A Detailed Comparison of Data Modeling Tools
This article is a detailed comparison of the most notable data modeling tools in the market, according to their core features.
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Join For FreeA data modeling tool or a database modeling tool is an application that helps data modelers to create and design databases structure. Thus, data modeling tools make the Data modeling process easier and provide many features that help data modelers to understand their data.
Actually, there are many different data modeling tools available for different database platforms. This multitude of tools available makes it very difficult to choose a tool that suits the user's needs.
In this article, I aim to provide a detailed comparison of the most notable data modeling tools in the market. The tools will be compared according to the core features they have.
Some features do not appear on the comparison table because they are available in almost every tool.
I will compare the following tools:
I have tried to focus on the tools that only do data modeling; I excluded the tools that do more than data modeling. I have selected only the most well-known multi-DBMS tools on the market.
Detailed Comparison of Data Modeling Tools
(Note: Scroll to the left and right to see all the products compared)
|
Features\ Tools
|
DbSchema | ||||||
|
General
|
|||||||
|
Supported
Database
Platforms
|
Via JDBC: Access, Informix, Interbase, Sybase, MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Firebird, Azure SQL Database, Amazon Redshift, MariaDB, and more |
Access,
Informix, Interbase,
Sybase,
IBM DB2,
MS SQL Server, AzureSQL,
MySQL,
Oracle,
PostgreSQL,
SQLite,
Paradox,
FoxPro, Pervasive, PSQL
|
MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Firebird, Azure SQL Database, Amazon Redshift, Amazon RDS, MariaDB |
Access, IBM DB2, Informix, Hitachi HiRDB, Firebird, Interbase, MySQL, MS SQL Server, Netezza, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Sybase, Teradata, Visual Foxpro, and others via ODBC/ANSI SQL
|
Access,
IBM DB2,
Informix,
MySQL,
MS SQL Server,
Netezza,
Oracle,
PostgreSQL ,
Sybase, and others
via ODBC/ANSI SQL
|
MySQL,
MS SQL Server,
PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite
|
Access,
IBM DB2, Informix, MySQL,
MariaDB , PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server, SQLite, Oracle
|
|
Supported
Data Models
|
Physical |
Logical and Physical
|
Physical
|
Conceptual,
Logical,
and Physical
|
Conceptual,
Logical,
and Physical
|
Conceptual,
Logical,
and Physical
|
Logical and Physical
|
|
Supported
Notations
|
IDEF1X, IE(Crow's feet), IE with Arrows, Barker |
IDEF1X, IE (Crow's feet )
|
IDEF1X, IE (Crow's feet ), Codasyl, and Relational notations
|
IDEF1X, IE (Crow's feet )
|
IDEF1X, IE (Crow's feet )
|
IDEF1X, IE (Crow's feet )
|
IDEF1X, IE (Crow's feet), and more |
| Reverse/Forward Engineering | |||||||
|
Generate
DDL Script
|
✓ |
✓
|
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓
|
| Generate database from a data model |
✓ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - |
| Secure connection to the Database |
SSH | - | SSH/SSL | SSH/SSL | SSH/SSL | SSH/HTTP /SSL |
SSL/SSH |
| Import from local and remote databases |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Model Validation | |||||||
| Model validation Check | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ |
| Validate a model using a database sandbox | - | - | ✓ (Virtual test data & built-in query tool) |
- | - | - | - |
| Reporting | |||||||
| Generate Model Documentation | HTML (navigable), PDF | HTML (navigable), PDF, MS Word | HTML (navigable), MS Word, Confluence |
XML, HTML, RTF | HTML, Xls, Doc | PDF, HTML, Excel | HTML, RTF, PDF |
| Print diagram | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced tools | |||||||
| Comparison | Model/Model | Model/Model |
Model/Model |
Model/Model |
Model/Model |
Model/ Database |
Model/Model |
| Model/Database | Model/Database | Model/Database | Model/Database | Model/Database | |||
| - | Model/ SQL Scripts | - | Model/ SQL scripts | Model/ SQL scripts | |||
| - | - | Database/Database | - | Database/ Database | |||
| - | Model to Model |
- | - | Model to Model | Database to Model |
Model to Model | |
| Synchronization | |||||||
| Model to Database | Model to Database |
Model to Database | Model to Database | Model to Database | |||
| Database to Model | Database to Model | Database to Model | Database to Model | Database to Model | |||
| Model to SQL file | Model to SQL file | ||||||
| Database to Model | |||||||
| Populate a Database with Test Data | ✓ (Directly on the database) |
- | ✓ (Directly on the database and SQL Script) |
- | - | - | ✓ (By SQL Script) |
| Change Database Platform | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-Projects Management | ✓ (Multi-Instance) |
✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (Multi-Instance) |
✓ |
| Version Management | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Find and Replace | Find Only | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Find Only | Find Only |
| Collaboration /Teamwork |
GIT, Mercurial, SVN, CVS, etc. | Repository database | GIT | ER/Studio Repository |
Workgroup Edition | Navicat Cloud | GIT, SVN |
| Major updates every: | 2 or 3 Months | 6 Months | 2 or 3 Months | 4 to 6 months | 6 months | 3 or 4 years | 5 Months |
| Pricing | |||||||
| Price for 1 user/perpetual license |
From $98 to $294 |
From $329 to $1599 |
From $199 to $1199 |
$1,470.40 (for single platform) and $4,000 (for multi-Platform) |
No perpetual licenses | $459 | No perpetual licenses |
| Price for 1 user/12 month subscription | No subscription licenses | From $228 to $1188 | From $99 to $599 | No subscription licenses | Starts from $3,088.47 | $229.99 | $377 |
Conclusion
Some tools may support many database platforms but crash frequently, such as DBSchema and Toad. Other tools have small missing features that probably slowed you down in your data modeling process. For example, DeZign doesn’t have a Re-do action! Navicat and DBSchema do not have enough details in the description of the fields. ERBuilder supports only the physical model.
Tools such as ERWin and ER/Studio are complete data modeling solutions, but they can be quite complex and difficult to use. Also, their prices are very high compared to the other tools.
As a result of this comparison, we come to the conclusion that testing each product seems to be the best way to find the best tool for your needs; don't just rely solely on the features that these data modeling tools support.
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.
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