Bizzdesign Alternatives: Selection Criteria
Bizzdesign now brings together the products of Bizzdesign, MEGA and Alfabet. An alternative should be judged on what your team actually uses, on hosting and on the migration of your models.
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Starting from the need
Looking for an alternative to Bizzdesign means checking whether its scope still matches your team’s. The questions concern who should change, who should stay and how to assess the migration.
Bizzdesign’s products
On 9 January 2025, Bizzdesign announced its acquisition of Alfabet from Software GmbH, following that of MEGA International. The group operates under the Bizzdesign name and reported around 2,000 customers at the time.
Its offer includes Bizzdesign Horizzon for enterprise architecture and transformation planning, Bizzdesign Hopex for architecture, processes and governance, Bizzdesign Alfabet for IT portfolio planning and, since April 2026, Bizzdesign Unify for collaborative design on a whiteboard. Horizzon combines enterprise architecture, business architecture, solution architecture and business process management. It supports modelling in ArchiMate, C4, BPMN, ERD and UML.
- Modelling in ArchiMate and other established notations.
- An offer covering enterprise architecture, strategic portfolio management and governance, risk and compliance from a single vendor.
- A portfolio extended to products from MEGA and Alfabet.
Reasons to look at an alternative
A broad suite serves organisations that use most of it. A team that uses only part of it may look for a narrower tool. Bizzdesign states that it is keeping Horizzon, Hopex and Alfabet; get the roadmap and support period of the product you use in writing.
- Your team uses only some of the modules.
- Your hosting requirements concern the data region, subprocessors or deployment on your own premises.
- Many roles need to take part, from business units to management.
The profile ArchiLU is designed for
ArchiLU does not aim for the breadth of a suite such as Bizzdesign’s. It links capabilities, processes, applications, technologies, providers and contracts in a graph, with an owner for each object and a log of Board decisions. Landscapes are displayed in ArchiMate and processes are drawn in BPMN.
- One dedicated instance per organisation, hosted in the European Union; deployment on your infrastructure as an optional service, quoted separately.
- Screens, tasks and help in French, English and German.
- Unlimited users, readers included.
- The DORA chain, from the critical or important function to the provider and the contract.
Who should change, and who should stay
Consider ArchiLU if participation by every role, named owners and traceable decisions weigh more than the breadth of a suite. This is the case, for example, for mid-sized organisations or regulated entities that use only part of a full suite.
Stay with Bizzdesign if you rely on its ArchiMate depth, on several of its products from one vendor or on a procurement requirement for an international supplier.
Assessing the migration
Separate what your team uses from what it has licensed. List the ArchiMate models in use, the capability map and the application portfolio. Then decide what is migrated and what is rebuilt more simply.
Pilot on one domain, such as one entity or one critical function, and measure the time to the first usable view. ArchiLU takes in inventories through an Excel workbook, with one tab per object type, and can be tried free for one month on your own instance.
- List the models and modules actually in use.
- Choose, artefact type by artefact type, between migration and rebuilding.
- Pilot on one domain before extending.
- Confirm hosting, language and governance with your auditors early on.
Frequently asked questions
- Why look for an alternative to Bizzdesign?
- Because a need has changed: a narrower scope than the suite or participation by more roles.
- Can ArchiLU replace Bizzdesign?
- For a team that wants to maintain its capabilities, application portfolio and decisions with named owners, yes, after a trial on one domain. For an organisation that relies on ArchiMate depth and on several Bizzdesign products, the breadth of the suite remains the main criterion.
- What does a migration from Bizzdesign involve?
- Start by separating actual use from the licence footprint. List the ArchiMate models, capability maps and application portfolio, choose what is migrated, then pilot on one domain. Check the fit before transferring the data.
- When should you stay with Bizzdesign?
- When you use its ArchiMate modelling, several of its products from one vendor, or when your procurement requires an international supplier. An alternative makes sense if governance and participation weigh more in your context.