IBM Rational System Architect vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest comparison

erwin by Quest and IBM are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. erwin by Quest is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1, while IBM is ranked #19. erwin by Quest holds a 10.9% mindshare in AM, compared to IBM’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of erwin by Quest users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of IBM users who would recommend it.

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Read 39 erwin Data Modeler by Quest reviews

4,005 Views
2,219 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Rational System Architect

Read 5 IBM Rational System Architect reviews

883 Views
479 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

IBM Rational System Architect

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

IBM Rational System Architect and erwin Data Modeler by Quest are enterprise architecture and data modeling tools, respectively. erwin Data Modeler holds the advantage due to superior features and quick deployment, despite IBM's competitive pricing aspects.

Features: IBM Rational System Architect supports complex frameworks and integrates with multiple tools, providing a versatile modeling platform. erwin Data Modeler efficiently manages large data volumes and offers detailed visual representations. It excels in metadata management and collaboration, distinguishing it from IBM's capabilities.

Room for Improvement: IBM Rational System Architect could improve its deployment speed and user interface for better accessibility. erwin Data Modeler might enhance its pricing flexibility and expand support for diverse database systems. Both products can benefit from refining their integration capabilities with third-party tools

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Rational System Architect requires a traditional deployment approach, often leading to longer setups. Despite this, it offers extensive documentation and dedicated customer service. erwin Data Modeler ensures a more intuitive deployment with responsive support, promoting user satisfaction efficiently.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Rational System Architect has a higher initial cost but brings long-term value through its comprehensive features. erwin Data Modeler's premium price is justified by its efficient capabilities and quick deployment, delivering significant ROI by reducing long-term operational expenses.

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

Buyer's Guide

IBM Rational System Architect 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

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)

IBM Rational System Architect

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

19th

Average Rating

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler by Quest is 10.9%, up from 9.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Rational System Architect is 1.7%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

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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it_user951237

Enterprise Architecture Specialist at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Modeling is useful, but many features need improvement and technical support is lacking

I find that almost every feature related to the models requires improvement. For example, I would like to see more trendy models, the look and feel of the models can be improved. This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards. The impact analysis feature is in need of heavy improvement. The is a standalone product that lacks integration with a business process automation engine. I would like to see the workflow improved, where it integrates seamlessly with the artifacts.

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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

"We use the Forward and Reverse Engineering tools to help us speed things up and create things that would have to be done otherwise by hand. E.g., getting a database into a data model format or vice versa."

"It allows us to create logical data models. We can represent a database model in business terms, which is very useful for us."

"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."

"When you're getting down to the database level, where you're building a design and you're creating DDL out of it, or you're going in the other direction where you're reaching into system catalogs and bringing things back, that starts to really require specialization. Visio isn't going to reverse-engineer that for you. Those features in erwin are valuable."

"It has centralized storage so that a data model can be shared by different teams."

"One of the best aspects of the tool is its reverse engineering capability."

"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."

"The solution is good for organizing the data and the scripting part is very powerful. It's easy to create technical scripts for models."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pros

"We have seen ROI with this solution over the years that we have used it."

"The solution is pretty stable."

"The user interface is good. It's both clear and comprehensible. It's easy to work with."

"There are a lot of features I find valuable, but I think that the metamodel customization is one of the best features that the solution offers."

Cons

"The modeling product itself is far and above anything else that I've seen on the market. There are certain inconsistencies when it comes to keeping up with other platforms' databases in the reverse-engineering process. It should also support more database platforms."

"I still use Visio for conceptual modeling, and that's mainly because it is easier to change things, and you can relax some of the rules. DM's eventual target is a database, which means you actually have to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts, but in a conceptual model, you don't often know what you're working with. So, that's probably a constraint with erwin. They have made it a lot easier, and they've done a lot, but there is probably still room for improvement in terms of the ease of presentation back to the business. I'm comparing it with something like Visio where you can change colors on a box, change the text color and that sort of stuff, and change the lines. Such things are a whole lot easier in Visio, but once you get a theme organized in erwin, you can apply that theme to all of the objects. So, it becomes easier, but you do have to set up that theme."

"It would be nice to have it on the Linux platform, not just Windows. If they can support Linux, there would be a huge market for it."

"The solution's model mark could be better because it crashes sometimes."

"Complete Compare is set up only to compare properties that are of interest to us, but some of the differences cannot be brought over from one version of the model to another. This is despite the fact that we are clicking to bring objects from one place to another. Therefore, it's hard to tell at times if Complete Compare is working as intended without having to manually go into the details and check everything. If it could be redesigned to a degree where it is easier to use when we bring things over from one site to another and be sure that it's been done correctly, that would be nice to have. We would probably use the tool more often if the Complete Compare were easier to use."

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

"The interface must be improved."

"It does not have a cloud application."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons

"The reverse engineering of the database is already there, but in the next release I would like to see some pilot supplied with the solution in order to address any database."

"There needs to be more information at the outset about how to use the solution and how to deploy it. The deployment process needs improvement."

"This solution can be more user-friendly and easier to use, with better dashboards."

"The solution needs to better integrate with other products, like Microsoft."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

March 2025

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Also Known As

erwin DM

Rational System Architect

Overview

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

IBM Rational System Architect is an enterprise architecture solution for visualizing, analyzing, and communicating enterprise architecture and business process analysis. This solution provides decision support, process optimization, and integration into solution delivery. Rational System Architect addresses all aspects of your organization's enterprise architecture, including modeling, publishing, analysis, and execution.

IBM

Sample Customers

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

Wuxi Lake Cloud, Nationwide, ETI, IDS Scheer

Buyer's Guide

IBM Rational System Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Rational System Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Rational System Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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