IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Evolve comparison

Quest Software and IDERA are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. Quest Software is ranked #14, while IDERA is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.5. Quest Software holds a 3.3% mindshare in AM, compared to IDERA’s 3.1% mindshare. Additionally, 81% of Quest Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of IDERA users who would recommend it.

erwin Evolve

Read 19 erwin Evolve reviews

1,706 Views
1,194 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

IDERA ER/Studio

Read 39 IDERA ER/Studio reviews

2,237 Views
1,387 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

erwin Evolve

IDERA ER/Studio

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

IDERA ER/Studio and erwin Evolve are competitors in data modeling and management. Erwin Evolve tends to be preferred for its extensive feature set, while IDERA is noted for its competitive pricing and support.

Features: IDERA ER/Studio offers strong graphic and formatting capabilities, reverse engineering for legacy databases, and object creation scripting tools for consistent database builds. Erwin Evolve provides robust support for forward and reverse engineering, a centralized repository, and flexible compare/merge facilities.

Room for Improvement: IDERA ER/Studio users report issues with licensing complexities, documentation, and performance lags. Integration with newer databases and repository performance are also areas for enhancement. Erwin Evolve could improve NoSQL support, provide clearer documentation for new users, and enhance integration with other tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IDERA ER/Studio is geared towards on-premises deployments and is praised for strong customer service, albeit with some responsiveness issues. Erwin Evolve offers both cloud and on-premises deployment options and is recognized for its solid technical support despite some delays.

Pricing and ROI: IDERA ER/Studio's pricing is considered fair yet complex but offers good value for its features. Erwin Evolve is more expensive, offering scalable licensing options but still shows positive ROI due to its extensive functionality.

To learn more, read our detailed IDERA ER/Studio vs. erwin Evolve Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

IDERA ER/Studio vs. erwin Evolve

February 2026

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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 Evolve

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

14th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (21st)

IDERA ER/Studio

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database Development and Management (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Evolve is 3.3%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IDERA ER/Studio is 3.1%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IDERA ER/Studio	3.1%
erwin Evolve	3.3%
Other	93.6%

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

Asish Sahu

SPM at Infosys

The reverse engineering capabilities are quite useful.

Evolve is primarily focused on the entity's licenses diagrams, but it would be nice if erwin could integrate case development, so that it shows the ER diagram plus certain inputs on the use cases and how the data is used. That deviates somewhat from the overall scope, so maybe they could call it a different product.

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reviewer2796111

Data Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Improved data modeling has reduced system footprint and strengthened finance workflows

I assess the benefits of IDERA ER_Studio's metadata management for my organization as not as good as Erwin's. Erwin's metadata management is better in how it handles data. There is a lot more user involvement in managing the metadata, primarily because in IDERA ER_Studio, the logical and physical models are separately defined in the same file, so you have to map them every single time. In Erwin, it has a unified structure, so if you make a change in the logical model, it automatically shows up in the physical model. You have to go through a couple of steps in the IDERA model to make sure everything has moved over. While that is not that inconvenient when you are actually doing development, as far as metadata management, that is prone to things getting dropped and missed. The collaboration tools in IDERA ER_Studio are adequate, but I think with Erwin, there is more of an opportunity for things to crash. Changes can be merged in IDERA more fluidly; however, the locking and sharing are a little bit more defined in Erwin. I think the learning curve for Erwin might be easier than IDERA ER_Studio, especially with connecting to different models and systems.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Evolve's reverse engineering ability is quite useful."

"One of the most valuable features is the website that sits on top of the database. There's a database of objects and how they are related, and you can make views and diagrams and visual elements out of that information on the website. The website is the part that is called Evolve and we use the Evolve Designer and publish the website out to our employees. They can click around and navigate and search, etc."

"Evolve is like a tank. You can do whatever you want with the solution, but you need to customize it. I think that it's not very aligned with the framework for enterprise architecture. MEGA is focused on these enterprise architectures, but it's only for that. With Evolve, you can do everything you want with professional services."

"The ability to share and collaborate on the solution is its most valuable feature."

"I can send images in the PDF form, along with the relationships and the associations that are a very important part of what we do. It can show what is affected and what is impacted by a certain change in one area of the system architecture or enterprise architecture. I can very quickly draw those issues and topics to the fore."

"Workgroup Repository collection of data models allows research across models without worry about platform incompatibilities and provides easy KPIs about corporate data assets."

"The initial setup was really straightforward and the deployment was done within one day."

"I have not seen capabilities for web-sharing and interaction with the architecture from any other supplier. It's a great capability..."

More erwin Evolve pros

"The data modeling module is important to me because I am a database developer and designer... It's very fast, reliable, up-to-date, so easy to use, smooth."

"We found a lot of duplication, a lot of non-conformity in the way our databases were designed. By identifying these situations, we're able to go back in and try to create a more standardized solution."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is generating DDL (data definition language)."

"The most important features are logical and physical models that we can compare and develop. Also, the Data Dictionary can be created out of your studio. Finally, database schemas help understand the logic that's behind the scene, behind the SQL tables. Especially when there are a lot of them, the schemas help everyone understand the business processes."

"It does the job."

"Valuable features include the ability to visually represent what the database tables are going to look like and their relationships. Also, the ability to document the definitions of the tables and the columns that are in a table so that we can communicate what the data is and how it should be used."

"The data modeling and reverse engineering features are most important to us."

"Data lineage tracking: It allows us to identify upstream and downstream systems using data."

More IDERA ER/Studio pros

Cons

"I would like to see an improvement in the output of the solution."

"Add some ability to do conditional Visualization on the models and in reports (some ideas) – maybe as a specialized Theme or Diagram or Display."

"erwin Evolve by Quest could have additional features to manage the architecture of enterprises and businesses."

"What they need to do is to consolidate more of their products. For example, I was just looking and I couldn't figure out what erwin DT is. It's on the website but it would help if they could put information together and make it more clear as to what products they have and how they work with other things."

"The solution needs to focus on allowing for more integrations."

"I feel that the UML drawing capability needs to be improved."

"It could have had a more streamlined navigation. It seemed that when you went to the explorer panel, there were just so many different ways of doing the work that I could not remember, "How did I do this? How did I get to that point in that model to get back to it?" If I wanted to build a new one, where do I start? It just seemed like there was such a smorgasbord of ways of doing it that it was just overwhelming."

"With the Excel importing, the "up to date" part is the challenge. If we had a real-time integration, we could keep things up to date for whatever kinds of change points we had. With Excel, it is more that you have to export from one system then import it to another, so it's better for data that doesn't change that often."

More erwin Evolve cons

"ER/Studio lacks a pure cloud option for deployment."

"The model diagram because very clumsy when you save it on the team server and the models are very big."

"The visual presentation is a little too colorful and seems that it is dumbed down."

"I would like to see better documentation/help for the Data Architect tool. Creation of tutorials would be nice, as there are some features which are not as clearly defined as they should be."

"Tech support is a sticking point with me. I am really disappointed in the tech support. We pay for the Platinum level. It takes hours to get a response."

"I'd like the ability to debug the errors ourselves instead of having to call them. There are certain types of errors that, I wouldn't say they come up regularly, but when you have an error it is very often the same type of error. Knowing that it's a Type III or Type I, it would be nice to have some kind of debugging facility for us to use to find out where the problem that threw that error occurs. That would be a really cool feature."

"The solution could be sped up, as it is a little slow (e.g., when it's doing its database compare)."

"The solution's reporting could be improved because the report writer is terrible."

More IDERA ER/Studio cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think erwin is quite expensive. I have difficulty selling the portal, in fact."

"Yearly, our cost is €100,000."

"The cost is something like $15,000, per license. But I haven't looked at those numbers in three years. It was over $100,000 to initially set everything up and get it all configured."

"I estimate that we pay between $40,000 and $50,000 a year for the solution, not including the upfront costs to buy things the first time."

"On a yearly basis, our licensing costs are 50,000 euro. There are no additional costs because we are on a SaaS model."

"The licensing enables you to differentiate between people who edit the content and the people who consume it. We are able to keep the licensing costs down by keeping the "contributor" licenses to a minimum, and we then just roll out the content in a read-only version for the rest of our users."

"Unless you are a one person shop – always go with the Workgroup edition and Concurrent licensing."

"The solution’s pricing is high."

"The product is pricey."

"The process of licensing could be much simpler, from our experience."

"At my previous company using ER/Studio, a database compare took four hours before using the product and 15 minutes after using the product."

"The setup cost may have been around $1500 to $2000."

"As an individual user, the renewal is a little costly."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is bad and ten is good, I would rate the licensing cost as a seven or eight. It's not too expensive for us."

"Pricing is expensive and on the higher-end."

More IDERA ER/Studio pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Performing Arts

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Energy/Utilities Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	12

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	26

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IDERA ER Studio?

In terms of pricing, ER/Studio is slightly more expensive compared to Erwin, by about five to ten percent.

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What is your primary use case for IDERA ER Studio?

I work in the finance industry, and the use cases for this product are very similar to what I mentioned previously when I discussed being in industrial management. It is simply a different product.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering IDERA ER Studio?

I have not used IDERA ER_Studio's impact analysis tools, so I really could not judge that regarding mitigating database risks for security. I am not on the end as far as the pricing, as this is wha...

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SAP PowerDesigner vs IDERA ER/Studio

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Evolve

February 2026

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Buyer's Guide

IDERA ER/Studio

January 2026

Download IDERA ER/Studio product report

Also Known As

erwin EA, erwin Business Process, erwin Enterprise Architecture

IDERA ER Studio, ER/Studio, ER/Studio Enterprise Team Edition

Overview

erwin Evolve provides comprehensive graphical support for handling large data models. It offers features such as metadata access, version control, and model comparison, enhancing operational reports and system analytics through its collaborative web-driven design.

erwin Evolve facilitates reverse engineering and database integration, fostering collaboration and process exploration through its web interface. Customizable and easy to configure, it supports workflow configuration and architectural modeling. Users can utilize its capabilities for developing industry models, managing transformation programs, and presenting standard operating procedures. Despite its strengths, there are demands for improved integration, enhanced UML support, and a more modern user experience. Users also express challenges with legacy system updates and call for better connectors and collaborative features.

What are the key features of erwin Evolve?

Graphical Support for Large Data Models: Provides visualization capabilities for complex data structures.
Metadata Access via API: Allows integration and management of metadata across platforms.
Version Control and Model Comparison: Enhances tracking and analysis of model changes.
Collaborative Web Interface: Facilitates teamwork and process exploration remotely.
Architectural Modeling: Supports the design and configuration of enterprise architecture.

What are the benefits and ROI of using erwin Evolve?

Customization and Ease of Configuration: Reduces setup time and adapts to specific organizational workflows.
Enhanced Accessibility and Mobile Usability: Offers access to critical information on the go.
Operational Reports Creation: Generates insights and facilitates informed decision-making.
System Analytics Handling: Provides robust tools for analyzing system performance and integration.

Data-driven organizations in sectors like finance and healthcare implement erwin Evolve for data warehousing, enterprise architecture, and business process modeling. They leverage its capabilities for cataloging architectural elements, linking to CMDBs, analyzing system interfaces, and describing business processes. Utilization extends to IT solution registration, business capability planning, and strategic modeling, with frequent deployments on cloud platforms to support transformation initiatives.

Quest Software

IDERA ER/Studio is a powerful suite for business-driven data modeling that enables companies to create an enterprise architecture foundation for data governance. With round-trip support for multiple database platforms, data architects have the power to reverse-engineer, analyze, and optimize existing databases easily from diverse platforms. Data professionals can easily capture and share models, metadata, data sources, and glossaries across the organization for improved alignment between the organization and Information Technology. Organizational stakeholders can take part in the metadata definition workflow and access information on models and metadata at the right level for their needs.

Unlike its competition, it provides the broadest range of data platform support, industry-leading enterprise-level capabilities, visual data lineage and flow modeling, full dimensional modeling for data warehousing and business intelligence, and business data objects to bridge the gap between developers and data architects. It also provides a complete solution for enterprise architecture and data governance, extensive model change management, unique incorporation of true enterprise data dictionaries, unique linking of constructs across models, integrated visual data lineage import, and integrated data and business process modeling.

IDERA

Sample Customers

AT&T, Bank of America, Chevron, Duke University, ESPN, Fidelity, GE, JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, McGraw Hill, NASA, Pfizer, Royal Bank of Scotland, Teradata, Union Pacific, Vodafone, Wells Fargo.

Newmont Mining, Entrust, Accolade, TalkTalk, Catalina, Protective Life, NTT Data, dir systèmes, Microsoft; American Express, Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Coriant, Fedex, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Prudential, Wells Fargo

Buyer's Guide

IDERA ER/Studio vs. erwin Evolve

February 2026

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