Avolution ABACUS vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

Avolution and Quest Software are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. Avolution is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.0, while Quest Software is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. Avolution holds a 3.6% mindshare in AM, compared to Quest Software’s 8.9% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Avolution users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Quest Software users who would recommend it.

Avolution ABACUS

Read 15 Avolution ABACUS reviews

2,092 Views
1,778 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler

Read 40 erwin Data Modeler reviews

5,123 Views
3,535 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Avolution ABACUS

erwin Data Modeler

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 19, 2025

Avolution ABACUS and erwin Data Modeler compete in the field of enterprise data modeling and architectural management. Avolution ABACUS takes the upper hand in enterprise architecture tools, while erwin excels in database-specific modeling.

Features: Avolution ABACUS provides robust simulation with flexible visualization, allowing for comprehensive enterprise architecture management. It includes built-in catalogs and diagram support to dynamically customize models based on business needs. Abacus also features an Analytical and Simulation Engine for enterprise-wide impact assessments. Erwin Data Modeler's strength lies in its advanced database modeling and multi-platform support, enabling automated code generation and customized data definitions to simplify data model transformations. Its capabilities in traceability and consistency ensure accurate engineering of data sources.

Room for Improvement:Avolution ABACUS could enhance its interoperability with other BI tools and improve predictive analytics capabilities. Erwin Data Modeler might benefit from broader compatibility with cloud platforms and improving reverse engineering speed for large datasets. Ensuring more user-friendly and organizational standardization features could enhance their appeal to broader enterprise use cases.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Avolution ABACUS offers straightforward integration with existing IT environments, supported by responsive customer service. This flexibility appeals to larger enterprises. Erwin's deployment is more specialized towards database-focused teams, with comprehensive support resources to assist niche technical needs.

Pricing and ROI: Avolution ABACUS presents a scalable pricing model that suits enterprise-wide deployments, yielding high ROI for extensive implementations. Erwin Data Modeler, though more costly initially, offers substantial returns in data-centric projects where its specialized features are crucial.

To learn more, read our detailed Avolution ABACUS vs. erwin Data Modeler Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Avolution ABACUS vs. erwin Data Modeler

September 2025

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Helped 867,497 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Avolution ABACUS

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

erwin Data Modeler

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (10th), Data Governance (16th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of Avolution ABACUS is 3.6%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 8.9%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
erwin Data Modeler	8.9%
Avolution ABACUS	3.6%
Other	87.5%

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

JoseCamacho

Freelancer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

Supports evaluating architecture through corporate objectives

I conducted an evaluation of enterprise architecture at the European Court in Luxembourg, reviewing and analyzing existing implementations to identify potential improvements and providing recommendations I conduct evaluations to identify potential improvements and make recommendations, forming a…

Read full review

JorgeSanz

Data Governance Senior Advisor at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

Streamline data modeling and automate network changes for increased efficiency

The initial setup depends on the tool if you are using the data model environment. Stopping the server could be complex and require strong expertise. If you have everything set up and configured, Erwin is straightforward. You can deploy it in a few hours. In our case, it took a couple of months to address internal conditions, assign machines, and set up everything for the services. I rate the initial setup a six out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"You can design using a diagram tool installed on your desktop, a key difference from other vendors."

"The most valuable feature is that it has a customizable meta-model, which is key."

"The technical support is very good. They are responsive and the answers they provide are detailed."

"Avolution ABACUS allows for flexible enterprise architecture analysis."

"The most valuable feature is the traceability, you can trace any object to the other."

"There are a lot of different features, but the business/decision-maker feature, visibility, and dashboards are most valuable."

"The tool's implementation is straightforward as everything is readily available. For instance, setting up a portal is seamless, allowing easy publishing and access to data. However, integrating with other tools like BI, Power BI, or Grafana requires setting up pipelines between them."

"It is a very stable solution...The initial setup of Avolution ABACUS is very easy."

More Avolution ABACUS pros

"There is absolutely no problem with the stability."

"The principal feature that I liked is that the solution has a very graphic interface."

"The visual data models for helping to overcome data source complexity and enabling understanding and collaboration around maintenance and usage are excellent. A picture speaks 1,000 words. Seeing a picture that shows you how the data relates to each other helps you better understand what the data is and how to use it. Pairing that information with a dictionary, which has the definitions of the tables and columns or the entities and attributes, ensures that the users understand what the data is so that they can use it best and most successfully."

"The solution is excellent in providing a visual representation of a database and can generate DDL for implementing changes. We use DDL for logical purposes to review with business people, ensuring they have the required fields for processing. We also use it as a data dictionary for the physical data model to understand all the purposes of the terms. This helps us map the logical and physical terms with the business definition to understand our data."

"The ability to collaborate between different members across the organization is the most valuable feature. It gives us the ability to work on the same model, regardless of where we are physically."

"Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution."

"The most valuable features are being able to visualize the data in the diagrams and transform those diagrams into physical database deployments. These features help, specifically, to integrate the data. When the source data is accumulated and modeled, the target model is in erwin and it helps resolve the data integration patterns that are required to map the data to accommodate a model."

"The logical model gives developers, as well as the data modelers, an understanding of exactly how each object interacts with the others, whether a one-to-many, many-to-many, many-to-one, etc."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

Cons

"Avolution ABACUS has the drawback of needing data filtering at the development level, unlike some tools that offer filtering at deployment. Two areas where Avolution ABACUS could be improved are regional support and flexibility in model selection. Sometimes, it's challenging to access support or updates in certain regions, which can slow down progress. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the tool allowed more flexibility in selecting multiple models within a single unit."

"In the future, there could be improvements in integration and enhancements."

"If they want to expand in the European market then they are going to have to improve their technical support."

"Having more control over page size is lacking in this product. Print utilization also needs to be improved."

"I use reference models, which are taxonomies, in my EA work. It is a reference model/taxonomy of things with capabilities, sub capabilities, and sub-sub capabilities, so you're working it down. I haven't yet found a simple way to implement that in Abacus. It could be that it is there, but I don't know how to do it."

"It is vastly scalable but you can't run it on a Mac or Linux so it has limitations."

"The usability of the tool is an area with shortcomings that need improvement."

"The tool doesn't have any intelligence built in. We have to design the dashboards ourselves, which is a challenge because we have to depend on the vendor for customizations."

More Avolution ABACUS cons

"The interface must be improved."

"As someone who has used it for a long time, I have seen stability vary from version to version."

"Sometimes when I want to open the attribute editor, it stops working and the whole application freezes."

"The modeling product itself is far and above anything else that I've seen on the market. There are certain inconsistencies when it comes to keeping up with other platforms' databases in the reverse-engineering process. It should also support more database platforms."

"I find the UI very clunky and very difficult to use. If I add columns to a table the whole workflow could be so much easier. I get frustrated using it. I've tried other tools. I've tried to get off of erwin a few times. I always come back to it because every tool has its own set of problems, and it seems like if I have to pick my poison, I stay with erwin. But so many things that are clunky with it."

"In terms of improvements, support could have been better in terms of installation, especially of workgroups. We struggled quite a bit to get it up and running. Collaboration could have been better from an installation perspective, but it is trivial as compared to what we use it for. Other than that, I don't have much feedback. It works pretty well, and the fact that we've been using it for more than a decade shows that it is quite solid."

"The solution's model mark could be better because it crashes sometimes."

"One of the things I've been talking to the erwin team about through the years is that every data model should have the ability to be multi-language... When I was working at Honda, it became very difficult to work with the Japanese teams using just one model. You can have two models, one in English and one in Japanese, but that means you have to keep the updates back and forth, and that always increases the risk of something not being updated."

More erwin Data Modeler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a subscription for this solution. We are on an annual subscription because you sometimes receive special offers the longer you subscribe."

"This solution is expensive for some people's budgets and they need to offer a Lite version at a cheaper price"

"The cost of Avolution ABACUS is reasonable, given the features they offer in comparison to other tools."

"I'm paying on a yearly basis. I don't know whether it's a highly expensive tool or not. I'm getting a single version of it, and I don't have the enterprise part on it because I don't need the server component, and I don't need a web browser component. My estimate would be that it's a very reasonably priced tool given that you don't need to have licenses with everyone in order to get the information and the decision support capabilities out of the tool. You use the enterprise edition on top of the studio, which is the heart of the tool. I am not aware of any additional costs."

"My company makes annual payments toward the licensing costs of the solution. Considering the product's capabilities, its prices are very reasonable."

"The pricing is quite good compared to the competition and it is part of the reason we chose the product."

"The solution's pricing is not an issue."

"It is competitive. It is not chump change. I am just using the studio version. I am not using the full enterprise version, which would probably cost me three times more for single-use, but it gives a lot more capability and analysis. It is server-based as well, and it is reasonably priced compared to a lot of the other tools. There are other tools that have other sorts of capabilities, but in order to use them, you'd really have to have like 50 users for the price to become justifiable."

More Avolution ABACUS pricing and cost advice

"Price-wise, erwin Data Modeler is okay. You can purchase a single license and it is not very expensive."

"The pricing of the solution is cheap. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"The tool is expensive."

"Pricing is very high compared to any other product."

"The price of erwin Data Modeler is very expensive, in particular for this part of the world."

"There are two license options and the pricing is reasonable."

"Though the solution is not cheap, it's worth the money."

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Government

16%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	9

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	29

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Avolution ABACUS?

The tool's implementation is straightforward as everything is readily available. For instance, setting up a portal is seamless, allowing easy publishing and access to data. However, integrating wit...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Avolution ABACUS?

It's pricey compared to Essential, Deltek, or Essential Cloud. However, its diagramming capabilities and metamodel design make it worth it. But it's not for large user bases. It has modules for app...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Avolution ABACUS?

While Avolution ABACUS is flexible, it can be complex to work with as it requires knowledge of specific configurations to customize the product. It would be beneficial to have seminars or other met...

See all answers

What do you like most about erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

As a documenting tool, it's solid, though its reporting could be more robust. The reporting mechanisms could be more intuitive regarding report creation. It can generate reports in CSV files, displ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 18% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 7% of the time

Visio vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Avolution ABACUS

September 2025

Download Avolution ABACUS product report

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler

September 2025

Download erwin Data Modeler product report

Also Known As

No data available

erwin DM

Overview

ABACUS is the enterprise architecture tool designed to have the quickest time-to-value. You can use it to build and maintain rich visual models from existing company data. ABACUS comes with standard industry frameworks as well as advanced analytic tools and best-in-class roadmapping and reporting functionality.

With Avolution ABACUS You Can:

Strategize and analyze your organizational architecture with ease using data-driven diagrams
Enjoy connected data, models, and metrics across your whole enterprise
Work directly and securely in your browser, which is ideal for global teams and remote working

Avolution ABACUS Features:

Modeling and roadmapping: ABACUS offers a fully provisioned modeling environment for enterprise and IT architecture, strategic planning, and digital business management.
Digital collaboration: Avolution ABACUS includes a feature that allows you to set up dashboards so you can tell data stories using business-friendly visualizations.
Portfolio management: Anyone can update their own data, which, in turn, reduces the workload of the enterprise architecture team.
Data-driven architecture: ABACUS’s data-driven architecture gives you the opportunity to design and automate key calculations using out-of-the-box or simple no-code algorithms.
Collaborative data management: Using this feature, you can save time with single sign-on (SSO) and AD Integrations; You can embed directly in MS Teams, Confluence, or other workplace social software.
Dynamic data visualizations: ABACUS’s graph view allows you to navigate through systems in a dynamic environment, as opposed to static diagram views.

Avolution ABACUS Benefits:

Time efficient: Models and roadmaps automatically stay up-to-date, saving your organization a lot of time so you can focus on other priorities instead.
Centralized location: With Avolution ABACUS, you can connect all data in one place, keeping everything both consistent and accurate.
Full flexibility: ABACUS gives you full flexibility to adapt and configure your own metamodels with ease.
Complete visibility: Your whole enterprise can have visibility of the architecture through the use of digital collaboration and visually clear dashboards.
Machine learning: With Avolution ABACUS, you can employ machine learning to speed data management and analysis.
Spot dependencies: ABACUS helps your organization spot dependencies and impacts that might trip up your projects.
Fully customizable: Avolution ABACUS is fully customizable; Select, configure, or adapt your repository and metamodel. You can also automate metrics and analytics specific to your business.

Reviews from Real Users:

Andre W., Enterprise Architect at Enterprise Architecture Perspectives, says, "The most valuable feature is that it has a customizable meta-model, which is key.”

The Lead Enterprise Domain Architects at a financial services firm feels that "The product is easy to use and well-structured for the integrations we need it to make.”

"There are plenty of features available, such as the ability to test applications for issues and a user-friendly dashboard,” says Suresh T., Enterprise Digital Solution Architect at a tech services company.

Avolution

Erwin Data Modeler provides an effective approach to visualizing and managing data models. It assists in creating, reversing, and synchronizing data models with ease, supporting logical and physical transitions while enhancing understanding across teams.

Erwin Data Modeler is a comprehensive tool designed for professional database management. It offers capabilities to organize and enforce standards, automating script generation with robust reverse engineering and DDL output. Users can manage complex data environments, capitalize on integration with data intelligence, and maintain large-scale databases smoothly. Despite its strengths, improvements in multi-language support, database integration, and reporting features are needed. Users benefit from extensive support for conceptual, logical, and physical database modeling, enhancing architectural design and data governance for platforms like SQL Server, Oracle, and Teradata.

What are the key features of Erwin Data Modeler?

Visual Representation: Facilitates clear visualization of data models, aiding comprehension.
Versioning and Editing: Enhance usability with versioning and bulk editing capabilities.
Reverse Engineering: Offers powerful tools for reverse engineering and DDL generation.
Integration: Aligns with data intelligence to streamline database management.
Naming Standards: Enforces consistency with automated script creation.

What benefits should users consider in Erwin Data Modeler reviews?

Collaboration: Promotes team understanding and collaboration through visual tools.
Automation: Reduces manual effort through automated processes and integration.
Scalability: Handles large database management efficiently, crucial for enterprise settings.
Data Governance: Facilitates effective data governance with structured modeling.

Erwin Data Modeler finds application in industries focused on robust data management, implementing it for enterprise data warehouses, business domain models, and operational systems. It supports architectural design and governance, aligning with business applications demanding precise data representation and visualization.

Quest Software

Sample Customers

Barclays

Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples

Buyer's Guide

Avolution ABACUS vs. erwin Data Modeler

September 2025

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