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BMC AMI DevX vs File Master Plus comparison

 

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 Mainframe Testing Tools
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Software Configuration Management (1st), Debugging (4th), Database Development and Management (16th), Mainframe Application Development (1st), Test Data Management (5th), Data Masking (4th), AI Software Development (202nd)
File Master Plus
Ranking in Mainframe Testing Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Mainframe Testing Tools category, the mindshare of BMC AMI DevX is 21.1%, down from 31.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of File Master Plus is 7.1%, up from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mainframe Testing Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BMC AMI DevX21.1%
File Master Plus7.1%
Other71.8%
Mainframe Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

FI
Devops Engineer / Ispw Admin at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Tight deployment controls have secured production and simplified complex release rollbacks
The best feature of BMC AMI DevX Code Pipeline that impresses me is the fallback functionality. The fallback functionality impresses me because when developers deploy large releases involving multiple components, such as COBOL programs, underlying copy books, and CICS modules, backing out changes would typically become a nightmare. With ISPW, developers can back out the entire release or entire package. If they deployed 100 components and want to back out everything, they can do so with one function and back out all components without worrying about backing out each individual component. They can back out the entire deployment set, which handles everything and brings them back to the previous versions. Developers can also selectively back out a subset of the deployed components. They also have the ability to revert to not just the most previous version but can go back several versions if they choose to do so. This gives them a lot of flexibility.
it_user847152 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director of Enterprise and Mainframe Infrastructure at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Eases manageability of data, gives us better efficiency on our batch run
I use it for doing final file maintenance It's easier to do basic tasks; ease of manageability of data. It also gives us better efficiency on our batch run and our day-to-day. In terms of meeting business challenges, it's more of a productivity tool. It makes our data easier to manage. Ease of…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like that Compuware File-AID can actually map out control sections within load modules, or, as they're now known, program objects."
"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 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."
"The plugin ISPW integrated into Eclipse is a really valuable functionality for developers who already use it."
"Once we got the configurations and deployment rolled out, it was very stable. I haven't had any major issues with Eclipse or the Topaz Workbench plugins."
"Topaz workbench is one of the most integrated into Eclipse that I've seen from the mainframe vendors."
"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."
"I think the most valuable features are code management, code deployment, and code generation. The fact that those three features are included makes BMC Compuware ISPW a robust product. If one of those features was missing, it would be less robust and less interesting. But because it has those three features, it is a very good solution for code development and management."
"Provides ease of use, ease of manageability, and ease of managing DSN files."
"It also gives us better efficiency on our batch run and our day-to-day."
"We use it together with Grid Tools to mask IMS data."
"Makes it quick to investigate/fix problems related to application data, and our business can get back to normal operations in short order."
"The Browse function and utilities are valuable; the solution is easy to use."
"CA File Master handles IMS data (together with Grid Tools), which we can use to mask/privatize our data then store on IMS databases."
 

Cons

"The ISPW plugin could be improved to add some functionality which is already in ISPF panels and not in the plugin."
"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."
"While I am aware of the possibility to integrate Git with BMC AMI DevX zAdviser, this integration does not fit within our solution landscape."
"We plan to replace BMC Compuware File-AID due to its price. Two years back, we paid 11,000 dollars. However, the current price is 27,900 dollars. The price has increased to at least eight times its initial cost. We would need to pay around 60,000 dollars to have all three products together. We also encountered issues during version updates."
"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."
"It would be good if the vendors would work together or at least have some collaboration between them, so they would know what would work and what wouldn't work. Right now, the way things are working, they're relying on the customer to make everything work."
"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."
"​CA File Master cannot handle IMS Sysplex.​"
"It would be better if it took less CPU time."
"They need to keep coming out with new features, and new releases. There hasn't been a new release in a while."
"For any change to CA File Master, we need a system programmer, which makes the change process very time consuming​."
"The setup is quite complex. We needed a system programmer for the initial setup."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I like the seat-based licensing much more than MSU-based licensing, and that the cost has been competitive."
"The price point is great."
"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 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 pricing is good value."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
32%
Insurance Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise18
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with BMC AMI DevX?
To improve BMC AMI DevX, consideration should be given to cloud-style provisioning and development models, as well as integration of more AI capabilities. Enhancements in VS Code extensions to deve...
What is your primary use case for BMC AMI DevX?
BMC AMI DevX solutions are primarily used for mainframe-based resources and application development, encompassing not only COBOL but also Workbench and VS Code for various purposes. Data management...
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Also Known As

File-AID, Data for Db2, Code Debug, Data Studio, Workbench for Eclipse, Code Pipeline
CA File Master Plus
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NRB, Iberdrola, Consorzio Servizi Bancari 
Blue Hill Data Services
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC AMI DevX vs. File Master Plus and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.