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Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler 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

erwin Data Modeler
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (1st), Business Process Design (7th), Data Governance (10th)
Lucidchart
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Mind Mapping Software (2nd), Visual Collaboration Platforms (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

erwin Data Modeler and Lucidchart aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. erwin Data Modeler is designed for Enterprise Architecture Management and holds a mindshare of 8.0%, down 10.0% compared to last year.
Lucidchart, on the other hand, focuses on Mind Mapping Software, holds 18.1% mindshare, down 23.2% since last year.
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
erwin Data Modeler8.0%
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect8.7%
SAP PowerDesigner8.3%
Other75.0%
Enterprise Architecture Management
Mind Mapping Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Lucidchart18.1%
Visio19.6%
Xmind13.8%
Other48.5%
Mind Mapping Software
 

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.
AlexMartin1 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at Nestlé
Visual collaboration has improved remote workflows and supports faster shared decisions
The best features Lucidchart offers are that it diagrams processes very well. It allows for project management to help with client timelines. It is also easy to use and create diagrams, especially mermaid diagrams. Collaborating is easy. Out of all those features, collaboration stands out to me the most because it is easy to share with team members to do joint design work. Lucidchart has positively impacted my organization by improving productivity and collaboration. In terms of specifics, collaboration helps us come to conclusions. I notice better throughput as it is easy to use. Improved productivity allows us to express ourselves more quickly.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the ways Data Modeler has benefited our company is that it gives us the ability to engage with the business alongside IT, because it's friendly."
"Given an opportunity to follow the correct path and perform data modeling, we have seen a significant return on investment with decreases in delivery time and decreases in project cost."
"erwin Data Modeler's ability to generate database code from a model for a wide array of data sources saves time in development, as utilizing the solution allows me to accomplish tasks in minutes compared to the extended time required for manual processes."
"I love the way erwin Data Modeler creates data models and presents them for our users."
"The process of creating visual representations of data structures using erwin Data Modeler allows you to see everything you are doing, and you have visuals to see what you are going to do and what has been done so far."
"It is a very good product if you want to import existing designs, and it is a tremendously flexible product for reverse engineering and database generation."
"The biggest lesson I have learned from erwin is the old cliche, that a picture is worth a thousand words, and when a person asks for a set of tables and they actually see that diagram visually, it really assists in any meeting that you will have."
"Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution."
"I really like the drag and drop feature because it makes the work easier. It is very easy to use. All the pieces are very good. All the icons and all the fields are available in the left panel. So, I just click, drag, and then edit a piece. When I showed it to my managing director, he was very inspired, and he also got a premium account for himself."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use, and just being able to drag and drop."
"As a lead engineer, I see positive effects from Lucidchart in my company, particularly in drawing an initial roadmap for project development and outlining use cases."
"The best feature Lucidchart offers is the ability to collaborate in real-time."
"The best features Lucidchart offers are that it is easy to use, the diagrams created are of good quality, and there are a lot of elements available."
"The flow chart is most valuable. It is a very user-friendly and simple-to-use product. Quite quickly, I was able to understand how to use it and just get on with my process flow."
"The organizational charts for visualizing and understanding team hierarchies and relationships are the reason why we purchased the package that would allow me to do more with it. I tried to find all the cheap ways to do things but the ease of access and the already preset structure that Lucidchart had in place made it easier. Out of all the choices that I saw come across my desk, Lucidchart was the best and easiest choice."
"Using Lucidchart for documenting processes is great. The elements are ready to use and it is quick to do."
 

Cons

"We find erwin DM less valuable creating initial drafts and reverse-engineering databases and there are still a lot of extensions to the scripting language that are not included with the erwin product."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"I would like to see more support for working with the big-data world. There are so many new databases evolving and it's very hard for them to keep up with all of the new technologies. It would be good if they were able to dynamically support big-data platforms, other than Hive and Teradata."
"Complete Compare is set up only to compare properties that are of interest to us, but some of the differences cannot be brought over from one version of the model to another. This is despite the fact that we are clicking to bring objects from one place to another. Therefore, it's hard to tell at times if Complete Compare is working as intended without having to manually go into the details and check everything. If it could be redesigned to a degree where it is easier to use when we bring things over from one site to another and be sure that it's been done correctly, that would be nice to have. We would probably use the tool more often if the Complete Compare were easier to use."
"The price should be reduced."
"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 prefer this software to be an operating system, not a web tool, as I'd switch to LucidOS, if it existed, in seconds."
"Lucidchart can be improved as it has some limited free plans with certain features unavailable in the free tier."
"I have used the solution to modify existing data structures but I would only rate it as a six out of ten in its capabilities."
"There were some things I wish were a little bit more user-friendly. For instance, when you're putting all the stuff onto a document or PDF, there's a set limit of width and height. It would have been very nice in certain situations to be able to drag people on the far edges and move them back up so that everything fits nicely onto the page."
"Though I really appreciate Lucidchart, I feel it is not as intuitive as it could be."
"One of the things that I find frustrating is that all of our Tableau information is on a server, so when I send that out people can't open it and use it."
"The communication with sales has been pretty poor. They have been spotty in terms of response. So far, that has been our problem with it. We were in contact with one of their representatives, but he just kind of disappeared one day and we couldn't find him anymore. He has not been responsive to email."
"It would be nice to be able to import not just contacts from Salesforce but also leads."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Though the solution is not cheap, it's worth the money."
"Pricing is very high compared to any other product."
"The primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."
"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."
"The price should be lower in order to be on the same level as its competitors."
"The solution is expensive."
"Price-wise, erwin Data Modeler is okay. You can purchase a single license and it is not very expensive."
"This company had bought the license for three years, and it's not an individual license. While you can buy a license for each individual, that would be very expensive. There is something called concurrent licenses where you can purchase licenses in bulk and 15 to 20 people can access the license and model. Concurrent licenses are scalable to the number of users and are proportional to the cost."
"One of the reasons we were able to get approval within two hours from our management was that it was cheap enough. We have a 3% or 10% collaboration package, which comes out to be 70 bucks a year. It was very cheap, and we had no issues actually getting the full version. It was very affordable for a business."
"The licensing is pretty cost-effective but I haven't considered it on an enterprise level."
"The pricing is very competitive. It is more cost-effective than some competing products, such as Visio."
"The price was low enough to make me think that it was fine, I'll go for it. I think it's $80 or so. It's not too expensive."
"I have only used the trial version and have not yet paid for it, or explored the pricing options."
"I pay $95 a year for it. It seems like a reasonable price."
"The pricing and licensing are fine, though I wish they didn't require you to buy the licenses in batches of five."
"I have a subscription as an individual user for one year, and it is not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise40
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise29
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
I have no idea about the setup cost because I did not buy the license.
What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
The UI in erwin Data Modeler can be improved significantly because when any new person opens the tool, all the toolbars are kept open with many tools in view, making it appear chunky. If possible, ...
What is your primary use case for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
I primarly use erwin Data Modeler for modeling purposes. Once we have the business requirement, we create the models in erwin Data Modeler, and then we perform forward engineering to get the query ...
LucidChart vs LucidSpark for brainstorming sessions over Zoom
Hi @Krista Thompson ​ - Yes, LucidSpark is a much more nimble and, in some ways, user-friendly tool than LucidChart. LucidSpark is designed to do a better job managing multiple users participating ...
Do you recommend Lucidchart?
I definitely recommend Lucidchart. I feel it is one of the top visual collaboration platforms that’s available on the market. Out of all the solutions I have tried, it is by far the best for diagra...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lucidchart?
It is cloud-based, so no setup is required. Currently, we are using a free plan.
 

Also Known As

erwin DM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

 Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples
Google, Salesforce, Adobe, Whirlpool, Uber, Wal Mart, Pearson, Twitch, Riot Games, Western Union, Trimble, Starbucks
Find out what your peers are saying about Quest Software, SAP, SAP LeanIX and others in Enterprise Architecture Management. Updated: August 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.