Alation Data Catalog vs Atlan comparison

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Alation Data Catalog

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

Alation Data Catalog and Atlan compete in the data catalog space. While Alation benefits from its strong governance abilities, Atlan gains an advantage with flexible integrations and modern collaboration tools.

Features: Alation emphasizes on crowdsourcing metadata enrichment, enhancing data governance, and democratizing data access. Atlan offers intuitive navigation, seamless tool integrations, and strong collaborative features for flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Alation deploys efficiently in structured environments focusing on data governance, offering extensive documentation and professional services. Atlan is known for an agile deployment model, suitable for dynamic environments with accessible support and problem-solving capabilities.

Pricing and ROI: Alation's pricing tends to be higher, reflecting its governance focus, which is worth it for organizations prioritizing stewardship. Atlan provides more flexible pricing, promising faster ROI, with its emphasis on integration and scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Alation Data Catalog vs. Atlan Report (Updated: January 2025).

Alation Data Catalog vs. Atlan

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Helped 831,265 peers since 2012

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

Alation Data Catalog

Ranking in Data Governance

4th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Metadata Management (2nd)

Atlan

Ranking in Data Governance

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Alation Data Catalog is 7.3%, down from 12.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Atlan is 2.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Governance

Featured Reviews

Brahma Lam

Developer at CVS Health

Has metadata cataloging features but needs changes in domain model

The tool's metadata cataloging is the most valuable feature. The tool's domain model needs to be changed. Alation Data Catalog is stable. The solution is scalable. Alation Data Catalog's deployment is easy. I rate it a nine out of ten. Deployment takes only two to three hours to complete.…

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Leon Pereira

Senior Analytics Engineer at virginmediao2

Enhanced data management with intuitive data lineage and metadata visualization

Certain UI changes could make Atlan more user-friendly. While they have an Excel add-in for interaction with Atlan, it's in its early stages and could be improved. Additionally, data observability capabilities could be enhanced to provide more alerts on stale or outdated data via communication tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, or email.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can customize templates based on our use cases."

"The most valuable features of Alation Data Catalog are the simplicity in onboarding data sources, the security in securing the data sources, and the way the various users of Alation Data Catalog communicate with each other through a messenger."

"The platform's most valuable features are workflow automation, automated business metadata tagging, technical metadata tagging, and data integration with data quality tools or platforms."

"Alation Data Catalog's best feature is the SQL query publication."

"The solution is used to query MySQL clients and store data and documentation."

"The tool's metadata cataloging is the most valuable feature."

"We had some of our data science engineers, who had built out some cloud-based data and data products for users. They were spending a lot of their time, up to 30 to 35% of their time, answering questions about the data and helping people understand how to use it. Once they were able to document that information within Alation, they were only focusing on around 5% of the high-value questions that really couldn't be solved through the catalog itself. It freed them up to be more productive, it made their end-users more productive, and it made the adoption rate of their data products rise more quickly because people were able to get to using them."

"Alation Data Catalog provides a nice interface for connecting to the database, querying the data, and working on it."

More Alation Data Catalog pros

"The best feature of Atlan is its integration with communication platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack, so business users don't have to go into a data catalog to see metadata about data assets."

"The AI part is integrated for enriching metadata engagement, making it a comprehensive tool."

"The technical support services are good."

"They also offer automated lineage embedded in the connectors, allowing us to track where the data is coming from and where it's going. We find it very efficient in cataloging data sources. Additionally, the user-friendly interface is a big plus, making it easy for users to familiarize themselves with the solution. These two features, in my opinion, stand out the most."

"The best feature of Atlan is its integration with communication platforms like Microsoft Teams and Slack, so business users don't have to go into a data catalog to see metadata about data assets."

"Atlan is helpful for identifying datasets and discovering PI data, such as the classification levels of datasets (gold, silver, bronze)."

"As a senior analytics engineer, Atlan's ability to show end-to-end data lineage is the most important feature for me."

"Overall, I rate Atlan as a ten out of ten."

More Atlan pros

Cons

"I know that this has been on their roadmap and they're working on it, but as a whole, there's an untapped reservoir of capabilities within their article features that could be used and built upon."

"The interface is not user-friendly."

"The tool's domain model needs to be changed."

"Although the solution performs far better in terms of data cataloging, its data governance capabilities need improvement."

"Alation Data Catalog doesn't support end-to-end lineage. By that, I mean the ability to trace the movement of data from when it first comes into our organization to where it's consumed."

"Alation Data Catalog needs to develop a lot in terms of data governance and would be improved with a built-in interactive data quality solution."

"Alation Data Catalog does not provide end-to-end data lineage."

"We have had issues setting up the connectors and getting Alation's support team to resolve issues."

More Alation Data Catalog cons

"One of the main areas for improvement is its governance capabilities. Atlan supports only basic out-of-the-box workflows, and it becomes challenging to customize features like how data owners should approve access to data assets."

"The challenge is in the lineage, where it requires improvement. Atlas needs to capture areas where organizations use less known applications."

"The product could be improved by offering scheduled email reports for managed assets."

"One of the main areas for improvement is its governance capabilities."

"One area that could be improved is the capability to find duplicates of datasets."

"There are some improvements. There is a feature called Playbooks, which basically allows me to automate certain activities that would otherwise be manual. It's a very interesting feature, but there is room to improve it because, depending on the task you automate, the playbooks seem to have a hard time handling the task. So, it could be improved there. Even though it's a great feature, it can evolve further."

"Certain UI changes could make Atlan more user-friendly."

More Atlan cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The platform is moderately expensive compared to the other competitors in the market."

"The solution is a little expensive."

"A three-year agreement is better than a one-year rolling 12-month agreement from a price point of view. I'd recommend looking at a three-year deal because you can't stand up a catalog and produce value in 12 months."

"I don't have all the details on the pricing side, but the solution was more expensive than originally expected."

"We pay per-user license. It's a different classification model than with other solutions, where they usually charge you for resources. So, that was a better model for us. And because of this difference in models or classification, it was cheaper for us to go with Atlan."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Alation Data Catalog?

The platform's most valuable features are workflow automation, automated business metadata tagging, technical metadata tagging, and data integration with data quality tools or platforms.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alation Data Catalog?

I don't have all the details on the pricing side, but the solution was more expensive than originally expected. On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solut...

What needs improvement with Alation Data Catalog?

When issues arise, two key concerns arise. First, how can we perform root cause analysis faster? Second, how can we optimize resource allocation, considering the associated costs? Every customer is...

What do you like most about Atlan?

They also offer automated lineage embedded in the connectors, allowing us to track where the data is coming from and where it's going. We find it very efficient in cataloging data sources. Additi...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Atlan?

Atlas is competitively priced compared to other data governance platforms like Collibra and Informatica. The only major drawback is its lack of an integrated data quality module.

What needs improvement with Atlan?

The challenge is in the lineage, where it requires improvement. Atlas needs to capture areas where organizations use less known applications.

Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs Alation Data Catalog

Comparisons

Compared 33% of the time

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Alation Data Catalog

Compared 18% of the time

Collibra Governance vs Alation Data Catalog

Compared 13% of the time

Ataccama ONE Platform vs Alation Data Catalog

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery vs Alation Data Catalog

Compared 4% of the time

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Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs Atlan

Compared 46% of the time

Collibra Governance vs Atlan

Compared 19% of the time

Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) vs Atlan

Compared 9% of the time

Ataccama ONE Platform vs Atlan

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Alation Data Catalog

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Also Known As

Alation

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Alation

Overview

Alation pioneered the data catalog market and is now leading its evolution into a platform for a broad range of data intelligence solutions including data search & discovery, data governance, lineage, stewardship, analytics, and digital transformation.

Thanks to its powerful Behavioral Analysis Engine, inbuilt collaboration capabilities, and open interfaces, Alation combines machine learning with human insight to successfully tackle even the most demanding challenges in data and metadata management. With Alation, analysts are empowered to search, query and collaborate on their data to achieve faster, more accurate insights.

Trusted by 400+ enterprises worldwide like Salesforce, Nasdaq, LinkedIn, Finnair, and Cisco.

Atlan is a comprehensive data management platform designed to enhance data democratization, governance, and collaboration across departments in organizations. It offers a centralized data catalog, intuitive user interface, and robust governance framework to ensure data security and compliance. Users appreciate its efficiency in streamlining processes, promoting better communication, and providing insightful analytics, which drive organizational growth and success.

Sample Customers

Salesforce, Snowflake, Citrix, eBay, TripAdvisor, Albertsons, Nasdaq, Pfizer, LinkedIn, Finnair.

Information Not Available

Alation Data Catalog vs. Atlan