LeanIX vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest comparison

erwin by Quest and SAP LeanIX are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. erwin by Quest is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1, while SAP LeanIX is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. erwin by Quest holds a 10.8% mindshare in AM, compared to SAP LeanIX’s 16.3% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of erwin by Quest users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of SAP LeanIX users who would recommend it.

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Read 39 erwin Data Modeler by Quest reviews

4,005 Views
2,220 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

LeanIX

Read 22 LeanIX reviews

6,018 Views
3,199 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

LeanIX

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

LeanIX and erwin Data Modeler by Quest are leading tools in enterprise architecture and data modeling, respectively. LeanIX stands out with its user-friendly approach and quick ROI, while erwin is known for its robust data modeling capabilities.

Features: LeanIX offers user-friendly interfaces for technical and non-technical users, enabling easy mapping of fact sheets and extensive customization. It provides powerful reporting and visualization, along with seamless integration with platforms like ServiceNow and Technopedia. Erwin Data Modeler excels in logical and physical data modeling, offering reverse engineering, versioning, and model synchronization to maintain database consistency across diverse environments.

Room for Improvement: LeanIX users suggest expanding its reporting capabilities, enhancing API integration and documentation, and improving data import functionalities. They also cite the high cost of third-party integrations as a concern. Erwin Data Modeler's users point to its outdated interface, less intuitive reporting, and poor integration with modern data platforms like big data, alongside sluggish performance on large models and a cumbersome comparison tool.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: LeanIX, being cloud-based, facilitates rapid deployment and easy scaling, coupled with excellent customer support through dedicated success managers. Erwin Data Modeler is primarily on-premises, which may hinder deployment in dynamic environments. While offering strong technical support, challenges arise in updating and managing complex setups.

Pricing and ROI: LeanIX's pricing is based on application count and may seem costly, but it delivers quick ROI through significant cost savings. Its competitive pricing model aligns well with its extensive functionality. Erwin Data Modeler is generally more expensive, especially with its concurrent licensing options, targeting specific user groups and providing value due to its robustness. However, its ROI may take longer to realize compared to LeanIX.

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

Buyer's Guide

LeanIX vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 849,190 peers since 2012

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)

LeanIX

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

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 10.8%, up from 9.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of LeanIX is 16.3%, up from 13.4% 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.

Read full review

Umit Sengul

Enterprise Architect at E.ON

A platform that facilitates efficient IT architecture management and integration, improving organizational coordination and decision-making

LeanIX is primarily used to create and manage architectural models, link capabilities, activities, and products and generate comprehensive reports. It serves as a central platform for overseeing the IT landscape within EON, a large organization, streamlining operations and enhancing governance…

Read full review

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

"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."

"The generation of DDL saved us having to write the steps by hand. You still had to go in and make some minor modifications to make it deployable to the database system. However, for the data lineage, it is very valuable for tracing our use of data, especially personal confidential data through different systems."

"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."

"The product allows us to reuse entities and attributes."

"I have worked with erwin Data Modeler for quite some time and familiarity is its most valuable feature."

"Quest can create conceptual and physical data models to facilitate effective communication between business and IT. It can also integrate expertise from various engineering and database systems within your organization to enhance data management and administration."

"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 by Quest pros

"The most valuable features are that it's user-friendly and the user experience. It's easy to map the fact sheets."

"Interfaces well with downstream systems of data."

"The solution provides a single window view of business, application, data, and technology views of the IT ecosystem."

"One of the most valuable features of LeanIX is the Enterprise Architecture Management tool."

"My favorite feature of LeanIX is its ability to induct attribute-driven surveys."

"The ability to import data and generate reports from it. That's where its power lies."

"The most valuable features include the reporting capabilities and the LeanIX Academy's educational resources."

"The usability is very high. It almost looks like a Facebook for Enterprise architecture, it's pretty nice. It's HTML5 based. The repository is very easy. It has 10 different ways of sorting the objects you have in your architecture repository. Maintaining new data or to add data to your repository is very easy."

More LeanIX pros

Cons

"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."

"There is a lack of local support in the China region."

"In terms of new features, it would be great to have a cloud base. We should be able to put it on the cloud for better collaboration and data models sharing."

"I would like to see more support for working with the big-data world. There are so many new databases evolving and it's very hard for them to keep up with all of the new technologies. It would be good if they were able to dynamically support big-data platforms, other than Hive and Teradata."

"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."

"erwin is not as robust as a data warehousing project I've been on in the past."

"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."

"Some Source official systems give us DDLs to work with and they have contents not required to be part of the DDL before we reverse engineer in the erwin DM. Therefore, we manually make changes to those scripts and edit them, then reverse-engineer within the tool. So, it does take some time to edit these DDL scripts generated by the source operational systems. What I would suggest: It would be helpful if there were a place within the erwin tool to import the file and automatically eliminate all the unnecessary lines of code, and just have the clean code built-in to generate the table/data model."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest cons

"Report generation could be more detailed. There are some shortcomings when creating reports. We can't create tag-based reports or go beyond basic technical reports."

"LeanIX has limited in-build diagramming capabilities, requiring the purchase of another tool. That is the main drawback of LeanIX because they don't have a built-in add-on product for diagramming."

"Not a ten because you always have that gap between complexity and easy to use. And the more complex the tool becomes, the more difficult it is to get the usability."

"What would make LeanIX better is more variety in terms of reporting, and more flexibility with its data importing feature."

"Another area for improvement is that when you're starting to look into more advanced information, using the solution's APIs and its customizations, documentation for that specific aspect is not very good. There is not too much support built into the offering for that aspect, for a developer."

"The solution’s API integration needs to improve. I would like to see a digital screen watch feature also in the solution."

"Adjustments related to specific organizational requirements are complex."

"The modeling could be improved."

More LeanIX cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

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

"erwin is expensive compared to other solutions. We are paying almost $6,000 per seat a month."

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

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

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

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest pricing and cost advice

"The pricing is very good. We definitely get good value for the money."

"It cost me $91,000 a year for 300 applications. For any enterprise, 300 applications are minimal, as many have well over 1,000 applications."

"There is a sweet spot of where they need to be on pricing right now. They could go up a little bit in pricing, but it has to do with the cost savings, and it has to do with the practitioners using it. I use it where I get cost savings and I can justify it, but they probably have the ability to flex a 10% up channel on their sales on that. So, they could increase their settle price, not their offering price, when they sell. They can probably hold that up a little bit higher than it is because there are cost savings that we can drive from it."

"As the tool is cloud-based, its cost is more affordable."

"The tool needs to include more flexible licensing options. We do not use the tool all the time. So pricing should be considered only when we use the tool."

"LeanIX uses application-based account licensing, where the cost is multiplied by the number of applications in the software implementation."

"The solution's pricing is based on a licensing model that is competitive and in line with other products."

"I would rate the pricing a one out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Enterprise Architecture Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

11%

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about LeanIX?

The ability to import data and generate reports from it. That's where its power lies.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for LeanIX?

LeanIX is associated with high costs. It cost me $91,000 a year for 300 applications. For any enterprise, 300 applications are minimal, as many have well over 1,000 applications. The first pricing ...

See all answers

Comparisons

SAP PowerDesigner vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 30% of the time

IDERA ER/Studio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 18% of the time

Lucidchart vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 15% of the time

Visio vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 8% of the time

Visual Paradigm vs erwin Data Modeler by Quest

Compared 3% of the time

More erwin Data Modeler by Quest Competitors

ServiceNow vs LeanIX

Compared 22% of the time

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs LeanIX

Compared 13% of the time

MEGA HOPEX vs LeanIX

Compared 10% of the time

SAP PowerDesigner vs LeanIX

Compared 8% of the time

erwin Evolve by Quest vs LeanIX

Compared 2% of the time

More LeanIX Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

Download erwin Data Modeler by Quest product report

Buyer's Guide

LeanIX

April 2025

Download LeanIX product report

Also Known As

erwin DM

No data available

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

LeanIX delivers collaborative Enterprise Architecture designed for modern IT. Our open, data-driven architecture management model helps organizations adapt to the evolving demands of digital. From agile to multi-cloud and beyond, architecture teams using LeanIX have the power to strategically support the business and report 45% reduction in time to value delivery. More than 90,000 users across enterprises worldwide rely on LeanIX to manage their IT landscape, including adidas, Bosch, 7Eleven, and Zalando.

SAP LeanIX

Sample Customers

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

adidas, Bosch, Chico's, Haworth, Helvetia, KuKa, Osram, Telekom, TUI, Santander, Swarovski, Vaillant, 7Eleven, and Zalando.

Buyer's Guide

LeanIX vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

April 2025

Free Report: LeanIX vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest

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

DOWNLOAD NOW

849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our LeanIX vs. erwin Data Modeler by Quest report.

See our list of best Enterprise Architecture Management vendors.

We monitor all Enterprise Architecture Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.