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BMC AMI DevX vs DbVisualizer 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
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Software Configuration Management (1st), Debugging (2nd), Mainframe Application Development (1st), Test Data Management (4th), Mainframe Testing Tools (1st), Data Masking (3rd), AI Software Development (29th)
DbVisualizer
Ranking in Database Development and Management
16th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Database Management Systems (DBMS) (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of BMC AMI DevX is 1.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DbVisualizer is 1.5%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BMC AMI DevX1.8%
DbVisualizer1.5%
Other96.7%
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

Wisdom Mbiza - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Engineer at Absa Group
Modern tools have boosted mainframe file extraction speed and simplified everyday workflows
I definitely think BMC AMI DevX could be improved or enhanced in terms of the logging in features. BMC AMI DevX's logging in feature is not so great. Whenever you try to log in, it always prompts you for passwords. Then when you have to switch sessions, because we usually have to switch between production and UAT, there's no quick way of switching between the two. Every time you try to switch, it prompts you to log in. Additionally, there's a pop-up that I always receive. When you click X on it, it doesn't disappear. Eventually, I just end up minimizing it. Furthermore, the startup of BMC AMI DevX takes a long time to start up before it loads. It doesn't just immediately start up and it's ready. It takes a good solid two to three minutes before it's ready so that you can work on it. BMC AMI DevX's logins and the other ones I can understand because security has to be there, but I do feel that once I've logged in, I shouldn't need to log in again. The startup problem is the annoying one because if I want to do something, I need to open it two or three minutes earlier to give it time to load up. The startup problem is the one that definitely needs to be addressed.
JD
CTO/Managing Member at Pantheon Tech
Consolidates tools and streamlines cross-platform database work
There is not a lot that I have to complain about with DbVisualizer. Over the years, as I have mentioned, they have continued to enhance the interface and the databases that are supported, but I do not think there is a lot of room for improvement. Most improvements will come from changes in the marketplace, such as new database features that need to be interacted with or perhaps more support for new data types and databases that are going to be supporting AI. Some of that, as we have seen thus far, is not necessarily the game changer that we would have thought. Integrating a co-pilot for SQL queries would be an interesting feature in the future.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the features that the developers like is that they can retrieve what they need with the tool. They don't have to go through some process or request something be done by another team. They can get the programs they need, compile them, retrieve the JCL and alter the JCL if they need to, and put these programs wherever they need to go for their testing."
"It does our CICS NEWCOPYs and our Db2 binds for us, whereas before, that was a manual process. It takes a lot of the workload off of the operations folks and off the DBAs."
"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."
"The product has made our mainframe data management process easier. It has helped us save manhours. The tool's most valuable feature is the ability to edit tape files. Its ability to clone files is beneficial in application development."
"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."
"Compuware Xpediter is one of the best debugging tools for mainframe software development."
"I like the ability to flow through the source and see what happens to the data as the statements are executed. If there is a fault, it will track the event, and we can then look back to see why it may have caused the fault. You can also reverse engineer your test. You can set it so that you can go backward as well as forward in your test. This is something that I haven't done here at my company. Compuware Xpediter is one of the best debugging tools for mainframe software development. We have currently licensed only the COBOL language for Xpediter, but I know they have other languages, including Assembler, PL/I."
"With the use of ISPW, we were able to reduce our deployment time for specific applications by utilizing the auto-deploy features."
"For over 10 years I have been a frequent DbVisualizer user, it is very comfortable and has some features not found in any other SQL tool."
"Timed queries that add their result to the result grid for every execution are helpful."
"Actions like exporting grids to Excel or other tools is a very easy task."
"DbVisualizer is invaluable to me because it allows me to work from enterprise database systems like Oracle to more emerging database providers like CockroachDB, and can scale to anything up or down from SQLite or standard PostgreSQL."
"Timed SQL execution and real-time graphs are the killer features."
 

Cons

"The ability to edit source code that has special characters is limited. The ability to incorporate or convert REXX into macros that are usable under the Topaz software is not there. And the REXX macros that I have developed over 40 years of work are useless, so I have a toolbox I can't use or deploy using the Topaz technology, while I can use it under MVS."
"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."
"Topaz Workbench often doesn't play well with other plugins in the environment."
"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."
"Their technical support could be better."
"The area for improvement is related to the testing tools that are available for unit testing or acceptance testing. I know they have some out there that we are not licensed for at this time, but it seems like some of the Eclipse tools that are used for other programming languages, they're all just built-in and they're a little more intuitive to the developers. Making those testing tools as intuitive as possible, and as integrated as possible into the workbench, would be really beneficial."
"BMC AMI DevX is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where it could improve, such as simplifying the initial installation and configuration, especially for first-time users."
"BMC AMI DevX's logging in feature is not so great. Furthermore, the startup of BMC AMI DevX takes a long time to start up before it loads."
"One thing I would like to see changed is having the JDBC drivers in a fixed location outside of the application package."
"Sometimes, I feel that the startup time takes a bit more time than needed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It has saved our developers time and effort when working on documentation, which is now more readable and fluent."
"I like the seat-based licensing much more than MSU-based licensing, and that the cost has been 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."
"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."
"In general, Compuware tools are very competitive."
"The price point is great."
"The pricing for DbVisualizer is fair."
"A license with a few years of support is a good and valuable option."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise20
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC Compuware Topaz Enterprise Data?
My understanding is that BMC AMI DevX is an enterprise product with custom licensing, so pricing is typically negotiated based on factors such as the modules purchased, organization size, and usage...
What needs improvement with BMC AMI DevX?
BMC AMI DevX is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where it could improve, such as simplifying the initial installation and configuration, especially for first-time users. It could also i...
What is your primary use case for BMC AMI DevX?
My main use case for BMC AMI DevX is to work with COBOL and JCL development on IBM. I mainly use it for editing, browsing data sets, submitting jobs, and debugging applications. I appreciate the Ec...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DbVisualizer?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is straightforward. It is a subscription model with lower costs in the out years from initial purchase.
What needs improvement with DbVisualizer?
There is not a lot that I have to complain about with DbVisualizer. Over the years, as I have mentioned, they have continued to enhance the interface and the databases that are supported, but I do ...
What is your primary use case for DbVisualizer?
My main use case for DbVisualizer is data analysis, but also increasingly performance monitoring and tuning of databases due to the broad support for multi vendors in the tool. A specific example o...
 

Also Known As

File-AID, Data for Db2, Code Debug, Data Studio, Workbench for Eclipse, Code Pipeline
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NRB, Iberdrola, Consorzio Servizi Bancari 
Tesla, Google, Facebook, Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, Apple, BMO, Deutsche Bank, Netflix, Disney
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC AMI DevX vs. DbVisualizer and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.