ARIS Architect and Designer vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

Software AG and Quest Software are both solutions in the Business Process Design category. Software AG is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.7, while Quest Software is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.4. Software AG holds a 1.1% mindshare in BPD, compared to Quest Software’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of Software AG users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Quest Software users who would recommend it.

ARIS Architect and Designer

Read 11 ARIS Architect and Designer reviews

756 Views
748 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler

Read 46 erwin Data Modeler reviews

5,210 Views
1,563 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

ARIS Architect and Designer

erwin Data Modeler

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

Erwin Data Modeler and ARIS Architect and Designer are both influential in the data management and enterprise process management sector. While Erwin stands out with its data-centric features, ARIS shines in enterprise process visualization.

Features: Erwin Data Modeler is noted for its advanced capabilities in bulk editing, forward and reverse engineering, and visualization that assists in understanding and collaboration. It automates reporting and supports various integrations. ARIS Architect and Designer offers superior enterprise architecture management, advanced process visualization, and has the ability to establish in-depth process alignments with high customizability, enhancing its integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Erwin struggles with usability issues and a complex interface, along with limited compatibility with new big data platforms. Improving the Complete Compare usability and simplifying navigation could improve the user experience. ARIS could lower licensing costs and improve cloud functionality, as the separation of collaboration tools into a separate, costly product is a barrier for some users. Enhancements in simulation and usability would boost its market appeal.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both Erwin and ARIS primarily operate on-premises. Erwin is known for its proactive customer support, despite some inconsistency in response times, and has gaps in JSON and big data platform support. ARIS’s support is satisfactory but has room for improvement in handling technical issues, especially when it comes to accessing more advanced cloud-based features.

Pricing and ROI: Erwin’s concurrent and per-seat licensing options are often seen as pricey, especially for smaller organizations, posing challenges in license management. It delivers ROI through time savings and enhanced data governance. Similarly, ARIS faces challenges with complex licensing and high costs, potentially deterring new users. However, its value in enterprise process management supports its cost for larger implementations. Both products deliver ROI but could improve accessibility by reevaluating pricing strategies.

To learn more, read our detailed ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler

December 2025

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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

ARIS Architect and Designer

Ranking in Business Process Design

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

erwin Data Modeler

Ranking in Business Process Design

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Architecture Management (2nd), Data Governance (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Business Process Design category, the mindshare of ARIS Architect and Designer is 1.1%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 2.5%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Business Process Design Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
erwin Data Modeler	2.5%
ARIS Architect and Designer	1.1%
Other	96.4%

Business Process Design

Featured Reviews

BeenishMustafa

Consultant at KAFD DMC

Has raised concerns about pricing while expressing satisfaction with its contribution to optimizing internal processes

Considering the integration capability of the product, it contributes to data-driven decision-making in our case. We see some impact of reporting tools on performance tracking or strategic planning. We do different kinds of analysis in regard to due integration controls, risk, and how we can strengthen the processes and the activities. We use it for various purposes. Regarding the process visualization framework, it helps to improve communication and collaboration in the company in a positive way. Architect is managing all the library management and with regards to the filter management. It's always a positive side that if you want to use anything further, we know that we can reach out to the Architect to add those objects and those attributes. It's really good.

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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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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its user interface is highly regarded, especially when compared with Visual Paradigm."

"The user interface is easy to work with."

"I would rate the solution overall a ten out of ten."

"It's really fast. It's much faster compared to Enterprise Architect."

"The most important feature is ARIS's ability to turn a process design into data to analyze anything you want. For example, we have some analysis reports in ARIS that can guide us when we want to change a system. It shows us how this change will affect all of the organization's processes."

"Considering the integration capability of the product, it contributes to data-driven decision-making in our case."

"One of the most valuable features is how user-friendly ARIS is, compared to other BPM tools. This tool has very diverse types of assets available. ARIS also has a lot of customizable options, different model types, object types, a number of attributes, and a lot of customization is possible. In comparison, Signavio is very limited in terms of model types and object types. So these customizations ARIS offers are really valuable to any client who wants to create a BPM repository."

"Considering the integration capability of the product, it contributes to data-driven decision-making in our case."

More ARIS Architect and Designer pros

"The most valuable features are the ability to reverse engineer and do model comparison. With the reverse engineering, I can understand the databases from third-party products. With the model comparison, I can track the differences between two versions of the same database."

"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."

"I have worked with erwin Data Modeler for quite some time and familiarity is its most valuable feature."

"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."

"The product allows us to reuse entities and attributes."

"Another feature of erwin is that it can help you enforce your naming standards. It has little modules that you can set up and, as you're building the data model, it's ensuring that they conform to the naming standards that you've developed."

"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."

"Being able to point it to a database and then pull the metadata is a valuable feature. Another valuable feature is being able to rearrange the model so that we can display it to users. We are able to divide the information into subject areas, and we can divide the data landscape into smaller chunks, which makes it easier to understand. If you had 14 subject areas, 1,000 entities, and 6,000 columns, you can't quite understand it all at once. So, being able to have the same underlying model but only display portions of it at a time is extremely useful."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

Cons

"Currently, we don't have any metrics to measure the success of ARIS Architect and Designer. We would appreciate it if you could share anything with us that we can do to find out the impact."

"The product is not flexible."

"Currently, we don't have any metrics to measure the success of ARIS Architect and Designer."

"The support team takes a long time to respond to our queries."

"The simulation part still has some way to go. It's a good feature, and it's something that other vendors don't have right now, but it can still be improved. Some features are needed in ARIS Architect, so advanced users can do things through drag-and-drop functionality."

"Even with a formal modeling language, users can still draw freely and make a bit of a mess in your repository. It should also improve usability."

"We face problems when the product's capacity is increased."

"Currently, we don't have any metrics to measure the success of ARIS Architect and Designer."

More ARIS Architect and Designer cons

"It has a very steep learning curve, limited support for NoSQL or streaming systems, and potentially a high licensing cost."

"erwin generally fails to successfully reverse engineer our Oracle Databases into erwin data models. The way that they are engineered on our side, the syntax is correct from an Oracle perspective, but it seems to be very difficult for erwin to interpret. What I end up doing is using Oracle Data Modeler to reverse engineer into the Oracle data model, then forward engineer the DDL into an Oracle syntax, and importing that DDL into erwin in order to successfully bring in most of the information from our physical data models. That is a bit of a challenge."

"Complete Compare is set up only to compare properties that are of interest to us, but some of the differences cannot be brought over from one version of the model to another. This is despite the fact that we are clicking to bring objects from one place to another. Therefore, it's hard to tell at times if Complete Compare is working as intended without having to manually go into the details and check everything. If it could be redesigned to a degree where it is easier to use when we bring things over from one site to another and be sure that it's been done correctly, that would be nice to have. We would probably use the tool more often if the Complete Compare were easier to use."

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

"erwin is not as robust as a data warehousing project I've been on in the past."

"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 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."

"This is a very complex product."

More erwin Data Modeler cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licenses are very costly. I've seen many people who are hesitant or not able to use ARIS Suite just because of the license cost. Even though they like all the functionalities and understand the value of everything ARIS provides, they aren't able to implement it."

"The product is expensive."

"Many customers find the licensing configuration confusing. There are many different sub-details in the licensing, making it very difficult for us to understand what we are buying and what we are using with what."

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

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

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

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

"An issue right now would be that erwin doesn't have a freely available browser (that I am aware of) for people who are not data modelers or data engineers that a consumer could use to look at the data models and play with it. This would not be to make any changes, but just to visually look at what exists. There are other products out there which do have end user browsers available and allow them to access data models via the data modeling tool."

"The tool is expensive."

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

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

10%

Insurance Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	34

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ARIS Architect and Designer?

The support team is very responsive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ARIS Architect and Designer?

Currently, we don't have any metrics to measure the success of ARIS Architect and Designer. We would appreciate it if you could share anything with us that we can do to find out the impact.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ARIS Architect and Designer?

We spoke with you about ARIS Architect and Designer. We already have two architect licenses, I think three architect licenses, and we have, I think, six or seven designer licenses. Architect is bas...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

Visio vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 5% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ARIS Architect and Designer

January 2026

Download ARIS Architect and Designer product report

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler

January 2026

Download erwin Data Modeler product report

Also Known As

ARIS Architect & Designer, ARIS Architect, ARIS Designer

erwin DM

Overview

ARIS is the market-leading solution for professional business process management and modeling. Whether you want to document the "as-is" state of your operations for quality or certification reasons or design the "to-be" in terms of continuous improvement in your transformation program, ARIS is the best choice for establishing a single source of truth regarding all process excellence topics in your organization. It is for any organization looking to digitally transform their business, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution. ARIS helps you to make the most out of your processes with Process Mining, Risk & Compliance Management, RPA and much more.

What makes the difference?

The most comprehensive platform for process excellence in the market
Easy to use
Covers business & IT architecture from all angles
Full flexibility and >100 diagram types
Customer-driven development based on best practices
Strong partner ecosystem

ARIS is the market-leading solution for any organization and ideally suited to digitally transform the organization, increase operational excellence and customer experience and ensure compliance in execution.

Software AG

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

Sample Customers

Tesco, Weifu, Airbus, Siemens, Proximus, Alicorp, Sekerbank, Bancor, Philips,Sky, Emirates NBD, Dubai Municipality, Suva, U.S. Army, Australia Post, Westfalen Weser Energie - ARIS serves customers across all industries and of every size worldwide. Companies trust ARIS as the market leader for process excellence with more than 30 years of experience in the market, 10 million users worldwide, from 1 user companies to the Fortune 500.

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

Buyer's Guide

ARIS Architect and Designer vs. erwin Data Modeler

December 2025

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