No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Endevor vs Gen comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Endevor
Ranking in Mainframe Application Development
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Software Configuration Management (3rd)
Gen
Ranking in Mainframe Application Development
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Mainframe Application Development category, the mindshare of Endevor is 13.4%, down from 33.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Gen is 12.3%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mainframe Application Development Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Gen12.3%
Endevor13.4%
Other74.3%
Mainframe Application Development
 

Featured Reviews

RobertMartin3 - PeerSpot reviewer
Production Supervisor Technical at Ontario Power Generation
Asset dashboards have created slow, rigid workflows and have limited effective life cycle tracking
The single dashboards do not help my team or the company as a whole. I feel the dashboards are not helpful because the search features are not customizable. The software is web-based and the server is extremely slow. To improve Endevor, its cloud or web-based server capabilities should be increased so that the software is faster. The ability to customize reports should be increased.
IR
Consultant
Full packets enable software implementation on the mainframe and client sides
I rate it eight out of 10. It's just very powerful tool, very powerful product to use. Nowadays, there are a couple of mainframe companies, using mainframe products, so to be honest, I'm not recommending it. Of course, if you have mainframe and you have do something in the mainframe that’s different.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The integrity of the system is valuable, providing secure, controlled access to source management and the typical check-in and check-out functions in a typical source management product."
"Consistent, repeatable processes, and the automation that we have built take away much of the human error aspect."
"In the last year or so, we had a need to start using a CICS web services, and mesh them in with some distributed functions on an enterprise service bus. We put the web services into Endevor and we manage that way now."
"Endevor is a solid product; it works, does its job, is stable, and I have never heard any complaints for improvements in this product."
"The support they provide for their products is bar none: excellent."
"​Stability has been really good. I have actually never had to open an issue or report an issue since I have been running it.​"
"I do not think our organization could go without it."
"The development team support, all the customers around the world, and myself: We are one big Endevor family."
"You can easily manage the code, and you can easily find other changes, other group changes, other models, other components."
"Coding on CA Gen is easy."
"CA Gen has provided us web development capability."
"Full packets, enable you to develop software and systems using these packets, and implement software on the mainframe side and the client side. You can use the same packets, so it's very powerful."
"If you’re writing a simple barebones COBOL program, it may take 20-30 hours, but with a solution like this it can be done in around four hours."
"It has lived long beyond what people thought was its life expectancy as a product, largely because it is such a quality tool that people can't replace."
"Advantage Gen greatly enhanced productivity as well as development of solutions in mainframes, Client, and server applications."
"If you want to be the first in market and you have a short time to generate, or to develop your application, and if you're looking for a platform that supports multiple frameworks, multiple platforms such as mainframe, Java, and .Net, or the others, you need a modelling tool, rather than a language or technology."
 

Cons

"As a release tool, there probably could have been some additional enhancements, but it was effective."
"The main challenges are its limited interface and the complexity of the customization."
"It is difficult to find file programs and use a different tool for the setup as the compilation process is all locked up."
"If I had to comment on an area of ​​improvement or something new in the next or future version, I would like to see AI-assisted coding and impact analysis for mainframes."
"I like the stability and CA’s responsiveness, but I haven’t used anything else, so it’s hard to judge."
"It is still kind of behind the times. It needs to catch up with all the millennials that want a distributed look and feel.​"
"It is stable. We do not have any issues with it. It is just complex because it is a tool set. It is not a plug and play kind of product at all."
"Endevor has not impacted my organization positively, if at all."
"Nowadays, there are a couple of mainframe companies, using mainframe products, so to be honest, I'm not recommending it."
"The weak side is, I cannot use the DB2 specifications, DB2 comments, easily."
"The world is changing, the technologies are changing - COOL:Gen needs to change as well."
"Personally, I think the tool has taken a turn for the worse."
"If I look into the native COBOL language it can be more efficient, and CA Gen adds what seems to be some unnecessary lines of code; it’s not an apples to apples comparison."
"The product needs to be well marketed, then adopted. I am not seeing many customers using the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is very expensive."
"Just make sure if you are going to license, ensure you license the right features.​"
"It's worth the value. The pricing is fairly good, justifiable for the return on investment."
"The product is expensive."
"Licensing is fairly simple, you don't need multiple licenses."
"It's competitively priced and, as far as I know, it's just an enterprise license. We have found it is worth the money."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Mainframe Application Development solutions are best for your needs.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
29%
Insurance Company
10%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise40
No data available
 

Also Known As

CA Endevor Software Change Manager, Endevor Software Change Manager, CA Software Change Manager for Mainframe, CA Endevor SCM
CA Gen
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Hill Data Services Inc.
Global bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Endevor vs. Gen and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.