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No Magic MagicDraw vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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
15th
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
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of No Magic MagicDraw is 2.5%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 6.9%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect6.9%
No Magic MagicDraw2.5%
Other90.6%
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

"We are getting away from the old ways of writing a lot of papers and requirements documents, architecture documents, technical solution documents, interface documents - those days are gone."
"The most valuable feature of No Magic MagicDraw is the simulation capabilities and interface."
"No Magic MagicDraw provides a lot of good features on functionality."
"I alone can maintain all architecture documentation for a larger project as well as for one or two selected systems."
"The technical support is very good."
"The most valuable feature is the amount of flexibility that one has to model, which is great for an individual."
"My advice to anybody who is designing complex projects, like defense projects or space projects, is that they have to use this program or one like it."
"I think one of the key things is the plugins for integration with requirements management tools like Doors"
"We can easily use it with our new customers."
"In this way, the quality of the documentation has improved."
"The best thing about the tool is that its database is open."
"Sparx is very reliable and it's integrated with ServiceNow via the cloud, so you can share info and store everything inside the Sparx EA."
"Its most valuable feature is the Zachman Framework."
"This solution makes my work very easy."
"I tend to come back to Sparx because it is the best value for the money."
"EA is a good, cheap, flexible, and capable tool."
 

Cons

"There could be a trial version for students."
"Some of No Magic MagicDraw's most valuable features were its integration with other simulation tools, such as MATLAB, the seasonal plugin, and the Rangel simulation toolkit."
"However, there are some technical features that you have to study and do research on to be able to understand."
"The UI UX of the tool is not really user-friendly and needs to be completely reformed."
"I would like to see the ability to deploy live business process models and capture real-time data (without the need for another product tool) so you don't have to be dependent on other products for this functionality."
"When I am working with my Mac and I right-click to copy and paste, it doesn't work."
"Larger models slow you down; committing, updating, merging of branches and comparing of models (diff) do not scale yet; issues will hopefully be solved with upcoming V19."
"For the next releases, I would like to have them import requirements from other sources. They could make it very easy to do that because there are a lot requirements management tools like DOORS, D-O-O-R-S, Dynamic Object Oriented Management. A lot of folks use DOORS to create a requirement. For those requirements you allocate them to a component in the architecture and a verification method for that requirement. It would be good if we could import those into MagicDraw as components so you don't have to manually do these things."
"It has not improved our organization mainly due to the poor diagramming capabilities within the product, which are outdated and look like Visual Studio 2005."
"The reporting needs improvement."
"Stability is sometimes an issue when it comes up with synchronization errors and does not give any specific message as to the reason behind it."
"Many things which should be working - regarding some techniques - are not working and seem to be buggy."
"I think the solution could be improved visually. It's not as visually appealing as other solutions."
"I think the UI could be improved and made a little bit more presentable."
"No way to implement data integrity and referential integrity constraints."
"It is weak in regards to data modelling. It does not provide logical or physical data modelling or the ability to migrate from conceptual to physical and back."
 

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."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis, and it's expensive."
"I rate the pricing a ten out of ten. It is an expensive product compared to software for model-based system engineering."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"The Corporate Edition, or one of the bundles, is the way to go."
"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."
"We had a yearly license."
"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."
"We paid 1200 euros as a once-off cost. All add ons and integrations come at an additional cost."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"The pricing for ultimate version is steeply high."
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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
22%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
10%
Aerospace/Defense Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

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 Business39
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 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...
 

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: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.