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OpenText ProVision vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 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

erwin Data Modeler
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
68
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (4th), Data Governance (11th)
OpenText ProVision
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
25th
Average Rating
6.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (44th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 8.6%, up from 8.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText ProVision is 1.6%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
erwin Data Modeler8.6%
OpenText ProVision1.6%
Other89.8%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

SR
Director, Analytics at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Structured data modeling has accelerated AI-driven customer insights and cloud migrations
One feature that I wish erwin Data Modeler could improve is how user experience becomes much more intuitive, particularly when navigating large models or reviewing changes over time. Easier model exploration, clear visibility into differences between versioning, and practical documentation for use cases could help users work more effectively. I would also welcome the capability to have integrations with other platforms where the blueprint can be exchanged seamlessly without having to do an export and an import process. This would also help in bringing in the AI capability, which can assist in better positioning erwin Data Modeler not just as a tool for designing and documenting data models, but also as part of the broader data architecture and development lifecycle. Regarding erwin Data Modeler's AI capabilities, there is an opportunity to enhance user experience from a governance standpoint, supporting tracking model changes, maintaining audit trails, and managing role-based access while enforcing consistent modeling standards across teams would be a value-added feature, particularly in a large-scale environment. It would also be beneficial to have better visibility into sensitive data attributes and their relationships to govern the requirements, including privacy and access controls. As organizations increasingly adopt AI development, integrating these governance and security considerations into the model and implementing workflows could also help teams work more effectively while maintaining appropriate oversights. Regarding erwin Data Modeler's AI capabilities, there is still room for improvement regarding accuracy and reliability of output as large language models need clear instructions. There is room for growth because business requirements keep changing, relationships keep changing, and the capability to identify inconsistencies, missing relationships, or incorrect definitions are areas where it can improve. This is not to say that the current features are not good enough; they are excellent, but there is definitely room to catch up on AI changes. This is particularly important when modeling using blueprints inputted via AI assistant programs, and when an error occurs in the original model, it could carry over into a generated implementation. That is one of the experiences I faced when working on a project for the Adobe Experience Platform. I experience some integration failures often with erwin Data Modeler, but there is documentation that we can look up that helps resolve these bugs. The new integration changes on our end sometimes pose a challenge, but the process is generally seamless, and the support available makes it much easier for us to troubleshoot any challenges we might face. Managing data across different environments, such as traditional databases, NoSQL, big data, and cloud platforms with erwin Data Modeler presents the biggest challenge of translating from a traditional database to a non-SQL database. These challenges are primarily based on the structure of the data model. Overall, there are external tools that help us in translating that, and I would love to add this as a feature to simplify the process and reduce the complexity of using external extensions for making those changes or guiding through the process.
reviewer1944672 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Director, Head of Process & Functional Architecture, Intelligent Automation at a real estate/law firm with 10,001+ employees
Good attribute attachment but problems with collaboration
I primarily use OpenText ProVision to create our end-to-end process repository and library for different parts of the organization, capturing the collaboration process to get the right inputs OpenText ProVision's best feature is the capability to attach a variety of attributes and extract and…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Erwin Data Modeler is well organized, and the screen layout is intuitive."
"It's important to create standard templates — Erwin is good at that — and you can customize them. You can create a standard template so that your models have the same look and feel. And then, anyone using the tool is using the same font and the same general layout. erwin's very good at helping enforce that."
"The process of creating visual representations of data structures using erwin Data Modeler allows you to see everything you are doing, and you have visuals to see what you are going to do and what has been done so far."
"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."
"It is the only meaningful way to do any data modeling."
"The solution’s code generation ensures accurate engineering of data sources, as there is no development time. Code doesn't even have to be reviewed. We have been using this solution for so long and all the code which has been generated is accurate with the requirements. Once we generate the DDLs out of the erwin tools, the development team does a quick review of the script line by line. They will just be running the script on the database and looking into other requirements, such as the index. So, there is less effort from development side to create tables or build a database."
"We can create mappings in erwin and possibly data dictionaries."
"erwin Data Modeler has positively impacted my organization by being helpful to use, allowing us to demonstrate our models easily, being interactive and physical, while supporting reverse engineering."
"OpenText ProVision's best feature is the capability to attach a variety of attributes and extract and analyze that information."
"The stability of the product is very good."
"I like that all the features come as part of a standard license and that one license covers everything."
 

Cons

"I would like to add more about needed improvements, particularly regarding better integration with cloud platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, and Azure."
"I believe that erwin Data Modeler is a tool—at least in the version I use—that does not have so much compatibility and connectivity with other tools."
"As erwin Data Modeler files get larger, the response time really slows down, and when I have multiple files open I sometimes get a glitch where a lot of the text fields get solid black and the first eight characters of column names might be blacked out with a rectangle."
"I believe the first area where erwin Data Modeler could improve is in conceptual modeling; currently, there is no way to create a conceptual model."
"I have not seen a return on investment yet."
"The solution's reporting side needs to be improved."
"The report generation has room for improvement. I think it was version 8 where you had to use Crystal Reports, and it was so painful that the company I was with just stayed on version 7 until version 9 came out and they restored the data browser. That's better than it was, but it's still a little cumbersome. For example, you run it in erwin, then export it out to Excel, and then you have to do a lot of cosmetic modification. If you discover that you missed a column, then you would have to rerun the whole thing. Sometimes what you would do is just go ahead and fix it in the report, then you have to remember to go back and fix it in the model. Therefore, I think the report generation still could use some work."
"Although Quest Software has made tremendous strides in recent years, they need to evolve more in the big data arena; erwin Data Modeler could use a little more work when it comes to big database designs."
"My main complaint is that the solution is not open source in the sense that you can't have your own in-house developments."
"OpenText ProVision's collaboration management is quite complicated and difficult to use."
"Lacks the ability to have your own in-house developments."
"Integrating with or interfacing with other tools like data management tools would be very helpful."
"There are a number of drawbacks. Mainly, the collaboration is lacking to some extent - at least when it comes to how we are using it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."
"We've continued to use the product for many years and compared it with others on the market. The pricing is reasonable considering what the solution offers and what we pay. There are cheaper tools, but they may not be as robust and easy to use, so it's worth the money."
"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."
"erwin is expensive compared to other solutions. We are paying almost $6,000 per seat a month."
"The price of erwin Data Modeler is very expensive, in particular for this part of the world."
"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."
"I wish it wasn't so expensive. I would love to personally buy a copy of my own and have it at home, because the next job that I'm looking at is probably project management and I might not have access to the tool. I would like to keep my ability to use the tool. Therefore, they should probably have a pricing for people like me who want to just use the solution as an independent consultant, trying to get started. $3,000 is a big hit."
"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
6%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Construction Company
11%
Energy/Utilities Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise61
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
My experience with erwin Data Modeler's pricing and setup costs shows it to be on the expensive side; the licensing fees reflect this higher cost, which results in fewer users adopting the tool.
What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
The UI of erwin Data Modeler could be improved. It could be cleaner, as the current setup sometimes confuses users searching for specific features. Streamlining options and removing unnecessary ele...
What is your primary use case for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
My main use case for erwin Data Modeler involves designing a logical and conceptual model, and physicalized model. I typically use it for creating tables, establishing relationships between tables,...
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Also Known As

erwin DM
Metastorm ProVision
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

 Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples
Delta Technology, Export Development Canada, Rompetrol, Salt River Project, AMEC, U.S. Air Force, HP Consulting & Integration
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText ProVision vs. erwin Data Modeler and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.