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.
"The profiles allow me to customize the tool to the corporate environment instead of the other way around saving huge amounts of time and energy on trying to turn dozens of individuals into TOGAF, ArchiMate or Zachman experts, or even Sparx EA experts."
"The features I find most valuable is the ability to create a document and then put it into a OneCare artifact."
"The most valuable features are the flexibility and adaptability of Sparx Enterprise Architect."
"Customizable and tailored to the environment. Several template frameworks are provided."
"This is a useful tool for IT people who need to design their solution architecture."
"Automated document generation is a real time saver, no more cut and paste, no more keeping track of which diagrams are in which reports, no more last minute update panics. Just click a mouse and you've got an up to date report."
"Modeling is a part of my work, and it has a lot of standard modeling languages. It is quite wide, and a lot is possible in it. We are not programming it ourselves, but if you are into programming and developing software yourself, you can go further and do a lot with Sparx. You can work from the framework and go into the details. With this solution, you get a lot of value at a low cost. It is also quite intuitive in terms of use. I like the use of it."
"Ability to model and create view under same roof."
"The product efficiently visualizes various business processes, including building and networking architecture."
"The most valuable feature is the set of diagramming tools."
"Visio is stable."
"It's a very flexible solution."
"The solution is finely stable."
"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."
"Visio makes it easier than with other tools to do such tasks as changing things or coming up with one's own visual style for presentation purposes."
"The most valuable aspect of Visio is enabling comprehensive coverage of architectural elements."
"The automatic creation of reports based on the model elements could be improved."
"There used to be that feature in ArchiMate Modeling of Enterprise Architect called inherited relationships. Now it's gone."
"The areas of improvement should be focused on utility service such as producing better graphics, perhaps having a wider image library set and producing better models for working directly with customers."
"The documentation needs a bit of improvement. What I find is that when I'm trying to do something specific for some part of a project, in terms of documentation, it's kind of hard to get at figuring out if you don't use it all the time."
"No way to implement data integrity and referential integrity constraints."
"The UI is a little bit outdated. It should be more fresh and clean."
"I think the product is good. When I'm trying to do something specific for some part of project documentation, it's hard to get it figured out if you don't use it all the time. It's such a massive tool, it's hard to figure out how to dig in and get to the documentation where you have to be to get some idea of what to do. There are not a lot of examples that I'm aware of to be able to do that."
"The solution needs to offer better support for the mobile-based system. Right now, it's not working."
"The product's installation phase can be a difficult process if you don't have the deployment script with you since it is very important to know what you are doing when you are dealing with the setup process."
"The solution should be included in Microsoft Office 365. For some reason, it's not. It should be bundled in with everything else."
"It does not integrate well with other solutions."
"It needs hyperlinked or narratives for page flows to make demos more effective."
"The solution could improve by having more integration."
"Transferring data was one of the issues that I expected Visio to have resolved. I use the older version."
"The application grid seems to be unreliable which makes simple tasks complicated."
"As a user, it, unfortunately, lacks recognition by Microsoft products."
More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Pricing and Cost Advice →
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is ranked 4th in Business Process Design with 97 reviews while Visio is ranked 1st in Business Process Design with 100 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, Lucidchart and SAP Signavio Process Manager. See our Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. Visio report.
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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.
