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IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 2025

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

IBM InfoSphere Information ...
Ranking in Metadata Management
5th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Ranking in Metadata Management
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
182
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (3rd), Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (13th), Business-to-Business Middleware (4th), API Management (8th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (2nd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (1st), Data Masking (2nd), Test Data Management Services (3rd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Metadata Management category, the mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is 5.2%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) is 25.4%, down from 27.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Metadata Management
 

Featured Reviews

DEVINDRA SINGH CHAUHAN - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly and good for streamlining and organizing data
Sometimes, if the product is new, getting support is difficult and the team was facing some challenges. Though it was managed, later on, I would say if there is some easy support mechanism is there, it would be very good. We'd like the option to have more integration. We have different databases. We have moved our ERP Oracle system and data warehousing system to the cloud, however, we have too many legacy systems. We were not able to integrate with all those legacy systems. However, it's not a critical factor as no product, no new product provides all support for the legacy products. It's not a deal-breaker, let's say.
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

"Working on the roles, actually, is the most valuable aspect."
"The ability to create special rules inside the solution using Portuguese is the most valuable feature."
"Ability to connect with multiple types of sources."
"The solution allows us to leverage a concept called Open IGC to create custom assets and data lineages that are not technologies typically supported by IBM via connectors."
"It is easy to use."
"The feature I found most valuable in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is the lineage as it's very powerful and it provides data analytics in terms of where the data lives and where it goes. The interface is also clear, though it could still be sorted out, but the lineage is the most powerful thing in the solution."
"The graphic flows and the lineage are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The best feature of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog for me is that it's easy to use and only requires a little bit of manual intervention. Once you discover the data sources, everything flows into the tool automatically, so you do not have to map it manually. There's been a lot of automation in the solution which I like best."
"A great product enrichment tool."
"The support is very good."
"The staging and hierarchical features are the most valuable."
"It's got a reputation in the industry as one of the best solutions for master data management. So, it's what we see in the Gartner top right quadrant as the best product in that space."
"The solution is easier to use compared to the other solutions."
"Whether we need data cleansing or data mastering, we get it all in one platform."
"Informatica Cloud Data Integration is stable."
"The scalability is very high."
 

Cons

"The solution has performance issues when scaling up small sets of information such as assets and data lineage to the ITC."
"A complex solution that requires a lot of coding."
"What could be improved in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is its query tool, including its terms, labels, and reports because the query tool isn't user-friendly. This would also be an additional feature or enhancement in the solution that would make it more attractive to users and would make IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog a really good solution."
"The simplicity of usage could improve. Perhaps the simplicity of use for end users, not for system integrators, but for the user, the end users."
"An area for improvement in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is that it's missing a lot of connectors. Clients complain about not being able to connect some data sources because there's no available connector, so my company raised that issue with IBM. In some cases, third-party connectors are available, but not for all data sources. Another area that needs improvement in the solution is stability because it also has some stability issues. This is the same issue with the other IBM products bundled with IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog. The solution is connected with IBM Infosphere Information Analyzer and IBM InfoSphere DataStage in my company, so if one has issues with stability, the rest of the products are affected as well."
"They need to improve asset management."
"Sometimes, if the product is new, getting support is difficult and the team was facing some challenges."
"What I would tell IBM in terms of what needs to change or improve is that the product is too complicated. IBM purchased various components from different vendors over time and certainly in the UK, IBM did not have anybody that had the expertise to be able to get IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog to run properly."
"I need to have some insight into the tool's cloud capabilities."
"The initial setup was not very straightforward. Not complex, but not very simple either."
"It would be helpful if there was a GenAI feature integrated into the system, especially regarding the data quality."
"The solution is quite expensive."
"From multiple masters that are there in Informatica MDM, we can improve the financials."
"Managing the licenses with the on-premises version was difficult."
"I would like to see more functionality added so that it is a bit closer to how much you can do with Informatica PowerCenter."
"There could be a lot more application integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is expensive."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"In terms of pricing, I find IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog excessive. It's at the top end of the price range in terms of what you get for your money. It's an expensive product, and contractually, IBM is difficult to deal with. I can't remember the exact cost of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog, but it could be in the region of three hundred thousand pounds."
"Licensing for IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is per user."
"I rate the product's pricing a seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest price and ten is the highest price."
"Our customers sometimes are able to negotiate a much better price for Informatica Cloud Data Integration based on their relationship with the vendor."
"I rate the product's pricing a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is high price."
"Its pricing model can be improved."
"It is expensive. That's probably the biggest drawback. The business has heartache paying the license, but that's mainly because they don't realize what value it brings. The key thing about the MDM solution is that it is in the backend, and no one sees what it is actually doing. You don't know it is a problem until it is not there."
"The product is highly-priced."
"Informatica is very expensive."
"It's an expensive solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
35%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
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 IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
The ability to create special rules inside the solution using Portuguese is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
The scalability has room for improvement. I would like the ability to run the solution from different servers. The price has room for improvement.
What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is used to integrate and govern our information.
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

IBM Information Governance Catalog
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

Rabobank, QuadReal Property Group, Jakarta Smart City
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs. Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.