Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Atlan vs Microsoft Purview Data Governance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 3, 2024

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

Atlan
Ranking in Data Governance
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Purview Data Gove...
Ranking in Data Governance
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Atlan is 2.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Governance is 23.9%, down from 25.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance
 

Featured Reviews

Leon Pereira - PeerSpot reviewer
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 Additionally, data observability capabilities could be enhanced to provide more alerts on stale or outdated data via communication tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, or email.
James McDowall - PeerSpot reviewer
The sensitivity and retention options in Purview are excellent
Some of the menu headings may not be easy to understand for some people. For example, when I first used Purview, I noticed that one of the self-compliance centers had changed its name. Microsoft has done a huge amount of updates, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of what Purview can do. We almost constantly have to explore it. Maybe Microsoft could have a 365 roadmap where we can look at upcoming features, or some kind of bulletin announcement for Purview users that explains new features and what they can do in simple terms. We could also look at the menu settings. In my experience of using Purview, we've never used it as an exclusive system for IT professionals or technical staff. We were very keen that other specialists around the business made use of some of these features because we thought that some of what Purview could do was relevant to other departments as well as IT. For example, we have HR managers and financial staff who use it. I think that some of the terminology in Purview is pitched toward IT and tech professionals, and it may not be immediately understood by other specialists. This is something that could be improved.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Overall, I rate Atlan a nine out of ten."
"Overall, I rate Atlan as a ten out of ten."
"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 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)."
"Atlas is quite intuitive."
"As a senior analytics engineer, Atlan's ability to show end-to-end data lineage is the most important feature for me."
"It is pretty early, but the decision to go with this investment was largely driven by the simplification of our information security technology management stack. That is the primary objective. Once you simplify and you have a connected structure, it allows for faster adoption there. It also gives us additional capabilities as we go on using the technology that we are familiar with, and we do not have to depend on outside parties to come in and tell us how to do certain things."
"From my experience and customer feedback, one of the most valuable features of Microsoft Purview is ease of use, especially for content hosted within Microsoft 365 and Azure. I also like that the pricing model for the solution is reasonable."
"The integration ecosystem with Microsoft Purview is the most valuable aspect."
"The data classification part of the solution is excellent, especially as it gives us an insight into our sensitive data within Microsoft 365."
"The labeling is the most valuable feature for the companies I'm installing it for. Some of them have several thousand staff, and their concerns are around confidential or private data being shared. The labels and the policies involved with them give them that initial visibility."
"Purview helped us automate and control our data without having to rely on people to manually tag documents with specific retention periods."
"The user interface is highly intuitive and user-friendly."
"Purview's ability to connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices is critical."
 

Cons

"One area that could be improved is the capability to find duplicates of datasets."
"One of the main areas for improvement is its governance capabilities."
"The product could be improved by offering scheduled email reports for managed assets."
"Certain UI changes could make Atlan more user-friendly."
"The challenge is in the lineage, where it requires improvement."
"Certain UI changes could make Atlan more user-friendly."
"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."
"One area that could be improved is the capability to find duplicates of datasets."
"One area for improvement is the detection of data types. This is really important. It has some of that functionality, but I consider it very limited. Maybe they can add some custom programming or machine learning could be particularly useful for the detection of the nature of the data."
"Frequent daily updates from Microsoft can cause interface elements like buttons to appear and disappear, making navigation unpredictable."
"I would like to have AI functionality on the dashboard to help me analyze and report on the data that we capture using Purview on a daily basis."
"Auto-tagging should be available at lower levels of licensing. Right now, a high level of licensing is needed for auto-tagging, and this feature should be made available at a lower license level."
"The technical support has room for improvement."
"There are some limitations with regard to the lineage of data from different parts of the system."
"Another area for improvement is in managing the business glossary terms. If they could provide the same type of method that we use to configure the scan rule sets, that would be helpful. Currently, there is no option like this, so we have to do it manually. Automatic detection would be great."
"We've had a few issues with the scanner. It runs perfectly one day, and on another day, it will run the whole night. It's probably related to the rules. If I set some compliance rules and apply the rules to any column, I can't delete it. I have to disable it and reactivate it."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention is not cheap."
"Aside from the complexity of the pricing model, the price itself is realistic. Features like AI components and automatic classification require additional licenses. Still, anyone can start using Purview with a basic E3 license if they're using Microsoft 365 and grow with additional licenses as needed. Overall, we're satisfied with the price."
"While Purview's standard pricing might not be accessible to most small businesses, we were fortunate to benefit from the educational pricing which made it a financially viable option for our needs."
"Some people find the tier licensing system complicated, but it offers a lot of value for money if we use the features."
"The interesting part is how they are bundling the version into the E5 stack. If it was not for that inclusion, this would have been a difficult conversation for us, so kudos to Microsoft on that. Separating it out may become a problem for customer retention. It is definitely a good move on Microsoft's part to include it as part of any existing or any system upgrades for customers that were on E3."
"The pricing is moderate. It's not too expensive, but it's not the most competitive."
"The solution is extremely affordable for the K-12 space."
"We pay $15,000 per end user for the E5 license."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Governance solutions are best for your needs.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Insurance Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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.
What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Purview?
It is designed to seamlessly connect to various data sources, which is particularly beneficial for our customers who primarily use Microsoft technologies.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Purview?
The auto-tagging feature should be available at a lower licensing level.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Purview?
Auto-tagging should be available at lower levels of licensing. Right now, a high level of licensing is needed for auto-tagging, and this feature should be made available at a lower license level.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Purview, MS Azure Purview
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Atlan vs. Microsoft Purview Data Governance and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.