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BMC AMI DevX vs CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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

BMC AMI DevX
Ranking in Database Development and Management
9th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
Software Configuration Management (1st), Debugging (3rd), Mainframe Application Development (1st), Test Data Management (2nd), Mainframe Testing Tools (1st), Data Masking (3rd), AI Software Development (23rd)
CA Database Management for ...
Ranking in Database Development and Management
14th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of BMC AMI DevX is 1.7%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS is 1.6%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BMC AMI DevX1.7%
CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS1.6%
Other96.7%
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

Mitanshu Shrimali - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Modern workflows have accelerated mainframe delivery and simplify understanding legacy code
BMC AMI DevX can be improved primarily by streamlining initial configuration and installation, simplifying advanced documentation, and enhancing UI/UX feature discoverability. While the platform successfully bridges modern IDEs such as VS Code with z/OS, user feedback highlights the need for simplifying setup and onboarding configuration. The initial installation and login process can be simplified. Although it feels complex initially, once completed, there is nothing to do with installation repeatedly since it is a one-time process. However, it is still somewhat complex. Basic tutorials are available that address teams implementing the configuration of multi-vendor tools and integration, but documentation gaps exist that frequently force heavy reliance on vendor support. Additionally, certain components across the workspace and diagnostic tools retain a legacy feel or hide powerful features behind deep menus, so UI/UX features can be simplified. Integrating with non-BMC enterprise testing or new CI/CD orchestrators can require custom engineering rather than native plug-and-play connectors. Optimizing large-scale performance is also important, as heavy resource consumption during deep runtime analysis for large-scale code mapping can impact performance over slower network connections for extremely dense application modules.
JG
Technical Project Manager at Interra Information Technologies, Inc.
Report generation offers invaluable insights into database performance
I basically use the solution for database management and to view the performance of a particular database object, any specific program, batch program, or online programs. Using the CSSZ tool, I can effectively monitor performance. In case of an exception, I can inform the application team. At DB2…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can develop in parallel today on ISPF, but it's giving us the advantage of the newer interface into the mainframe programming languages that younger programmers can use and are familiar with, rather than using the ISPF green screen."
"I think BMC AMI DevX has provided overall benefits and a positive impact because I've seen a lot of developers, not just the new developers, but even the old developers who have used the green screen their entire life, also developing with BMC AMI DevX and migrating into the newer screen."
"ISPW is an excellent product; it does everything the developers need it to do, we were able to build it and customize it very simply as we became more familiar with how the system works during installation, and it doesn't need a lot of care and feeding once it's up and running."
"BMC AMI DevX tools have noticeably impacted our developers' productivity and efficiency."
"From a user perspective, the GUIs make it easier for people to see and interact with files on the mainframe."
"BMC AMI DevX Code Pipeline is a solid product that any company can benefit from if they want to have tight control and a standard way of deploying applications into production in a secure manner."
"As far as the software vendors that I work with go, Compuware has some of the best support, in terms of listening to customer requests and accepting enhancements to the product and the like."
"It speeds up processes, makes things easier, more efficient, and from a mainframe perspective, the way the mainframe is utilized has become that much easier."
"​It helps us to reduce hardware costs and to optimize processing times.​"
"We have more control over our DB2 systems and can do our everyday DBA work faster and easier."
"The feature we find most useful is the consistent ability to create strategies across the products that allow for consistent foundations for the business processes and the ability to repetitively use them by different resources."
"We had no issues with stability; everything was working perfectly with DB2 v10 and v11 after the upgrade."
"The most important features are batch reporting and the ability to create repositories, enabling automated analysis. These are valuable because they enable me to do automated analysis of trends over time and reduce the time for comparing performance between two periods to identify anomalies."
"We switched to the IBM tools for a short time and switched back, due to contract pricing."
"The reports generated and the old statistics shown are really helpful."
"If you want your DBA and programming staff to be efficient and effective, I recommend these tools."
 

Cons

"Technical support has gotten better over the years, though there's always room for improvement."
"I'm waiting to see what 19.2 for Topaz looks like, but I have a problem with the JES Explorer right now. It limits you to a certain prefix for job names and there are some groups that have multiple prefixes that they'd like to see all at once in their job names, because of how they work in a group. And they can't see that in the JES Explorer."
"The customer support of BMC AMI DevX is good, although we occasionally experience delayed responses. Overall, we find it satisfactory. I would rate the customer support around a three on a scale of ten."
"One thing I would really like to see some improvement on is the promotion diagnostic messages. It invokes utilities "under the covers" to copy components, and it does not echo back any of the error messages from those utilities."
"We have noticed that Topaz supported Eclipse environments are rather old. It would be nice if Topaz were compatible with the more current Eclipse releases."
"It's a very complicated tool."
"An area for improvement in BMC AMI DevX would be the user interface and overall usability, which can feel a little complex for new users coming from modern development tools."
"I would recommend some additional functionalities for debugging production failures, as while BMC AMI DevX already offers features like Ab-end AID for automatic detection and analysis of failures, a more comprehensible approach would be much appreciated."
"They could work on the installation process main job that runs, maybe break it up into several jobs instead of one."
"Only one issue was not resolved but this was because the customer did not agree to send data which the vendor asked for as it was user-sensitive data but without this, a full investigation was not possible."
"All the information we need, we could use to have it in a more usable format.​"
"These tools have had their share of bugs."
"The initial set up of parameters is quite exhaustive and some parameters cross products."
"It's a good product. I would give it a nine out of 10, and the reason is, in general, it's a technical product so I think that it's a little cumbersome."
"Minor stability issues."
"The initial setup parameters are quite exhaustive and some parameters cross with the products."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The only thing I would mention related to the licensing and/or the pricing, is that they have some visualization features in there that are licensed by concurrent users. We're starting to trip up on that. We're looking to probably increase the number of concurrent licenses that we have. But those types of licensing strategies, where they license by concurrent users or the number of seats is confusing for some people. They don't understand why it works sometimes and doesn't work other times."
"I like the seat-based licensing much more than MSU-based licensing, and that the cost has been competitive."
"In general, Compuware tools are very competitive."
"In terms of pricing, there isn't an extra charge for the parts of it we use. It comes with the licenses we purchased for other products, so no complaints there. The licensing is built in with the other products that you purchase from Compuware."
"It has saved our developers time and effort when working on documentation, which is now more readable and fluent."
"The price point is great."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Outsourcing Company
15%
Construction Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Compuware Topaz Enterprise Data?
I do not have direct information about the setup cost and pricing and licensing. From the implementation perspective, I think the initial configuration can require some effort to align the product ...
What needs improvement with BMC AMI DevX?
I would suggest making the initial installation and configuration simpler, especially for new users. The login and startup experience could also be improved by reducing repeated login prompts and t...
What is your primary use case for BMC AMI DevX?
BMC AMI DevX is used primarily for mainframe application development and troubleshooting, particularly for COBOL and JCL. I use it to edit and navigate code, browse datasets, and submit jobs, and a...
What needs improvement with CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS?
In the case of any particular SQL which is executing for a longer time and causing issues with any particular store or DB2 programs, if it could pinpoint the problems like any other tool should do,...
What is your primary use case for CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS?
I basically use the solution for database management and to view the performance of a particular database object, any specific program, batch program, or online programs. Using the CSSZ tool, I can...
What advice do you have for others considering CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS?
The solution operates on JetOS platform. It is a very good, perfect solution. I would rate it ten out of ten. Currently, I do not have any planning for investment at all.
 

Also Known As

File-AID, Data for Db2, Code Debug, Data Studio, Workbench for Eclipse, Code Pipeline
CA Database Management Solutions for DB2 for z/OS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NRB, Iberdrola, Consorzio Servizi Bancari 
Blue Hill Data Services
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC AMI DevX vs. CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.