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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs iGrafx Process360 Live Platform 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

iGrafx Process360 Live Plat...
Ranking in Business Process Design
19th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (32nd), Process Mining (17th)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of iGrafx Process360 Live Platform is 2.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 6.6%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect6.6%
iGrafx Process360 Live Platform2.8%
Other90.6%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

MR
Solution Consultant at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Provides documentation, process mining, simulation, and automation capabilities
If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right. We have a strategic approach for the customer. I was involved in almost 100 sessions where the customers were looking for a one-time process visualization or one-time process mining, not for a long-term association with this tool. The customer's requirements are more tactical than strategic. We had some challenges during this time frame as I was with iGrafx, and electricity costs rose in Germany. One customer stopped a large deal because they had to reduce every non-invested investment due to the electricity bill rising by 500% to 800%.
Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Enterprise Architect at Deepview S.r.o.
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 IDEF0 add-on solution truly integrates all the process maps through intelligent arrow name management."
"The solution's most beneficial feature is the 360 approach, where documentation, process mining, simulation, and automation capabilities are in one solution."
"Another good feature is that the numbering of the shapes in iGrafx is much easier and more convenient, in comparison to what is found in Visio. So far I haven't found anything similar to what I have with iGrafx, in that regard."
"Simulation is most valuable."
"Web diagramming and RACI have helped expedite the process, capture, and ownership initiatives of our organization."
"One of the biggest plus points of the product stems from the fact that I have never seen any glitches in it."
"It is very easy to use for describing processes and is very useful in the simulation of the process putting parameters and the metrics process."
"We found the technical support to be helpful."
"EA is a good, cheap, flexible, and capable tool."
"Scalability is not a problem; you can always increase the footprint of what the thing can do because it is so powerful."
"The installation was very easy."
"We absolutely feel that Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect provides a good ROI."
"It is a handy tool for visual modeling that provides opportunities for analysis, design, and support of models using ArchiMate, UML."
"We can easily use it with our new customers."
"The nature of this product did not justify an ROI but given a typical fully burdened rate for employee time, the sub-$1000 price tag is quickly recovered."
"It's like a repository. So far, we use it only for Information Modelling."
 

Cons

"It would be nice to have a Spanish user interface available to us."
"If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right."
"If the price of the solution was more competitive, it would have made things easier for our company to extend the usage."
"I used the single license product. The entire suite can manage complex organizations, linking it with ERP, but it is not so easy to link it to a new ERP."
"They can reduce the cost of the product and make it easily accessible for consultants."
"The solution could benefit from improvements to its interface. More specifically, when compared to other tools, the process modeling features lack symbols or object types that are used to represent the information or data within the process."
"This is a tool that covers the low end (e.g. Visio) to high end (e.g. Aris), although it's much less user friendly."
"The look and feel, along with the ease of use of the solution's web modeling version, is an area with certain shortcomings."
"From a practical point of view, we need speed and reliability for creating a model and doing some really meaningful tasks such as application landscape, refactoring, etc. These are two primary criteria. Sometimes, when you import something, it creates the object duplicates, or it allows you to do something that you're not supposed to do. For example, validation is missing. This could be frustrating because when you work at a high speed, you need to come back and start fixing things that the tool allowed you to go with, which is not quite good. So, there should probably be some internal mechanisms to advise you about what you're doing and what is probably not the best idea."
"This solution should have better ease of use for the uninitiated."
"The documentation needs a bit of improvement. What I find is that when I'm trying to do something specific for some part of a project, in terms of documentation, it's kind of hard to get at figuring out if you don't use it all the time."
"Performance of remote rdbms is nightmare and the reason is that every link and every attribute is separate sequential insert/update to db."
"There was some sort of glitch within the last version."
"For business purposes, this product has some limitations. The user experience and presenting it is challenging."
"It would be great if we could decrease the use of different parts of the Toolbox, forcing temporary consultants to use our Profile and no other items from other toolboxes."
"Inconsistent UI elements must be tidied up with the toolbox gaps removed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company is trying to replace iGrafx because the license is a little bit expensive."
"The licensing part is one of the problems. Its licensing depends on the number of users, so it sometimes gets expensive."
"Earlier, the licensing part was complex because there were so many modules and elements in the tool. Over the last one and a half years, a lot of work has gone into how the product has priced and positioned its tools in the market."
"I have heard that the solution's pricing is very competitive."
"Our license is a subscription-based model that is per user. The solution is not expensive, I believe a subscription-based model is $10 per user."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"It is cheaper than other solutions. Its cost is around $686 per year. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"There is no license required for this solution."
"I use my own license. So, I just bought the professional version, which costs $800 or something like that. In the company where I am working, we have floating licenses. They are probably more expensive. Its licensing is affordable, but we are talking about a large organization, and there could be modelers or viewers of the models. We don't know how much that would cost us."
"It is very economical and low cost. You have to pay for a one-time license, and it is active forever."
"This product has a paid license, with a yearly subscription option."
"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."
"Use floating licenses strategically."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iGrafx?
I have heard that the solution's pricing is very competitive.
What needs improvement with iGrafx?
If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right. We have a strategic approach for the customer. I was involved in almost 100 sess...
What is your primary use case for iGrafx?
The solution is used for the documentation and visualization of the main processes. The customers have hundreds or thousands of processes, but they start with the top 20 processes. The next step is...
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 ...
What is your primary use case for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?
We are mostly using the ArchiMate language to describe enterprise or solution architecture, along with a bit of use cases. We are producing quite large models, with over 10,000 elements and relatio...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Multinational Bank
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. iGrafx Process360 Live Platform and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.