DbVisualizer vs. SAP PowerDesigner

DbVis is our tool of choice when we need to work with a wide variety of Db vendors and versions. It allows us to replace several proprietary tools for accessing and, in part, managing database systems. It gives our customers and us a single base to work on databases. No need for us or them to install, learn, and pay for multiple solutions. If one would, for example, use ONLY one dbms, e.g., PostgreSQL, then DBVis could be a bit of an overkill.

SAP PowerDesigner allows our team of data modelers to work and collaborate from a single repository and single data dictionary. This helps enforce consistency as data elements are referenced in other objects. Prior to our use of PD, we might have an element named "ppt" in one table, "participant" in another table and "part" in a third table. By forcing everything to be used from the data dictionary, we avoid these situations because everyone has to go to the dictionary. And we are able to easily do peer reviews on models before they are released because we are collaborating through the use of the repository.

Incentivized

• Out-of-the-box support for many different databases.
• Intuitive UI for interacting with data.
• Flexibility of SQL Commander for writing scripts.
• Great support for working with JSON data in recent updates.
• Database connections over SSH.
• Table relationship visualization is very helpful.
• The tree view is well organized in how it splits out schemas.

• Impact Analysis
• The domain structure helps you to handle different data types to unify.
• Moving between from conceptual model to logical model and from logical model to physical model is so easy.
• It also excels at implementation of database vendor-specific physical options.
• The repository structure helps you to use in multi developer and architect based organizations by the check in and check out mechanism.
• It also has a fully configurable naming convention implementation.
• Coloring is simple with format copying and pasting option.

Incentivized

• Small, but noticeable: it would be nice to be able to highlight just one column of a data output for copy/paste by clicking on the column header (a feature some of us are accustomed to from SQL Server Management Studio)
• Is there an ability to bulk import an excel file to a table in a connected SQL Server in DbVis? If so, I haven't figured that out yet. I still largely use Microsoft SSMS to import data to our team's personal SQL Server, but can easily query that server via DbVis)
• (I really don't have any major complaints - our company has tried to steer users toward DBeaver for YEARS, which I cannot stand. DbVis knocks the beaver out of the water)

• It took some time to figure out how to leverage the power of the repository. Some better examples in the documentation would have been helpful.

Incentivized

We never had problems with it. It is able to connect to all data sources (Oracle, Informix, DB2, SQL Server) that we currently use.

Incentivized

I use this tool for several hours each day, spanning many years in various projects. It's wide support for various database types while keeping consistency within the UI for each is important when working with various databases day in and day out.

Never used

Incentivized

We did have to reach out to support to learn how to properly utilize the repository feature and share the data model across many developers. Support was able to help us get this set up correctly. The downside was it took us several weeks before we gave up and contacted support. We should have done that earlier. I would say, however, the documentation wasn't clear on how to do this. So support was a great big help!

Incentivized

[DbVisualizer] is pretty easy to use compared to IntelliJ because of it's simplicity. The performance is very good, it feels as good as a native application compared to the other two softwares I used for the same purpose. It's very cheaper compared to the other two tools and that's a big selling point.

Incentivized

Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler : Unfortunately this tool only supports Oracle Databases as a target database, but has many features similar to SAP Sybase PowerDesigner. erwin Data Modeler: Has some issues when switching from Conceptual Model to Physical Model, Impact Analysis, and formatting copy and pasting. Vertabelo: Only supports online models and from a governance perspective, it is impossible for me to connect my target database with an online application because of company policy and regulation requirements.

Incentivized

• Positive: Real time saver when working across multiple databases. At least 30-40 mins a day are saved
• Positive: Helpful for the 'quick DBA' tasks without switching to the native tools: approx 1-2 hours saved weekly
• Positive: Easy switch between environments / schemas / etc without hassle: saved at least an hour daily

• Standardization of models
• Impact Analysis
• Graphical User Interface
• Ease of deployment

Incentivized