ArchiLU or SAP LeanIX: Criteria for Comparing
SAP LeanIX has been part of SAP since November 2023; ArchiLU is published in Luxembourg by MIP-IT SARL. Both maintain an architecture repository. The comparison rests on your uses, your contributors and your hosting constraints.
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SAP LeanIX in brief
SAP announced its acquisition of LeanIX on 7 September 2023 and completed it in November 2023. Under the SAP LeanIX brand, the vendor presents products including LeanIX Enterprise Architecture, Application Portfolio Management, Technology Risk and Compliance, and Architecture and Road Map Planning.
The offering is SaaS hosted on Microsoft Azure. Its integrations page lists ServiceNow, SAP Signavio, SAP Cloud ALM, Jira, Confluence and Microsoft Entra ID, among others. For AI, SAP highlights Joule in SAP LeanIX and an MCP server available to all customers since November 2025.
ArchiLU in brief
ArchiLU is enterprise architecture software published in Luxembourg by MIP-IT SARL. Its repository links capabilities, value streams, processes, applications, technologies, providers and contracts; each object can have an owner, and objects without one remain visible. Landscapes follow ArchiMate, processes are drawn in BPMN, and the board keeps its decisions with their reasons.
Screens, tasks and help exist in French, English and German. Enterprise AI assistants connect through the ArchiLU MCP server, and a built-in AI gives access to the same architecture.
Hosting and licensing
For SAP LeanIX, the hosting region of a customer workspace is confirmed with SAP. With ArchiLU, each organisation has its own instance, hosted in the European Union; deployment on your premises is available as an option, on quotation.
The licensing bases differ. The SAP LeanIX pricing page states that billing depends on the number of applications, with no limit on users. ArchiLU charges an annual subscription per organisation, with unlimited users. Ask each vendor for a quotation on your actual scope.
Ownership, decisions and AI
Both tools open MCP access to AI assistants. The comparison therefore concerns what the assistant can read and change, with whose permissions, and what record its actions leave.
In ArchiLU, AI reads the context available to the person using it; its writes follow permissions and the governance mode, and the author of a change that requires approval cannot approve it. When your rules require it, a designated owner accepts or declines the designation. The board keeps each decision with its reason and the version of the document reviewed.
Run three steps in each tool, with the same data: assign an owner, have a board decide, let an AI act with a person’s permissions.
Integrations and taking over existing data
If your landscape relies on SAP products, check the SAP integrations you need: SAP LeanIX lists SAP Signavio and SAP Cloud ALM among its own. ArchiLU reads the ServiceNow CMDB without changing it, connects to Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Entra ID and GitHub, and takes in your inventories through an Excel workbook or its API.
Before a data load, check what your current tool’s export contains: objects, relationships, owners and history.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between ArchiLU and SAP LeanIX?
- SAP LeanIX is SAP’s SaaS offering, hosted on Microsoft Azure and billed by number of applications. ArchiLU is published in Luxembourg, hosted in the European Union and billed per organisation. Both maintain an architecture repository; the difference shows on your uses, during a trial.
- How do we compare the two tools on our case?
- With the same data and the same tests: a designated owner who accepts or declines, a board decision with its reason, an AI acting with a person’s permissions. Add the load of your inventory and a full export.
- Can an existing inventory be loaded into ArchiLU?
- Yes, through an Excel workbook with one sheet per object type and the links between them. Owners then validate their objects before the scope is widened.