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Endevor vs Gen comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Endevor
Ranking in Mainframe Application Development
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
Software Configuration Management (3rd)
Gen
Ranking in Mainframe Application Development
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Mainframe Application Development category, the mindshare of Endevor is 17.9%, down from 33.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Gen is 9.4%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mainframe Application Development Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Endevor17.9%
Gen9.4%
Other72.7%
Mainframe Application Development
 

Featured Reviews

HB
R&D Team Leader at First International Bank of Israel
A highly stable tool for managing mainframe software development projects that require significant expertise
We use the basic feature set of Endevor to control and track all of the sales operations within our company.  It is a very good product that allows safe management of the individual components. The tools are specifically designed for mainframe environments, providing features tailored to the…
IR
Consultant
Full packets enable software implementation on the mainframe and client sides
I rate it eight out of 10. It's just very powerful tool, very powerful product to use. Nowadays, there are a couple of mainframe companies, using mainframe products, so to be honest, I'm not recommending it. Of course, if you have mainframe and you have do something in the mainframe that’s different.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The automation that we were able to build in; we were doing essentially some aspects of agile development before it was even a concept, because we were doing integrated builds every hour, on the hour, with no problems."
"I do not think our organization could go without it."
"We have used it for years and never had any real issues with it."
"Consistent, repeatable processes, and the automation that we have built take away much of the human error aspect."
"The development team support, all the customers around the world, and myself: We are one big Endevor family."
"It maintains a 99.999% uptime."
"I like it because it customizable, and it's rock steady, it's a very robust and mature product."
"They provide answers and solutions."
"If you’re writing a simple barebones COBOL program, it may take 20-30 hours, but with a solution like this it can be done in around four hours."
"You can easily manage the code, and you can easily find other changes, other group changes, other models, other components."
"It has lived long beyond what people thought was its life expectancy as a product, largely because it is such a quality tool that people can't replace."
"The so-called full packets, so you can develop software and systems using these packets, and implement software on the mainframe side and the client side."
"Coding on CA Gen is easy."
"If you want to be the first in market and you have a short time to generate, or to develop your application, and if you're looking for a platform that supports multiple frameworks, multiple platforms such as mainframe, Java, and .Net, or the others, you need a modelling tool, rather than a language or technology."
"Full packets, enable you to develop software and systems using these packets, and implement software on the mainframe side and the client side. You can use the same packets, so it's very powerful."
"CA Gen has provided us web development capability."
 

Cons

"The scalability of Endevor could improve."
"Probably more of a web-based option for it, because it is mostly mainframe."
"I find the ISPF interface to be lacking. It seems like you have to navigate to a lot of different screens to work with the same element."
"I would like to see it used for Hadoop, which is really huge now."
"The internal setup is complex and rigid."
"It is still kind of behind the times. It needs to catch up with all the millennials that want a distributed look and feel."
"Endevor can improve parallel development."
"This software is made to keep the components' and change history. There is no concept of application and version management of these applications."
"If I look into the native COBOL language it can be more efficient, and CA Gen adds what seems to be some unnecessary lines of code; it’s not an apples to apples comparison."
"I cannot use DB2 specifications, DB2 comments, easily."
"Nowadays, there are a couple of mainframe companies, using mainframe products, so to be honest, I'm not recommending it."
"The product needs to be well marketed, then adopted. I am not seeing many customers using the product."
"The world is changing, the technologies are changing - COOL:Gen needs to change as well."
"Personally, I think the tool has taken a turn for the worse."
"The weak side is, I cannot use the DB2 specifications, DB2 comments, easily."
"The product needs to be well marketed, then adopted. I am not seeing many customers using the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is fairly simple, you don't need multiple licenses."
"Just make sure if you are going to license, ensure you license the right features.​"
"The solution is very expensive."
"The product is expensive."
"It's worth the value. The pricing is fairly good, justifiable for the return on investment."
"It's competitively priced and, as far as I know, it's just an enterprise license. We have found it is worth the money."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Insurance Company
12%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise39
No data available
 

Also Known As

CA Endevor Software Change Manager, Endevor Software Change Manager, CA Software Change Manager for Mainframe, CA Endevor SCM
CA Gen
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Hill Data Services Inc.
Global bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Endevor vs. Gen and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.