We performed a comparison between Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and Visio based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: Visio comes out slightly ahead in this comparison. Sparx users mention performance difficulties when dealing with large volumes of data. Sparx does come out ahead in the pricing category, however.
"It is a very rich tool in terms of the functionality, and the types of diagrams, that you can create in this tool."
"Ability to maintain cross-references for all models in all levels - great tractability."
"Its ability to reference and link to components from any diagram."
"This is a useful tool for IT people who need to design their solution architecture."
"Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect was easy to set up and it took just twenty minutes."
"I like that there is support for software patterns."
"The installation was very easy."
"The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"It is a useful tool to map data flows, network objects, and computer science technology and show to clients. It does what I need it to do. It's a tool I've used the longest, so I know it the best, and that's probably the claim to fame."
"I haven't needed to reach out to technical support the entire time I've used the product. It's very basic and very simple, and therefore I've never run into any issues I haven't been able to deal with personally."
"The most valuable feature of this product is its versatility."
"The solution is finely stable."
"Visio is a very easy tool in general, making it easy for anyone to understand."
"The scalability is good. We can reuse it as a model. It can be modified."
"The product provides a lot of flexibility in writing graphs and customizing them."
"Process modeling is a good feature."
"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 would be great if we could decrease the use of different parts of the Toolbox."
"It could be more user-friendly. The tools could be more simple to use. It's a very complex solution. Because I am a business analyst, I use these tools to manage requirements, and I make models in UML, BPMN, and ArchiMate, and it's complex. In the next release, I would like to see more integrations."
"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."
"I think that collaboration can be better."
"From a practical point of view, we need speed and reliability for creating a model and doing some really meaningful tasks such as application landscape, refactoring, etc. These are two primary criteria. Sometimes, when you import something, it creates the object duplicates, or it allows you to do something that you're not supposed to do. For example, validation is missing. This could be frustrating because when you work at a high speed, you need to come back and start fixing things that the tool allowed you to go with, which is not quite good. So, there should probably be some internal mechanisms to advise you about what you're doing and what is probably not the best idea."
"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."
"For data modeling, it is not very mature when comparing with other data modeling tools."
"The one particular thing which I would like to see improved is in comparison to other products in the market, and is still lacking in Visio, is publishing on a web application. For example, there is a freeware application business process modeling tool, Bizagi."
"Occasionally, the automation feature that helps you easily add the "next step" goes crazy and it will move a bunch of stuff."
"As a user, it, unfortunately, lacks recognition by Microsoft products."
"It does not integrate well with other solutions."
"If you look at ARIS, for example, or Signavio, the flowchart combines all the details and with the click of a button I can create a process manager. That would be something that Visio could add. It would cut my workload in half."
"The design and the look and feel, need to be improved."
"Extremely large complex drawings need to be saved on the cloud for access."
"The solution should be included in Microsoft Office 365. For some reason, it's not. It should be bundled in with everything else."
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Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is ranked 3rd in Business Process Design with 97 reviews while Visio is ranked 1st in Business Process Design with 101 reviews. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is rated 8.0, while Visio is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect writes "Easy to set up and had no issues with stability, but it's not a very friendly tool, and its database modeling and entity-relationship modeling functions need improvement". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Visio writes "A software for drawing a variety of diagrams which include flowcharts, org charts, building plans, floor plans, data flow diagrams". Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is most compared with Visual Paradigm, No Magic MagicDraw, Lucidchart, LeanIX and ARIS BPA, whereas Visio is most compared with Bizagi, Visual Paradigm, IBM Blueworks Live, SAP Signavio Process Manager and Lucidchart. See our Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. Visio report.
See our list of best Business Process Design vendors.
We monitor all Business Process Design reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.
