Ardoq vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest comparison

Ardoq and erwin by Quest are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. Ardoq is ranked #12 with an average rating of 7.5, while erwin by Quest is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1. Ardoq holds a 3.2% mindshare in AM, compared to erwin by Quest’s 10.9% mindshare. Additionally, 50% of Ardoq users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of erwin by Quest users who would recommend it.

Ardoq

Read 2 Ardoq reviews

1,036 Views
676 Comparison Views

50% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Read 39 erwin Data Modeler by Quest reviews

4,005 Views
2,219 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Ardoq

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Erwin Data Modeler by Quest and Ardoq are products in the enterprise data management category. Ardoq has the upper hand with its extensive feature set and perceived value, despite higher costs.

Features: Erwin Data Modeler provides comprehensive data modeling capabilities, strong integration with database environments, and data governance functionalities. Ardoq maps and visualizes enterprise architecture dynamically, facilitates real-time collaboration, and adapts to agile environments flexibly.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Erwin offers a straightforward deployment model, focusing on integration with existing data ecosystems and technical implementation support. Ardoq's cloud-based deployment ensures seamless scalability, and its proactive support enhances user adoption.

Pricing and ROI: Erwin Data Modeler uses a traditional licensing structure with predictable costs, appealing to enterprises with established budgeting strategies. Ardoq's subscription-based pricing offers flexible investments, leading to potentially higher ROI due to its agile features.

To learn more, read our detailed Ardoq vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Ardoq vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

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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

Ardoq

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

12th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Business Process Design (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of Ardoq is 3.2%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of erwin Data Modeler by Quest is 10.9%, up from 9.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

Anthony Houghton

Data Architect at UK Research and Innovatio

Provides stable performance and scalability but not intuitive for data modeling

Overall, I would rate it around six out of ten. The training environment wasn't very intuitive, but maybe with more use, it will get better. We need to learn to navigate it. So, there is a potential learning curve in this tool. I use it once in a blue moon, and not very frequently because I have not found it very intuitive.

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JorgeSanz

Data Governance Senior Advisor at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company

Streamline data modeling and automate network changes for increased efficiency

The initial setup depends on the tool if you are using the data model environment. Stopping the server could be complex and require strong expertise. If you have everything set up and configured, Erwin is straightforward. You can deploy it in a few hours. In our case, it took a couple of months to address internal conditions, assign machines, and set up everything for the services. I rate the initial setup a six out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

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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

"It is a stable solution."

"Snapshots are the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable features are being able to visualize the data in the diagrams and transform those diagrams into physical database deployments. These features help, specifically, to integrate the data. When the source data is accumulated and modeled, the target model is in erwin and it helps resolve the data integration patterns that are required to map the data to accommodate a model."

"We can create mappings in erwin and possibly data dictionaries."

"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."

"The visual data models for helping to overcome data source complexity and enabling understanding and collaboration around maintenance and usage are excellent. A picture speaks 1,000 words. Seeing a picture that shows you how the data relates to each other helps you better understand what the data is and how to use it. Pairing that information with a dictionary, which has the definitions of the tables and columns or the entities and attributes, ensures that the users understand what the data is so that they can use it best and most successfully."

"It provides flexibility with the code. You can change the code as you want. Basically, you can change SQL based on what's best for your project."

"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."

"What has been useful, I have been able to reverse engineer our existing data models to document explicitly referential integrity relationships, primary/foreign keys in the model, and create ERDs that are subject area-based which our clients can use when working with our databases. The reality is that our databases are not explicitly documented in the DDL with primary/foreign key relationships. You can't look at the DDL and explicitly understand the primary/foreign key relationships that exist between our tables, so the referential integrity is not easily understood. erwin has allowed me to explicitly document that and create ERDs. This has made it easier for our clients to consume our databases for their own purposes."

"The principal feature that I liked is that the solution has a very graphic interface."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pros

Cons

"Scalability as a standalone system is good, given the information that has been described inside Ardoq. But not the scalability as a third-party system or with integration with other systems. Because in this direction, the scalability is about zero for Ardoq."

"The training environment wasn't very intuitive, but maybe with more use, it will get better."

"The navigation is a little bit of a challenge. It's painful. For example, if you've got a view open and you want to try to move from side to side, the standard today is being able to drag and drop left and right. You can't really do that in the model. Moving around the model is painful because it doesn't follow the Windows model today."

"This is a very complex product."

"We are planning to move, in 2021, into their server version, where multiple data modelers can work at the same time and share their models. It has become a pain point to merge the models from individual desktops and get them into a single data model, when multiple data modelers are working on a particular project. It becomes a nightmare for the senior data modeler to bring them together, especially when it comes to recreating them when you want to merge them."

"I am not so happy with its speed. Sometimes, it can have problems with connections."

"I would like to see the reporting capabilities be more dynamic and more inclusive of information. The API is very sparsely understood by people across the user community."

"The reverse engineering in Oracle Databases needs improvement, as there are issues."

"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."

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for extended support."

"This company had bought the license for three years, and it's not an individual license. While you can buy a license for each individual, that would be very expensive. There is something called concurrent licenses where you can purchase licenses in bulk and 15 to 20 people can access the license and model. Concurrent licenses are scalable to the number of users and are proportional to the cost."

"Pricing is very high compared to any other product."

"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 primary reasons that erwin was selected were that it was much more affordable for us [than Embarcadero] and it was easily maintainable."

"It is not a very expensive solution. Only the licensing and maintenance fee needs to be paid."

"Though the solution is not cheap, it's worth the money."

"The pricing of the solution is cheap. I rate the pricing a five out of ten."

"There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Insurance Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

Any experience with Strategic Project Portfolio Management Solutions?

Hi @Cheryl Joseph Looking at the crossover between Project and Portfolio management with EA, then Planview could be a good choice. If looking at Portfolio Management from an EA perspective then Le...

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What do you like most about Ardoq?

It is a stable solution.

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What needs improvement with Ardoq?

It doesn't seem good for data modeling. So, I would like to see some features related to that in future releases.

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What do you like most about erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

Forward engineering, DDL generation, reverse engineering, and reporting are the most valuable features of the solution.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

The product is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing a nine out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.

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What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

As a documenting tool, it's solid, though its reporting could be more robust. The reporting mechanisms could be more intuitive regarding report creation. It can generate reports in CSV files, displ...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

March 2025

Download Ardoq product report

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

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Also Known As

No data available

erwin DM

Overview

A Dynamic and Data-Driven Approach to Enterprise Architecture
Engage and connect stakeholders across the organization with business-friendly visualizations understandable to all.

Ardoq

erwin pioneered data modeling, and erwin Data Modeler (erwin DM) remains trusted, award-winning software for data modeling and database design, automating complex and time-consuming tasks. Use it to discover and document any data from anywhere for consistency, clarity and artifact reuse across large-scale data integration, master data management, metadata management, Big Data, business intelligence and analytics initiatives – all while supporting data governance and intelligence efforts.

erwin by Quest

Sample Customers

Schibsted, Government of Malmo, Torvald

Premera, America Honda Motors, Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, Dental Dental Cali, Cigna, Staples

Buyer's Guide

Ardoq vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

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