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Avolution ABACUS vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Avolution ABACUS
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of Avolution ABACUS is 3.7%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 11.3%, down from 15.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect11.3%
Avolution ABACUS3.7%
Other85.0%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

JoseCamacho - PeerSpot reviewer
Supports evaluating architecture through corporate objectives
I conducted an evaluation of enterprise architecture at the European Court in Luxembourg, reviewing and analyzing existing implementations to identify potential improvements and providing recommendations I conduct evaluations to identify potential improvements and make recommendations, forming a…
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the traceability, you can trace any object to the other."
"There are a lot of different features, but the business/decision-maker feature, visibility, and dashboards are most valuable."
"Scalable and stable tool for roadmapping and modeling, with a good dashboard, end-to-end impact analysis, and portfolio management."
"Avolution ABACUS allows for flexible enterprise architecture analysis."
"The most valuable feature is that it has a customizable meta-model, which is key."
"The technical support is very good. They are responsive and the answers they provide are detailed."
"The product is easy to use and well-structured for the integrations we need it to make."
"The tool's implementation is straightforward as everything is readily available. For instance, setting up a portal is seamless, allowing easy publishing and access to data. However, integrating with other tools like BI, Power BI, or Grafana requires setting up pipelines between them."
"The TOGAF ADM model is most valuable. It is also very cheap as compared to other options in the market."
"Some of the business processes are very easy to compare when you have the diagrams."
"The solution allows us to quickly present designs and concepts to customers and get their feedback, thereby moving the project forward step by step."
"Sparx technical support is good."
"It provides good utilization and it's a convenient tool for building exact architectural work."
"I like that there is support for software patterns."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect was easy to set up and it took just twenty minutes."
"Ability to maintain cross-references for all models in all levels - great tractability."
 

Cons

"The reporting could be easier to configure."
"The usability of the tool is an area with shortcomings that need improvement."
"Avolution ABACUS has the drawback of needing data filtering at the development level, unlike some tools that offer filtering at deployment. Two areas where Avolution ABACUS could be improved are regional support and flexibility in model selection. Sometimes, it's challenging to access support or updates in certain regions, which can slow down progress. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the tool allowed more flexibility in selecting multiple models within a single unit."
"I use reference models, which are taxonomies, in my EA work. It is a reference model/taxonomy of things with capabilities, sub capabilities, and sub-sub capabilities, so you're working it down. I haven't yet found a simple way to implement that in Abacus. It could be that it is there, but I don't know how to do it."
"It is vastly scalable but you can't run it on a Mac or Linux so it has limitations."
"Their local presence in the Middle East could be scaled more, particularly in customer service. It would be good if they'd also have mobile dashboards for executive management out of the box."
"Having more control over page size is lacking in this product. Print utilization also needs to be improved."
"They should take more initiative to implement things that competing products have already come out with."
"It should be made Windows compatible."
"The integration could be improved."
"The solution's interface could be more straightforward."
"Insufficient control of metadata and standards."
"The initial setup of the Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect It's very complicated. It's very difficult to start with the right templates because there are many possibilities. The deployment took approximately two days."
"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."
"I would like to see integration with Confluence or any other TRM, and the capability to integrate with the data storage, such as a repository similar to GitHub."
"No way to implement data integrity and referential integrity constraints."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is not an issue."
"It is competitive. It is not chump change. I am just using the studio version. I am not using the full enterprise version, which would probably cost me three times more for single-use, but it gives a lot more capability and analysis. It is server-based as well, and it is reasonably priced compared to a lot of the other tools. There are other tools that have other sorts of capabilities, but in order to use them, you'd really have to have like 50 users for the price to become justifiable."
"The cost of Avolution ABACUS is reasonable, given the features they offer in comparison to other tools."
"There is a subscription for this solution. We are on an annual subscription because you sometimes receive special offers the longer you subscribe."
"It is expensive."
"The pricing is quite good compared to the competition and it is part of the reason we chose the product."
"This solution is expensive for some people's budgets and they need to offer a Lite version at a cheaper price"
"To get a fairly extensive license for Enterprise Architects from Spark is approximately US $400.00, maybe less, but with Avolution Abacus it was approximately US $2000.00 per year, and that includes maintenance with the Abacus tool."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Pricing and licensing is very attractive, simple, and straightforward."
"We paid 1200 euros as a once-off cost. All add ons and integrations come at an additional cost."
"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."
"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"The license I use is on-premise. We haven't gone to the cloud where we have to pay monthly or something like that. Sparx is cheaper than most similar tools."
"Pricing and licensing are suitable even for small companies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Avolution ABACUS?
The tool's implementation is straightforward as everything is readily available. For instance, setting up a portal is seamless, allowing easy publishing and access to data. However, integrating wit...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Avolution ABACUS?
It's pricey compared to Essential, Deltek, or Essential Cloud. However, its diagramming capabilities and metamodel design make it worth it. But it's not for large user bases. It has modules for app...
What needs improvement with Avolution ABACUS?
While Avolution ABACUS is flexible, it can be complex to work with as it requires knowledge of specific configurations to customize the product. It would be beneficial to have seminars or other met...
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 ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Barclays
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about Avolution ABACUS vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.