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 8.0. Quest Software holds a 8.3% mindshare in AM, compared to Orbus Software’s 4.3% 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 45 erwin Data Modeler reviews

5,210 Views
3,543 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

iServer

Read 18 iServer reviews

2,253 Views
1,577 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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler vs. iServer

December 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

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

2nd

Ranking in Business Process Design

8th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Governance (15th)

iServer

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

8th

Ranking in Business Process Design

16th

Average Rating

7.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Modeler is 8.3%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of iServer is 4.3%, down from 4.5% 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	8.3%
iServer	4.3%
Other	87.4%

Enterprise Architecture Management

Featured Reviews

reviewer2795649

Senior Data Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Data modeling has enabled end-to-end designs and has improved collaboration between teams

Areas of erwin Data Modeler that I think could be improved or enhanced include a few things. I have not worked in erwin for the past four to five years, but based on my 20 years of career experience, I worked with erwin one or two years on an earlier project and currently am working with it again. Based on my overall 20 years of career experience, I have worked with erwin modeling for four to five years. I am not a master of the tool, but I cannot identify significant flaws. The price should be reduced. That could be one area of improvement. Additionally, the licensing system could be enhanced. In our current project, there are five licenses within the business. If anyone is moving to erwin, the other person cannot enter the erwin solution. There should be a message indicating that five persons are involved in erwin, and you cannot use it at that time. However, that is a minor issue.

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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

"I love the way erwin Data Modeler creates data models and presents them for our users."

"It is a scalable solution...The technical support team is fine."

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

"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."

"It supports a wide variety of databases, including the latest ones. We have chosen to go for a cloud-based database, and it supports that, which is very useful."

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

"There is absolutely no problem with the stability."

"The modeling portion of the tool is the most valuable. There are some notes, naming standards, and other functions that we use as well. There's a whole boatload of functionality in this thing and we use maybe 10% of it. It seems to be pretty common that not all the functionality is fully utilized. But it's just got gobs and gobs of stuff that you can implement if you so choose to."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

"The product has a valuable customized model."

"There were lots of different requirements, and collaboration and review is one of the biggest things. There is also Office 360 integration, and there's flexibility to use it as a database as well."

"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."

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

"iServer is a very flexible platform for defining your own enterprise architecture model."

"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."

"This is a flexible tool compared to some other solutions."

"Good and effective reporting features, which help in decision making."

More iServer pros

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."

"We can only get licenses through partners."

"As someone who has used it for a long time, I have seen stability vary from version to version."

"It does not have a cloud application."

"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."

"It has a very steep learning curve, limited support for NoSQL or streaming systems, and potentially a high licensing cost."

"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."

"I would like to have more data sources from other, different vendors. In recent years, the vendor has reduced the number of data sources, and I would like to have more data sources for every brand. For example, with Oracle, I would like to have compatibility for many versions, including old ones, not just the most recent."

More erwin Data Modeler cons

"Requirements management needs to be improved."

"There could be features for process mining, process simulation, and analytics."

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

"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."

"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."

"The product is more expensive than Spark."

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

More iServer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"The tool is expensive."

"Price-wise, erwin Data Modeler is okay. You can purchase a single license and it is not very expensive."

"There is either a one-year or three-year license. It is not a pay-as-you-go license like a SaaS solution. It’s more of a traditional licensing. They are a little bit on the pricier side."

"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 Data Modeler by Quest is an expensive solution."

"There are two license options and the pricing is reasonable."

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

"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 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."

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

"The product has a moderate pricing."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Financial Services Firm

20%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	34

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, I am unsure what the exact price is for erwin Data Modeler, but I believe it is not useful for an individual. It is more targeted toward an enterprise level since organizations l...

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What needs improvement with erwin Data Modeler by Quest?

I write code and I write code accessing erwin Data Modeler's API, the Application Programming Interface, so that I can use Excel to update erwin Data Modeler and then get those updates and put them...

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

I work for CVS with a pretty big database as a data modeler on the PBMs, the Caremark PBM side, which is the Pharmacy Benefits Manager. There's a retail side too for all the stores, but our data wa...

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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

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler

Compared 4% of the time

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MEGA HOPEX vs iServer

Compared 11% of the time

OrbusInfinity vs iServer

Compared 10% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs iServer

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler

January 2026

Download erwin Data Modeler product report

Buyer's Guide

Enterprise Architecture Management

January 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

December 2025

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