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CA IDMS vs IDERA ER/Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 23, 2025

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
IDERA ER/Studio
Ranking in Database Development and Management
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of CA IDMS is 1.3%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IDERA ER/Studio is 3.0%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

AS
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.
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 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."
"Technical support is very good. They are very knowledgeable, very quick to respond, and very nice people, too.​"
"It is a really stable platform. It has been around for many years. We trust it implicitly. ​"
"It was a very good tool at the time since it was complete."
"We use the solution to create data models which describe our company's data architecture"
"My overall rating for the solution is ten out of ten."
"The most valuable features are... those that enable me to represent the database to the development community and the business users."
"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."
"We found a lot of duplication, a lot of non-conformity in the way our databases were designed. By identifying these situations, we're able to go back in and try to create a more standardized solution."
"This application does a lot of things, as do competitor products, but the main reason to go with this product was the ability to create many automations, where we can improve our work and our process."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is generating DDL (data definition language)."
 

Cons

"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 would like to see it made simpler to operate and maintain."
"I'd like the ability to debug the errors ourselves instead of having to call them. There are certain types of errors that, I wouldn't say they come up regularly, but when you have an error it is very often the same type of error. Knowing that it's a Type III or Type I, it would be nice to have some kind of debugging facility for us to use to find out where the problem that threw that error occurs. That would be a really cool feature."
"It would be helpful if they could create a generic JSON database type, as a target database, rather than a specific one like Mongo."
"ER/Studio lacks a pure cloud option for deployment."
"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."
"We would always like to see Repository performance improve, checking in and checking out."
"when there are some links to the external databases, if this database is not structured it is not uploaded. It gives me errors and I cannot see the view that was created on this structure and I cannot change those views, even manually. It skips the views. I have to ignore those views. I cannot re-upload them because it gives me an error."
"The screens are a bit outdated. They could use a new look and feel."
"The solution could be sped up, as it is a little slow (e.g., when it's doing its database compare)."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Do not hold back on asking questions about the maintenance and continued support of the product."
"At my previous company using ER/Studio, a database compare took four hours before using the product and 15 minutes after using the product."
"The solution’s pricing is high."
"Pricing is on point, but do your due diligence - not every developer needs the tool."
"I am currently using the trial version, but this solution is definitely worth considering for the price point."
"I use the product's trial version."
"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."
"It is priced fairly. It's around the same as erwin and other competitors' costs."
"The process of licensing could be much simpler, from our experience."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Energy/Utilities Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Hill Data Services Inc.
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 CA IDMS vs. IDERA ER/Studio and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.