erwin Data Modeler by Quest vs iServer comparison

erwin by Quest and Orbus Software are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. erwin by Quest is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1, while Orbus Software is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.4. erwin by Quest holds a 10.5% mindshare in AM, compared to Orbus Software’s 4.5% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of erwin by Quest users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Orbus Software users who would recommend it.

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Read 39 erwin Data Modeler by Quest reviews

3,806 Views
2,074 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

iServer

Read 18 iServer reviews

2,006 Views
925 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

iServer

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

iServer and erwin Data Modeler by Quest compete in data modeling and enterprise architecture. erwin Data Modeler by Quest has a competitive feature edge, while iServer is more attractive in terms of pricing and support.

Features: iServer offers seamless integration with various enterprise architecture frameworks, efficient reporting capabilities, and flexible deployment options. erwin Data Modeler by Quest has advanced data modeling, comprehensive metadata management, and powerful collaboration tools.

Room for Improvement: iServer could enhance its ease of use and speed of deployment and provide more user-friendly interfaces. It might also benefit from more advanced collaboration features. erwin Data Modeler by Quest could improve its pricing structure, adaptability to budget-conscious businesses, and offer simpler integration with non-Microsoft products.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: erwin Data Modeler by Quest provides a straightforward deployment process with robust customer service for smooth transitions. iServer's scalable deployment process may have a steeper learning curve, but it offers thorough support once understood.

Pricing and ROI: iServer is generally more affordable with quick ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. erwin Data Modeler by Quest, with a higher initial cost, offers significant long-term ROI due to its extensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed erwin Data Modeler by Quest vs. iServer Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler by Quest vs. iServer

June 2025

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Helped 856,873 peers since 2012

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

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

3rd

Ranking in Business Process Design

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

iServer

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

7th

Ranking in Business Process Design

13th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler by Quest is 10.5%, up from 10.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 4.5%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

JorgeSanz

Data Governance Senior Advisor at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

Streamline data modeling and automate network changes for increased efficiency

The initial setup depends on the tool if you are using the data model environment. Stopping the server could be complex and require strong expertise. If you have everything set up and configured, Erwin is straightforward. You can deploy it in a few hours. In our case, it took a couple of months to address internal conditions, assign machines, and set up everything for the services. I rate the initial setup a six out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

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Antonios Lazanakis

Senior IT Solution Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Flexible, easy to use, and easy to import data

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model. It is very easy to import data, and we also have good integration with Visual Drawing Tools and SharePoint. The solution is…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's a safeguard for me because I'm always concerned that somebody is free handing it and will forget a key coming from the parent. The migrating keys are a great feature. Identifying relationships, non-identifying relationships, and being visually right there to understand the differences are great features. erwin is key to being able to visually understand whatever the customer is requesting. They'll give you words on a paper, but once they can actually view it as a picture, it really comes to life. The data comes to life to where they understand exactly what they're asking for."

"The principal feature that I liked is that the solution has a very graphic interface."

"We use the macros with naming standards patterns, domains, datatypes, and some common attributes. As far as other automations, a feature of the Bulk Editor is mass updates. When it sees something is nonstandard or inaccurate, it will export the better data out. Then, I can easily see which entities and attributes are not inline or standard. I can easily make changes to what was uploaded to the Bulk Editor. When taking on a new project, it can save you about a half a day on a big project across an entire team."

"It provides flexibility with the code. You can change the code as you want. Basically, you can change SQL based on what's best for your project."

"We can create mappings in erwin and possibly data dictionaries."

"We use the Forward and Reverse Engineering tools to help us speed things up and create things that would have to be done otherwise by hand. E.g., getting a database into a data model format or vice versa."

"The most valuable features are the ability to reverse engineer and do model comparison. With the reverse engineering, I can understand the databases from third-party products. With the model comparison, I can track the differences between two versions of the same database."

"It has centralized storage so that a data model can be shared by different teams."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pros

"iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model."

"The most valuable feature is its reporting capability. It offers various packages for different types of reports, such as business and project management reporting packs."

"Good and effective reporting features, which help in decision making."

"iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management."

"This flexibility is the most helpful part in the standard version."

"I have to think less with this solution. It's simple."

"This is a flexible tool compared to some other solutions."

"The product has a valuable customized model."

More iServer pros

Cons

"There is a lack of local support in the China region."

"I find the UI very clunky and very difficult to use. If I add columns to a table the whole workflow could be so much easier. I get frustrated using it. I've tried other tools. I've tried to get off of erwin a few times. I always come back to it because every tool has its own set of problems, and it seems like if I have to pick my poison, I stay with erwin. But so many things that are clunky with it."

"The interface must be improved."

"It would be nice to have it on the Linux platform, not just Windows. If they can support Linux, there would be a huge market for it."

"It is not a very stable solution. I rate the stability five out of ten."

"I am not so happy with its speed. Sometimes, it can have problems with connections."

"The Bulk Editor needs improvement. If you had something that was a local model to your local machine, you could connect to the API, then it would write directly into the repository. However, when you have something that is on the centralized server, that functionality did not work. Then, you had to export out to a CSV and upload up to the repository. It would have been nice to be able to do the direct API without having that whole download and upload thing. Maybe I didn't figure it out, but I'm pretty sure that didn't work when it was a model that sat on a centralized repository."

"I would like the solution to be more user-friendly to deploy."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons

"There could be features for process mining, process simulation, and analytics."

"The product is more expensive than Spark."

"It definitely needs help to improve the visual aspect of the solution."

"The one issue is that if you want to import predefined work, you need to put the licensing model in. So if you wanted to import work that was done before, you then need to buy a separate product for that."

"The performance is slow, which is something that should be improved."

"iServer is a solid tool. Occasionally, we needed to contact the vendor to clarify details such as porting issues, missing components, and model specifics."

"The migration tool needs to be included in the main package, and not as a separate license."

"There are other solutions out there that have a better user interface."

More iServer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."

"erwin is expensive compared to other solutions. We are paying almost $6,000 per seat a month."

"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."

"The price should be lower in order to be on the same level as its competitors."

"The solution is expensive."

"We've continued to use the product for many years and compared it with others on the market. The pricing is reasonable considering what the solution offers and what we pay. There are cheaper tools, but they may not be as robust and easy to use, so it's worth the money."

"erwin has this option where you pay a one-time fee and you have the license for six years, which makes sense because I don't upgrade my database engine every other year. I have an application that depends on it. This is something weird about PowerDesigner. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee."

"I don't specifically know what we're paying now. About three years ago, in another organization, I have this memory of 6,000 AUD a seat or something like that, but I am not sure. In the mid-2000s, it was something like 1,200 AUD a seat. I get the impression that there was a price jump when it was spun off from CA as a separate company, which is understandable, but it could sometimes be a barrier in some organizations picking it up. I haven't talked to erwin people yet, but I'm going to suggest to them that they could perhaps think of having an entry-level product that is priced a bit lower, and then, you can buy the extra suite."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pricing and cost advice

"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."

"It's about 13K to set up and 9K for the license for three months. I think it's about 20K a year, but we haven't firmed up on pricing yet because the price depends on how long we commit to the solution."

"The price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."

"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."

"The product has a moderate pricing."

"The solution is cheaper than its competitors."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

21%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

As a documenting tool, it's solid, though its reporting could be more robust. The reporting mechanisms could be more intuitive regarding report creation. It can generate reports in CSV files, displ...

See all answers

What do you like most about iServer?

iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management.

See all answers

What needs improvement with iServer?

iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io. draw.io is a drawing tool used to draw architectural diagrams, flow diagrams, etc. It is an alternative to...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iServer?

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP PowerDesigner vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 33% of the time

IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 19% of the time

Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 13% of the time

Visio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 8% of the time

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest Competitors

LeanIX vs iServer

Compared 24% of the time

OrbusInfinity vs iServer

Compared 15% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs iServer

Compared 14% of the time

ARIS BPA vs iServer

Compared 8% of the time

Ardoq vs iServer

Compared 2% of the time

More iServer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

June 2025

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Also Known As

erwin DM

No data available

Overview

erwin pioneered data modeling, and erwin Data Modeler (erwin DM) remains trusted, award-winning software for data modeling and database design, automating complex and time-consuming tasks. Use it to discover and document any data from anywhere for consistency, clarity and artifact reuse across large-scale data integration, master data management, metadata management, Big Data, business intelligence and analytics initiatives – all while supporting data governance and intelligence efforts.

erwin by Quest

iServer is a unified software platform and enterprise modeling environment that extends and enhances the familiar, market leading Microsoft Visio and Office products. Core capabilities provided by iServer include an enhanced Microsoft Visio diagramming interface, a powerful central repository for all enterprise architecture or business process models and documentation, and a range of tools for visualization, analysis and decision making.

Orbus Software

Sample Customers

Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples

Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler by Quest vs. iServer

June 2025

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