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No Magic MagicDraw vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

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

No Magic MagicDraw
Ranking in Business Process Design
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
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 January 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of No Magic MagicDraw is 2.7%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.0%, 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 Architect8.0%
No Magic MagicDraw2.7%
Other89.3%
Business Process Design
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user699090 - PeerSpot reviewer
Intern at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Jul 14, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2080611 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
Ease of use and real-time collaboration empower effective teamwork and streamlined development
For CAMEO, it's not only the ease of use, it's versatility, its communicability, but Rhapsody is the worst tool I've ever used. It is very difficult, not user-friendly, and very expensive. It works only with its IBM counterparts. SPARX Enterprise Architecture is very easy to use, but it's limited. It gives you an idea of how your model is developing, so this feature helps maintain integrity or correctness of system models. It's really a good feature to have. You've got to have the simulation toolkit installed to be able to do that, and that works really well. The MagicDraw or CAMEO system is good on its own, but it should be integrated and should come out of the box with the simulation toolkit because there are some things you can't do without it, making it very difficult to have to look for another license to be able to do that. I would prefer that it come with the simulation toolkit.
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 most valuable feature is the amount of flexibility that one has to model, which is great for an individual."
"The most valuable features with No Magic MagicDraw are its ease of use; you can put this in front of a 12-year-old and they would know what to do right away."
"The most valuable features are the visibility, standard compliance, and interface."
"The MBFC capability of MagicDraw is higher than the other competitors."
"It is pretty easy to use. It is pretty versatile."
"It is very user-friendly, and the customer service is really good."
"The technical support is very good."
"The beauty of MagicDraw is that it has a simulation part, so you can simulate your model to validate it. The simulation allows you to bring in code off of an external code that you can write to set up the simulation and execute the code."
"The most valuable feature of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is the value streams."
"It is a very rich tool in terms of the functionality, and the types of diagrams, that you can create in this tool."
"I have found the Meta Model tuning feature useful as it provides me with an overview of all my work needs."
"Features good reporting facilities coupled with a concrete database."
"The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"Provides a single repository for all architecture work."
"The features I find most valuable is the ability to create a document and then put it into a OneCare artifact."
"The advantages of Enterprise are that it's cheaper and much more practical than MagicDraw."
 

Cons

"It would be better if the User Interface were updated. At the moment, it's a classic environment. It reminds me of the old Windows interface, for example, Windows 95. It would be better to make it more user-friendly. It would also be better if it could integrate with SAP solutions. It isn't easy to find experts in the field. It's hard to find people around the globe that have the necessary skills and expertise to manage this solution. For example, in our case, we needed someone with refrigeration knowledge that also knew how to use the tool, and that was a challenge. We also had issues relating to erasing. Sometimes, it kept it in the background and didn't erase it at all. We had to review the entire list to ensure that the item was deleted."
"It's very focused on specific modern languages and it doesn't do necessarily general systems software engineering with diagrams. They should expand the diagram types for the languages."
"One potential area for improvement is the recommendation feature. At times, we face challenges in locating specific features, and we have to reach out for assistance in finding the information we need."
"When I am working with my Mac and I right-click to copy and paste, it doesn't work."
"The price of the solution could be reduced."
"The licenses are expensive compared to similar tools. At the moment, the user is open to using MagicDraw if it's 15% more than other solutions. If it were to cost any more, they wouldn't use it."
"They don't really support code engineering, and that's why we have to move to Enterprise Architect. MagicDraw is stuck at C++03 standards, whereas most C++ programs today want to use the latest definition of the C++ standards. We were at C++11, and we wanted to do code engineering with C++11 or 17, but they didn't support it. That pushed us into a different tool, which is Sparx Enterprise Architect."
"The cost of upgrading the product should be lower."
"This solution is quite complex to use. It would be nice if the learning curve wasn't so steep."
"One room for improvement in Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is that it's not very friendly. Another room for improvement in the tool is that it doesn't enable you to import the metadata from a database very easily, so reverse engineering of a database was very difficult. Its database modeling and entity-relationship modeling functions need improvement."
"The automatic creation of reports based on the model elements could be improved."
"When many users are accessing the system at the same time, Sparx slows down. It can't easily support a large team."
"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."
"Using EA involves a steep learning curve if you want to understand its capabilities and functionality."
"The dashboard and connectivity could be improved."
"Sparx can be a bit slow. If you are trying to design software architecture, sometimes we run into issues and need to refresh."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In addition to the initial cost, you have to pay annually for support in order to get the upgrades."
"I would say licensing would be anywhere from $3,500 to $6,500 per person or per seat (it's a per seat style license)."
"The price of No Magic MagicDraw could improve. The price of the solution is too expensive for smaller-sized companies. There should be a better pricing model."
"I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. It is an expensive product compared to software for model-based system engineering."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis, and it's expensive."
"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."
"Pricing and licensing is very attractive, simple, and straightforward."
"Pricing and licensing are suitable even for small companies."
"It's reasonably priced for large organizations."
"I rate the solution's pricing a five out of ten."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is priced well. The price we pay is approximately $20 per month. Other solutions I have found to be much more expensive."
"They have the price on their site for the enterprise version, and we do receive a small discount."
"There is a license for this solution. When comparing this solution to others it is priced well."
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Answers from the Community

it_user699090 - PeerSpot reviewer
Intern at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Jul 14, 2017
Jul 14, 2017
Hi, You mentioned prices and I don't really know the difference between those two products. If you can, tell me what product has the reputation to be less expensive. I'm using MagicDraw with NIEM and I pay for the maintenance. NIEM is only usable on the LTD 18.0 version which is their long term version supposed to be more stable. NIEM plugin is in version 1.00. I also use the feature rich ve...
2 out of 5 answers
it_user502215 - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Architecture Consultant with 10,001+ employees
Jul 13, 2017
I do not know about plug-in but Sparx has six NIEM tagged values (architecture meta data)
Jul 13, 2017
I only worked in testing Sparx Enterprise Architect as a replacement for ERwin data modeler. I did not work with No Magic so I don’t know the differences. However, I found this pdf: http://www.uwm.edu.pl/wnt/technicalsc/tech_12/B15.pdf I searched on differences between no magic and sparx enterprise architect. Hope this helps. Good luck!
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
24%
Government
11%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise1
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 No Magic MagicDraw?
Maybe the price is a little bit high for a small company to acquire this tool. However, they offer trial versions and trial licenses for members of INCOSE.
What needs improvement with No Magic MagicDraw?
For CAMEO, it's not only the ease of use, it's versatility, its communicability, but Rhapsody is the worst tool I've ever used. It is very difficult, not user-friendly, and very expensive. It works...
What is your primary use case for No Magic MagicDraw?
I deal with DOD lifecycle acquisition sorts of things as some of the main use cases currently, and I expect to continue using it for more than 25 years.
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 ...
 

Also Known As

MagicDraw
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Northrop Grumman, Labcorp, Deposco, ClearView Training, IT Services Promotion Agency, Intelligent Chaos, Metalithic Systems Inc., Sodifrance
OmniLink
Find out what your peers are saying about No Magic MagicDraw vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.