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Netwrix Data Classification 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
Ranking in Data Governance
15th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd), Business Process Design (8th)
Netwrix Data Classification
Ranking in Data Governance
31st
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 0.3%. The mindshare of Netwrix Data Classification is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
erwin Data Modeler0.3%
Netwrix Data Classification1.3%
Other98.4%
Data Governance
 

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.
Simonas Palevicius - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Development Manager at BAKOTECH
A comprehensive data classification and information security solution that offers robust functionality, scalability, and competitive pricing
The standout aspect of this solution is its price performance. It's highly flexible and scalable, offering customers the choice to match their needs and budget. It is also user-friendly and effective. Even if you opt for just one module, such as Active Directory, you'll immediately see automated, valuable insights when you install and run the auditor. From a network perspective, it offers an array of well-structured rules. Unlike other systems that require extensive configurations, Netwrix simplifies the process. It's more intuitive and forgiving, meaning you don't need to be an expert to get value from it. Its strength lies in its predefined rules that generate automated reports and more without requiring in-depth knowledge of the system.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The fitting model is very intuitive."
"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."
"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."
"The visual data models for helping to overcome data source complexity and enabling understanding and collaboration around maintenance and usage are excellent. A picture speaks 1,000 words. Seeing a picture that shows you how the data relates to each other helps you better understand what the data is and how to use it. Pairing that information with a dictionary, which has the definitions of the tables and columns or the entities and attributes, ensures that the users understand what the data is so that they can use it best and most successfully."
"erwin has versioning so you can keep versions, over time, of those models and you can compare any version to any version. If you're looking at a specific database and you want to see what changed over time, that's really useful. You can go back to a different version or connect that to your change-control processes so you can see what was released when."
"The generation of DDL saved us having to write the steps by hand. You still had to go in and make some minor modifications to make it deployable to the database system. However, for the data lineage, it is very valuable for tracing our use of data, especially personal confidential data through different systems."
"My favorite feature of erwin Data Modeler is that we can export and import tables directly from the databases, and it is easy to map from table to table and column to column."
"It's highly flexible and scalable, offering customers the choice to match their needs and budget."
"Netwrix Data Classification Manager finds the data in a very efficient manner, and the efficacy of the solution is very good."
 

Cons

"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 price should be reduced."
"We can only get licenses through partners."
"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 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."
"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."
"The only real complaint I have is the time it takes to do a database comparison on a large model. If they could speed that up, that would be the only thing I can think of that needs improvement."
"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."
"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."
"One of the key issues is its interface and querying capabilities, which can be complex, making it difficult to interpret logs."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."
"The solution is expensive."
"The tool is expensive."
"Pricing is very high compared to any other product."
"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."
"The price should be lower in order to be on the same level as its competitors."
"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."
"The initial pricing might seem reasonable, but costs can quickly escalate when adding components."
"Netwrix Data Classification Manager has an affordable price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Performing Arts
5%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise34
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
Regarding pricing, I am unsure what the exact price is for erwin Data Modeler, but I believe it is not useful for an individual. It is more targeted toward an enterprise level since organizations l...
What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
I write code and I write code accessing erwin Data Modeler's API, the Application Programming Interface, so that I can use Excel to update erwin Data Modeler and then get those updates and put them...
What is your primary use case for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
I work for CVS with a pretty big database as a data modeler on the PBMs, the Caremark PBM side, which is the Pharmacy Benefits Manager. There's a retail side too for all the stores, but our data wa...
What do you like most about Netwrix Data Classification Manager?
Netwrix Data Classification Manager finds the data in a very efficient manner, and the efficacy of the solution is very good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Netwrix Data Classification Manager?
Netwrix Data Classification Manager has an affordable price. Since the solution is priced according to the client's market size, everybody can afford it.
What needs improvement with Netwrix Data Classification Manager?
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. Although the solution is easy to...
 

Also Known As

erwin DM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

 Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Netwrix Data Classification vs. erwin Data Modeler and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.