AI Indexes
IT AI Index
September 2026 Edition, published September 17, 2026 · The permanent record of that edition, superseded since. The current standing is on the category page →
Index › IT operations and endpoint › September 2026 Edition

Enterprise architecture tools

Asked as “enterprise architecture tool”, and as “application portfolio management tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 57 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each. Added to the September 2026 Edition; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories: how the two compare.
Standing · first-choice share
25%
Contested · Ardoq 18%
25SAP LeanIX18Ardoq16LeanIX42others

25% of first choices, contested.

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
01SAP LeanIX25%15%33accepted challenger
02Ardoq18%15%47accepted challenger
03LeanIX16%25%20criticized challenger
04Archi11%0%14accepted challenger
05Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect5%17%29accepted challenger
06Bizzdesign Horizzon2%21%29accepted challenger
Show the four products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
10Sparx Enterprise Architect0%54%13criticized challenger
09MEGA HOPEX0%42%12criticized challenger
07Avolution ABACUS0%0%12accepted challenger
08OrbusInfinity0%0%10accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its product page.

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
S01
02
03
A04
05
06
07
O08
09
10
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%
Key
01SAP LeanIX25%
02Ardoq18%
03LeanIX16%
04Archi11%
05Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect5%
06Bizzdesign Horizzon2%
07Avolution ABACUS0%
08OrbusInfinity0%
09MEGA HOPEX0%
10Sparx Enterprise Architect0%

What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity Sonar, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
17%
5 of 29 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 2 hard negative
“Highest Caution/Steepest Learning Curve ... Frequently cited as one of the most problematic” Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt
Ardoq
15%
7 of 47 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Avoid high-end tools like LeanIX, Bizzdesign, or Ardoq” Grok 4.1 Fast, budget prompt
Sparx Enterprise Architect
54%
7 of 13 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“On‑premise, decade‑old EA suites (e.g., older versions of Sparx Enterprise Architect, early‑era ER/Studio, legacy IBM Rational tools)” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt
Excel
100%
4 of 4 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“stitch together an internal "repository" using Excel, SharePoint lists, and Power BI ... avoid building a manual repository” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt

What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: fourteen of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

76 of 84 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 14 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 1043 links across 203 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

vendor site · Superblocks36 answers · 36 citations · 12 models
vendor site · ER/Studio35 answers · 35 citations · 12 models
vendor site · Ardoq34 answers · 41 citations · 14 models
28 answers · 35 citations · 11 models
28 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
vendor site · LeanIX27 answers · 37 citations · 11 models
27 answers · 27 citations · 11 models
25 answers · 28 citations · 10 models
24 answers · 24 citations · 10 models
vendor site · G223 answers · 46 citations · 12 models
23 answers · 26 citations · 8 models
vendor site · Capstera23 answers · 24 citations · 11 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

Search against answers

Each company's standing in the answers beside its site's footprint in Google search, one row a site: the products the models named on it with their shares, and the share they add up to; monthly searches on Google, and DataForSEO's estimate of AI search demand (modeled from search signals, directional, not a count of queries to any assistant), for the most-searched of the company's and its products' names (the name is in each row's hover text); estimated monthly organic visits to the site; and its best position in Google's top ten for “best enterprise architecture tool”, “enterprise architecture tool”, “enterprise architecture tools”. US estimates from DataForSEO and Google's Ads Transparency Center. A small company's site, or a mid-sized company's site for its flagship, is marked company; a product on a large parent's site (Google, Microsoft) has no site figures. A column with no figures for this category is left out, and an empty cell means none were seen, not none exist. Two measurements side by side: neither is read as the cause of the other.
Company and productsShareOwn site citedName searches, GoogleAI search demand, est.Organic visitsPaid search a month, est.Google ads, last 30 daysBest Google position
SAP parent site
SAP LeanIX 25%, SAP LeanIX Application Portfolio Management 2%
26%118135,00074,309
Ardoq ardoq.com18%1391,3002110,54656
LeanIX leanix.net16%632,9006449,9841056
Archi11%5,40024,245
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect sparxsystems.com5%77210224,501172
Essential Project5%
Spendflo spendflo.com4%51390518,2980
Bizzdesign Horizzon bizzdesign.com2%8640010,052$3823
Celoxis celoxis.com2%5
ONES.com ones.com2%121,3000145,123

Google's top ten for the three searches hold 14 sites; 3 of them are among the sites the models cited here (erstudio.com, gartner.com, leanix.net). The first result for “best enterprise architecture tool” is guides.visual-paradigm.com.

How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ShowHide
ModelDirect“What is the best enterprise architecture tool for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which application portfolio management tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top enterprise architecture tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best enterprise architecture tool for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating an enterprise architecture tool. What should we look at?”Negative“Which enterprise architecture tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5Ardoq, LeanIX
Two alternativesArchi, Bizzdesign Horizzon
against: Sparx Enterprise Architect
ONES.comChanged
Four alternativesCeloxis, Epicflow, LeanIX, Planview AdaptiveWork
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Four alternativesArdoq, Bizzdesign Enterprise Studio, LeanIX, MEGA HOPEX
Archi
Three alternativesModelio, Sparx Enterprise Architect, The Essential Project
no first choiceagainst: LeanIX, SAP PowerDesigner, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
GPT-5.4 miniSAP LeanIX
Three alternativesBizzdesign Horizzon, Orbus Software, Sparx Systems
LeanIXChanged
Three alternativesArdoq, OrbusInfinity, ServiceNow APM
against: Sparx EA
SAP LeanIX
Four alternativesBOC Group ADOIT, Bizzdesign Horizzon, Orbus iServer, Sparx Enterprise Architect
SAP LeanIX
One alternativeArdoq
no first choicenothing named
Gemini 3.5 FlashSAP LeanIX
Three alternativesArdoq, Orbus Software, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
against: MEGA HOPEX, Software AG Alfabet
Ardoq, SAP LeanIXChanged
Four alternativesOrbusInfinity, Spendflo, Torii, Zluri
against: ServiceNow APM
Bizzdesign Horizzon
Eight alternativesAlfabet, Ardoq, Avolution ABACUS, MEGA International, Orbus Software, SAP LeanIX, ServiceNow APM, Sparx Systems
Archi
Four alternativesADOIT: Community Edition, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, The Essential Project, Turbo EA
against: Ardoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, LeanIX
LeanIX
Five alternativesArdoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, Eraser, IcePanel, Structurizr
against: Lucidchart, Miro, Visio
against: Ardoq, Draw.io, Excel, LeanIX, Lucidchart, MEGA HOPEX, Miro, Power BI, SharePoint, Software AG Alfabet, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, Visio
Perplexity SonarLeanIX
Two alternativesArdoq, Sparx Enterprise Architect
SAP LeanIXChanged
Two alternativesCeloxis, Spendflo
Ardoq, SAP LeanIX
Five alternativesAlfabet, Bizzdesign Horizzon, OrbusInfinity, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, erwin Data Modeler / ER/Studio
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Two alternativesADONIS CE, Archi
against: OpenEA
no first choiceagainst: Excel, PowerPoint, Visio
Grok 4.1 FastSAP LeanIX
Two alternativesArdoq, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
against: ServiceNow EA Management
LeanIXChanged
Three alternativesFlexera One, ONES.com, Zluri
against: ServiceNow ITBM
no first choiceThe Essential Project
Two alternativesArchi, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
against: Ardoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, LeanIX
Ardoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, LeanIX
Two alternativesOrbus iServer, Sparx Enterprise Architect
against: Ardoq, Orbus iServer, SAP LeanIX, ServiceNow EA, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Mistral SmallSparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Two alternativesArdoq, iServer365
Spendflo, TriskellChanged
One alternativeMEGA HOPEX
no first choiceSparx Systems Enterprise Architect
One alternativeUrbaHive
no first choicenothing named
DeepSeek V4 FlashSAP LeanIX
Three alternativesArdoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
SAP LeanIXHeld
Four alternativesArdoq, CAST Highlight, Flexera One, Zylo
against: ServiceNow APM
SAP LeanIX
Five alternativesArdoq, Avolution ABACUS, Bizzdesign Horizzon, Orbus Software, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Archi
Two alternativesADOIT, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
against: Bizzdesign Horizzon, MEGA HOPEX, Orbus Infinity, SAP LeanIX
Ardoq, LeanIX
Two alternativesOrbusInfinity, Sparx EA
against: Bizzdesign Horizzon
against: Ardoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, MEGA International, SAP LeanIX, Software AG Alfabet, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Llama 4 MaverickSparxno first choiceChangedno first choiceEssential Project
One alternativeSparx Systems Enterprise Architect
no first choiceagainst: TOGAF, Zachman
Qwen 3.7 FlashLeanIX
Three alternativesArdoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, Sparx Systems
against: Confluence, IBM, Jira, Oracle
FlycodeChanged
Four alternativesFlexera, Ivanti, ServiceNow Enterprise Architecture, Snow Software
against: Oracle
SAP LeanIX
Four alternativesArdoq, Avolution ABACUS, Bizzdesign Horizzon, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Essential Project
Three alternativesArchi, Microsoft Visio, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
against: Bizzdesign Horizzon, MEGA HOPEX
Ardoq
Two alternativesBizzdesign Horizzon, Orbus Infinity
against: SAP LeanIX, ServiceNow Enterprise Architecture, Sparx Enterprise Architect
against: Draw.io, Excel, Lucidchart, ServiceNow Enterprise Architecture, Sparx Enterprise Architect, Visio
Kimi K2SAP LeanIX
Four alternativesArdoq, Avolution ABACUS, Bizzdesign Enterprise Studio, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
ArdoqChanged
One alternativeONES.com
against: LeanIX, ServiceNow APM
Ardoq, SAP LeanIX
Three alternativesAvolution ABACUS, MEGA HOPEX, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Archi
Two alternativesAlbumi, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
Ardoq, SAP LeanIX
One alternativeBizzdesign Enterprise Studio
against: Sparx Enterprise Architect
against: Ardoq, Avolution, MEGA HOPEX, Planview Enterprise Architecture, Sparx Enterprise Architect
GLM 4.7 FlashXSAP LeanIX
Three alternativesArdoq, Bizzdesign Horizzon, Sparx Enterprise Architect
no first choiceChangedno first choiceArchi
Three alternativesArchipulse, Essential Project, Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
no first choiceagainst: ER/Studio, Excel, IBM Rational, PowerPoint, Sparx Enterprise Architect, Visio
MiniMax M2.5Ardoq, SAP LeanIX
Two alternativesEssential Cloud, Sparx Enterprise Architect
Celoxis, SpendfloChanged
Two alternativesServiceNow APM, Smartsheet
no first choiceEssential Project
One alternativeUrbaHive
against: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
no first choiceagainst: Sparx Enterprise Architect
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-04 23:11yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 01:18yes56 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 23:16yes2224 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 01:45yes153 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:35yes1910 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-04 22:24yes189 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 01:17yes2052 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:14yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:27no027 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-04 23:53yes1427 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-04 23:44yes1690 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-04 22:13yes1526 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 00:47yes98 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 01:23no04 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 23:50yes1223 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 01:08yes173 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:08yes248 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 01:45yes54 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:06yes1748 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-04 23:17yes52 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-04 23:03no025 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 01:15yes1824 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 01:26yes2182 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 01:18yes1846 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 01:52yes910 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 00:56yes68 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 01:34yes1429 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-04 23:49yes174 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 01:22yes238 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 01:14yes119 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:00yes2441 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-04 22:42yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-04 23:51yes1029 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-04 22:11yes1626 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 00:17yes2542 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 01:23yes1424 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 01:07yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-04 22:52yes34 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-04 22:41yes1725 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 00:52yes193 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 00:03yes189 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-05 01:14yes52 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:58yes2331 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 00:25yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 00:22yes1034 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-04 23:12yes1219 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-05 01:57yes18212 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-04 22:12yes921 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 00:15no05 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 01:35no08 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 00:37no016 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-04 23:06yes184 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-05 00:34yes139 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-04 23:13no08 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 01:02yes1760 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:31yes52 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-04 23:17yes723 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 00:01yes1961 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-04 22:29yes1449 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 00:14no033 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-10-05 01:47yes149 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-10-05 00:42yes45 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-10-05 01:21yes2931 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-10-05 00:17yes195 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-10-04 22:19yes2211 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-10-04 23:25yes56 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-10-05 00:25yes2584 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-10-05 01:10yes53 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-10-05 01:26yes1851 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-10-05 00:18yes2430 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-10-04 22:25yes2040 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-10-05 01:05yes1331 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

ShowHide
Category-scoped readings
BiZZdesign read as Bizzdesign Horizzon
Bizzdesign read as Bizzdesign Horizzon
Bizzdesign (Enterprise Studio / Horizzon) read as Bizzdesign Horizzon
Bizzdesign (Horizzon / MEGA HOPEX) read as Bizzdesign Horizzon
Orbus read as Orbus iServer
Orbus (iServer/OrbusInfinity) read as Orbus iServer
Planview read as Planview Portfolios
ServiceNow read as ServiceNow Enterprise Architecture
ServiceNow (Application Portfolio Management) read as ServiceNow Enterprise Architecture
Unresolved, counted raw
ABACUS
ADOIT Grow
ADONIS CE
Archipulse
BOC Group ADOIT
Cameo Systems Modeler
Catio
Epicflow
Flycode
Onés
OpenEA
Planview AdaptiveWork
QPR Enterprise Architect
SAP Alfabet
SAP PowerDesigner
ServiceNow EA Management
Visual Paradigm Community
iServer365 (by Orbus Software)
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.
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