PTC Windchill vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest comparison

erwin by Quest and PTC are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. erwin by Quest is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1, while PTC is ranked #20 with an average rating of 6.0. erwin by Quest holds a 10.5% mindshare in AM, compared to PTC’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of erwin by Quest users are willing to recommend the solution.

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Read 39 erwin Data Modeler by Quest reviews

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2,074 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

PTC Windchill

Read 2 PTC Windchill reviews

162 Views
120 Comparison Views

0% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

PTC Windchill

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between erwin Data Modeler by Quest and PTC Windchill based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Enterprise Architecture Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

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

Buyer's Guide

PTC Windchill vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

June 2025

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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

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (9th)

PTC Windchill

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

20th

Average Rating

6.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Engineering Process (1st), PLM Tools (1st)

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 PTC Windchill is 0.6%, down from 0.7% 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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ChristianWilmers

Process Method and Tool Developer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Effective lifecycle management improves with strong version control and deep integration needs

There is room for improvement in implementing features fully. The user interface is inconsistent and outdated. It appears that different departments or locations have implemented features differently, leading to inconsistency. There is a significant need for improved integration, particularly using OSLC for connecting with other tools like SAP ERP or ALM tools. The version control, while consistent, lacks flexibility regarding changes in CAD data and requires manual intervention for BOM management analysis.

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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 reduces monthly savings by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Think about a company like Costco and all of the points of sale systems in Costco, all of the systems, the applications, but if all the applications in Costco all had their own data model, trying to integrate those, upgrade them and manage their different versions of the same model throughout the store, is an absolute nightmare. It's phenomenally expensive. This helps reduce that cost significantly. I'm talking on the orders of hundreds of thousands of dollars."

"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 fitting model is very intuitive."

"One of the best aspects of the tool is its reverse engineering capability."

"Any tool will do diagramming but I think the ability to put the stuff up in a graphical fashion, then think about it, and keep things consistent is what's valuable about it. It's too easy when you're using other methods to not have naming consistent standards and column consistent definitions, et cetera."

"I have worked with erwin Data Modeler for quite some time and familiarity is its most valuable feature."

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

"Being able to point it to a database and then pull the metadata is a valuable feature. Another valuable feature is being able to rearrange the model so that we can display it to users. We are able to divide the information into subject areas, and we can divide the data landscape into smaller chunks, which makes it easier to understand. If you had 14 subject areas, 1,000 entities, and 6,000 columns, you can't quite understand it all at once. So, being able to have the same underlying model but only display portions of it at a time is extremely useful."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pros

"I like how the product integrates with other technical solutions."

"The version control maintains consistent versions, which is beneficial."

"The strong point of Windchill is its close connection between the CAD structure and the bill of materials structure."

Cons

"In terms of improvements, support could have been better in terms of installation, especially of workgroups. We struggled quite a bit to get it up and running. Collaboration could have been better from an installation perspective, but it is trivial as compared to what we use it for. Other than that, I don't have much feedback. It works pretty well, and the fact that we've been using it for more than a decade shows that it is quite solid."

"We are planning to move, in 2021, into their server version, where multiple data modelers can work at the same time and share their models. It has become a pain point to merge the models from individual desktops and get them into a single data model, when multiple data modelers are working on a particular project. It becomes a nightmare for the senior data modeler to bring them together, especially when it comes to recreating them when you want to merge them."

"One of the things I've been talking to the erwin team about through the years is that every data model should have the ability to be multi-language... When I was working at Honda, it became very difficult to work with the Japanese teams using just one model. You can have two models, one in English and one in Japanese, but that means you have to keep the updates back and forth, and that always increases the risk of something not being updated."

"I love the product. I love the ability to get into the code, make it automated, and make it do what I want. I would like to see them put some kind of governance over the ability to make changes to the mart tables with the API, so that instead of just using the modeler's rights to a table -- it has a separate set of rights for API access. That would give us the ability to put governance around API applications. Right now a person with erwin and Excel/VBA has the ability to make changes to models with the API if they also have rights to make changes to the model from erwin. It's a risk."

"The erwin ETL functionality has room for improvement when it comes to mapping databases with a classic entity-relationship model to a data warehouse model."

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

"I still use Visio for conceptual modeling, and that's mainly because it is easier to change things, and you can relax some of the rules. DM's eventual target is a database, which means you actually have to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts, but in a conceptual model, you don't often know what you're working with. So, that's probably a constraint with erwin. They have made it a lot easier, and they've done a lot, but there is probably still room for improvement in terms of the ease of presentation back to the business. I'm comparing it with something like Visio where you can change colors on a box, change the text color and that sort of stuff, and change the lines. Such things are a whole lot easier in Visio, but once you get a theme organized in erwin, you can apply that theme to all of the objects. So, it becomes easier, but you do have to set up that theme."

"In terms of new features, it would be great to have a cloud base. We should be able to put it on the cloud for better collaboration and data models sharing."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons

"There is room for improvement in implementing features fully."

"Some parts of the system are exclusive, so we can't work with them."

"I would not recommend doing business with PTC regardless of the product."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"Price-wise, erwin Data Modeler is okay. You can purchase a single license and it is not very expensive."

"Pricing is very high compared to any other product."

"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."

"The pricing of the solution is cheap. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"The price of erwin Data Modeler is very expensive, in particular for this part of the world."

"There are two license options and the pricing is reasonable."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pricing and cost advice

"I rate PTC Windchill's pricing a seven out of ten since it is pricey."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

26%

Computer Software Company

12%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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.

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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.

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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...

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What do you like most about PTC Windchill?

I like how the product integrates with other technical solutions.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PTC Windchill?

I rate PTC Windchill's pricing a seven out of ten since it is pricey. The costs are fixed, and there are no additional costs.

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What needs improvement with PTC Windchill?

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Comparisons

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Compared 19% of the time

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Compared 13% of the time

Visio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 8% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 21% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

Aras Innovator vs PTC Windchill

Compared 15% of the time

Omnify Empower PLM vs PTC Windchill

Compared 14% of the time

Arena PLM vs PTC Windchill

Compared 7% of the time

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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

Windchill, Atego Artisan Studio, Integrity Modeler

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

Manufacturers have never needed real-time information sharing, dynamic data visualization, and the ability to collaborate more than they do today. With easy, secure data access for multi-disciplinary and geographically-distributed teams, quality-focused processes, and a data driven approach to manufacturing, Windchill is elevating how product development gets done.

Windchill’s open architecture enables easy integration with other enterprise systems, including IoT, providing a solid foundation for a product-driven digital thread. PTC's PLM application provides comprehensive out-of-the-box functionality and highly configurable role and task-based apps. Expand self-service access of traceable product data to non-experts who don’t typically use PLM, while avoiding over-customization and complexity.

PTC

Sample Customers

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

Bose, Valliant Group

Buyer's Guide

PTC Windchill vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

June 2025

Free Report: PTC Windchill vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Find out what your peers are saying about PTC Windchill vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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