erwin Data Modeler vs iServer comparison

Quest Software and Orbus Software are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. Quest Software is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Orbus Software is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.5. Quest Software holds a 8.4% mindshare in AM, compared to Orbus Software’s 4.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Quest Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Orbus Software users who would recommend it.

erwin Data Modeler

Read 48 erwin Data Modeler reviews

5,545 Views
3,771 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

iServer

Read 18 iServer reviews

2,505 Views
1,779 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler

iServer

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

iServer and erwin Data Modeler are competitors in data modeling and enterprise architecture management. iServer leads in pricing and customer service, whereas erwin Data Modeler is favored for its extensive functionality.

Features: iServer supports integration and dashboard capabilities, handling multiple frameworks and facilitating collaboration. erwin Data Modeler offers robust data governance, metadata management, and reverse engineering features, essential for complex data environments.

Room for Improvement: iServer could enhance its data management capabilities and include more advanced modeling features. Improvements in template flexibility and analytics might also benefit iServer. erwin Data Modeler could improve its initial setup to be less technically demanding, include better customer training materials, and enhance integration with more databases.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: iServer is commended for its easy deployment process and reliable customer service. Its intuitive setup and responsive support provide a smoother user experience. erwin Data Modeler, while offering sufficient deployment support, may require more technical skills during initial setup.

Pricing and ROI: iServer offers a competitive pricing model with lower initial costs, making it appealing for budget-conscious organizations. erwin Data Modeler, although perceived as having higher costs, delivers significant ROI through its advanced features and enhanced data management capability.

To learn more, read our detailed erwin Data Modeler vs. iServer Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler vs. iServer

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 Data Modeler

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

2nd

Ranking in Business Process Design

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Governance (9th)

iServer

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

8th

Ranking in Business Process Design

15th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 8.4%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 4.7%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Enterprise Architecture Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
erwin Data Modeler	8.4%
iServer	4.7%
Other	86.9%

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

Sushree Panigrahi

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.

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Antonios Lazanakis

Senior IT Solution Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Flexible, easy to use, and easy to import data

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model. It is very easy to import data, and we also have good integration with Visual Drawing Tools and SharePoint. The solution is…

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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 can create mappings in erwin and possibly data dictionaries."

"They have a lot of features and the most up-to-date technology integration, which I haven't seen in other products."

"The solution’s code generation ensures accurate engineering of data sources, as there is no development time. Code doesn't even have to be reviewed. We have been using this solution for so long and all the code which has been generated is accurate with the requirements. Once we generate the DDLs out of the erwin tools, the development team does a quick review of the script line by line. They will just be running the script on the database and looking into other requirements, such as the index. So, there is less effort from development side to create tables or build a database."

"We find that its ability to generate database code from a model for a wide array of data sources cuts development time. The ability to create one model in your design phase and then have it generate DDL code for Oracle or Teradata, or whichever environment you need is really nice. It's not only nice but it also saves man-hours of time. You would have to take your design and just type in manually. It has to take days off out of the work."

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

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

"The product lets us import different types of models from various databases."

"The most valuable features are the ability to reverse engineer and do model comparison. With the reverse engineering, I can understand the databases from third-party products. With the model comparison, I can track the differences between two versions of the same database."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

"Integrating the Microsoft documents to the product and visualization matrix where we can see the end-to-end relationship of the network is of great importance to our company."

"It has helped having data lineage in the business cluster, which is used as control artifacts."

"iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management."

"Tech support is very responsive. They solved issues within a prompt response time."

"The solution has wide use within Microsoft products. The integration with Microsoft products, and, in particular, Microsoft Office, is great."

"The solution is easily modified to suit your needs."

"The most valuable feature is its reporting capability. It offers various packages for different types of reports, such as business and project management reporting packs."

"I have to think less with this solution. It's simple."

More iServer pros

Cons

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

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

"The erwin Data Modeler is quite complex to use."

"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."

"It does not have a cloud application."

"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."

"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."

"The Bulk Editor needs improvement. If you had something that was a local model to your local machine, you could connect to the API, then it would write directly into the repository. However, when you have something that is on the centralized server, that functionality did not work. Then, you had to export out to a CSV and upload up to the repository. It would have been nice to be able to do the direct API without having that whole download and upload thing. Maybe I didn't figure it out, but I'm pretty sure that didn't work when it was a model that sat on a centralized repository."

More erwin Data Modeler cons

"The performance is slow, which is something that should be improved."

"The one issue is that if you want to import predefined work, you need to put the licensing model in. So if you wanted to import work that was done before, you then need to buy a separate product for that."

"More visualization techniques and ways to report the data might be helpful."

"The modelling needs improvement, specifically forecasting capabilities and scenarios."

"iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io."

"We could allocate permissions to use only specific components to the users rather than the entire instance."

"There can be some performance issues using the solution that should be improved. When you make modifications modify to files there are embedded data within that can take a while to process."

"There are other solutions out there that have a better user interface."

More iServer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 of erwin Data Modeler is very expensive, in particular for this part of the world."

"The solution is expensive."

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

"The tool is expensive."

"The price should be lower in order to be on the same level as its competitors."

"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."

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."

"It's about 13K to set up and 9K for the license for three months. I think it's about 20K a year, but we haven't firmed up on pricing yet because the price depends on how long we commit to the solution."

"The product has a moderate pricing."

"The solution is cheaper than its competitors."

"Aim for the exact number of people who shall define/review approve and view the processes, as it will impact the cost."

"The price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Performing Arts

Financial Services Firm

20%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	35

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

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

Regarding pricing, it depends on the company. For a cloud or SaaS standard edition, it typically runs around two hundred to two hundred ninety-nine US dollars per month. For a workgroup edition, it...

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What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

My use case is mostly architectural design for our end-to-end deployment.

See all answers

What needs improvement with iServer?

iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io. draw.io is a drawing tool used to draw architectural diagrams, flow diagrams, etc. It is an alternative to...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for iServer?

We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering iServer?

I would recommend the solution to other users. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP PowerDesigner vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 41% of the time

IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 10% of the time

Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 5% of the time

Visio vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 5% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 4% of the time

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BiZZdesign HoriZZon vs iServer

Compared 16% of the time

MEGA HOPEX vs iServer

Compared 15% of the time

LeanIX vs iServer

Compared 10% of the time

OrbusInfinity vs iServer

Compared 9% of the time

ARIS BPA vs iServer

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler

February 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

February 2026

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Also Known As

erwin DM

No data available

Overview

Erwin Data Modeler provides an effective approach to visualizing and managing data models. It assists in creating, reversing, and synchronizing data models with ease, supporting logical and physical transitions while enhancing understanding across teams.

Erwin Data Modeler is a comprehensive tool designed for professional database management. It offers capabilities to organize and enforce standards, automating script generation with robust reverse engineering and DDL output. Users can manage complex data environments, capitalize on integration with data intelligence, and maintain large-scale databases smoothly. Despite its strengths, improvements in multi-language support, database integration, and reporting features are needed. Users benefit from extensive support for conceptual, logical, and physical database modeling, enhancing architectural design and data governance for platforms like SQL Server, Oracle, and Teradata.

What are the key features of Erwin Data Modeler?

Visual Representation: Facilitates clear visualization of data models, aiding comprehension.
Versioning and Editing: Enhance usability with versioning and bulk editing capabilities.
Reverse Engineering: Offers powerful tools for reverse engineering and DDL generation.
Integration: Aligns with data intelligence to streamline database management.
Naming Standards: Enforces consistency with automated script creation.

What benefits should users consider in Erwin Data Modeler reviews?

Collaboration: Promotes team understanding and collaboration through visual tools.
Automation: Reduces manual effort through automated processes and integration.
Scalability: Handles large database management efficiently, crucial for enterprise settings.
Data Governance: Facilitates effective data governance with structured modeling.

Erwin Data Modeler finds application in industries focused on robust data management, implementing it for enterprise data warehouses, business domain models, and operational systems. It supports architectural design and governance, aligning with business applications demanding precise data representation and visualization.

Quest Software

iServer is a unified software platform and enterprise modeling environment that extends and enhances the familiar, market leading Microsoft Visio and Office products. Core capabilities provided by iServer include an enhanced Microsoft Visio diagramming interface, a powerful central repository for all enterprise architecture or business process models and documentation, and a range of tools for visualization, analysis and decision making.

Orbus Software

Sample Customers

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

Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler vs. iServer

February 2026

Free Report: erwin Data Modeler vs. iServer

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