Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs erwin Data Modeler comparison

Quest Software and Sparx Systems are both solutions in the Enterprise Architecture Management category. Quest Software is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.4, while Sparx Systems is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0. Quest Software holds a 8.4% mindshare in AM, compared to Sparx Systems’s 8.6% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Quest Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Sparx Systems 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

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...

Read 99 Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect reviews

7,890 Views
3,393 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

erwin Data Modeler

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect and erwin Data Modeler are leading tools in the modeling and data management realms. While Sparx is praised for its pricing and support, erwin is often favored for its rich feature set, providing advanced reverse engineering and collaborative functionalities at a higher cost, yielding significant returns through its robust data management capabilities.

Features: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect offers extensive modeling functionalities, supporting UML, ArchiMate, and TOGAF, with collaborative capabilities via an RDBMS back-end. It allows architecture teams to collaborate from requirements to deployment efficiently. Erwin Data Modeler is revered for its reverse engineering, data lineage, and metadata management, with capabilities to visualize complex data environments and enforce naming conventions, making it ideal for large-scale data management tasks.

Room for Improvement: Users of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect suggest enhancements in user-friendliness, visual appeal, and broader compatibility with modeling standards, noting a steep learning curve and performance issues with larger models. For erwin Data Modeler, recommendations include user interface improvements, better cloud database integration, and dynamic reporting improvements. The Complete Compare feature could also benefit from ease-of-use refinements and better client-side performance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect allows diverse deployment options across on-premises and cloud environments. It is appreciated for its active user community and responsive support via email, with emphasis on its stability reducing customer service needs. Erwin Data Modeler is primarily on-premises and is supported by responsive customer service, though it requires proactive engagement for complex issues, as feedback indicates.

Pricing and ROI: Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is noted for its cost-effectiveness, providing strong ROI through cost savings and improved project timelines. It suits budget-conscious businesses by delivering enhanced productivity and quick ROI recovery. Erwin Data Modeler, despite being higher-priced, is justified by superior modeling capabilities and reliability. It offers flexible access with concurrent licensing, although it represents a significant investment, rewarded by enhanced operational efficiencies and advanced data management benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler

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)

Sparx Systems Enterprise Ar...

Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management

5th

Ranking in Business Process Design

5th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

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 Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is 8.6%, down from 14.5% 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	8.4%
Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect	8.6%
Other	83.0%

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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Milan Sterba

Senior Enterprise Architect at Deepview S.r.o.

Efficient documentation generation through organized model structure with a good price-performance ratio

Whenever I begin a new project with Sparx, I have to spend time training people on how to use it since it is not straightforward. Although it's a powerful product with plenty of features, it's not easy for even experienced users to find their way without guidance. This is not the most user-friendly solution.

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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 macros with naming standards patterns, domains, datatypes, and some common attributes. As far as other automations, a feature of the Bulk Editor is mass updates. When it sees something is nonstandard or inaccurate, it will export the better data out. Then, I can easily see which entities and attributes are not inline or standard. I can easily make changes to what was uploaded to the Bulk Editor. When taking on a new project, it can save you about a half a day on a big project across an entire team."

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

"There is absolutely no problem with the stability."

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

"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."

"It's a safeguard for me because I'm always concerned that somebody is free handing it and will forget a key coming from the parent. The migrating keys are a great feature. Identifying relationships, non-identifying relationships, and being visually right there to understand the differences are great features. erwin is key to being able to visually understand whatever the customer is requesting. They'll give you words on a paper, but once they can actually view it as a picture, it really comes to life. The data comes to life to where they understand exactly what they're asking for."

"The solution is excellent in providing a visual representation of a database and can generate DDL for implementing changes. We use DDL for logical purposes to review with business people, ensuring they have the required fields for processing. We also use it as a data dictionary for the physical data model to understand all the purposes of the terms. This helps us map the logical and physical terms with the business definition to understand our data."

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler pros

"Artifact templates are most valuable."

"It is a handy tool for visual modeling that provides opportunities for analysis, design, and support of models using ArchiMate, UML."

"We could capture the process models around 24 countries with all their local variations."

"We use it to develop and maintain the Enterprise Conceptual Model, migrated from erwin a couple of years ago."

"Large variety of profiles and frameworks available out-of-the-box without the need for customization."

"The solution is easy to use, supports SysML and UML, and is able to connect to MATLAB. This is very important for us."

"The profiles allow me to customize the tool to the corporate environment instead of the other way around saving huge amounts of time and energy on trying to turn dozens of individuals into TOGAF, ArchiMate or Zachman experts, or even Sparx EA experts."

"The system provides powerful tools for obtaining reports and documentation."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pros

Cons

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"I would like the solution to be more user-friendly to deploy."

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

"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."

"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."

More erwin Data Modeler cons

"The documentation needs a bit of improvement. What I find is that when I'm trying to do something specific for some part of a project, in terms of documentation, it's kind of hard to get at figuring out if you don't use it all the time."

"The UI is a little bit outdated. It should be more fresh and clean."

"I have found the solution is lacking options. The general usability needs improvement and more compliance to CML definitions."

"The window froze for five or ten seconds. You can click and click again and it takes a second to come up. It might have been specific to a version."

"The Business Process Modeling or BPM feature can be improved to make it more interactive and user friendly because it is a tool for technical people. My current use is only for business process modeling notation and putting in the icons etc. You need to take them in as a class, which makes things very complex. Because of this complexity, it is not an easy-to-handle solution. Enterprise Architect is not very good for mockups. We cannot create user screens and other similar kinds of stuff, which is bad. For these things, we prefer to use Axure RP and other similar solutions. They should either remove this feature from this product or provide some kind of connectivity with Axure RP so that people can do better mockups of screens and import them. They need to augment and strengthen the BPM feature, which is the main feature. They need to put in some elements like artificial intelligence and augmented reality. They should look into such features because these things are coming up."

"The database management area was not usable."

"The Portfolio Management features can be added in the next release. As it helps you to manage more portfolio of projects and architectures of cost projects on a portfolio level. This would be an important feature in the next release."

"The product could be improved in terms of its ease of use and documentation. While it offers a lot of functionality, it can be difficult to grasp how to utilize these features effectively."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Likewise, the solution is a little pricey."

"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."

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

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

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

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

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

More erwin Data Modeler pricing and cost advice

"We paid 1200 euros as a once-off cost. All add ons and integrations come at an additional cost."

"It is cheap."

"The pricing for ultimate version is steeply high."

"Licenses are pretty low cost compared to, for example, ARIS."

"The licence has a costly upfront fee which gets you access. You have to pay an annual maintenance fee, which is less."

"Pricing and licensing is very attractive, simple, and straightforward."

"There is a license for this solution. When comparing this solution to others it is priced well."

"I think our license costs roughly $1,000 a year, but I could be wrong."

More Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Performing Arts

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

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	38
Midsize Enterprise	20
Large Enterprise	58

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?

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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 do you like most about Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

The stability has been good and satisfactory. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

One of the reasons many public sector institutions in the Czech Republic use it is that it provides a very good price-performance ratio. While it might be cumbersome to learn, it still delivers exc...

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What needs improvement with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect?

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

erwin Data Modeler

February 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect

January 2026

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect report

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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

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect is an enterprise solution that helps streamline, accelerate, and integrate software, system, and business development. With this intuitive modeling and design solution, enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, enable collaboration, support their teams and colleagues, and manage complex projects. Software architects, business analysts, project managers, developers, support staff, and testers can unite under a single repository. Through numerous view points and potential sub-systems, users are offered a unified view in a complex environment.

With Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect, users are also offered a shared model option which can be accessed quickly and securely by in-office and remote team members through the Enterprise Architect’s Pro Cloud Server. Building a coherent, verifiable model can be done by connecting and integrating a variety of behavioral and structural information in visual form. As a result, Enterprise Architect offers high performance, flexibility, and the ability to model, manage, and trace every stage of the business development and modeling process.

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Features

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect assists in creating a unified and accessible vision in business development by offering a flexible platform with a unique set of rich features. These features include:

Test and debug - Streamline software development and visualize software with the simulation process. Users can test and confirm correct behavior, set and oversee test points, and debug and examine software.

Track tasks - Track, prioritize, and assign individual and group tasks to assist in the model’s development. Users can visually monitor their progress through the Gantt chart.

Open standards - Users can visualize and analyze running software with integrated custom tools. They can also run advanced simulations, team-based repositories, testing tools, and version control. In addition, the solution supports enterprise architecture frameworks such as UPDM and TOGAF.

Simulation - Create and debug embedded solutions by simulating behaviors and state models. Users can specify events, triggers, constraints, and more. Users can also specify extensive and complex structural systems and create custom domain-specific solutions.

Reviews from Real Users

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect merges high-end tools, online availability, a dedication to open standards, and accessible pricing so enterprises can stay in control of their workplaces, whether remote or in-office. Users particularly like the architectural frameworks and the scalability.

Marc L., a principal architecture enterprise solution adviser at Cronomagic Canada, notes, "The product offers very good support for all mainstream modeling notations and architectural frameworks."

An enterprise architect at a manufacturing company writes, "Scalable solution for modeling, project sharing, and collaboration. Support for it is good."

Sparx Systems

Sample Customers

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

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Buyer's Guide

Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect vs. erwin Data Modeler

February 2026

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