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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs Visual Paradigm comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

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

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (5th)
Visual Paradigm
Ranking in Business Process Design
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.4%, down from 11.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visual Paradigm is 4.9%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect8.4%
Visual Paradigm4.9%
Other86.7%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

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.
reviewer2097357 - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 10,001+ employees
Innovation in diagramming has streamlined complex UML tasks
Visual Paradigm allowed me to create UML diagrams efficiently. The tool was smarter than other tools in terms of remembering the connections between components on the screen. For example, in other drawing programs, if I moved a box, I had to move the arrow, but Visual Paradigm handled those tasks automatically. This made it much quicker than using other tools like Visio or MagicDoor.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Sparx has got a range of modeling features, and I am comfortable with all its offering. I've used a lot of tools over the phone. I found EA Spark, probably the most feature rich product all in all compared to other products. The solution is very cost-effective and that is its best feature. It's a very good delivery architecture tool, which also has enterprise architecture capabilities, and it's got full life cycle processes and software development. So for me, it's a pretty comprehensive tool"
"We use it to develop and maintain the Enterprise Conceptual Model, migrated from erwin a couple of years ago."
"It's like a repository. So far, we use it only for Information Modelling."
"The profiles allow me to customize the tool to the corporate environment instead of the other way around saving huge amounts of time and energy on trying to turn dozens of individuals into TOGAF, ArchiMate or Zachman experts, or even Sparx EA experts."
"It provides good utilization and it's a convenient tool for building exact architectural work."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect was easy to set up and it took just twenty minutes."
"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 product offers very good support for all mainstream modeling notations and architectural frameworks."
"Using the Component Diagram, Visual Paradigm helps with design and control, reusing components."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"I love Visual Paradigm because it has many different types of diagrams. For any field of engineering, we can find a diagram."
"The application is easy to use and provides informative diagrams."
"I like the structure. I can see the diagrams and everything I created."
"I find it very user-friendly for my purposes, which is creating business process models that I can publish as HTML pages. It has worked flawlessly for my project, and my clients are able to utilize it as an internal web portal for their process documentation and other needs."
"Some of the most valuable features of this process modeling tool are process simulation and process animation."
"Visual Paradigm allowed me to create UML diagrams efficiently."
 

Cons

"The Portfolio Management features can be added in the next release. As it helps you to manage more portfolio of projects and architectures of cost projects on a portfolio level. This would be an important feature in the next release."
"What should be improved are the integration capabilities of the solution with Bizagi."
"The elements of the modeling sets can have better customization and visual representation. It would be great to have a mobile version."
"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."
"If you just want to create some diagrams with shapes and arrows, then use Visio."
"This solution has some limitations from a business perspective."
"It could be more user-friendly. The tools could be more simple to use. It's a very complex solution. Because I am a business analyst, I use these tools to manage requirements, and I make models in UML, BPMN, and ArchiMate, and it's complex. In the next release, I would like to see more integrations."
"Because its easy to create diagrams one needs to be vigilant on the housekeeping of orphaned fragments - I have written my own scripts to do this, maybe they are available now."
"For me, what needs improvement in Visual Paradigm is the limited features included in the $99 license, which is the cheapest option. If more features could be included in the cheapest licensing package, Visual Paradigm would be better, especially for businesses that have a limited budget for buying software."
"From time to time, we experience some troubles when we work as teams."
"Visual Paradigm's initial deployment was difficult since we did it for the first time. It is challenging to learn to use the product."
"There is room for improvement in the licensing model. I would suggest implementing country-specific pricing, as many other products in India do. This would make Visual Paradigm more affordable and accessible."
"I would like to see something for visualizing innovation work maps."
"I would like to see the ability to easily export to groupware, such as Atlassian Confluence."
"The solution could be more compatible with other products in the future."
"There are some connectivity issues that crop up rarely when used with SQL Server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Enterprise licensing is competitive. What would be helpful if they load the pricing for consultants, you know, people who are consultants for clients. So the license is fine for end-user organizations. Still, they should consider lowering the license to support this adoption, particularly for people who are consultants like myself."
"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."
"Pricing and licensing are suitable even for small companies."
"It is very economical and low cost. You have to pay for a one-time license, and it is active forever."
"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."
"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."
"We had a yearly license."
"Compared to other solutions such as IBM Rational which is expensive, This solution is priced low."
"I rate the pricing a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"Visual Paradigm's pricing is not expensive."
"Pricing for Visual Paradigm is a four out of five for me. I'm happy with its pricing."
"You can use Paradigm on a subscription basis and you can choose from different tiers of subscription."
"This product is fairly cheap, but if you want more complex features, e.g. integration with other products, it does require an additional cost."
"Visual Paradigm costs $99 per license. I chose the cheapest option from the pricing list."
"Over the years I've seen an increase in price, and it makes it difficult for a single person company, like me, to decide whether to extend the license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.
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 do you like most about Visual Paradigm?
The solution is the best application for data modeling. It helps to architect business processes. Its best features are pricing and functionality.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visual Paradigm?
I purchased Visual Paradigm on my own, and it was competitively priced, so I was fine with the pricing.
What needs improvement with Visual Paradigm?
The product can always get better as the industry changes, however, I didn't necessarily feel it was lacking for what I did with it.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

OmniLink
Adobe, Apple, at&t, Caterpillar, Intel, NASA, Nokia, Toyota
Find out what your peers are saying about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. Visual Paradigm and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,259 professionals have used our research since 2012.