ARIS BPA vs IBM Rational System Architect comparison

The compared Software AG and IBM solutions aren't in the same category. Software AG is ranked #6 in BPD , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 7.0% mindshare in the category. IBM is ranked #18 in AM , and holds a 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of IBM users who would recommend it.

ARIS BPA

Read 69 ARIS BPA reviews

5,581 Views
3,683 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

IBM Rational System Architect

Read 5 IBM Rational System Architect reviews

785 Views
754 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

ARIS BPA

IBM Rational System Architect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ARIS BPA and IBM Rational System Architect based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Camunda, Microsoft, Bizagi and others in Business Process Design.

To learn more, read our detailed Business Process Design Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Business Process Design

January 2026

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Helped 881,733 peers since 2012

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

ARIS BPA

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (6th), Business Process Management (BPM) (11th)

IBM Rational System Architect

Average Rating

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (18th)

Mindshare comparison

ARIS BPA and IBM Rational System Architect aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. ARIS BPA is designed for Business Process Design and holds a mindshare of 7.0%, down 8.1% compared to last year.
IBM Rational System Architect, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Architecture Management, holds 2.1% mindshare, up 1.8% since last year.

Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ARIS BPA	7.0%
Visio	10.4%
Bizagi	9.7%
Other	72.9%

Business Process Design

Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Rational System Architect	2.1%
LeanIX	9.5%
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect	8.6%
Other	79.8%

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

BeenishMustafa

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.

Read full review

Guy Meyongo

IT/Business Architect at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees

Lots of valuable features, especially the metamodel customization

In terms of what could be improved, we did not take the whole package with all the modules, and I think that the integration with other platforms like Office could be better. The reverse engineering of the database is already there, but in the next release I would like to see some pilot supplied with the solution in order to address any database.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The maintenance capabilities of ARIS BPM and the strong underlying database are particularly valuable."

"There is a really powerful reporting API that allows you to create almost any kind of report you want out of your process and document repository."

"The simulation engine and SAP integration are technically very robust."

"Features like SAP SolMan sync, Alfabet EA integration (another Software AG product)."

"you want to do modeling with the old notation form, ours was EPC, you can use the same object in the BPMN because the database is built in a way that you can use both things. So you only have to define it once, and if the notation form is BPMN and those kind of activities, you can use the same EPCs, so there is a connection between them."

"One of the many advantages of ARIS is that it is supported by a very strong BPM community, which is critical for us. Although it has been in business for many years, it is still at an early stage of evolution. There are so many instances where your specific use case or requirement for using ARIS hasn't necessarily been matured across the sector. So, you need access to a very active community to help you explore possible solutions and ways in which ARIS can be used to achieve those use cases."

"The solution's basic features are easy to use, overall designed well, and it has good process mining analysis."

"MFT is quite attractive. A large amount of data is passed in almost no time and it is quite easy to use."

More ARIS BPA pros

"There are a lot of features I find valuable, but I think that the metamodel customization is one of the best features that the solution offers."

"The solution is pretty stable."

"The user interface is good. It's both clear and comprehensible. It's easy to work with."

"We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."

Cons

"The interface is a little archaic."

"I had this decentralization mission where I had some friendly fights with the consultants of Software AG. My opinion was the business department should be able to publish their processes and do all their evaluation stuff in ARCM themselves. It has to be a one stop shop. I want a one stop shop to go from ARIS BPM to ARIS ARCM, because having everything go through that would be an improvement due to the inputs that we made with Software AG. They will make it possible that the trigger sent from BPM to ARCM will start their object generation."

"Regarding stability, when there are any customized settings being done at customer end - post upgrade to newer versions - it makes the customer environment unstable for a short duration."

"We do experience a lot of glitches with ARIS BPA. In the past one year we have seen issues and the ARIS administrator has raised tickets with Software AG regarding these issues."

"I find it difficult to access the database as I want with direct querying."

"Since ARIS 9.X was released, the product has not been as robust and responsive as the previous versions."

"The reporting and the information query features could do with some improvement."

"ARIS needs to make a better user interface. The user interface sucks. The problem with ARIS is that they have two interfaces for the same product."

More ARIS BPA cons

"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."

"The reverse engineering of the database is already there, but in the next release I would like to see some pilot supplied with the solution in order to address any database."

"The solution needs to better integrate with other products, like Microsoft."

"There needs to be more information at the outset about how to use the solution and how to deploy it. The deployment process needs improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"ARIS Express is free."

"From my point of view, no, it is not cheap, but it is not too expensive because you get this big organization behind it, technical support, and all those things. It's not so expensive to use. It's a Rolls Royce in this field, I know that. Even for small organizations, they can get so much effect from using this tool, in a very fast way, so the money will be back in the customer's pocket very fast."

"The product is inexpensive."

"We have a concurrent license system."

"ARIS enables you to start small and grow the use of the solution over time, although it's quite expensive. So if you want to start small, it's quite an investment for a small company."

"ARIS is quite expensive."

"Negotiate. Price is high so make sure you’re getting the best deal."

"It is on the higher side."

More ARIS BPA pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

11%

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	32
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	47

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS BPA?

The most valuable features of ARIS BPA are its flexibility and reporting.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

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Comparisons

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS BPA

Compared 16% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

MEGA HOPEX vs ARIS BPA

Compared 5% of the time

Bizagi vs ARIS BPA

Compared 5% of the time

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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs IBM Rational System Architect

Compared 20% of the time

LeanIX vs IBM Rational System Architect

Compared 13% of the time

Mood vs IBM Rational System Architect

Compared 10% of the time

UNICOM System Architect vs IBM Rational System Architect

Compared 10% of the time

MEGA HOPEX vs IBM Rational System Architect

Compared 9% of the time

More IBM Rational System Architect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA

February 2026

Download ARIS BPA product report

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

February 2026

Download IBM Rational System Architect product report

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM

Rational System Architect

Overview

ARIS is the market-leading solution for professional business process management and modeling. Whether you want to document the "as-is" state of your operations for quality or certification reasons or design the "to-be" in terms of continuous improvement in your transformation program, ARIS is the best choice for establishing a single source of truth regarding all process excellence topics in your organization. It is for any organization looking to digitally transform their business, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution. ARIS helps you to make the most out of your processes with Process Mining, Risk & Compliance Management, RPA and much more.

What makes the difference?

The most comprehensive platform for process excellence in the market
Easy to use
Covers business & IT architecture from all angles
Full flexibility and >100 diagram types
Customer-driven development based on best practices
Strong partner ecosystem

ARIS is the market-leading solution for any organization and ideally suited to digitally transform the organization, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution.

Software AG

IBM Rational System Architect is an enterprise architecture solution for visualizing, analyzing, and communicating enterprise architecture and business process analysis. This solution provides decision support, process optimization, and integration into solution delivery. Rational System Architect addresses all aspects of your organization's enterprise architecture, including modeling, publishing, analysis, and execution.

IBM

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.

Wuxi Lake Cloud, Nationwide, ETI, IDS Scheer

Buyer's Guide

Business Process Design

January 2026

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