Netwrix Data Classification vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

Netwrix Data Classification vs. erwin Data Modeler

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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

Ranking in Data Governance

10th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (1st), Business Process Design (4th)

Netwrix Data Classification

Ranking in Data Governance

22nd

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 0.4%. The mindshare of Netwrix Data Classification is 1.4%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Governance Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
erwin Data Modeler	0.4%
Netwrix Data Classification	1.4%
Other	98.2%

Data Governance

Featured Reviews

Sushree Panigrahi

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.

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Gregory Falowo

Isms Manager & Information Systems Security at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees

Automated data labeling has reduced manual work and supports our privacy compliance needs

We would like to enforce labeling currently in place. If a document is classified as strictly confidential, we want to be able to apply a profile that can cause documents to expire or revoke access anywhere the document is. We need a security feature so that if we have classified a document as strictly confidential and given it to a third party, that document remains strictly confidential. There has to be a way to enforce it and prevent the document from being shared with any other person apart from the person it was sent to. We do not want AI in security products for now, as AI in security products tends to be risky. AI can improve reporting and detection, but it should not execute.

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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

"We find that its ability to generate database code from a model for a wide array of data sources cuts development time. The ability to create one model in your design phase and then have it generate DDL code for Oracle or Teradata, or whichever environment you need is really nice. It's not only nice but it also saves man-hours of time. You would have to take your design and just type in manually. It has to take days off out of the work."

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

"This product is the strongest data modeler on the market."

"Overall, erwin DM's support for Snowflake is very good."

"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."

"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."

"It saves a lot of development time, and I think we are saving from two weeks to one month annually."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

"Netwrix Data Classification Manager finds the data in a very efficient manner, and the efficacy of the solution is very good."

"There is a massive cost saving; it is easy to use, the reporting is clean, and it is simpler to use than the Microsoft DLP solution, Purview."

"It's highly flexible and scalable, offering customers the choice to match their needs and budget."

Cons

"I would like to see improved reporting and, potentially, dashboards built on top of that. Right now, it's a little manual. More automated reporting and dashboard views would help because currently you have to push things out to a spreadsheet, or to HTML, and there aren't many other options that I know of. I would like to be able to produce graphs and additional things right in the tool, instead of having to export the data somewhere else."

"I would like the solution to be less rigid in terms of its theory."

"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."

"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 interface must be improved."

"What I did not like was that sometimes while I was creating relations, I was not getting errors. The errors only appeared when I tried to upload the model into a new database, which took a lot of time because I was creating a model, reproducing XML, and then trying to add the XML in the database."

"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."

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

More erwin Data Modeler cons

"One of the key issues is its interface and querying capabilities, which can be complex, making it difficult to interpret logs."

"We would like to enforce labeling currently in place. If a document is classified as strictly confidential, we want to be able to apply a profile that can cause documents to expire or revoke access anywhere the document is."

"Netwrix Data Classification Manager is very good at network data classification, but it also has to work on endpoint data classification because clients ask for it."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

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

"erwin Data Modeler by Quest is an expensive solution."

"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."

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

"The primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

"Netwrix Data Classification Manager has an affordable price."

"The initial pricing might seem reasonable, but costs can quickly escalate when adding components."

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902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Marketing Services Firm

Government

Financial Services Firm

14%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Construction Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	38

No data available

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 ...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Netwrix Data Classification Manager?

There is a cost increase. When Microsoft moved or divided the features, they also added cost to it. In order to get those features back, we will be paying much more than before to get the same feat...

What needs improvement with Netwrix Data Classification Manager?

What is your primary use case for Netwrix Data Classification Manager?

We want to discover documents and classify them automatically rather than manually classifying them. We give them labels from internal to confidential to strictly confidential. That way all the doc...

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Product Reports

erwin Data Modeler

Download erwin Data Modeler product report

Data Governance

Download Netwrix Data Classification product report

Also Known As

erwin DM

No data available

Overview

Erwin Data Modeler provides an effective approach to visualizing and managing data models. It assists in creating, reversing, and synchronizing data models with ease, supporting logical and physical transitions while enhancing understanding across teams.

Erwin Data Modeler is a comprehensive tool designed for professional database management. It offers capabilities to organize and enforce standards, automating script generation with robust reverse engineering and DDL output. Users can manage complex data environments, capitalize on integration with data intelligence, and maintain large-scale databases smoothly. Despite its strengths, improvements in multi-language support, database integration, and reporting features are needed. Users benefit from extensive support for conceptual, logical, and physical database modeling, enhancing architectural design and data governance for platforms like SQL Server, Oracle, and Teradata.

What are the key features of Erwin Data Modeler?

Visual Representation: Facilitates clear visualization of data models, aiding comprehension.
Versioning and Editing: Enhance usability with versioning and bulk editing capabilities.
Reverse Engineering: Offers powerful tools for reverse engineering and DDL generation.
Integration: Aligns with data intelligence to streamline database management.
Naming Standards: Enforces consistency with automated script creation.

What benefits should users consider in Erwin Data Modeler reviews?

Collaboration: Promotes team understanding and collaboration through visual tools.
Automation: Reduces manual effort through automated processes and integration.
Scalability: Handles large database management efficiently, crucial for enterprise settings.
Data Governance: Facilitates effective data governance with structured modeling.

Erwin Data Modeler finds application in industries focused on robust data management, implementing it for enterprise data warehouses, business domain models, and operational systems. It supports architectural design and governance, aligning with business applications demanding precise data representation and visualization.

Quest Software

Netwrix Data Classification automatically discovers and classifies sensitive and regulated data across file systems, Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive, databases, and other cloud and on-premises environments. As a core component of Netwrix data security posture management (DSPM), it enables organizations to understand where sensitive data resides, who has access to it, and how it is exposed.

The solution uses advanced content analysis and customizable classification rules to identify personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, intellectual property, regulated records, and other sensitive content. Classification tags are written directly to files and metadata, enabling integration with data loss prevention solutions, access governance controls, and security monitoring tools.

Netwrix Data Classification also supports automated remediation workflows. Organizations can move sensitive files to secure locations, adjust access permissions, redact sensitive content, apply labels, and identify redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data for cleanup. By combining data discovery, effective permissions analysis, and automation, it helps reduce data exposure and strengthen compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.

Key use cases

• Discover sensitive and regulated data across hybrid environments

• Identify overexposed data by analyzing effective permissions

• Remediate data risk with automated policy actions and workflows

• Identify and clean up redundant, obsolete, and trivial (ROT) data

• Protect intellectual property with content-based classification and tagging

• Support compliance with predefined classification rules aligned to regulatory standards

• Strengthen data loss prevention effectiveness with embedded classification tags

Netwrix

Sample Customers

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

Information Not Available

Netwrix Data Classification vs. erwin Data Modeler