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SAP PowerDesigner vs UNICOM System Architect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

SAP PowerDesigner
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (5th)
UNICOM System Architect
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
24th
Average Rating
6.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of SAP PowerDesigner is 7.3%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of UNICOM System Architect is 1.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SAP PowerDesigner7.3%
UNICOM System Architect1.6%
Other91.1%
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Kopparapu Venkatesh Prasad - PeerSpot reviewer
Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Data modeling tool improves data management and decision-making efficiency
The lineage analysis helps my organization understand data dependencies at an enterprise level. As a SAP PowerDesigner developer, I monitor data across the organization, creating data models that reflect not just one data warehouse but comprehensive organizational information. If you have a small company, lineage helps track employee data across different areas such as finance and HR. Data governance prevents duplicate records, so when tracking employee details, SAP PowerDesigner highlights where data exists in various areas, helping ensure we only use the appropriate sources. This functionality allows us to assess the impact of data deletions effectively. I utilize the reverse engineering capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner. Reverse engineering is helpful, especially since I have colleagues new to SAP PowerDesigner. They often do not know which columns are available where. In SAP PowerDesigner, we can reverse engineer existing data from its source and identify errors in production. For instance, by using Ali's example, if an error arises, I can trace it back to the table and environment it originated from using the reverse engineering feature. The best features of SAP PowerDesigner, from my perspective, are its ability to keep the connectivity between the source database and the new system, data redundancy and availability, and impact analysis. The first feature acts as a bridge between systems. The second allows us to see what data is already available and what new data can be brought in. The third, impact analysis, helps determine how many tables will be affected if a specific table is deleted. This critical point allows us to capture how much data will be lost if any table is removed. Currently, these features shape my daily work. SAP PowerDesigner primarily benefits business management units by offering three types of data modeling structures: conceptual, logical, and physical models. The conceptual model communicates high-level insights to top executives, while logical and physical models address complex queries faced by developers in analytics. SAP PowerDesigner enhances the clarity of our data management significantly, as around 80% of data can be searched quickly and maintained in our SAP systems. The tool enables mapping from end to end, making my work faster and more efficient than using other ER data modeling solutions. The interface allows easy creation of data models and searching for existing data, ensuring I can complete my tasks significantly quicker. The importance of SAP PowerDesigner's collaboration capabilities lies in fostering a unified data management approach. It acts as a unified tool, preventing the duplication of existing data in analytical processes, thus saving both effort and storage costs, which is essential for effective data management. We utilize collaboration capabilities in SAP PowerDesigner with various source systems such as PG admin, Postgres, Oracle, and Snowflake. Recently, we have added Snowflake for cloud data modeling and POC work, streamlining the collaboration process across different systems.
reviewer1261290 - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
Useful for creating build-outs and architecture views, but requires a publisher add-on for some detailed reports
I don't use the tool or know a lot. It is going to have some shortcomings. When it comes down to publishing, we just found out this week that they actually have a publisher add-on. So, what we were trying to publish was not giving a detailed report about the architecture, views, etc. I just wish they had sent these to UNICOM and contacted them about add-on features for the publishing part of the tool.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of SAP PowerDesigner is the testing of the models, it has the best function. Reverse engineering is very helpful too."
"SAP PowerDesigner is fairly stable."
"I like the connectivity or the lineage between the models and usability."
"Has a specific template that's very helpful for importing metadata."
"Even if you don't customise or extend PowerDesigner, the tool is still the easiest modelling tool to use, with spreadsheet-like editing capabilities, the ability to link to or replicate (in a managed fashion) objects from a different model."
"I previously used Erwin and I switched because PowerDesigner is a more powerful tool."
"I've used the reverse engineering feature a lot. I can take a look at the structure of the database and what relationships it has."
"What I appreciate best about SAP PowerDesigner is that it is a very detailed and comprehensive tool."
"It has good end-to-end metamodel interrelationships."
"It has good end-to-end metamodel interrelationships."
"It is useful for creating build-outs and architecture views and for publishing reports and stuff like that for different programs."
"It is useful for creating build-outs and architecture views and for publishing reports and stuff like that for different programs."
 

Cons

"This product does not have a good BPMN Modeler."
"The solution is very, very expensive. It would be ideal if it was a more affordable product."
"The focus is more on mainstream development environments, and I see a lack of focus on the open source world."
"In terms of improvement, the pricing is a bit high."
"The data governance should be improved, like ER/Studio."
"In the future, I would like to see data manipulation capability where you can actually write SQL queries and manipulate data from directly within the tool."
"SAP PowerDesigner could improve by making the repository easier to understand. It is difficult to understand how the repository works because when I used logical models as part of the team, we wanted to use them together and update the older versions of the data model version but it was confusing. The repository needs to be explained."
"One issue is the cost, as it is a high-priced tool coming from SAP."
"When it comes down to publishing, we just found out this week that they actually have a publisher add-on, so what we were trying to publish was not giving a detailed report about the architecture, views, etc."
"They need to add reports that show the enterprise architecture perspectives, and the dashboards should be comfortable for the senior enterprise architects so that they can view the complete landscape."
"UNICOM System Architect is quite a dated tool. The usability needs to be improved."
"I don't use the tool or know a lot. It is going to have some shortcomings. When it comes down to publishing, we just found out this week that they actually have a publisher add-on. So, what we were trying to publish was not giving a detailed report about the architecture, views, etc. I just wish they had sent these to UNICOM and contacted them about add-on features for the publishing part of the tool."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would like SAP to prove free licenses to professionals that are using the solution. The free version is limited."
"SAP PowerDesigner is cheaper than eriwin."
"PowerDesigner is not the cheapest solution on the market, so make sure that you are using it to its full potential."
"When you purchase the license for SAP PowerDesigner, you have to buy one year of support. The tool is worth the money."
"I bought the software outright and do not pay a licensing fee."
"The pricing varies based on functionality and users."
"The ROI has been 43%."
"The price of the solution is low."
"I don't remember the price. It is a different cost for just buying it, and then you have a maintenance cost, which you need to renew every year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Government
9%
Retailer
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise18
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SAP PowerDesigner?
It allows us to have proper documentation in terms of the databases.
What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
It was a long time back when my company purchased it, but I am now participating in upgrading it to the latest version. I found customer support to be tedious during the upgrade process to the late...
Ask a question
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Also Known As

Sybase PowerDesigner
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
Apple, Facebook, Google, HSBC, PayPal
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP PowerDesigner vs. UNICOM System Architect and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.