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erwin Data Modeler vs iGrafx Process360 Live Platform 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

erwin Data Modeler
Ranking in Business Process Design
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (1st), Data Governance (10th)
iGrafx Process360 Live Plat...
Ranking in Business Process Design
19th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (32nd), Process Mining (16th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 3.3%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iGrafx Process360 Live Platform is 2.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Business Process Design Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
erwin Data Modeler3.3%
iGrafx Process360 Live Platform2.9%
Other93.8%
Business Process Design
 

Featured Reviews

Sushree Panigrahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Snowflake Data Engineer| Senior PLSQL Developer |Data Modeler|Assitant Vice Pre at Jp Morgan Chase & Co.
Data modeling has transformed regulatory reporting and collaboration across cloud environments
In erwin Data Modeler, areas that have room for improvement include performance improvements. I see that large models sometimes cause it to be slow when opening. Impact analysis can lag as well. Version control is another aspect. If we have developed a current version, it is not integrated with Git where we can easily compare different versions. UI modernization is also something we cannot utilize as it is primarily for development. Additionally, cloud-specific optimizations are needed when it comes to Snowflake or Databricks. When it comes to AI aspects, auto-suggestions for normalization or identifying primary, foreign, or surrogate keys are areas that can be improved.
MR
Solution Consultant at a healthcare company with 51-200 employees
Provides documentation, process mining, simulation, and automation capabilities
If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right. We have a strategic approach for the customer. I was involved in almost 100 sessions where the customers were looking for a one-time process visualization or one-time process mining, not for a long-term association with this tool. The customer's requirements are more tactical than strategic. We had some challenges during this time frame as I was with iGrafx, and electricity costs rose in Germany. One customer stopped a large deal because they had to reduce every non-invested investment due to the electricity bill rising by 500% to 800%.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What has been useful, I have been able to reverse engineer our existing data models to document explicitly referential integrity relationships, primary/foreign keys in the model, and create ERDs that are subject area-based which our clients can use when working with our databases. The reality is that our databases are not explicitly documented in the DDL with primary/foreign key relationships. You can't look at the DDL and explicitly understand the primary/foreign key relationships that exist between our tables, so the referential integrity is not easily understood. erwin has allowed me to explicitly document that and create ERDs. This has made it easier for our clients to consume our databases for their own purposes."
"The data lineage feature is very valuable."
"Out of all of the modeling tools, erwin is a 10 out of 10."
"It saves a lot of development time, and I think we are saving from two weeks to one month annually."
"I have used most of the modeling tools available, but I found that erwin Data Modeler is the most suitable data modeling tool in our current industry."
"We had some data integration projects, where we needed to integrate it for about 100 databases. Doing that manually is crazy; we can't do that. With erwin, it was much easier to identify which tables and columns could be used for the integration. That means a lot in terms of time and effort as well as my image to the customer, because they can see that we are providing value in a very short time."
"The value of understanding your data in a graphical way has been very rich in communicating to developers and testers when they recognize the relationships and the business rules."
"erwin Data Modeler has positively impacted my organization by providing our teams with a common visual representation of the data structure, which makes it easier to convey information to developers and stakeholders so they can understand the relationships, ultimately aiding in maintaining consistency across models."
"Simulation is most valuable."
"iGrafx gives you the capability of documenting your process and then the ability to use it as a tool for analysis to identify the loopholes and shortcomings of your process."
"The solution's most beneficial feature is the 360 approach, where documentation, process mining, simulation, and automation capabilities are in one solution."
"We found the technical support to be helpful."
"We think iGrafx is well-priced, affordable; you don’t need a lot of license seats, and it has a good, free, downloadable iGrafx Viewer (akin to Adobe Reader)."
"Another good feature is that the numbering of the shapes in iGrafx is much easier and more convenient, in comparison to what is found in Visio. So far I haven't found anything similar to what I have with iGrafx, in that regard."
"If you need software to help you easily design processes, make simulations, build value stream mappings, which has some LEAN features, and DMAIC support, I strongly encourage you to go forward and buy iGrafx."
"The solution has helped our organization because instead of writing long documentation for the shop floor, flow charts make it more attractive for the staff to follow up on and carry out procedures."
 

Cons

"One area for improvement of erwin Data Modeler would be the overall user interface, which can feel dated and takes some time to get familiar with."
"The solution's reporting side needs to be improved."
"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."
"I would like to see the reporting capabilities be more dynamic and more inclusive of information. The API is very sparsely understood by people across the user community."
"I'd really like to see the PDF function become available. It would make my life much easier than what it is at the moment because whenever I need to collaborate with people that do not have erwin, I have to go through the wonkiness of going to Word and then save it from Word into PDF. There's a lot of differences between erwin 4.4 and 2020."
"The navigation is a little bit of a challenge. It's painful. For example, if you've got a view open and you want to try to move from side to side, the standard today is being able to drag and drop left and right. You can't really do that in the model. Moving around the model is painful because it doesn't follow the Windows model today."
"It has a very steep learning curve, limited support for NoSQL or streaming systems, and potentially a high licensing cost."
"Sometimes when I want to open the attribute editor, it stops working and the whole application freezes."
"With iGrafx, the implementation and the licensing were pretty complex."
"It can be more user-friendly."
"In the next release, I would like to see more layers like three, four, and five. It might be possible but I haven't seen it yet."
"Visio is more user-friendly."
"This is a tool that covers the low end (e.g. Visio) to high end (e.g. Aris), although it's much less user friendly."
"I would love to see a template and shapes for customer journey mapping."
"One of the areas in the product with certain shortcomings where improvements are required includes the tool's reporting capabilities."
"It would be helpful to be able to do more analytics and generate reports on historical documents that have already been uploaded to the server."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"erwin is expensive compared to other solutions. We are paying almost $6,000 per seat a month."
"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."
"The primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."
"Though the solution is not cheap, it's worth the money."
"The price of erwin Data Modeler is very expensive, in particular for this part of the world."
"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."
"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."
"Our license is a subscription-based model that is per user. The solution is not expensive, I believe a subscription-based model is $10 per user."
"I have heard that the solution's pricing is very competitive."
"My company is trying to replace iGrafx because the license is a little bit expensive."
"Earlier, the licensing part was complex because there were so many modules and elements in the tool. Over the last one and a half years, a lot of work has gone into how the product has priced and positioned its tools in the market."
"The licensing part is one of the problems. Its licensing depends on the number of users, so it sometimes gets expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise43
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
The experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the licensing process is painful and quite onerous. The setup is okay, but there is room for improvement.
What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
Regarding improvements, the first thing I would mention is that every release has some issues, some of which are related to current functionalities, which means they often seem not very well tested...
What is your primary use case for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
My main use case for erwin Data Modeler is to implement a single data architecture design department so everyone is using erwin Data Modeler for their data models to be a transactional application ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for iGrafx?
I have heard that the solution's pricing is very competitive.
What needs improvement with iGrafx?
If customers want to change the color or the logo, they have to go through every page to verify everything is right. We have a strategic approach for the customer. I was involved in almost 100 sess...
What is your primary use case for iGrafx?
The solution is used for the documentation and visualization of the main processes. The customers have hundreds or thousands of processes, but they start with the top 20 processes. The next step is...
 

Also Known As

erwin DM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

 Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples
Multinational Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about erwin Data Modeler vs. iGrafx Process360 Live Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.