OvalEdge vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

Quest Software and OvalEdge are both solutions in the Data Governance category. Additionally, 95% of Quest Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of OvalEdge users who would recommend it.

erwin Data Modeler

Read 39 erwin Data Modeler reviews

95% willing to recommend

OvalEdge

Read 2 OvalEdge reviews

415 Views
411 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler

OvalEdge

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between erwin Data Modeler and OvalEdge based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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To learn more, read our detailed Data Governance Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Data Governance

July 2025

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Helped 865,384 peers since 2012

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

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (4th), Business Process Design (10th)

OvalEdge

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Governance (21st)

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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AzhagarasanAnnadorai

Founder at Kaizentric Technologies Private Limited

Enables comprehensive data governance with role-based access and directory integration

The UI is straightforward for technical users with organized features under different modules like data catalog and business glossary. The role-based access control and integration with the directory system allow strict governance and limited user access. The APIs are comprehensive, enabling integration with other systems even for creating virtual data catalogs.

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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

"There is absolutely no problem with the stability."

"It allows us to create logical data models. We can represent a database model in business terms, which is very useful for us."

"It's important to create standard templates — Erwin is good at that — and you can customize them. You can create a standard template so that your models have the same look and feel. And then, anyone using the tool is using the same font and the same general layout. erwin's very good at helping enforce that."

"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 data lineage feature is very valuable."

"When you're getting down to the database level, where you're building a design and you're creating DDL out of it, or you're going in the other direction where you're reaching into system catalogs and bringing things back, that starts to really require specialization. Visio isn't going to reverse-engineer that for you. Those features in erwin are valuable."

"The solution is good for organizing the data and the scripting part is very powerful. It's easy to create technical scripts for models."

"The most valuable feature is the physical or visual representation of the database, showing the tables, the columns, the foreign keys, and the ability to generate DDL, so you can physically implement databases."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

"Over time, OvalEdge has improved significantly."

"The UI is straightforward for technical users with organized features under different modules like data catalog and business glossary."

Cons

"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."

"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 interface must be improved."

"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."

"It is not a very stable solution. I rate the stability five out of ten."

"I would like the solution to be more user-friendly to deploy."

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

"The reverse engineering in Oracle Databases needs improvement, as there are issues."

More erwin Data Modeler cons

"The lack of connectivity to mainframe systems and the complexity of integration are areas needing improvement."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"There is either a one-year or three-year license. It is not a pay-as-you-go license like a SaaS solution. It’s more of a traditional licensing. They are a little bit on the pricier side."

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

"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."

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

"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."

"Though the solution is not cheap, it's worth the money."

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for OvalEdge?

The pricing is affordable compared to other tools, and we opted for 500 user license.

See all answers

What needs improvement with OvalEdge?

The lack of connectivity to mainframe systems and the complexity of integration with legacy data systems are areas needing improvement. Advanced jobs require extra training and fine-tuning, making ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for OvalEdge?

GDPR compliance and enabling users to understand the transformation of data from one database to another. It is used mainly as a data catalog for data discovery, allowing users to understand the da...

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Comparisons

SAP PowerDesigner vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 36% of the time

IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 18% of the time

Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 12% of the time

Visio vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 6% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 6% of the time

More erwin Data Modeler Competitors

Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs OvalEdge

Compared 100% of the time

More OvalEdge Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler

August 2025

Download erwin Data Modeler product report

Buyer's Guide

Data Governance

July 2025

Download OvalEdge 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

OvalEdge is a data catalog and data governance tool that virtually centralizes all of a company's data into a single repository or catalog. OvalEdge provides a progressive approach to data governance, helping companies to:

Catalog: Make data asset discovery easy by automatically cataloging your enterprise data assets.

Collaborate: Provide a self-service collaborative experience for your analytics, data, and business teams that helps them find, understand, enrich, and share data assets quickly and easily.

Comply: Define and apply data controls that ensure data quality, enforce data governance policies, and verify that the business is meeting compliance requirements and minimizing risk.

OvalEdge runs on lean infrastructure. Also, since it is architected with an open framework, it can be seamlessly integrated with other applications.

OvalEdge

Sample Customers

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

Beaumont CHKD, UpWork, Pon, Rakuten, Verbund, Globe, Naranja

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Informatica, Collibra and others in Data Governance. Updated: July 2025.

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