ARIS BPA vs iServer comparison

Software AG and Orbus Software are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. Software AG is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.7, while Orbus Software is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.5. Software AG holds a 6.8% mindshare in BPD, compared to Orbus Software’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Orbus Software users who would recommend it.

ARIS BPA

Read 69 ARIS BPA reviews

5,701 Views
3,706 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

iServer

Read 18 iServer reviews

2,750 Views
1,623 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

ARIS BPA

iServer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

ARIS BPA and iServer are leading solutions in business process analysis. ARIS BPA gains an edge due to its extensive enterprise modeling features and integration capabilities, while iServer's strength lies in its ease of use complementing Microsoft Office integration.

Features: ARIS BPA provides comprehensive tools like EPC modeling and simulation, notable for an all-encompassing view of enterprise architecture. Its support for various integrations enhances process documentation and analysis. iServer offers seamless integration with Microsoft Office, intuitive use for document management, and workflow alignment with Office tools, making it user-friendly for organizations heavily invested in Microsoft products.

Room for Improvement: ARIS BPA could improve its complexity and lack of a real-time workflow engine, while its limited API support poses integration challenges. iServer could enhance its modeling capabilities and data visualization, as well as address performance issues. Both platforms can benefit from more intuitive user interfaces and streamlined integration features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ARIS BPA supports flexible deployment options including Hybrid Cloud and on-premises, receiving mixed reviews on customer service but with strong community support. iServer, offering various deployment methods except hybrid, is noted for reasonable support but may require vendor assistance for complex problems, with potential delays.

Pricing and ROI: ARIS BPA, though perceived as expensive, offers high value for large enterprises due to its features and integration capabilities, with a complex licensing model. iServer is considered more cost-effective, with a generally lower price point, appealing to organizations seeking budget-friendly solutions. The return on investment is substantial for both, enhancing process understanding and operational efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed ARIS BPA vs. iServer Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. iServer

March 2026

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Helped 884,873 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

Ranking in Business Process Design

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Management (BPM) (12th)

iServer

Ranking in Business Process Design

15th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS BPA is 6.8%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 3.2%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ARIS BPA	6.8%
iServer	3.2%
Other	90.0%

Business Process Design

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.

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Antonios Lazanakis

Senior IT Solution Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Flexible, easy to use, and easy to import data

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model. It is very easy to import data, and we also have good integration with Visual Drawing Tools and SharePoint. The solution is…

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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

"If you ever tried to draw a picture in a browser app or with a cloud service, it is normally a painful death. ARIS works perfectly on diagrams in the browser, so I was excited. I like it because there have been so many bad experiences in the past with drawing or doing something in a browser. Normally, it's always painful because it's coded badly. With ARIS, it is really well-implemented. It's simple."

"ARIS BPA is customizable as per specific business requirements."

"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."

"It helps the business make an informed decision."

"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."

"You can relate different aspects of an organization to each other, and you can clearly define the rates seen in the application."

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

"It has the ability to scale up, as well as integrate with other systems within the organization to get real-time information from dashboards and reports."

More ARIS BPA pros

"Good and effective reporting features, which help in decision making."

"The solution has wide use within Microsoft products. The integration with Microsoft products, and, in particular, Microsoft Office, is great."

"The initial setup is easy."

"I have to think less with this solution. It's simple."

"iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model."

"The solution is easily modified to suit your needs."

"Overall, I would say that it's a poor man's EA repository."

"We like the governance."

More iServer pros

Cons

"Newer versions (9.x) are technically more difficult to maintain."

"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."

"There are reports available in ARIS and you can modify them a bit if you want something more specific, but it's not that easy to adjust them and make modifications. It would be nice to have some kind of tool to do that, something that is more user-friendly for people who are not too technical, so that they could create reports the way they want them."

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

"One of the biggest challenges is to realistically enable the defined structures of the processes that you have in ARIS documented, and then actually implement them in the business."

"Also, ARIS can be very hard and costly to integrate with other tools, as there is no programming API or web services exposed, except from the integrated report API which is targeted to be used for creating reports from the ARIS database."

"One thing that could be improved is regarding the handling of the content itself. Maybe ARIS could provide a set of best practices, or best processes, so that people do not have to start from scratch."

"The tool needs to improve its support since they take long to respond."

More ARIS BPA cons

"The one issue is that if you want to import predefined work, you need to put the licensing model in. So if you wanted to import work that was done before, you then need to buy a separate product for that."

"iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io."

"Enhancing integration options with ERP or ITSM-related solutions for triggering automated requests for process definitions, changes, and tracking them in the iServer."

"Requirements management needs to be improved."

"The product is more expensive than Spark."

"I haven't used this solution long enough to know what areas could be improved."

"There could be features for process mining, process simulation, and analytics."

"There can be some performance issues using the solution that should be improved. When you make modifications modify to files there are embedded data within that can take a while to process."

More iServer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is well worth the investment in the enterprise."

"You will never get a fixed price for this product because they will go in and ask you what kind of environment would you like to set up? How many people will you work with? How big is your organization? Today, they have a fixed price to say, "Okay, just to start the business area, buy two licenses for modeling and eight people that can look into the product." They have this kind of fixed price. It's 50,000 Danish Krone. If you divided that by about six, then you get the pricing in dollars. Still, when you are going out, negotiate and find the right price. You will never get a fixed price: "It costs this and, if you take ten of these, seven of these and eight of these, and then it costs this." No, you negotiate every time."

"ARIS BPA is too costly from a licensing perspective."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"It is an expensive solution."

"Their license model is really difficult to understand, and licenses are quite expensive."

"If you can afford it, it's the best so far."

"It is on the higher side."

More ARIS BPA pricing and cost advice

"It's about 13K to set up and 9K for the license for three months. I think it's about 20K a year, but we haven't firmed up on pricing yet because the price depends on how long we commit to the solution."

"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."

"The product has a moderate pricing."

"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."

"The price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."

"The solution is cheaper than its competitors."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

21%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

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...

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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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What is your primary use case for ARIS BPA?

ARIS BPA is being used for process modeling, and we are planning to upgrade and enhance it for process mining and other purposes. We are using it for everything. Currently, we are doing HRMS integr...

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What needs improvement with iServer?

iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io. draw.io is a drawing tool used to draw architectural diagrams, flow diagrams, etc. It is an alternative to...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iServer?

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering iServer?

I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP Signavio Process Manager vs ARIS BPA

Compared 13% of the time

Camunda vs ARIS BPA

Compared 7% of the time

Bizagi vs ARIS BPA

Compared 6% of the time

ADONIS vs ARIS BPA

Compared 5% of the time

BiZZdesign HoriZZon vs ARIS BPA

Compared 2% of the time

More ARIS BPA Competitors

MEGA HOPEX vs iServer

Compared 17% of the time

BiZZdesign HoriZZon vs iServer

Compared 16% of the time

LeanIX vs iServer

Compared 9% of the time

OrbusInfinity vs iServer

Compared 8% of the time

Visio vs iServer

Compared 4% of the time

More iServer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA

March 2026

Download ARIS BPA product report

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

March 2026

Download iServer product report

Also Known As

ARIS, ARIS BPM

No data available

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

iServer is a unified software platform and enterprise modeling environment that extends and enhances the familiar, market leading Microsoft Visio and Office products. Core capabilities provided by iServer include an enhanced Microsoft Visio diagramming interface, a powerful central repository for all enterprise architecture or business process models and documentation, and a range of tools for visualization, analysis and decision making.

Orbus Software

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.

Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

ARIS BPA vs. iServer

March 2026

Free Report: ARIS BPA vs. iServer

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