Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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
17th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (20th), Process Mining (9th)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Business Process Design
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of iGrafx Process360 Live Platform is 2.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 7.4%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect7.4%
iGrafx Process360 Live Platform2.3%
Other90.3%
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

"Simulation is most valuable."
"We found the technical support to be helpful."
"Provides a valuable BPMN feature."
"The solution's most beneficial feature is the 360 approach, where documentation, process mining, simulation, and automation capabilities are in one solution."
"Finding the right symbol and creating links, horizontal and vertical are the features I use."
"One of the biggest plus points of the product stems from the fact that I have never seen any glitches in it."
"The solution is very stable."
"Web diagramming and RACI have helped expedite the process, capture, and ownership initiatives of our organization."
"It's easy to search within the solution."
"It is simple to build the first model for the solution."
"Its most valuable feature is the Zachman Framework."
"The installation was very easy."
"We have found the stability to be very reliable."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is very flexible and it is simple to define the metamodel. Additionally, it is lightweight on resources."
"It provides good utilization and it's a convenient tool for building exact architectural work."
"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."
"The look and feel, along with the ease of use of the solution's web modeling version, is an area with certain shortcomings."
"It would be helpful to be able to do more analytics and generate reports on historical documents that have already been uploaded to the server."
"Dragging and dropping shapes is not as user-friendly as in Visio. In Visio, it's very easy to work with shapes and in very few minutes you can plot a whole, multi swim-lane, cross-functional process."
"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."
"If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right."
"I would love to see a template and shapes for customer journey mapping."
"In the next release, I would like to see more layers like three, four, and five. It might be possible but I haven't seen it yet."
"It can be improved in the area of shared documentation. The idea is that the architecture tool can call back to an enterprise asset, pull that information, and link that as a sub-artifact."
"I think that collaboration can be better."
"I struggled with most of the features for this tool, as did the rest of our architecture team."
"When many users are accessing the system at the same time, Sparx slows down. It can't easily support a large team."
"The fact that you can do a lot yourself is a plus point, but it also becomes a challenge because you need an understanding of the programming languages to get things to work. It becomes challenging for those who are not very good at programming. You have standard reports, but if you want to make your own reports, you have to program it. Similarly, if you want validations rules, you have to take care of them yourself."
"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."
"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."
"They should make the Save button easier to find. A simplified user interface for a lighter user would probably be useful. I am not sure if such an interface is already there."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I have heard that the solution's pricing is very competitive."
"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."
"The licensing part is one of the problems. Its licensing depends on the number of users, so it sometimes gets expensive."
"My company is trying to replace iGrafx because the license is a little bit expensive."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
"Pricing and licensing are suitable even for small companies."
"It's reasonably priced for large organizations."
"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."
"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"The license for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is paid yearly, but I don't handle that area. It's good for its price, so I'm rating it a five out of five, but I'm not using it much. I also don't have information regarding additional costs apart from the standard licensing fees."
"Pricing and licensing is very attractive, simple, and straightforward."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Business Process Design solutions are best for your needs.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

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 Business38
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 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

Multinational Bank
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. iGrafx Process360 Live Platform and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.