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SAP PowerDesigner vs iServer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

iServer
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
7th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Business Process Design (13th)
SAP PowerDesigner
Ranking in Enterprise Architecture Management
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Enterprise Architecture Management category, the mindshare of iServer is 4.7%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP PowerDesigner is 8.8%, up from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Enterprise Architecture Management
 

Featured Reviews

Antonios Lazanakis - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
JorgeSanz - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective in terms of validating everything, but sometimes they don't allow us some flexibility and GUI could improve
I would recommend SAP PowerDesigner to others for data architecture management. It provides all the functionalities in terms of data modeling, so it's also a good tool for that. I see trends in terms of data classification, but I don't see this tool with the intelligence to do that automatically. So, like, with artificial intelligence. Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten because there are too many validations. Also, I found some gaps in terms of relationships; they didn't appear when you do reverse engineering. Also, this tool lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements and maybe also to incorporate some artificial intelligence in providing descriptions for each data element included in the solution.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"We like the governance."
"The solution is easily modified to suit your needs."
"The product has a valuable customized model."
"I have to think less with this solution. It's simple."
"Tech support is very responsive. They solved issues within a prompt response time."
"The most valuable features of iServer are the integration with Microsoft Office and the interface is similar to Microsoft applications making them easy to use."
"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."
"Good and effective reporting features, which help in decision making."
"It's a stable system. It never crashes."
"Very good repository features."
"I like the property sheet capability and the user-defined attributes that you can set up."
"The initial setup was very easy."
"The solution is a very pragmatic tool. It's quite easy to use."
"The most useful feature has been the detailed possibility to model almost anything regarding physical databases."
"Has a specific template that's very helpful for importing metadata."
"I do a data-centric design, so for me, the data analysis and design tools are the most valuable features."
 

Cons

"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."
"I haven't used this solution long enough to know what areas could be improved."
"There are other solutions out there that have a better user interface."
"The migration tool needs to be included in the main package, and not as a separate license."
"It definitely needs help to improve the visual aspect of the solution."
"iServer should invest in enhancing the capabilities of the embedded drawing tool, draw.io."
"It runs relatively slowly."
"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."
"Pricing for small consultancies needs improvement. They sustain prices to competing tools. The competing tools tend to do special offers. PowerDesigner SAP doesn't pay much attention to the pricing of it and there are no special offers."
"The focus is more on mainstream development environments, and I see a lack of focus on the open source world. I think SAP PowerDesigner probably interfaces better with SQL Server and Db2 but not with open source databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL."
"SAP PowerDesigner can improve the ease of use. It is not the best tool on the market because it is tough to navigate and use. A beginner would not be able to use it well, it requires some experience. If the solution was more user-friendly it would be able to be used by more audiences. I do not think many people are aware of this solution and they should use it."
"This product does not have a good BPMN Modeler."
"You have the possibility to complete a connection for abbreviations if you are creating columns or names of the tables. In the Citrix environment, this has been lagging to the point where the PowerDesigner was not usable."
"Not very intuitive or user-friendly."
"This product lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements."
"Technical support needs improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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 price of iServer is reasonable compared to other solutions."
"They offer annual subscriptions for developing countries, which are not affordable for small or medium businesses."
"SAP PowerDesigner is cheaper than eriwin."
"When you purchase the license for SAP PowerDesigner, you have to buy one year of support. The tool is worth the money."
"PowerDesigner is not the cheapest solution on the market, so make sure that you are using it to its full potential."
"I bought the software outright and do not pay a licensing fee."
"The price of the solution is low."
"I would like SAP to prove free licenses to professionals that are using the solution. The free version is limited."
"The price of the solution is too expensive. When we asked for certain licenses in different countries it was unattainable."
"The pricing varies based on functionality and users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
35%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Government
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about iServer?
iServer has valuable features for workflow and document management.
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...
What is your primary use case for iServer?
We use iServer to establish an enterprise architecture function in our organization.
What do you like most about SAP PowerDesigner?
It allows us to have proper documentation in terms of the databases.
What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
Based on my experience with SAP PowerDesigner, I'd like to see improvements in the DMM feature. Even if I have an ETL tool, I'd like the DMM options to directly connect to ETL tool repositories lik...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Sybase PowerDesigner
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Barclays, Cathay Pacific, Deloitte, British Gas, MasterCard
Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
Find out what your peers are saying about SAP PowerDesigner vs. iServer and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.