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QualiWare X vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (5th), Data Governance (10th)
QualiWare X
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
20th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Management (BPM) (48th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 7.3%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of QualiWare X is 2.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
erwin Data Modeler7.3%
QualiWare X2.1%
Other90.6%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Sushree Panigrahi - PeerSpot reviewer
Snowflake Data Engineer| Senior PLSQL Developer |Data Modeler|Assitant Vice Pre at Jp Morgan Chase & Co.
Data modeling has transformed regulatory reporting and collaboration across cloud environments
In erwin Data Modeler, areas that have room for improvement include performance improvements. I see that large models sometimes cause it to be slow when opening. Impact analysis can lag as well. Version control is another aspect. If we have developed a current version, it is not integrated with Git where we can easily compare different versions. UI modernization is also something we cannot utilize as it is primarily for development. Additionally, cloud-specific optimizations are needed when it comes to Snowflake or Databricks. When it comes to AI aspects, auto-suggestions for normalization or identifying primary, foreign, or surrogate keys are areas that can be improved.
Gavin Bérubé - PeerSpot reviewer
Enterprise Architect at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Works as a reference for architecture but not very intuitive
We use the solution as a reference for architecture so that we can connect business data applications. The tool helps us to know how these applications should be built. We use it mainly as reference material.  I like the solution's traceability.  The solution is not easy and intuitive to use. I…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The best features of erwin Data Modeler include the forward engineering tool, which gives you the schema according to the data model that you generate."
"I compare erwin Data Modeler with other solutions such as ER/Studio and believe it stands out as an enterprise-grade data modeling tool capable of serving different industries, such as finance, healthcare, and telecom."
"One of the best aspects of the tool is its reverse engineering capability."
"Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution."
"The logical model gives developers, as well as the data modelers, an understanding of exactly how each object interacts with the others, whether a one-to-many, many-to-many, many-to-one, etc."
"Another feature of erwin is that it can help you enforce your naming standards. It has little modules that you can set up and, as you're building the data model, it's ensuring that they conform to the naming standards that you've developed."
"Given an opportunity to follow the correct path and perform data modeling, we have seen a significant return on investment with decreases in delivery time and decreases in project cost."
"erwin has versioning so you can keep versions, over time, of those models and you can compare any version to any version. If you're looking at a specific database and you want to see what changed over time, that's really useful. You can go back to a different version or connect that to your change-control processes so you can see what was released when."
"I like the solution's traceability."
"It is stable and easy to use."
"Enterprise architecture and a positive sense of understanding soon reached everyone."
 

Cons

"I am not so happy with its speed. Sometimes, it can have problems with connections."
"Sometimes when I want to open the attribute editor, it stops working and the whole application freezes."
"erwin generally fails to successfully reverse engineer our Oracle Databases into erwin data models. The way that they are engineered on our side, the syntax is correct from an Oracle perspective, but it seems to be very difficult for erwin to interpret. What I end up doing is using Oracle Data Modeler to reverse engineer into the Oracle data model, then forward engineer the DDL into an Oracle syntax, and importing that DDL into erwin in order to successfully bring in most of the information from our physical data models. That is a bit of a challenge."
"I would rate the visualization feature in erwin Data Modeler a six out of ten because the visualization is somewhat poor and some of the features are not user-friendly."
"I would like to see improved reporting and, potentially, dashboards built on top of that."
"The Bulk Editor needs improvement."
"It is not a very stable solution. I rate the stability five out of ten."
"We find erwin DM less valuable creating initial drafts and reverse-engineering databases and there are still a lot of extensions to the scripting language that are not included with the erwin product."
"I was not so satisfied with arrows in this program."
"The solution is not easy and intuitive to use. I would also like the software to have a reference metamodel that can guide the modeling."
"In the previous version, the web interface was unstable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't specifically know what we're paying now. About three years ago, in another organization, I have this memory of 6,000 AUD a seat or something like that, but I am not sure. In the mid-2000s, it was something like 1,200 AUD a seat. I get the impression that there was a price jump when it was spun off from CA as a separate company, which is understandable, but it could sometimes be a barrier in some organizations picking it up. I haven't talked to erwin people yet, but I'm going to suggest to them that they could perhaps think of having an entry-level product that is priced a bit lower, and then, you can buy the extra suite."
"The price of erwin Data Modeler is very expensive, in particular for this part of the world."
"The pricing of the solution is cheap. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"erwin has this option where you pay a one-time fee and you have the license for six years, which makes sense because I don't upgrade my database engine every other year. I have an application that depends on it. This is something weird about PowerDesigner. There are no additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee."
"Though the solution is not cheap, it's worth the money."
"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"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."
"The price should be lower in order to be on the same level as its competitors."
"I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten since it's pretty expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
Government
22%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise38
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
I have no idea about the setup cost because I did not buy the license.
What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
The UI in erwin Data Modeler can be improved significantly because when any new person opens the tool, all the toolbars are kept open with many tools in view, making it appear chunky. If possible, ...
What is your primary use case for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?
I primarly use erwin Data Modeler for modeling purposes. Once we have the business requirement, we create the models in erwin Data Modeler, and then we perform forward engineering to get the query ...
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Also Known As

erwin DM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

 Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples
Emiliambiente, OLI, Galletti, Hiref, Bugatti, Argelli, Culligan Italiana, Sal, Stefal Cablaggi, BrainBee Automotive, Varvel, Campagnola, Favini, G.F., Gruppo ROLD
Find out what your peers are saying about QualiWare X vs. erwin Data Modeler and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.