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IDERA ER/Studio vs iServer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

IDERA ER/Studio
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Database Development and Management (8th)
iServer
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
9th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (17th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of IDERA ER/Studio is 4.0%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 4.5%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Aaron Cutshall - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for data modeling and has a scripting language to write your own scripts
The solution has streamlined our data modeling processes quite a bit. It's a central focus in our data modeling and data cataloging efforts. The tool's reverse engineering capability to bring in existing database structures and create models from them has benefitted our data architecture needs. With the tool's data dictionary capability, we're able to maintain consistency in our models, name use, and actual data domains. The solution's reverse engineering helps with understanding legacy databases. In fact, I've been asked to reverse-engineer several more legacy databases so that we can have them modeled and cataloged. The solution is deployed on the cloud server, but it’s only within our network. The solution has a lot of capabilities. I like the fact that it has a scripting language that allows you to automate and write your own scripts. I think that's been a big bonus for us. I highly recommend the solution because of its capability for logical models, where you can put your business definitions and logic. While less expensive, some other tools can't do that. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
Antonios Lazanakis - PeerSpot reviewer
Flexible, easy to use, and easy to import data
We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model. It is very easy to import data, and we also have good integration with Visual Drawing Tools and SharePoint. The solution is…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We use the solution to create data models which describe our company's data architecture"
"This application does a lot of things, as do competitor products, but the main reason to go with this product was the ability to create many automations, where we can improve our work and our process."
"ER/Studio is excellent for large teams; it scales well to teams of over one hundred plus people."
"It does the job."
"The interface is really simple to use and it allows me to pick and choose which tables I want to reverse engineer."
"It's easy to model and has a user-friendly interface. I like the team portal because, once we upload, the entire team can see the model."
"The most important features are logical and physical models that we can compare and develop. Also, the Data Dictionary can be created out of your studio. Finally, database schemas help understand the logic that's behind the scene, behind the SQL tables. Especially when there are a lot of them, the schemas help everyone understand the business processes."
"I would 100% recommend the product."
"The most valuable features of iServer are the integration with Microsoft Office and the interface is similar to Microsoft applications making them easy to use."
"I have to think less with this solution. It's simple."
"The initial setup is easy."
"The product has a valuable customized model."
"Integrating the Microsoft documents to the product and visualization matrix where we can see the end-to-end relationship of the network is of great importance to our company."
"The solution has wide use within Microsoft products. The integration with Microsoft products, and, in particular, Microsoft Office, is great."
"There were lots of different requirements, and collaboration and review is one of the biggest things. There is also Office 360 integration, and there's flexibility to use it as a database as well."
"Good and effective reporting features, which help in decision making."
 

Cons

"It would be helpful if they could create a generic JSON database type, as a target database, rather than a specific one like Mongo."
"The solution's reporting could be improved because the report writer is terrible."
"I would like to upload, a database with about 3,000 tables. It takes so much time and, finally, it freezes the whole solution so that I actually cannot work with that environment. For the data warehouse, it's fine because I have 20 or 30 tables. It works fine. But, when I reverse-engineer the database with 3,000 tables, it freezes and it's hard to upload and reverse-engineer such environments in ER/Studio."
"We did have a big issue when we upgraded to the 2016 version. The Team Server portion never did quite install correctly, and/or the database was corrupted, and we never figured it out."
"Sometimes our version is a little unstable. But I think this problem occurs because our version is old."
"The screens are a bit outdated. They could use a new look and feel."
"There was no specific mention of areas needing improvement."
"Whenever there is a new version, there are a lot of release notes on the technical side of it, but I would like to be told why are we doing the upgrade... What I would like to really see is how this benefits us from the business point of view. What are the real benefits that the user gets? I want some kind of way white paper. The release notes describe the technical enhancements but, from the layman's point of view, if someone asks me what are the business benefits of this upgrade, I don't have any documentation to explain it to the business."
"There are other solutions out there that have a better user interface."
"The product is more expensive than Spark."
"More visualization techniques and ways to report the data might be helpful."
"We could allocate permissions to use only specific components to the users rather than the entire instance."
"There could be features for process mining, process simulation, and analytics."
"iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io."
"Requirements management needs to be improved."
"iServer is a solid tool. Occasionally, we needed to contact the vendor to clarify details such as porting issues, missing components, and model specifics."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is pricey."
"The process of licensing could be much simpler, from our experience."
"The solution’s pricing is high."
"I use the product's trial version."
"At my previous company using ER/Studio, a database compare took four hours before using the product and 15 minutes after using the product."
"I am currently using the trial version, but this solution is definitely worth considering for the price point."
"The setup cost may have been around $1500 to $2000."
"The price of this product is okay."
"The product has a moderate pricing."
"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."
"The solution is cheaper than its competitors."
"The price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."
"It's about 13K to set up and 9K for the license for three months. I think it's about 20K a year, but we haven't firmed up on pricing yet because the price depends on how long we commit to the solution."
"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Energy/Utilities Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Government
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IDERA ER Studio?
In terms of pricing, ER/Studio is slightly more expensive compared to Erwin, by about five to ten percent.
What is your primary use case for IDERA ER Studio?
I have been working with data modeling tools. Personally, I have been working with Erwin for many years now. ER/Studio is something I am currently trying to evaluate for acquiring it for our organi...
What advice do you have for others considering IDERA ER Studio?
I would strongly recommend ER/Studio for large teams. Erwin is a very stable product, but for smaller teams, it's okay. If I had to rate ER/Studio, I would give it nine out of ten because the absen...
What do you like most about iServer?
iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management.
What needs improvement with iServer?
iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io. draw.io is a drawing tool used to draw architectural diagrams, flow diagrams, etc. It is an alternative to...
What is your primary use case for iServer?
We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.
 

Also Known As

IDERA ER Studio, ER/Studio, ER/Studio Enterprise Team Edition
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Newmont Mining, Entrust, Accolade, TalkTalk, Catalina, Protective Life, NTT Data, dir systèmes, Microsoft; American Express, Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Coriant, Fedex, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Prudential, Wells Fargo
Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about IDERA ER/Studio vs. iServer and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,295 professionals have used our research since 2012.