Likelihood to Recommend I have had a chance to use few other data modeling tools from Quest and Oracle, but I am most comfortable using erwin Data Modeler. They understand your data modeling needs and have designed the software to give you a feeling of completeness when you are designing a data model.
Read full review We use SQL Compare to troubleshoot performance problems quite a bit since our data model is more like a template and not everything is 100% in sync and customization occurs between different client databases. We continually get pulled into performance issues and the developers will say Client A is performing different than Client B, why? Using SQL Compare, we usually find that one client was tuned and had indexes altered or added that weren't deployed to all clients or other objects weren't deployed correctly during the release. On the other hand, since our data model practices allow client databases to drift I tried to create a new golden image by trying to compare multiple databases based on the same data model and found it to be a very difficult process to complete using SQL Compare. SQL Compare gave me too much information and doesn't allow enough filtering to eliminate a lot of the noise.
Read full review Pros Reverse Engineering: I love the way we can import an SQL file containing schema meta data and generate ER diagram out of it. This is specifically useful if you are implementing erwin Data Modeler for an existing database. Forward Engineering: We use this feature very frequently. Where we do database changes in our physical and logical data models and then generate deployment scripts for the changes made. Physical vs Logical Models: I like to have my database model split into physical and logical models and at the same time still linked to each other. Any changes you make to logical model or physical model shows up in the other. Read full review Simple and easy comparison of database schemas and data. Differences can be copied or synced from one database to another with a click of a button. You can save "projects" so that you can easily rerun a previous comparison whenever you need to. It has a very simple, easy to learn interface. I've never needed to read any documentation or watch any tutorials in order to figure out how to do something. Read full review Cons Cost is the single largest barrier to entry with this tool. Would like to see a greater variety of export options available for use outside of the tool, for example as a vector graphic. Support has been uneven at times. Read full review Pricing.... I wish there was an inexpensive developer version I could buy for myself. Portability.... I would like to use it from a flash drive so I can use it where ever I am asked to work. Unbundled.... This may be available already but I dont' recall I can buy it cheaply as a stand-alone product. Its only part of the bundle - cost effectively. Read full review Usability I had a lot of experience using erwin Data Modeler for designing data models. I think it's pretty intuitive and easy to use. It has enough features to represent your database requirements in form of a model.
Read full review It's a good tool to have, but becomes expensive to buy a user license for each developer.
Read full review Support Rating CA customer support and our account manager have been able to support us with any issues that we have had, from managing our serial keys to issues we logged tickets to resolve. There are aspects of key management that have made it difficult over the years but support usually has worked with us.
Read full review They have a great community website where you can search for answers but are also very responsive when it comes to direct support.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Not listed, but I've only used alternatives built into something like the Squirrel SQL editor. That one is semi-functional but lacking many features and, in some instances, just plain wrong. The only pro there is that it's freely available and works over ODBC. I've tried some of the other free ones like Creately but didn't have much success.
Read full review I've used Visual Studio Database Projects for this type of work in the past with some success, but Redgate SQL Compare is faster, more transparent, and simply easier to use. Faster is self explanatory. More transparent, means that it's much easier to set up your desired options for schema change deployment scripts. Easier to use, It's really dead simple. Start a project, connect your source, connect destination, click compare.
Read full review Return on Investment It is difficult to assign a monetary value to it. The initial learning curve was fairly long. It allows us to have better support documentation. It allows ease of communications between functional units. Read full review Makes deployment fairly simple. Cutting our deployment time down. With the SDK, we can customize our deployment process very quickly and easily. History is not great, it does create scripts you can go back and see but it would be nice to have a quicker version view by object to save time. Read full review ScreenShots erwin Data Modeler Screenshots