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CA IDMS vs Foglight for Databases comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

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

CA IDMS
Ranking in Database Development and Management
29th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Foglight for Databases
Ranking in Database Development and Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of CA IDMS is 1.3%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Foglight for Databases is 3.7%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Foglight for Databases3.7%
CA IDMS1.3%
Other95.0%
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

AS
ALiBS Solutions at ALiBS Solutions
Helps us to manage user profiles very quickly and in an assertive way
I would rate this solution 9 out of 10. I would advise that they should evaluate other possibilities because this is a very quickly changing environment and there are other possible providers that have good solutions. I would do some kind of test. I would test other possible solutions too and compare them.
AkshayChaudhari - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Specialist at TCS
Centralized monitoring has reduced troubleshooting time and improves visibility across databases
I would improve the user interface of Foglight for Databases, as I feel it is somewhat complex, especially when using the specific troubleshooting view, particularly for new users. I would also appreciate more flexibility when customizing the dashboards and alerts, so better prioritization based on impact would be beneficial. Reporting could also be more straightforward with more ready-made reports and easier customization. Clearer recommendations during troubleshooting would help users move from identifying a problem to understanding the likely root cause. There is still room for improvement in the user interface, reporting, and alert customization, but overall Foglight for Databases has been valuable.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Stability is perfect! It is a really stable platform; it has been around for many years, and we trust it implicitly."
"Technical support is very good. They are very knowledgeable, very quick to respond, and very nice people, too.​"
"We've been able to fine tune it over the years to get really good performance out of it, and maintain some database network support."
"The solution is the community - a tightly knit group of experts who have been working on the product set for many years."
"The most valuable feature is the performance of the database; it's very efficient at what it does, quite reliable, and provides us with a very stable platform that we've been running for many years."
"The most useful feature is the governance feature, because it can show us and help us to manage user profiles very quickly and using it in assertive way."
"For me, one of the most useful components has been Performance Investigator, because it completely helps with bottlenecks or performance problems quickly, evaluating whether the root is at the server level, at the development level, or at the database level."
"We can visualize all the different types of DB servers that we are monitoring in a single pane of glass. It uses a 360-degree overview of the database, for each of those databases that we are monitoring. That includes what kind of resource utilization is happening and what kind of DB parameters are getting monitored, as well as the different types of DB parameters that are being offered for each database type."
"Foglight definitely saves us time when it comes to root cause analysis."
"It can save time and effort when doing root cause analysis. It enables me to obtain information quicker and easier compared to manually compiling it."
"It was a good investment because now we have insight into the health and performance of our databases."
"My impressions of Foglight for Databases' ability to help me monitor a variety of aspects such as the OS, hybrid clouds, hardware, and databases across different platforms have been great so far."
"Foglight for Databases has positively impacted our database operation mainly by improving monitoring and troubleshooting efficiency."
"The profiler allows us to look at the profiles of the database queries that are being run over time. It allows us to go back to our customers and say that these are some of the queries causing them some headaches. It gives us the opportunity to provide suggestions on how to improve their experience."
 

Cons

"​I would like to see it made simpler to operate and maintain."
"We have to use DB2 when we need more relational constructs, expanded inquiry and reporting; so it's not perfect in that regards."
"We need to make it much easier to support and maintain, because the skills required are quite specialized and we're not going to have people in the future who've got the necessary experience and knowledge."
"Right now, it's not easy to start using this solution. You have to take long course and train people. It's not an easy path."
"I'd like to see some of the installation, maintenance, and support functions simplified so that some of our younger, newer members can take advantage of the product and maintain it to the same standard that the older members have in the past."
"One thing that I would like, and it's probably something that I could set up internally, is something other than a dashboard which I have to look at to know that a server is down. I'd like bells and whistles to go off... If I look at the dashboard I know there's a server down. But if I'm not looking at it, if I'm looking at some other problem, I want to know about it. You can do that, you can use SMSs and alerts to your phone, and I could set it up to handle that, but it would be nice if, out-of-the-box, Foglight did that."
"The monitoring capabilities for Postgres should be at par with SQL Server. This is the area where we push back on our Quest representative. We want more insights into Postgres."
"I think Foglight for Databases could improve its user interface. It can be complex to navigate sometimes, especially when you are trying to troubleshoot a specific issue."
"I don't find Foglight for Databases to be very scalable. There are other tools in the market that do the same for less money."
"When holding data for two years for 20 SQL Servers, the reporting becomes sluggish and unresponsive."
"Foglight for Databases could benefit from fewer generic alerts and more rules based on impact, priority, and action path, which would make it more useful for daily operations, on-call shifts, and incident follow-up."
"When we decided to go with Foglight, a lot of people stopped using the diagnostics part because it was very intimidating... They still won't use it because they feel it's too intimidating. They will open something up and not know what to do. It's not very user-friendly. You have to click on a lot of stuff to find the information."
"Overall, I am happy with the product, but there are a few areas where it could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Do not hold back on asking questions about the maintenance and continued support of the product."
"It is cost-effective. With our EA, it is really based on the scale of our database environment. We found the Quest team to be reasonable and flexible when it comes to pricing and scaling of licenses."
"Compared to the other tools on the market, Foglight is okay in terms of pricing and licensing."
"This is like the "Cadillac" of performance monitoring software. It's not cheap... I am currently with a company that I was able to convince that the product is worth the cost."
"Pricing is very reasonable. We were able to construct a pretty easy contract with Quest, who were very easy to work with and very amenable to what we are trying to do. It worked out well for us."
"The price is worth it, if you have the time to go through the information."
"The price of Foglight could be a little more competitive in Chile, and it should be lowered for long-time customers— at least by 20 percent. Sometimes the price is a limitation. We have seven instances and nearly 5 million users. If Quest Foglight could reduce its prices for the clients that have been with it for a long time, we would be able to have more instances."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest Foglight for Databases?
I have had a good experience with the licensing costs of Foglight for Databases, as we have a provider who has given us good prices, and so far we have not had any cost problems. Regarding configur...
What needs improvement with Quest Foglight for Databases?
Overall, I am happy with the product, but there are a few areas where it could be improved. First, I think the user interface could be more modern and intuitive, especially for new users. Some dash...
What is your primary use case for Quest Foglight for Databases?
My main use case is database performance monitoring and troubleshooting. As a developer, I use Foglight for Databases to understand whether database performance is contributing to an application is...
 

Also Known As

IDMS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Hill Data Services Inc.
CommitDBA
Find out what your peers are saying about CA IDMS vs. Foglight for Databases and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.