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

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Alation Data Catalog
Ranking in Data Governance
4th
Ranking in Metadata Management
2nd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Ranking in Data Governance
2nd
Ranking in Metadata Management
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
181
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (3rd), Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (6th), Business-to-Business Middleware (3rd), API Management (7th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (2nd), Data Masking (2nd), Test Data Management Services (4th), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)
 

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.…
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

"The tool's metadata cataloging is the most valuable feature."
"Given the relatively low level of maturity, Alation's most relevant feature at the moment is a user interface that's easy to navigate, which helps us find and understand the data. So while Alation has a lot more functionality, our pain point right now is being able to easily find, understand, and trust the information to use it."
"The solution is used to query MySQL clients and store data and documentation."
"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."
"We can customize templates based on our use cases."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is cloud integration."
"Alation Data Catalog's best feature is the SQL query publication."
"In the latest version, I like the outlay of the business roles creation. I like seeing that visualization as you're building it, as opposed to going through metatables or XML mappings. We liked that piece, and it makes it more intuitive for the business."
"The most valuable feature is its ability to extract metadata from various sources- be it an old SaaS application or the latest cloud application."
"The solution's scalability is high."
"The features that I have found most valuable are, first of all, that it comes as part of this whole bundle of Informatica tools. So if you've been implementing Informatica MDM across a business, you'd often find it comes with it. It's been thrown in as a sweetener. The adoption of it is often the challenge because as part of your MDM project, governance is seen as something beyond the MDM and is often restrictive. So this tool actually, for the first time, when you talk to data governance teams, gives a holistic view of what a data governance team can do with this tool."
"It is very useful for testing purposes and designing mappings for small projects. If you go for IDQ in the mapping itself, you can see the data. You can then correct it, and test it so easily. It is working fine. It is also stable, scalable, and easy to deploy."
"There isn't any human touch involved. It's just an automated business process to build different applications and talking to various APIs using the client's ecosystems. We then build new functionalities out of it."
"It is one of the best tools available for data integration."
"Seeing the data in the mapping itself is really nice."
 

Cons

"The product's data governance features 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."
"The tool's domain model needs to be changed."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"It would be good if the tool could show the output from the records while querying."
"Data observability within Alation would be incredibly helpful for addressing these challenges"
"Although the solution performs far better in terms of data cataloging, its data governance capabilities need improvement."
"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."
"I would like to see more API integration to have the capability to build a report using other third party reporting tools to streamline the operation."
"Cost-wise, it could be better."
"There's certainly room for improvement. One crucial area is generating detailed reports on file statuses. Presently, this is represented visually, often as graphs or charts. Such reporting could offer comprehensive insights into the areas that demand attention and further scrutiny."
"I would like to see support for more data sources."
"They have too many diversified products. If you don't know Informatica, it's very confusing and feels very idiotic."
"Although we are very satisfied with the design of the UI, executing tasks with it can be difficult."
"Though EDC has maximum coverage, a few things were not available to scan, but I think EDC is evolving to address this issue."
"The solution is quite expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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 platform is moderately expensive compared to the other competitors in the market."
"The platform has a premium cost. I rate the pricing as seven out of ten."
"We have licenses, and we are provided with certain particular services in the solution."
"it's expensive, but if you're looking for a stable solution, Informatica MDM is a good one to choose."
"The price of Informatica Cloud Data Integration could be reduced."
"It's pretty high for us. It's more on the higher side, like low to middle high."
"It's a costly solution"
"Informatica is very expensive."
"There is no doubt that it is very expensive, but the brand value comes at a cost. Other MDM solutions in the market that haven't proven themselves like Informatica are also pretty expensive. We need to understand that MDM itself is very expensive to implement. So, Informatica is also pretty expensive. I would rate it a two out of five for being pretty expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
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 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...
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 transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...
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 real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge...
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 reduction by integrating data on any cloud in various ways Effective integration ...
 

Also Known As

Alation
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.
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about Alation Data Catalog vs. Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) and other solutions. Updated: November 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.