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Quest Data Intelligence vs SAP PowerDesigner comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 16, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.2
erwin Data Intelligence improved productivity, reduced costs, and enhanced efficiency by streamlining data processes and reducing IT dependency.
Sentiment score
3.0
Users find SAP PowerDesigner cost-effective, enhancing efficiency and time savings, with some reporting a 43% return on investment.
Compared to competitor products like Collibra, erwin Data Intelligence is more cost-effective, providing a data catalog and data lineage views without the high costs associated with governance software.
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
I cannot put a number on it, but if you think about developing software manually or using a tool to generate software and considering the license cost of SAP PowerDesigner, the ROI is pretty positive relatively quick because it's not that expensive.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.8
Erwin Data Intelligence's customer service is praised for expertise and responsiveness, though some users suggest faster response times.
Sentiment score
5.9
SAP PowerDesigner support is valued for expertise but hindered by response delays and regional challenges, affecting overall satisfaction.
Quest technical support is very good, as they provide not only a technical help desk but also a data automation team that creates and customizes smart connectors, offering a wealth of skilled support.
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
For technical support, they need to improve response time.
Data Unit Manger at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I rate SAP's technical support a 9 out of 10 due to their responsiveness and the quality of assistance provided.
Manager at Saama
It relies heavily on VBScript, which is something that will be end of life in a few years in Windows.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
Regarding technical support, after a recent licensing issue caused a temporary halt, we realized the importance of tracking licensing and version updates to avoid future disruptions in service.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Erwin Data Intelligence is scalable and efficient but faces occasional cloud connectivity issues with large datasets.
Sentiment score
7.1
SAP PowerDesigner is scalable, efficiently handling large teams and projects, though some users have licensing concerns.
Regarding scalability, I would rate erwin Data Intelligence as an eight or nine for its ability to expand.
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
When we tried to connect erwin Data Intelligence to ERP on Oracle Cloud, specifically Oracle Fusion, we encountered many problems.
Data Unit Manger at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Currently, there are no scalability limitations in SAP PowerDesigner, allowing us to create numerous data models for various projects.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The scalability of SAP PowerDesigner is very good.
Senior Advisor-Data Modeling at Suncor Energy
Our main objective is to upgrade to the supported version and be able to do whatever we are doing at the moment.
Principal Architect at Sopra Steria
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
erwin Data Intelligence is stable and integrates well, though large enterprises may face metadata challenges and initial setup issues.
Sentiment score
7.0
SAP PowerDesigner is stable, rated 7-8/10, but faces challenges with complex, remote, or customized environments affecting performance.
It is good for small and medium enterprises, but larger enterprises with huge amounts of metadata might face some issues.
Data Unit Manger at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
From my perspective, I would rate the stability of erwin Data Intelligence as an eight or nine out of ten.
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
If you use a lot of customizations, especially using VBScript, it becomes less stable.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
This may lead to frequent downtimes requiring server maintenance; thus, it is not suitable for highly complex solutions, but moderate complexities can be handled.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product is reliable.
Principal Architect at Sopra Steria
 

Room For Improvement

Erwin Data Intelligence needs automation, interface improvements, better data handling, and enhanced integration while reducing dependency on costly services.
SAP PowerDesigner needs better database synchronization, UI improvements, enhanced collaboration, and integration with open-source technologies, plus reduced costs.
erwin Data Intelligence could improve particularly in the UI, as they are using old technologies that are not modern and do not serve the current requirements of the modern market.
Data Unit Manger at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The dashboard in erwin Data Intelligence is customizable, and you can easily create different views.
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
SAP PowerDesigner does not have a cloud option. It's only on-premise.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
I would like to see a feature added to SAP PowerDesigner where, upon extracting data from a source, it automatically identifies relationships between tables.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The web portal is unstable and does not work. It freezes up all the time.
Senior Advisor-Data Modeling at Suncor Energy
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users encounter varied pricing with erwin Data Intelligence, often finding it reasonable and competitive for large organizations.
SAP PowerDesigner is costly and mainly for large enterprises, with high fees and annual support costs, limiting affordability.
One issue is the cost, as it is a high-priced tool coming from SAP.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Erwin Data Intelligence unifies data sources, enhances governance, automates processes, and improves collaboration and decision-making through smart integration tools.
SAP PowerDesigner enhances data management with modeling features, collaboration tools, and integration support, streamlining processes and improving consistency.
This feature is probably the most valuable because it allows for automated reverse engineering of lineage.
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
The mind maps clarify for the business the related business terms and the relation between the business terms and other technical terms and technical data products, and they are very effective.
Data Unit Manger at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The best features of SAP PowerDesigner, from my perspective, are its ability to keep the connectivity between the source database and the new system, data redundancy and availability, and impact analysis.
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It allows for a single source of truth for data standardization and consistency in data definitions, helping align business requirements with technical solutions.
Manager at Saama
SAP PowerDesigner doesn't only allow you to model the structure of your database, but you can also model data mappings or data flows or lineage.
Data Solution Consultant | Owner at a non-tech company with 1-10 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Quest Data Intelligence
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
Data Governance (19th), AI Governance (3rd)
SAP PowerDesigner
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (3rd), Metadata Management (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

Jog Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Automated lineage and business glossaries have improved data understanding and collaboration
I am open to answering a few questions about erwin Data Intelligence and sharing my opinion about the product. Regarding the analytic part of the product, I find it very interesting that erwin Data Intelligence has its own inbuilt reporting toolset, with a new version coming out in January that will be AI-powered. This means you will be able to write analytical reports and questions based on the metadata and data lineage, making it more powerful than the current version, as AI will assist in creating those reports and performing analysis on the metadata. I find that the time taken to realize value from erwin Data Intelligence can be quite long. Creating a data catalog and developing data lineage takes significant time, and I expect that AI will help accelerate the process of creating data products by streamlining the steps involved. I can recommend erwin Data Intelligence to other users. I would rate this review as an eight out of ten overall.
Kopparapu Venkatesh Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Data modeling tool improves data management and decision-making efficiency
The lineage analysis helps my organization understand data dependencies at an enterprise level. As a SAP PowerDesigner developer, I monitor data across the organization, creating data models that reflect not just one data warehouse but comprehensive organizational information. If you have a small company, lineage helps track employee data across different areas such as finance and HR. Data governance prevents duplicate records, so when tracking employee details, SAP PowerDesigner highlights where data exists in various areas, helping ensure we only use the appropriate sources. This functionality allows us to assess the impact of data deletions effectively. I utilize the reverse engineering capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner. Reverse engineering is helpful, especially since I have colleagues new to SAP PowerDesigner. They often do not know which columns are available where. In SAP PowerDesigner, we can reverse engineer existing data from its source and identify errors in production. For instance, by using Ali's example, if an error arises, I can trace it back to the table and environment it originated from using the reverse engineering feature. The best features of SAP PowerDesigner, from my perspective, are its ability to keep the connectivity between the source database and the new system, data redundancy and availability, and impact analysis. The first feature acts as a bridge between systems. The second allows us to see what data is already available and what new data can be brought in. The third, impact analysis, helps determine how many tables will be affected if a specific table is deleted. This critical point allows us to capture how much data will be lost if any table is removed. Currently, these features shape my daily work. SAP PowerDesigner primarily benefits business management units by offering three types of data modeling structures: conceptual, logical, and physical models. The conceptual model communicates high-level insights to top executives, while logical and physical models address complex queries faced by developers in analytics. SAP PowerDesigner enhances the clarity of our data management significantly, as around 80% of data can be searched quickly and maintained in our SAP systems. The tool enables mapping from end to end, making my work faster and more efficient than using other ER data modeling solutions. The interface allows easy creation of data models and searching for existing data, ensuring I can complete my tasks significantly quicker. The importance of SAP PowerDesigner's collaboration capabilities lies in fostering a unified data management approach. It acts as a unified tool, preventing the duplication of existing data in analytical processes, thus saving both effort and storage costs, which is essential for effective data management. We utilize collaboration capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner with various source systems such as PG admin, Postgres, Oracle, and Snowflake. Recently, we have added Snowflake for cloud data modeling and POC work, streamlining the collaboration process across different systems.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Government
8%
Retailer
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise18
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with erwin Data Intelligence by Quest?
In my opinion, the analytics part of erwin Data Intelligence is not satisfactory. The name 'Intelligence' is not related specifically to analytics; it is focused on data governance with no advanced...
What is your primary use case for erwin Data Intelligence by Quest?
My main use case for erwin Data Intelligence is applying it and the DQ Labs in a financial institution.
What advice do you have for others considering erwin Data Intelligence by Quest?
The integration of business glossaries has significantly helped improve collaboration in our organization. We define the business glossaries first during meetings with the business, and then we bul...
What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
Synchronization is vital since I experience multiple problems, such as mismatched models and manual DDL handling. Improving the synchronization between models and databases can enhance integration ...
What is your primary use case for SAP PowerDesigner?
I use SAP PowerDesigner for data modeling, which greatly enhances the clarity of my data management processes. I manage data across multiple databases, including cloud databases, Teradata, and Orac...
 

Also Known As

erwin DG, erwin Data Governance, erwin Data Catalog
Sybase PowerDesigner
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Oracle, Infosys, GSK, Toyota Motor Sales, HSBC
Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
Find out what your peers are saying about Collibra, Informatica, Alation and others in Metadata Management. Updated: June 2026.
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