Data Modeling Software Tools List

Embarcadero's ER/Studio has been my data modeling tool of choice for over a decade.  There are many good things about the product but there are also things I don't like or wish were better or different.   It is also an expensive software package, approximately $2K for a SQL server only version plus around $800 for annual maintainence including upgrades.

Roughly once a year I get a hankering to check out the grass on the the other side of the fence.  This hankering hit me a few weeks ago.  Google brought me to the following website that had a nice list of tools with a brief description and cost:

http://www.databaseanswers.org/modelling_tools.htm

A few of the tools caught my eye and I downloaded and tested a few.  The short answer is I'm sticking with my trusted albeit not perfect ER/Studio.  The good news is the quality and sophistication of the affordable tools has improved greatly.  Here is a list of a few of the tools that made the short list:

ModelRight 3.6

dbconstructor

DataArchitect

DeZine for Databases

When I did my testing I didn't document my findings and impressions of these packages for the purpose of posting the information.  If I needed a tool to get some work done without spending a lot of money there are definitely a few out there that would be useful, but there are no must have superstars in the pack.