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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs Visual Paradigm comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 27, 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
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd)
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 October 2025, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 9.1%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visual Paradigm is 5.1%, 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 Architect9.1%
Visual Paradigm5.1%
Other85.8%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Angie Ibrahim Eissa - PeerSpot reviewer
A software application designed for software development teams to model business information systems and manage development processes
Setting up Visual Paradigm is easy. There's hardly any configuration needed, unlike some other tools. You just choose your method and diagram type, and you're good to go. As for improvements, integrating project management features with diagrams could be better. Viewing outputs could also be smoother, especially when working with multiple files.Deployment is quick and painless. It practically takes no time at all to set up. And because I also teach at the university, I use Visual Paradigm for my classes and case studies. It's easy to switch between products, and my students have no trouble using it on their own.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Sparx technical support is good."
"Artifact templates are most valuable."
"Features good reporting facilities coupled with a concrete database."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is very flexible and it is simple to define the metamodel. Additionally, it is lightweight on resources."
"The advantages of Enterprise are that it's cheaper and much more practical than MagicDraw."
"We could capture the process models around 24 countries with all their local variations."
"Its most valuable feature is the Zachman Framework."
"The most valuable feature of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the value streams."
"The solution is stable. It hasn't crashed, stopped or caused any issues in any way."
"The application is easy to use and provides informative diagrams."
"The solution is very user-friendly. It's easy to just open it and start working."
"I love Visual Paradigm because it has many different types of diagrams. For any field of engineering, we can find a diagram."
"It is easy-to-use and it helps understand its data modeling structure through the intuitive user interface."
"The pricing model is attractive."
"It is a scalable solution since it can be used at an individual level as well as for enterprise-sized businesses."
"It is a scalable solution...The initial setup was straightforward."
 

Cons

"This solution is quite complex to use. It would be nice if the learning curve wasn't so steep."
"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."
"From a practical point of view, we need speed and reliability for creating a model and doing some really meaningful tasks such as application landscape, refactoring, etc. These are two primary criteria. Sometimes, when you import something, it creates the object duplicates, or it allows you to do something that you're not supposed to do. For example, validation is missing. This could be frustrating because when you work at a high speed, you need to come back and start fixing things that the tool allowed you to go with, which is not quite good. So, there should probably be some internal mechanisms to advise you about what you're doing and what is probably not the best idea."
"In a future release, they should improve portfolio planning."
"Inconsistent UI elements must be tidied up with the toolbox gaps removed."
"There used to be that feature in ArchiMate Modeling of Enterprise Architect called inherited relationships. Now it's gone."
"The Business Process Modeling or BPM feature can be improved to make it more interactive and user friendly because it is a tool for technical people. My current use is only for business process modeling notation and putting in the icons etc. You need to take them in as a class, which makes things very complex. Because of this complexity, it is not an easy-to-handle solution. Enterprise Architect is not very good for mockups. We cannot create user screens and other similar kinds of stuff, which is bad. For these things, we prefer to use Axure RP and other similar solutions. They should either remove this feature from this product or provide some kind of connectivity with Axure RP so that people can do better mockups of screens and import them. They need to augment and strengthen the BPM feature, which is the main feature. They need to put in some elements like artificial intelligence and augmented reality. They should look into such features because these things are coming up."
"I think that collaboration can be better."
"The product's versioning capability needs improvement."
"The solution can improve by updating the user interface, and graphics."
"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."
"More flexibility when choosing the type of diagram would be nice."
"The product can always get better as the industry changes."
"The solution can be heavy on resource usage."
"The solution's technical support can be improved and accessible for our company location since Visual Paradigm follows a remote support model with some challenges."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's reasonably priced for large organizations."
"There is no license required for this solution."
"It is cheap."
"It is cheaper than other solutions. Its cost is around $686 per year. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
"Pricing and licensing is very attractive, simple, and straightforward."
"Pricing and licensing are suitable even for small companies."
"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"You can use Paradigm on a subscription basis and you can choose from different tiers of subscription."
"Visual Paradigm has two models available. One of them is the educational edition, and another is the business edition. For my personal usage, I use the educational version mostly. In a project, my customers have to purchase a license."
"I rate Visual Paradigm's pricing a five out of ten."
"In terms of pricing, I find Visual Paradigm's subscription services reasonable, especially for the modern and standard editions. However, the premium products can be a bit pricey, especially considering our location in the Middle East. Currently, paying around a hundred dollars per user translates to almost six hundred Egyptian pounds, which can add up. For enterprise licensing, I think the perpetual license option could be more affordable. If it were cheaper, say around five hundred dollars, I would have invested in multiple perpetual licenses long ago. Sometimes, to manage costs, we share accounts among team members or switch access on and off for certain members who aren't actively working on projects. As for additional costs, there are charges for cloud services, which I'm considering because I've already exceeded the free capacity."
"Visual Paradigm costs $99 per license. I chose the cheapest option from the pricing list."
"I rate the pricing a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."
"This is an open-sourced solution, it is free to use."
"Visual Paradigm's pricing is not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

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: September 2025.
869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.