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Alation Data Catalog vs SAP PowerDesigner 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:
 

Customer Service

No sentiment score available
Customer service at Alation Data Catalog is improving, with quick technical support praised, but time zone issues persist.
Sentiment score
8.1
SAP PowerDesigner support is satisfactory but costly, with praised documentation, yet response times and communication need improvement.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.2
Alation Data Catalog needs improvements in governance, lineage, integration, user interface, data quality, observability, and connection reliability.
Sentiment score
4.9
SAP PowerDesigner needs improved user-friendliness, database connectivity, team collaboration, UI modernization, and enhanced technical support for better usability.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Alation Data Catalog is scalable, improved, with effective cloud management but challenging data migration; suitable for budget-focused companies.
Sentiment score
7.9
SAP PowerDesigner is praised for scalability, effectively handling large models and teams of varying sizes with high user satisfaction.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Alation's high pricing reflects its complexity; multi-year deals and end-year discounts can offer cost-effectiveness and savings.
No sentiment score available
SAP PowerDesigner offers competitive pricing for enterprises but may be costly for small consultancies due to setup and support fees.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Alation Data Catalog is stable and reliable, with rare outages often tied to external factors rather than the platform.
Sentiment score
7.1
SAP PowerDesigner is stable and reliable, with minor issues in complex models, achieving high ratings for performance.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
7.0
Alation Data Catalog enhances collaboration and data governance with user-friendly features, automation, integration, and efficient data discovery.
Sentiment score
8.2
SAP PowerDesigner offers user-friendly extensibility, robust data modeling, bi-directional traceability, and strong database connectivity for effective data governance.
 

Categories and Ranking

Alation Data Catalog
Ranking in Metadata Management
2nd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Data Governance (4th)
SAP PowerDesigner
Ranking in Metadata Management
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Enterprise Architecture Management (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Metadata Management category, the mindshare of Alation Data Catalog is 17.0%, down from 18.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP PowerDesigner is 6.4%, up from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Metadata Management
 

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.…
JorgeSanz - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective in terms of validating everything, but sometimes they don't allow us some flexibility and GUI could improve
I would recommend SAP PowerDesigner to others for data architecture management. It provides all the functionalities in terms of data modeling, so it's also a good tool for that. I see trends in terms of data classification, but I don't see this tool with the intelligence to do that automatically. So, like, with artificial intelligence. Overall, I would rate the solution a six out of ten because there are too many validations. Also, I found some gaps in terms of relationships; they didn't appear when you do reverse engineering. Also, this tool lacks artificial intelligence that should be very good in terms of automatically identifying the classification of elements and maybe also to incorporate some artificial intelligence in providing descriptions for each data element included in the solution.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Metadata Management solutions are best for your needs.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Government
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

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...
What do you like most about SAP PowerDesigner?
It allows us to have proper documentation in terms of the databases.
What needs improvement with SAP PowerDesigner?
Based on my experience with SAP PowerDesigner, I'd like to see improvements in the DMM feature. Even if I have an ETL tool, I'd like the DMM options to directly connect to ETL tool repositories lik...
 

Also Known As

Alation
Sybase PowerDesigner
 

Learn More

Video not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Salesforce, Snowflake, Citrix, eBay, TripAdvisor, Albertsons, Nasdaq, Pfizer, LinkedIn, Finnair.
Medtronic, Cirque du Soleil, Antarc, B&G Manufacturing, EarlySense, eBay, Ferrero, James Austin Company, Lenovo, Sagem, RAK Ceramics, Vodafone
Find out what your peers are saying about Alation Data Catalog vs. SAP PowerDesigner and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.