love the automation aspects of it."
"The most valuable feature of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the value streams."
"The advantages of Enterprise are that it's cheaper and much more practical than MagicDraw."
"Sparx technical support is good."
"Using Sparx Enterprise Architect allowed my customer to detail and make the company's IT strategy visible and accessible to all. The system provided clear roadmaps for IT development and helped to keep up-to-date documentation of systems and processes."
"We can easily add templates to SharePoint for collaboration."
"Good interface and good tool configuration."
"Process modeling is a good feature."
"It is ideal for putting out flowcharts and swim charts. It's really good. It has all the various options to use, particularly depending on what kind of audience you have. It provides you different kinds of options to insert the pictures and explain things."
"The thing I like most about Visio is the stencils. As the product has matured over time, it comes with more stencils and objects that you can just pick out of the menu and go with."
"The solution is user-friendly."
"The usability in general is good. The integration of uploading custom stencils is also very nice."
"It is a standard and easy-to-use solution from Microsoft, and you benefit from the general functions of Microsoft solutions. It integrates easily with SharePoint, which is a useful tool from Microsoft."
"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 solution needs to offer better support for the mobile-based system. Right now, it's not working."
"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."
"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."
"Its usability needs to be improved. For non-technical users, it is a little difficult to understand how Enterprise Architect works. Users who are not engineers find it difficult to understand how this tool works. This is something they need to work on. They can develop a BPM model to simulate processes."
"The presentation graphics need to be improved in future builds."
"No way to implement data integrity and referential integrity constraints."
"Visio can be more user-friendly."
"There are a lot of patches that sometimes change how one version will interact compared to another."
"There should be more items available from a variety of other products that can be integrated."
"The product's installation phase can be a difficult process if you don't have the deployment script with you since it is very important to know what you are doing when you are dealing with the setup process."
"We need the place and route capability for the lines when we have a database. I use it for architectures, and between the boxes, there are lines or interfaces from one tool to another. I wish those lines could be easily drawn without having to place them mechanically. I wish that there was some kind of place and route capability, so I just press a button, and all the lines get drawn."
"One thing that I always felt was missing was the ability to integrate with other Microsoft products, particularly with things like SharePoint or other Excel Office tools. It may be available, but it is not as good as it could be."
"The platform has limitations in managing aspects like repositories."
"The behavior of the interface can sometimes be unpredictable."
More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Pricing and Cost Advice →
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is ranked 3rd in Business Process Design with 97 reviews while Visio is ranked 1st in Business Process Design with 101 reviews. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is rated 8.0, while Visio is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect writes "Easy to set up and had no issues with stability, but it's not a very friendly tool, and its database modeling and entity-relationship modeling functions need improvement". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Visio writes "A software for drawing a variety of diagrams which include flowcharts, org charts, building plans, floor plans, data flow diagrams". Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is most compared with Visual Paradigm, No Magic MagicDraw, Lucidchart, LeanIX and ARIS BPA, whereas Visio is most compared with Bizagi, Visual Paradigm, IBM Blueworks Live, SAP Signavio Process Manager and Lucidchart. See our Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. Visio report.
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We monitor all Business Process Design reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
