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OrbusInfinity vs Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect 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

OrbusInfinity
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
IT Service Management (ITSM) (42nd)
Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of OrbusInfinity is 3.3%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 13.6%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Kenneth Igiri - PeerSpot reviewer
Cost-effective, integrates with the Office tools, and allows us to articulate all entities across the enterprise on one platform
The refresh cycles for our dashboards could be better. I keep complaining about that. The refresh is supposed to be once a day, but I would love it if it was real-time so that if I make a change to the data in iServer, I should see those changes immediately reflected in the dashboards. They use Power BI, and it seems they've scheduled their refresh to be once a day, which is not that good for us. We've had some issues with the integration between Visio and iServer because sometimes the add-in that allows you to do that integration takes a lot of memory and then your Visio crashes. However, I've not experienced this issue for some time, so it was probably fixed in the recent version. Also, if I copy a large amount of data and I want to copy from one Visio file to another, I have had a case where it suddenly just closes Visio without saving. So, that integration could be more smooth. There should be ease of integration with other systems in our environment such as SysAid. I understand that there is an integration to ServiceNow, but we use SysAid. We need to be able to say that when there's an incident that impacts or requires a change in a particular component, ServiceNow or SysAid should be able to communicate to Orbus that this component is about to change. Similarly, when it comes to discovery or when a new architecture change has happened in the enterprise, we should be able to detect the change in the baseline Enterprise Architecture. There should be such advanced automation. The visibility of our models is limited to those to whom we have assigned licenses. I would've loved it if everyone in the organization could at least see the diagrams. The licensing should be there for those who need to make updates or changes.
Milan Sterba - PeerSpot reviewer
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 features are mainly the reporting side of things and the dashboard."
"I like the integration with the Office tools such as Visio and Excel. The integration with Excel helped us to be able to upload data very easily. Integration with Visio helps us to be able to make changes once and have a centralized diagram. We don't have versions of the diagram. This integration with the Office tools is very useful."
"Large variety of profiles and frameworks available out-of-the-box without the need for customization."
"Its ease of use and the breadth of the toolkit are most valuable. It has an incredible repository of artifacts to work with, and they're all cross-referenced. It works with a whole bunch of different standards. It works with BPMN, which is Business Process Modeling Notation, and it also works with something called TOGAF, which is the Open Group Architecture Foundation. There are different layers when you're dealing with architecture. There is the user interface, application, data, data servers, and all that kind of stuff. You have the infrastructure, hardware, and software layers, and then you have the application and business capability layers. You can model a business process and decompose it into all of the applications, data, and hardware to support it."
"It is simple to build the first model for the solution."
"The initial setup is easy."
"For the most part, we find that it is remarkable how inexpensive it is."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect was easy to set up and it took just twenty minutes."
"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 provides good utilization and it's a convenient tool for building exact architectural work."
 

Cons

"The refresh cycles for our dashboards could be better. I keep complaining about that. The refresh is supposed to be once a day, but I would love it if it was real-time so that if I make a change to the data in iServer, I should see those changes immediately reflected in the dashboards. They use Power BI, and it seems they've scheduled their refresh to be once a day, which is not that good for us."
"We found a few issues with importing data and all the manipulation of data, especially when it came to the BI side of things because it utilized a particular template to be able to get certain reports. The user administrators could not manipulate it to get the right reports."
"More challenging than other tools to maintain documents and document versions for an architecture board review."
"Inconsistent UI elements must be tidied up with the toolbox gaps removed."
"The solution's interface could be more straightforward."
"There should be a MATLAB-specific toolbox added to the solution with better compatibility. The connections currently are good but in the future, it needs a huge improvement."
"I would like to see integration with Confluence or any other TRM, and the capability to integrate with the data storage, such as a repository similar to GitHub."
"It took me a while to figure out how to use the report generation features effectively. So, it would be really nice if they had a way to make that a little bit more interactive and a little bit more straightforward."
"Insufficient control of metadata and standards."
"Weak in regards to data modelling. No logical or physical modelling or migration from conceptual to physical."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was very cost-effective as compared to the other ones we evaluated. We spent about $20,000 per annum for support and license together. There was also an implementation fee at the beginning. I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of pricing."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis. We currently work with a standard fee."
"It’s the best deal in town, by far."
"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."
"The licensing is not as expensive as some of the other data modeling tools such as Erwin."
"This product has a paid license, with a yearly subscription option."
"It's affordable. The only additional cost that we haven't yet figured out is the floating license. If you buy a floating license, you have to have a license management server, which comes at an additional cost that's not discussed. So, we haven't yet used the floating license. That’s because I haven't had a chance to figure that out."
"In terms of cost, Sparx EA is probably one of the cheapest tools I have ever used."
"The pricing for ultimate version is steeply high."
"The license I use is on-premise. We haven't gone to the cloud where we have to pay monthly or something like that. Sparx is cheaper than most similar tools."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
18%
Insurance Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Educational Organization
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about OrbusInfinity?
I like the integration with the Office tools such as Visio and Excel. The integration with Excel helped us to be able to upload data very easily. Integration with Visio helps us to be able to make ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OrbusInfinity?
It was very cost-effective as compared to the other ones we evaluated. We spent about $20,000 per annum for support and license together. There was also an implementation fee at the beginning. I wo...
What needs improvement with OrbusInfinity?
The refresh cycles for our dashboards could be better. I keep complaining about that. The refresh is supposed to be once a day, but I would love it if it was real-time so that if I make a change to...
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

Information Not Available
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Find out what your peers are saying about OrbusInfinity vs. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.