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Lucidchart vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

Why PeerSpot?

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

Lucidchart
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Mind Mapping Software (1st), Visual Collaboration Platforms (3rd)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (5th), Business Process Design (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Lucidchart and Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Lucidchart is designed for Mind Mapping Software and holds a mindshare of 20.5%, down 24.2% compared to last year.
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, on the other hand, focuses on Enterprise Architecture Management, holds 8.7% mindshare, down 10.8% since last year.
Mind Mapping Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Lucidchart20.5%
Visio16.5%
Xmind13.6%
Other49.4%
Mind Mapping Software
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect8.7%
SAP PowerDesigner9.1%
erwin Data Modeler8.6%
Other73.6%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

AlexMartin1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Nestlé
Visual collaboration has improved remote workflows and supports faster shared decisions
The best features Lucidchart offers are that it diagrams processes very well. It allows for project management to help with client timelines. It is also easy to use and create diagrams, especially mermaid diagrams. Collaborating is easy. Out of all those features, collaboration stands out to me the most because it is easy to share with team members to do joint design work. Lucidchart has positively impacted my organization by improving productivity and collaboration. In terms of specifics, collaboration helps us come to conclusions. I notice better throughput as it is easy to use. Improved productivity allows us to express ourselves more quickly.
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

"Its real-time collaboration saves time; now, we can complete our discussions within 15 minutes rather than an hour or an hour and a half, and the ability for people to look at the diagram created in Lucidchart rather than reading through written documents has saved one to two hours daily."
"It makes collaboration easy, it makes presentation easy, the real-time collaboration is super-helpful, and it has saved me time on the order of 20 percent for project planning."
"This process flow has really helped all the regions in understanding how onboarding works across all the regions."
"The interface is really good and it is very easy to use."
"I like the panel on the left of the screen that has all of the shapes that are available to use in the charts. It's easy to use because you can just drag and drop."
"Lucidchart is a free application and it is very helpful for documenting processes and workflows."
"The ability for people to look at a diagram, rather than reading through written documents, has saved us a lot of time, and as a result money."
"I like how all the contacts in my chart are linked to LinkedIn. That's what makes it really easy for outreach and for making sure we have all the contacts right there in front of us when we need to."
"Modelling and project-actual-state document generation is, as always, the most critical need of every project, and due to the presenting concept and impact analysis, this is a good tool."
"Artifact templates are most valuable."
"We can easily use it with our new customers."
"We use it to develop and maintain the Enterprise Conceptual Model, migrated from erwin a couple of years ago."
"The Business Process Modeling or BPM part is the most valuable. Its ability to simulate scenarios is also very useful. It can also create descriptions of the workflows. It has a feature in which if you create some BPMN process, a workflow diagram, and the description inside, you can actually simulate the whole scenario, and you get the description. That's very handy."
"It's easy to search within the solution."
"It's like a repository. So far, we use it only for Information Modelling."
"It is an EA tool that is approved by Open Group. It is in the tool register of Open Group."
 

Cons

"I'm not sure if this feature is already there, but it would be good if we can import a cloud database in the web version."
"It might already exist and I haven't used it, but in terms of improvement, I would like a hot-key system for some of the diagrams to auto-generate things a bit quicker to be able to produce charts a lot faster, or have more standard templates that you can just go to if you're trying to generate something quickly."
"In terms of the UI aspect of Lucidchart, I see that most of the features are available on the left pane, which has the basic diagrams and shapes."
"There is a premium for the use of certain elements in Lucidchart, like a drop-down. These features come at a premium and are only accessible in the premium plan."
"The layering is something that can be improved because sometimes, it is confusing for me when I'm trying to get to the layer that I want to edit."
"I would really like to be able to set default appearance settings for new documents because I have a set of appearance settings that I always use. I end up setting that manually every time. There may be a way to do that, and maybe I am not able to find it. This is my only major point of feedback for improvement. There are other little nitpicky things, such as being able to lock layers without them looking like a big red line around them would be nice, but every graphic design software does that, so I understand why they have that. All my concerns are nitpicks. They're not big."
"I have used the solution to modify existing data structures but I would only rate it as a six out of ten in its capabilities."
"The primary area that could be improved is the learning curve."
"The UI is a little bit outdated. It should be more fresh and clean."
"The product could be improved in terms of its ease of use and documentation. While it offers a lot of functionality, it can be difficult to grasp how to utilize these features effectively."
"In my company at the moment, many people have difficulty in using Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect. It is not easy for someone who is not experienced with the platform."
"I struggled with most of the features for this tool, as did the rest of our architecture team."
"Its usability needs to be improved. For non-technical users, it is a little difficult to understand how Enterprise Architect works. Users who are not engineers find it difficult to understand how this tool works. This is something they need to work on. They can develop a BPM model to simulate processes."
"MS Office integration works only with local .eap repository files, not with our Postgres repository. Half a year ago they promised to fix this bug, but still no improvement."
"Its best features are not intuitive or easy to learn. Most companies I have worked with, when I see what they are doing with it , are not using more than 5% of what they could and should be doing with it."
"In a database-server deployment there are performance/locking issues when multiple users make changes simultaneously."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I was using the paid version, but at $12 USD per month, I canceled the plan because it was a little bit too expensive for me."
"Pricing-wise, it is pretty fair. I don't really know what group pricing looks like, but right now, I pay $10 a month for my Lucid subscription. One thing I would say is that I do worry about my bosses being okay with paying $10 a month for every single employee because we would have around 20 people. It makes me a little nervous about whether they are going to pay $200 a month for people to be able to use this software. At the same time, from where I'm sitting, it's totally worth it. We save a thousand dollars from using this software. It's still a no-brainer."
"At €167 per user per year, the pricing is slightly higher than Visio, but it's worth it."
"The pricing and licensing are fine. It has a lot of features that I prefer over some of the other programs, which is good. Being that it is web-based, I feel that it is acceptable that it's on a monthly pay basis. However, I think I pay on an annual basis, which is fine with me."
"The price of this product is a little bit high. It is probably 20% higher than what I expected to pay for such a solution."
"Pricing comes in at about $100 for a year's subscription, which is very reasonable if this is a tool that you will use more than once."
"The licensing is pretty cost-effective but I haven't considered it on an enterprise level."
"We signed up for the month-to-month and it charged us all at once for the whole year. I believe we signed up for the $7.99 one. I think that was the price."
"There is a license for this solution. When comparing this solution to others it is priced well."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."
"It is cheaper than other solutions. Its cost is around $686 per year. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"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."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"We have an annual license, and it's very affordable."
"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
 

Questions from the Community

LucidChart vs LucidSpark for brainstorming sessions over Zoom
Hi @Krista Thompson ​ - Yes, LucidSpark is a much more nimble and, in some ways, user-friendly tool than LucidChart. LucidSpark is designed to do a better job managing multiple users participating ...
Do you recommend Lucidchart?
I definitely recommend Lucidchart. I feel it is one of the top visual collaboration platforms that’s available on the market. Out of all the solutions I have tried, it is by far the best for diagra...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lucidchart?
It is cloud-based, so no setup is required. Currently, we are using a free plan.
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

Google, Salesforce, Adobe, Whirlpool, Uber, Wal Mart, Pearson, Twitch, Riot Games, Western Union, Trimble, Starbucks
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