Alation Data Catalog vs SAS Data Governance comparison

Alation and SAS are both solutions in the Data Governance category. Alation is ranked #6 with an average rating of 7.4, while SAS is ranked #19 with an average rating of 10.0. Alation holds a 6.3% mindshare in DG, compared to SAS’s 0.2% mindshare. Additionally, 76% of Alation users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of SAS users who would recommend it.

Alation Data Catalog

Read 11 Alation Data Catalog reviews

6,264 Views
3,771 Comparison Views

76% willing to recommend

SAS Data Governance

Read 1 SAS Data Governance review

107 Views
59 Comparison Views

50% willing to recommend

Alation Data Catalog

SAS Data Governance

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Alation Data Catalog and SAS Data Governance based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Informatica, Collibra and others in Data Governance.

To learn more, read our detailed Data Governance Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Data Governance

March 2025

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Helped 842,651 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

6th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Metadata Management (2nd)

SAS Data Governance

Ranking in Data Governance

19th

Average Rating

10.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Alation Data Catalog is 6.3%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAS Data Governance is 0.2%, up from 0.1% 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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Adbul Samad Gabru

Director of Mergers and Acquisitions at Look Alive Investment Pvt. Ltd.

An exceptionally stable and scalable product that helps businesses in the area of data integrity

I am kind of not at the forefront of anything anymore in my company. I kind of don't want to give a point of view on what needs improvement when I feel I am not adequately in a position to give it. In today's time, to be competitive, the solution's price should be lowered.

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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

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

"The most valuable feature is cloud integration."

"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 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."

"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."

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

"The solution's most valuable feature is the ALLIE AI feature."

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

More Alation Data Catalog pros

"It is a very professional product. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."

Cons

"Data observability within Alation would be incredibly helpful for addressing these challenges"

"The interface is not user-friendly."

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

"The product's data governance features need improvement."

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

"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."

"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."

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

More Alation Data Catalog cons

"In today's time, to be competitive, the solution's price should be lowered."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The solution is a little expensive."

"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."

"It is an expensive product. In a company, you need to employ additional people to take care of the product, which can be considered as a part of the sundry expenses when it comes to the product."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

No data available

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.

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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...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about SAS Data Governance?

It is a very professional product. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAS Data Governance?

It is an expensive product. In a company, you need to employ additional people to take care of the product, which can be considered as a part of the sundry expenses when it comes to the product.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAS Data Governance?

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs Alation Data Catalog

Compared 37% of the time

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

Compared 16% 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

erwin Data Intelligence by Quest vs Alation Data Catalog

Compared 4% of the time

More Alation Data Catalog Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Alation Data Catalog

March 2025

Download Alation Data Catalog product report

Buyer's Guide

Data Governance

March 2025

Download SAS Data Governance product report

Also Known As

Alation

No data available

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.

Alation

SAS Data Governance helps you maintain a consistent set of policies, processes and owners for your corporate information - including big data sets in Hadoop and Impala. You'll spend less time managing your data - and more time managing your business.

SAS

Sample Customers

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

Canada Post, Ceska pojistovna, Chantecler, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, iJET, Invacare, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group, Los Angeles County, Transitions Optical, Triad Analytic Solutions, UNIQA, US Census Bureau

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Informatica, Collibra and others in Data Governance. Updated: March 2025.

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