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BiZZdesign HoriZZon vs IDERA ER/Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

BiZZdesign HoriZZon
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (13th)
IDERA ER/Studio
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Database Development and Management (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of BiZZdesign HoriZZon is 4.9%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IDERA ER/Studio is 3.7%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IDERA ER/Studio3.7%
BiZZdesign HoriZZon4.9%
Other91.4%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Venkat Raju Mallipudi - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to implement, and it's reliable but restrictions in integration capabilities
Integration definitely needs improvement. There are some restrictions. We've seen that it doesn't integrate with everything we might expect. Out of ten products we want to integrate, maybe five or six integrate easily. The other four might face challenges due to lower investment in the products or compatibility issues. It's definitely not easy to achieve seamless integration for any product. We can only test to a certain extent, and issues could arise from either BiZZdesign HoriZZon or the other product. Another point is the cost of licenses. If they were a bit lower, it would be easier for businesses to acquire more licenses... something like an enterprise or bulk license model. Maybe different pricing tiers based on the number of licenses, like significant discounts for orders over one hundred. This could help clients adopt the product.
Aaron Cutshall - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for data modeling and has a scripting language to write your own scripts
The solution has streamlined our data modeling processes quite a bit. It's a central focus in our data modeling and data cataloging efforts. The tool's reverse engineering capability to bring in existing database structures and create models from them has benefitted our data architecture needs. With the tool's data dictionary capability, we're able to maintain consistency in our models, name use, and actual data domains. The solution's reverse engineering helps with understanding legacy databases. In fact, I've been asked to reverse-engineer several more legacy databases so that we can have them modeled and cataloged. The solution is deployed on the cloud server, but it’s only within our network. The solution has a lot of capabilities. I like the fact that it has a scripting language that allows you to automate and write your own scripts. I think that's been a big bonus for us. I highly recommend the solution because of its capability for logical models, where you can put your business definitions and logic. While less expensive, some other tools can't do that. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of BiZZdesign HoriZZon include the diagrammatic representation of BPMN models, which I find good for modeling, and things such as capability maps."
"t's a good tool. My colleagues that are making use of it for application, business processes, or data modeling, are very satisfied with it. They find it easy to use. The graphical representation is simple but therefore efficient, so I know that they are planning a very good commencement on the use of these tools."
"The feature I find most valuable is that the start times and loading times are short. It takes only a few seconds to load the repository and whenever I want to open diagrams, they are there almost immediately."
"The initial setup of this solution was very straightforward."
"It is very easy to use. I can just click on an application component and find out if we are using this particular component. This provides us flexibility."
"The enterprise studio where the modelling happens is valuable."
"The most valuable feature is that it allows you to work with different methods, using the same tool."
"Among the valuable features is the ability to document standards. For example, we have mandatory operating standards that need to be followed by every application and every architecture. We use things like table charts and pie charts for documenting the costs incurred across the systems. All of these are good features."
"It does the job."
"Modeling with Data Architect: We can quickly reverse-engineer a database from an existing database or create a model from scratch."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is generating DDL (data definition language)."
"The interface is really simple to use and it allows me to pick and choose which tables I want to reverse engineer."
"ER/Studio is excellent for large teams; it scales well to teams of over one hundred plus people."
"We can track changes to our data models and tie those changes back to specific tasks or efforts that we identify."
"Using this product has improved the way we maintain our models because they have a place where we can keep all of them, and they can be viewed using the web interface."
"When validating the model, the ability to provide sub-models to developers, and generate a physical model from the logical, makes it easier to review a logical model with stakeholders."
 

Cons

"Scalability is a bit of a problem for BiZZdesign. There is always a possibility it will failover."
"The users of BiZZdesign should be able to enter their data or make modeling changes via HoriZZon."
"This tool is something of a beast - it takes a long time to learn, and it isn't possible for casual users and most architects. Unless a person spends 500 or 1,000 hours on the tool or does very concentrated sessions using all its functionalities, it's very difficult to master."
"There could be simpler modelling."
"The automatic data collection and interface need improvement."
"Integration definitely needs improvement. There are some restrictions. We've seen that it doesn't integrate with everything we might expect."
"It should be more open to integrating with other existing tools. Although there has been progress in the past."
"One area where BiZZdesign HoriZZon could use some improvement is in its REST APIs."
"When building the relationships there should be a little more flexibility."
"Whenever there is a new version, there are a lot of release notes on the technical side of it, but I would like to be told why are we doing the upgrade... What I would like to really see is how this benefits us from the business point of view. What are the real benefits that the user gets? I want some kind of way white paper. The release notes describe the technical enhancements but, from the layman's point of view, if someone asks me what are the business benefits of this upgrade, I don't have any documentation to explain it to the business."
"I cannot evaluate any areas for improvement at this time."
"The model diagram because very clumsy when you save it on the team server and the models are very big."
"It isn't easy to compare the thousands of tables in the model against the database. The tool should improve the synchronization within the large organization"
"They allow functionalities to be released before the full tests for catching and correcting errors are completed."
"There was no specific mention of areas needing improvement."
"It would be helpful if they could create a generic JSON database type, as a target database, rather than a specific one like Mongo."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is reasonable."
"The pricing model is slightly on the high side and could be more competitive for long-term partnerships."
"[The] Orbus... pricing model was based on every single functionality having a price. The pricing was comparable but if we wanted to scale, it would have ended up being a lot more expensive. BiZZdesign gave us one price with all of the functionality, and we could scale as much as we needed."
"If one is very cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product price as a seven out of ten."
"First and foremost within the scope of improvement for the solution would be the cost. It's very costly..."
"In terms of this particular product usage, my clients currently only use per-user licenses."
"We were customers and bought licenses from them. We used their remote instance initially but upgraded to the on-device version due to lag. For pricing, we paid about 2200 pounds a year per seat for the client installation at an educational rate. I'm not sure about commercial rates. I managed to get a free copy at BBC since it was for evaluation purposes."
"I haven't found any issues with the scalability and licensing parts that are access-related."
"The price of this product is okay."
"It is priced fairly. It's around the same as erwin and other competitors' costs."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is bad and ten is good, I would rate the licensing cost as a seven or eight. It's not too expensive for us."
"I'm a firm believer that all software is overpriced these days but, comparatively speaking, I think ER/Studio is worth the money."
"I use the product's trial version."
"The setup cost may have been around $1500 to $2000."
"Pricing is expensive and on the higher-end."
"The solution’s pricing is high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Energy/Utilities Company
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise25
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BiZZdesign HoriZZon?
This is one of the best tools, especially because of its collaborative nature. Anyone using it can access previous projects and related data. It's definitely a strong collaborative tool.
What needs improvement with BiZZdesign HoriZZon?
There is room for improvement in BiZZdesign HoriZZon. It's quite robust and has good online forums where people discuss it, though maybe the interface can improve, but I don't want to criticize it ...
What is your primary use case for BiZZdesign HoriZZon?
The typical use case with BiZZdesign HoriZZon is basically for enterprise architecture and also for business process modeling.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IDERA ER Studio?
In terms of pricing, ER/Studio is slightly more expensive compared to Erwin, by about five to ten percent.
What is your primary use case for IDERA ER Studio?
I have been working with data modeling tools. Personally, I have been working with Erwin for many years now. ER/Studio is something I am currently trying to evaluate for acquiring it for our organi...
What advice do you have for others considering IDERA ER Studio?
I would strongly recommend ER/Studio for large teams. Erwin is a very stable product, but for smaller teams, it's okay. If I had to rate ER/Studio, I would give it nine out of ten because the absen...
 

Also Known As

HoriZZon
IDERA ER Studio, ER/Studio, ER/Studio Enterprise Team Edition
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

T-Mobile, Shell, HSBC, Erasmus University, VIVAT Insurance
Newmont Mining, Entrust, Accolade, TalkTalk, Catalina, Protective Life, NTT Data, dir systèmes, Microsoft; American Express, Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Coriant, Fedex, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Prudential, Wells Fargo
Find out what your peers are saying about BiZZdesign HoriZZon vs. IDERA ER/Studio and other solutions. Updated: November 2025.
872,869 professionals have used our research since 2012.