No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Broadcom Test Data Manager vs IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 1, 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

Broadcom Test Data Manager
Ranking in Test Data Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
Data Masking (3rd), AI Synthetic Data (3rd)
IBM InfoSphere Optim Test D...
Ranking in Test Data Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Test Data Management category, the mindshare of Broadcom Test Data Manager is 14.0%, down from 18.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM) is 6.4%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Test Data Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Broadcom Test Data Manager14.0%
IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM)6.4%
Other79.6%
Test Data Management
 

Featured Reviews

Hosney Osman - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solution Architect at Vodafone
Offers great utility with synthetic data generation and reliable technical support
Overall, this can definitely be the advantage of the product, and I'm happy with these functionalities that Broadcom provides. I totally recommend any application working on the database layer directly and I don't recommend any applications from other external vendors to perform the same function. Oracle and PostgreSQL have similar applications and they both work directly in the database, reading directly from the database, transforming values in another table within the same database, making it easy to run. The solution is saving me time and money in general because this application saves money and a lot of effort. I can generate any amount of data from Broadcom Test Data Manager, which has a lot of information and equations regarding this task. It saves money because my testing team needs this data to create use cases tested on realistic data. Broadcom Test Data Manager adds great value to my organization, but I believe it can be afforded only in international, large-sized companies. It is not affordable for medium or small-sized organizations.
Ajai Lal - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at Mphasis
Supports both legacy and non-legacy systems
The solution's initial setup is neither complex nor too easy. Around six or seven people, including database administrators, were involved in the solution's deployment. On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a four to five 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 solution is very user-friendly. For instance, if I wanted to create a project with Data Generation, Data sub-setting, Selective sub-setting, and Data Marketing, it can be easily done in TDM. And if you want to export these project definitions from one system to another, it can be done with just one click."
"If I were talking to my peer managers, I would recommend Test Data Manager - and I have, on multiple occasions - because it does allow the developer to have quick access to data that, normally, would take them hours or sometimes days to gather."
"The solution is saving me time and money in general because this application saves money and a lot of effort."
"The solution has a portal where we can create data. We can also create synthetic data with the help of the product. We can use it to create a new data set in the database, eliminating many issues. The product helps with data accuracy and availability."
"Just use it as a proof of concept and you'll see the power of the TDM."
"​The masking of data has really been key for us to be able to replace PII with fake values."
"Test Data Manager allows you to do synthetic data generation, gives you a high level of confidence in your data that you're creating, and keeps you out of the SOX arena because there's no production data within that environment."
"CA is one of the few tool suites that has end-to-end features. Whatever role you are playing, whatever personality you are trying to address, it has that feature. For example, CA Service Virtualization goes hand-in-hand with TDM."
"Data masking with consistency across databases and applications is the most valuable feature."
"Reduces the need to keep expanding data storage Faster query performance with shorter batch execution times Consistent data masking and data integrity in non-production environments Efficient test data management"
"Data masking features are the most valuable, as non-production environments are used by diverse parties and data privacy has to be guaranteed."
"Makes it really easy to obfuscate big tables involving lots of columns and to manage 100’s of tables without putting in much effort."
"The solution can be used on both legacy and non-legacy systems."
"Data archiving reduces application performance issues and storage."
"Data archiving saved much storage and improved production performance."
"I like the features compared to other tools, as this tool is more flexible to use than other tools like an Oracle product or SAP product, and I think IBM tools are more flexible, and this tool is also a good product."
 

Cons

"That quickness I think is something that can be improved."
"A lot of research, data analysis, and work needs to be done on the source system in the tool which requires a data expert. This tool definitely requires a senior person to work on this issue, as it might be a challenge for a tester."
"The current version of the product is composed of several sub applications and the UI screens of those apps are not user-friendly enough."
"Product is quite stable but it has some functional bugs which are fixed as soon as they are reported to the support team."
"All financial institutions are based on mainframes, so they're never going to go away. There are ppportunities to increase functionality and efficiencies within the mainframe solution, within this TDM product."
"Needs improvement on SAP test data generation for SAP testing."
"The problem is that the cost of this tool is pretty high. Even if an organization likes the tool, at times it becomes difficult for us to sell the license."
"The additional feature probably would be a data reservation that is more robust, where you can actually use it consecutively."
"Data masking with InfoSphere Optim products creates intermediary extract files and writing the data to persistent storage, which means that extraction, masking, and insertion happen being separate processes, taking more for the process to run."
"Installation is too cumbersome."
"In the past, we have waited months for IBM to resolve the problem."
"I would like to be able to combine different masking functions on the same column map, making more complex masking without the need to write a Lua procedure."
"In the IBM Optim tool, the Synthetic Test Data Generation feature is lagging behind."
"I would like to be able to combine different masking functions on the same column map, making more complex masking without the need of writing an Lua procedure."
"I think it could be more secure. I don't have experience with the security aspects concerning PII data, but I think it can still be streamlined a little more. It could also have some more features, and the initial setup could be more straightforward."
"Improvisation in the area of the self-service user interface for test data management is required to cater to test data needs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is high."
"Part of the licensing is dependent on whether you want to use the portal. It's based on floating users. The other part is dependent on what type of system you are using. We are using mainframe, so we paid good money for a mainframe license."
"Mainly, we compete with the IBM team and Informatica, and if you compare the license cost, Broadcom is too flexible. Depending on the customer's budget, we suggest they buy only respective SKUs, and it's much cheaper compared to others because we have gone over multiple deals where pricing was never a factor in differentiating products."
"Know all the data requirements before buying this product. There are a lot of features for this tool, which may or may not be useful to a particular company. Make sure of what your requirements for your data are."
"The cost of this tool is pretty high... CA provides licenses for different utilities like masking but even if you break it up, the pricing is still high."
"It can be scaled for as many licenses as the customer is willing to pay. It's kind of expensive."
"I would rate Broadcom TDM's pricing as four out of five."
"My company makes yearly payments toward the licensing costs. So, I consider the licensing costs to be expensive, especially considering what I have heard from my colleagues."
"You have to pay yearly for the license, which comes at a reduced cost. The monthly payment option for a shorter project duration is also good."
"We purchase TDM's yearly license."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Test Data Management solutions are best for your needs.
896,467 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Insurance Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Marketing Services Firm
5%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Insurance Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Broadcom Test Data Manager?
In terms of areas for improvement in Broadcom Test Data Manager specifically, I recognize that building the ERD diagram after connecting to the database is very difficult and requires improvement e...
What is your primary use case for Broadcom Test Data Manager?
When it comes to use cases for Broadcom Test Data Manager, clients may use it for data masking. From a service provider perspective, regarding the data masking, data subsetting, and data virtualiza...
What advice do you have for others considering Broadcom Test Data Manager?
If I were to rate their support from one to ten, I would give them a ten. Let's divide the question about Broadcom's standing compared to other vendors. If we talk about Oracle, PostgreSQL, or any ...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM)?
The solution does not need much maintenance. The solution is maintained by the infrastructure team. There is a separate team for the software installation. I would recommend the solution to other u...
 

Also Known As

CA Test Data Manager, DataMaker, DataFinder, Fast Data Masker, CA TDM
IBM Optim Test Data Management, Optim Test Data Management, IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Manheim, Arag
Dignity Health
Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom Test Data Manager vs. IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM) and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
896,467 professionals have used our research since 2012.