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Alation Data Catalog vs Collibra Governance vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Alation Data Catalog is 5.9%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Collibra Governance is 10.1%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) is 6.4%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance
 

Featured Reviews

Brahma Lam - PeerSpot reviewer
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.…
DeepakArora - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhancing data management with user-friendly features but needs better documentation
We are a customer of Collibra. Collibra Governance is applied in our data management workflows by creating all the business functions separately, maintaining the data sources of those KPIs and everything separately on those businesses Collibra Governance provides ease of use. The portal is…
Raj Sethupathi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers profiling and address standardization but can be complicated
Informatica Data Quality has its data warehouse, primarily using Oracle and some SQL databases. You need a database to host the data. The cleansed version of the data is stored in the data warehouse. It integrates with PowerCenter and other Informatica tools. The integration details can be complex, but a regional setup is involved in this process. Profiling smaller datasets, such as 10,000-50,000 records, worked fine. However, unexpected issues could arise with larger datasets, such as thousands of records or more, especially with tables containing many columns. Handling tables with fifty or more columns can be challenging, even in Excel. A mismatch in data types could cause the entire system to crash. Continual enhancements are being made to address these issues, which can be unique to specific industries like finance and healthcare.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Alation Data Catalog's best feature is the SQL query publication."
"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."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the ALLIE AI feature."
"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 tool's metadata cataloging is the most valuable feature."
"Alation Data Catalog provides a nice interface for connecting to the database, querying the data, and working on it."
"The most valuable feature is cloud integration."
"We can customize templates based on our use cases."
"Workflow is very helpful and assessment are good features. I really like the structure of this solution and how it is compartmentalized."
"From the perspective of a data user, the solution has a great search capability."
"Workflows is the most valuable feature of Collibra because we will typically use an interface for it and we can customize it as per our needs."
"The diagram showing the limits is absolutely magnificent."
"We use the solution's Data Stewardship part."
"The product's most valuable features are cataloging and classification."
"This solution is user friendly and offers multiple functionalities. It operates like a kind of a repository that allows you to find anything about a particular data set or field."
"The data quality module has improved significantly, and the data lineage feature is beneficial for understanding where data is coming from and identifying data duplications."
"Axon has something called Overlay, which can be used to extend the technical lineage."
"The Mapping Configuration and PowerCenter wizards are valuable. We use them to run our business logic."
"Informatica Business Process Manager is easy to use and learn."
"I like that Informatica MDM has robust matching technology. Informatica MDM is also porting the external Java applications for validations. I can consider that a must-have. It is also exposed to Rest API calls, and we can engage in real-time integrations with any third-party systems."
"There are a couple of valuable features. One is that it is very quick on the profiling. So, you get a very fast snapshot of the type of data that you're looking at from the profiling perspective. It can highlight anomalies in the data."
"The solution has the best feature for parameterization."
"It's helpful in integration, and it can be moved around in SharePoint. So, from the SharePoint View, data integration and reporting, it help a lot in that way."
"The product is stable."
 

Cons

"It would be good if the tool could show the output from the records while querying."
"The tool's domain model needs to be changed."
"We have had issues setting up the connectors and getting Alation's support team to resolve issues."
"Alation Data Catalog does not provide end-to-end data lineage."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"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."
"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 product's data governance features need improvement."
"I'm fairly new to the product, however, what I generally hear from my clients is that the requirement around having ways to ingest more metadata."
"If someone changes the metadata, we can't see who changed it."
"I rate scalability a six out of ten. There is some room for improvement in terms of scalability."
"Collibra gives a lot of facilities in the cloud, but achieving those facilities on-prem becomes a big challenge"
"Every time you change or publish a new questionnaire for certification, you have to basically go into the code and update the new version of the questionnaire."
"The licensing is one area that could get improved."
"The solution's metadata management is pretty novice and could be improved."
"The domain-based approach could be more helpful for aspects such as customer 360 and product 360."
"Most of the new features added by Informatica are through Elastic Mapping. It would be helpful to have features like multithreading or partitioning for Salesforce to enhance performance."
"I would like to have the solution in one product and technical support needs to be better."
"The initial setup was not very straightforward. Not complex, but not very simple either."
"The stability and the integration of the solution have room for improvement."
"I feel the out-of-the-box APIs or the API management could be improved slightly from their current state. It could be more user-friendly."
"Their support should be improved. We have had some trouble with their support from time to time. Its scalability should also be improved. I would also like to have a bit more modern and friendly UI for the end-users. There should definitely be a simplified way to configure and set it up."
"Its features for partitioning and optimization could be better."
"One area that could use improvement is the speed of the web interfaces. At present, they are very slow. I think it is essential that we are original and robust on-premises."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The platform is moderately expensive compared to the other competitors in the market."
"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."
"The solution is a little expensive."
"I don't have all the details on the pricing side, but the solution was more expensive than originally expected."
"We purchase its annual license. There is an extra cost for additional users."
"Collibra Governance is extremely expensive"
"It is substantial, and we do pay yearly."
"Generally, it is a rather expensive solution compared to some other tools in the market, but I found it to be fair-priced for its capabilities."
"Collibra Governance is expensive - I would rate its pricing as one out of five."
"The product's pricing is high, which its comprehensive features and capabilities may justify."
"I think they have a trust issue. I did not like the way they recently went through the process. They were like, "Finish this SOW first, only then will we sign the other SOW." Or, "Finish this code." I didn't like that much."
"I think it is on a yearly basis, but I'm not involved with the pricing session, so I have no idea. There are several licenses for different models. You get one license per product, but a lot of features are controlled separately through different licenses. So, as and when you want to use a feature, you have to procure the license for that feature."
"The pricing is quite flexible."
"Informatica MDM's price could be lower."
"Informatica MDM's pricetag should come down. They have to cut some costs."
"I'm not sure about the most recent pricing trends, but I don't believe it's significantly different from PowerCenter. I believe it is nearly the same."
"Informatica MDM is a costly solution because it comes as a bundle. They are also globally positioning themselves and are definitely working on very upgraded technologies. If someone wanted to do it on the cloud, they have a lot of flexibility because they upgrade themselves according to the current needs. It definitely comes with a lot of features and that's the reason why it's costly. The licensing cost should be approximately one million dollars. It's about four to five times that of other vendors."
"I rate the product's price a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is the cheapest and ten is the most expensive. The product is a bit expensive."
"Informatica Axon is a costly solution. I rate Informatica Axon a four out of ten for its pricing."
"I rate the product's pricing a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 metadat...
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 ...
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 o...
What do you like most about Collibra Governance?
We use the solution's Data Stewardship part.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Collibra Governance?
The price is average, and it provides good value for the money.
What needs improvement with Collibra Governance?
Collibra lacks the capability to read Python or R scripts, which is essential for data transformations in our pipelin...
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transfor...
Which Informatica product would you choose - PowerCenter or Cloud Data Integration?
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a...
What are the biggest benefits of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
When it comes to cloud data integration, this solution can provide you with multiple benefits, including: Overhead r...
 

Also Known As

Alation
Collibra
ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, BPM, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking, Cloud Test Data Management, PIM, , Enterprise Data Catalog, Data Integration Hub, Cloud Data Integration, Data Quality, Cloud API and App Integration
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Salesforce, Snowflake, Citrix, eBay, TripAdvisor, Albertsons, Nasdaq, Pfizer, LinkedIn, Finnair.
Ministry of Economy Science and Innovation, Aspen Insurance, Barry Callebaut, Colt
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Informatica, Collibra and others in Data Governance. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.