PeerSpot user
System Administrator at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Real User
The program or suite felt complex at first, but once you dive in, you feel there’s a lot of things you can achieve for your UML documents.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Business Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
User friendly with lots of templates and is consistently updated with more features
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very user-friendly. It's easy to just open it and start working."
  • "The solution could be more compatible with other products in the future."

What is most valuable?

The solution has a community edition, which makes it free of charge. I'm using the community edition myself within our organization. We are a small team and it's easier for us to find free options. 

Visual Paradigm is great due to the fact that there are lots of templates in their product. 

The solution seems to be constantly improving itself with regular updates and add-ons.

The solution is very user-friendly. It's easy to just open it and start working.

What needs improvement?

I'm not sure what is missing within the solution. We haven't used it long enough to really dive deep into its features and usability, as we've only worked on a few projects.

There might be a better solution on the market, however, this is the only solution I'm really familiar with at this point.

The solution could be more compatible with other products in the future.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for more than a year. We've used it on one or two projects.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have the July 22, 2020 release right now, and it is very stable. There aren't any issues with it at all. We haven't seen any bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's been reliable for our organization.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is a single modeling software. Therefore the scalability question isn't really applicable. 

We're a small firm. We don't have a lot of users and don't need to add a lot of people on a regular basis. There are only three consultants on our team. In total in the company, there may only be 10-15 people. Therefore we don't need to scale per se.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have a very simple community edition. We've never had to reach out to technical support. If we need assistance, we have another IT firm that can assist us. In terms of if we have any how-to questions, we typically just turn to Google and search for answers that way.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are also using process design software. I can't recall the name. It's a market leader visualizing for software. It's similar to Microsoft Visio, however, it is called something else.

How was the initial setup?

The initial implementation is not difficult or complex. It's quite easy and straightforward. 

Deployment is also easy. You just take the tool and install it. We use it on Microsoft Windows and have never had any issues.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We use the community edition, which is free. There are no licensing costs and no other costs above this.

What other advice do I have?

I'm a consultant. We're just customers and we're simply using the free version of the product as we're a pretty small company.

Overall, I would rate the solution eight out of ten due to the fact that it's a great solution. That said, I have no real comparison. I've used only really used this solution. 

Currently, I'm learning about this solution and process mining and solutions like UiPath as well. We're moving towards the RPA world.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Visual Paradigm
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Visual Paradigm. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
769,662 professionals have used our research since 2012.
MahdiJalali - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at Rozhmaan
Real User
Top 10
Scalable, stable, and affordable
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable. It hasn't crashed, stopped or caused any issues in any way."
  • "The solution is not user-friendly. It uses a lot of memory and CPU. You have to have a good computer to use it."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for different kinds of analysis such as software analysis.

What is most valuable?

The solution allows for different models to be integrated together. For example, if you have a chart or more than four organization charts, then you can use the concepts in your BPM and model. Or your BPM and model can be linked to visual models or use cases.

What needs improvement?

The solution is not user-friendly. It uses a lot of memory and CPU. You have to have a good computer to use it.

The solution should allow for more integration between PowerDesigner and Visual Paradigm.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for more than seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. It hasn't crashed, stopped or caused any issues in any way.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution isn't as scalable as, for example, PowerDesigner.

How are customer service and technical support?

I haven't been in contact with technical support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. The implementation is similar to other software solutions. It's a fast routine process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing on these types of tools is really affordable.

What other advice do I have?

We use the public cloud deployment model.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Owner at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
A nice user interface and a low learning curve works well for me as a consultant
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the fact that this solution is complete."
  • "I would like to see something for visualizing innovation work maps."

What is our primary use case?

I am a consultant, and I use this solution to model various business needs to show my clients. I run this solution in a Linux environment.

What is most valuable?

I like the fact that this solution is complete. It doesn't matter whether I want to draw a quick UML model, or a mind map, or some architecture or business motivation. It's in the tool, and there's not much that I can't do with it.

This product has a very low learning curve and I like the user interface.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see something for visualizing innovation work maps. I created my own template in LibreOffice Draw, but it would be nice if there were something like that in Visual Paradigm. What I do now is to use the export functionality in Visual Paradigm to save the images and then place them into LibreOffice Draw. That way, I can make a nice, A0 paper-sized visualization of the innovation work map. It would be nice if it were integrated so that I could do it all within the Visual Paradigm, and have one export.

The other thing that needs improvement is pricing. I have considered halting my license and not upgrading from the current version because of this.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I've never had any crashes, so I am very happy with the stability of this solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Since I am a one person company, I am not sure about scalability. These days there is a cloud repository, which could be interesting, but in the end, you just install it on your local machine and you connect to the repository. It shouldn't be hard to scale.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support for this solution is excellent. In the past, there have been a couple of occasions where I spoke with support, many years ago. They were very helpful and I am still a satisfied customer.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. In all of these years, I have only had issues installing it one time. It is a Java-based script, and it just runs.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

When I first started using Visual Paradigm, one of the things that I liked was the price. It was not too expensive for a low learning curve. 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.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated other products before selecting this one, including Enterprise Architect.

What other advice do I have?

When it comes to using the product, there is a learning curve, and it depends on how you want to start using it. If it's just for quickly modeling something to visualize the problem or explain stuff, it's not that hard. If you really want to build your enterprise repository, of course, you still need a lot of principles and guidelines on how you want to use it for the enterprise. With the tree structure for modeling, it's actually pretty easy to change things.

My advice is simply to start using it. I know the ARIS and Enterprise Architect products. I also know tools like ArchiMate. Then there are visual design tools for architecture, but in the end, of all of the products that I've seen so far, Visual Paradigm has one of the lowest learning curves.

I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Software & Web Developer at a computer software company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Has good structure, works very well, and is easy to set up
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the structure. I can see the diagrams and everything I created."
  • "More flexibility when choosing the type of diagram would be nice."

What is most valuable?

I like the structure. I can see the diagrams and everything I created.

It's the trial period of the Enterprise version and works very well.

The trial version is also very easy to set up.

What needs improvement?

More flexibility when choosing the type of diagram would be nice.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for two days. I saw that they have a free trial period, so now I'm trying it.

How was the initial setup?

It's very easy to set up the trial version.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale from one to ten, I would rate this solution at eight.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Architekt IT at BIK
Real User
Although it helps with design and control it needs an easy export capability
Pros and Cons
  • "Using the Component Diagram, Visual Paradigm helps with design and control, reusing components."
  • "I would like to see the ability to easily export to groupware, such as Atlassian Confluence."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the Solution Architecture Models and the Enterprise Architecture Model.

How has it helped my organization?

We designed the Enterprise Architecture Model in this tool.

What is most valuable?

Using the Component Diagram, Visual Paradigm helps with design and control, reusing components.

What needs improvement?

I would like to see the ability to easily export to groupware, such as Atlassian Confluence.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used this solution for a few years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Partner at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
MSP
Minimal configuration and useful business process diagrams
Pros and Cons
  • "The Visual Paradigm business process forms for designing we good. There was not a lot of configuration for the process diagram."
  • "I was looking to generate code from the diagrams, but it was not totally clear how to do it."

What is most valuable?

The Visual Paradigm business process forms for designing we good. There was not a lot of configuration for the process diagram.

What needs improvement?

I was looking to generate code from the diagrams, but it was not totally clear how to do it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Visual Paradigm for approximately three days.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Visual Paradigm an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Systems Architect at a aerospace/defense firm with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Easy images from diagrams for reports and docs are valuable features, but I'd like to see sharing come built-in.

What is most valuable?

Easy images from current diagrams for use in reports and architecture documents.

How has it helped my organization?

Like any reasonable Architecture Tool, it produces standard views and allows passing a file with work in it to others.

What needs improvement?

Many missing diagram formats, incomplete support for DoDAF, ToGAF and similar, sharing should come built in to the product and not be like so many other architecture tools where any time you need some it is at additional cost.

For how long have I used the solution?

2 years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues with deployment.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Not significant with current versions.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No built in teamwork.

How are customer service and technical support?

Online support is very lacking and appears to be an entre' for paid support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Used Rational Rose and Systems Architect in the past. Moved to a new company where this was the standard.

What was our ROI?

Reduces time and provides better products than PowerPoint engineering.

What other advice do I have?

Get a bundle deal from the vendor with teamwork built in.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Visual Paradigm Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
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Business Process Design
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Visual Paradigm Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.