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ARIS BPA vs IBM Blueworks Live comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.2
ARIS BPA varies in ROI timelines, enhancing process understanding and control but with hard-to-quantify financial impacts.
Sentiment score
8.5
IBM Blueworks Live enhances productivity, reduces costs, and is preferred for its simplicity in business process management over competitors.
IBM Blueworks Live seems very easy to use compared to similar products on the market.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.7
ARIS BPA's support is praised for technical assistance and flexibility but could improve in responsiveness and communication.
Sentiment score
8.3
IBM Blueworks Live support is responsive and competent, with quick resolutions and high user satisfaction, despite occasional delays.
I would give ten points to the technical support from Software AG for ARIS BPA product, from zero to ten, with ten being the best.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
The consultants are fine, however, reliance on single experts for modules can be risky.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Support deserves a rating of nine out of ten.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
ARIS BPA is scalable for small to large enterprises, offering flexibility, modular features, and easy licensing for process management expansion.
Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Blueworks Live is scalable and adaptable, though performance and cost challenges arise with increased user numbers.
For user scalability, it is a matter of licenses, while functional scalability is supported and easy to implement.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
ARIS BPA has high scalability and wide scalability for any enterprise or organization.
Enterprise Architect at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Egypt
IBM Blueworks Live is easily scalable, but it can be expensive to scale and there may be some limitations.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
ARIS BPA is generally stable, with minor issues primarily in large environments, but responsive support enhances stability perception.
Sentiment score
8.7
IBM Blueworks Live is praised for its reliable cloud version but may experience latency and glitches with connectivity issues.
The stability of ARIS BPM is quite strong, rated eight out of ten.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We do experience a lot of glitches with ARIS BPA.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
For the on-premise version, there aren't speed challenges, but sometimes the server goes down, preventing work.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
 

Room For Improvement

ARIS BPA needs better integration, user interface, scripting, documentation, training, pricing, and simplicity for wider accessibility.
IBM Blueworks Live struggles with orchestration, lacks simulation and reporting features, and has limited compliance and deployment options.
Software AG should focus on developing AI models for ARIS BPA on-premises, particularly in user interfaces, as well as creating predefined business processes for common areas such as HR and finance.
Software Engineering & Manager at Arab Infromation Management Services
Software AG could improve this by making the database more open.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
ARIS BPA needs to be more accurate when generating documents.
Enterprise Architect at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Egypt
Normal business users or consultants cannot perform the installation as it requires extensive technical knowledge.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
I would prefer an on-premises solution for IBM Blueworks Live, and this could be a recommendation.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
 

Setup Cost

ARIS BPA pricing is high but valued by large enterprises; smaller firms may find costs prohibitive due to complex licensing.
IBM Blueworks Live offers flexible, affordable pricing with scalable enterprise options, including minimal licensing costs and free subscriptions.
ARIS BPA does save a lot of effort because this is one tool which can be used for multiple purposes and the viewers have the capability to perform different kinds of analysis, extract reports, and see processes.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
 

Valuable Features

ARIS BPA offers powerful modeling, customization, and collaboration tools, integrating SAP and databases, ensuring strategic alignment and governance.
IBM Blueworks Live enhances efficiency with real-time modeling, BPMN compliance, intuitive collaboration, and excellent customer service for cloud-based access.
ARIS BPA is a tool to build models and frameworks for organizations or reengineer business processes from both functional and business perspectives.
Software Engineering & Manager at Arab Infromation Management Services
Everything related to ARIS BPA is helping us with regards to enhanced processes, strengthened controls, identifying risks, assessing process capabilities, and identifying where the gaps are and what kinds of activities within the processes are automated and manual.
Consultant at KAFD DMC
The maintenance capabilities of ARIS BPM and the strong underlying database are particularly valuable.
Consultant at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
IBM Blueworks Live provides clear ROI as it saves both time and money.
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
IBM Blueworks Live helps improve operational efficiency, especially where requirements are uncertain and clarity is needed.
Unit Head System Implementor at Allied Bank Limited
 

Categories and Ranking

ARIS BPA
Ranking in Business Process Design
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
69
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (10th)
IBM Blueworks Live
Ranking in Business Process Design
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS BPA is 6.7%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Blueworks Live is 3.1%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
ARIS BPA6.7%
IBM Blueworks Live3.1%
Other90.2%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

BM
Consultant at KAFD DMC
Has improved process modeling and analysis while supporting integration with organizational data
The process design in ARIS BPA does help with our operational efficiency. What we are doing is object library management for various kinds of objects that we are using in ARIS BPA during our process modeling. We are using that to do a lot of analysis on how many times a system is being used in how many processes, who are the major stakeholders, and if we enhance one system, how is it going to impact other processes and integrated processes. This is helping us a lot. Everything related to ARIS BPA is helping us with regards to enhanced processes, strengthened controls, identifying risks, assessing process capabilities, and identifying where the gaps are and what kinds of activities within the processes are automated and manual. We are doing a lot of things with regards to the processes as it is at our heart. Processes are one thing and then we have different kinds of things which are related to it, such as SLAs, guidelines, and policy. We are identifying areas of improvement in other documents as well.
Nupur Wadhwa - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant 2 at Protiviti
Enables efficient process mapping but requires improvement in maintaining server stability
The pricing of the solution can be quite expensive when compared to competitors, though IBM Blueworks Live stands out from a technical standpoint. IBM Blueworks Live provides clear ROI as it saves both time and money. I have successfully imported Visio flowcharts into both IBM Blueworks Live and ARIS. Both tools handled the imports successfully, though some manual intervention was required because Visio is quite a basic tool. Importing flowcharts into advanced tools such as ARIS and IBM Blueworks Live requires some manual effort. The primary advantage is the ease of use. I have not encountered any features in other tools that I couldn't find in ARIS. This is a major factor because I don't have to switch between tools to find specific features. Using ARIS for the past three years has built confidence and trust in the tool.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Business Process Design solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise47
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS BPA?
The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ARIS BPA?
It is a bit expensive regarding ARIS BPA. However, ARIS BPA does save a lot of effort because this is one tool which can be used for multiple purposes and the viewers have the capability to perform...
What needs improvement with ARIS BPA?
We are not using any what-if scenario features in ARIS BPA. Currently, we are not using the performance monitoring and compliance checks features in ARIS BPA. We have plans to use them, but current...
What do you like most about IBM Blueworks Live?
The solution is easy to operate. Also, there is an automatic mode to make the business flow. You don't have to put any lines or arrows in a decision point in IBM Blueworks Live; it's very automatic.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Blueworks Live?
I do not have exposure to IBM Blueworks Live pricing since this is managed by other personnel who handle the financial aspects of licenses.
What needs improvement with IBM Blueworks Live?
I do not use Security Identity Governance and Intelligence, as it is not implemented here. I would prefer an on-premises solution for IBM Blueworks Live, and this could be a recommendation. Regardi...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM
IBM Lombardi Blueprint
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market, 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.
Cloudsoft Corp. Ltd., Bayer, S¾SS, Essex County Council
Find out what your peers are saying about ARIS BPA vs. IBM Blueworks Live and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.