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Alation Data Catalog vs Ataccama ONE Platform vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Alation Data Catalog is 5.8%, down from 9.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ataccama ONE Platform is 2.5%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) is 5.7%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance
 

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.…
JohnZacharkan - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced data quality with machine learning support in diverse environments
We used Ataccama ONE to read data from the mainframe for a data quality perspective. There's a significant lack in that area with tools being able to interface with mainframe. MetLife has a diverse environment, including DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, legacy, and vSAN files. Being able to work in these various environments and put them to a single data quality tool was very appealing. Additionally, Ataccama supported AI and machine learning, which was one of the features I liked. Furthermore, we were able to interface bidirectionally with Collibra for data governance, catching data quality issues before propagating through the system.
Saikat Ghosh - PeerSpot reviewer
Match and merge functionality is still the best but cloud version needs more functionality
There are various areas for improvement in IDMC. Enhancements on basic data management functionality and the UI front, such as multiple templates and improved grid views, would be beneficial. Bulk data management features could be improved from the UI perspective to get to the level of the on prem versions of Informatica MDM. The tool needs to mature but missing small but important features, like restricted dynamic attributes functionality, data inheritance rules in master hierachies, identifiers not being passed in jobs is a drawback.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can customize templates based on our use cases."
"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."
"The solution is used to query MySQL clients and store data and documentation."
"Alation Data Catalog was very useful for sharing SQL queries easily in a platform."
"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."
"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 platform's most valuable features are workflow automation, automated business metadata tagging, technical metadata tagging, and data integration with data quality tools or platforms."
"The product’s important feature is data profiling and quality check."
"The ease of use of the user console is valuable."
"The desktop version of the solution was particularly valuable to me, primarily for creating components. We opted for the data quality aspect to assess the quality of our data warehouse. The functionalities available allowed us to not only check data quality but also serve as an ETL tool. This versatility enabled data transformation and storage in various formats, including files on platforms like SharePoint or local online directories. The flexibility of the tool catered to the specific needs of those building components, contributing to our desired outcomes."
"The notable aspect lies in the workflow structure, where building the workflow aligns significantly with data governance."
"The drag-and-drop feature is incredibly flexible and straightforward."
"Customer service was excellent, and I would give it a ten out of ten."
"I know that there are two good features, APN and ServiceNow but we haven't explored all of its features yet."
"The solution's scalability is high."
"Data synchronization tasks."
"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."
"We can see all our information on a single screen."
"The metadata management of Informatica is great."
"The staging and hierarchical features are the most valuable."
"We use parts and standardization for most of our testing. We purchase the US Postal Service address database, which is updated periodically. Many useful tools, such as Google Maps, can detect and mark new businesses or changes in business locations. Informatica captures and updates this information. Some periodic maintenance is involved, but setting it up is not overly complicated."
 

Cons

"Data observability within Alation would be incredibly helpful for addressing these challenges"
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Alation Data Catalog is not user-friendly for business users. Its user experience is comparable to a Wikipedia page, lacking good visualization."
"We have had issues setting up the connectors and getting Alation's support team to resolve issues."
"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."
"Speaking specifically about the version we use, version 12.3, I'm unsure if this has been addressed in subsequent versions. One improvement I'd like to see pertains to the language used in certain components, especially in data quality checks. The language complexity posed a challenge for beginners. Although we had on-site assistance from Ataccama, making it manageable for us, some individuals found it difficult to comprehend, necessitating additional support. The provision of a comprehensive guide for on-premise installation can also be enhanced. The lack of detailed information on the solution's workings and the overwhelming nature of notifications, with extensive content, were areas of concern. Streamlining the notification content in newer versions would significantly expedite issue resolution."
"I believe it would be beneficial if it could enhance its flexibility to connect with a wider range of downstream systems beyond just Excel and Postgres."
"Data movement is a pain."
"It is complicated to fetch 20-25 reports when we profile the data."
"There is a notable challenge in having to provide detailed filters before the site recognizes the search criteria."
"The interfacing to tools such as Collibra was somewhat cumbersome and required more thought."
"Its features for partitioning and optimization could be better."
"Informatica Data Quality has its data warehouse, primarily using Oracle and some SQL databases. You need a database to host the data."
"The tool could be improved in terms of ease of use, particularly for those without technical expertise. Understanding and extracting data from the table-based structure requires some SQL knowledge and technical skills. Additionally, while Informatica MDM has moved towards a cloud-based MDM with a UI similar to Reltio, I haven't used it, so I can't comment on its effectiveness."
"We would like to have accessibility to the repository."
"There are some limitations with Informatica Axon when one tries to connect or integrate it with Jira."
"The only thing that I can imagine that might be improved is how the available transactions verify addresses used. These transactions have a valid end date and must be used within the agreed timeframe."
"They have too many diversified products. If you don't know Informatica, it's very confusing and feels very idiotic."
"There are various areas for improvement in IDMC. Enhancements on the UI front, such as multiple templates and improved grid views, would be beneficial."
 

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."
"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."
"Despite not being extremely low-cost, the pricing appears reasonable, making it a profitable and viable choice for companies that prioritize data security and adhere to specific policies."
"The product is reasonably priced."
"Our licensing model wasn't user-specific; instead, we paid fees for the engine and maintenance. As we didn't have a support contract, maintenance fees were likely nonexistent. Regarding the upgrade, we had an account for the initial two or three years, and considering the features provided by the solution, the pricing was reasonable."
"We have licenses, and we are provided with certain particular services in the solution."
"The licensing price of the product depends on the organization's requirements."
"Informatica MDM is very expensive. Apart from licensing fees, they have broken down their products into multiple products, and they charge for each and every product. If the data is huge, they charge for the data. At times, we have to use third party services for data cleaning, and they charge for that as well."
"The product is not very pocket-friendly for small and medium-sized businesses, and it is understandable because of the kind of features the tool gives."
"So, there are plans for licensing. There are subscription-based and usage-based licenses. Also, there are licenses for exceptional analytics, etc. In short, there are different models of licensing for every enterprise."
"Licensing is difficult to understand, but the team is always available to explain anything. They are very helpful."
"You pay for this solution based on IPUs, Informatica Processing Units. This depends on how much data you process and how much memory you consume from the cloud provider, and you pay as you go."
"Informatica is very expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
 

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 metadat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alation Data Catalog?
The price difference between Alation Data Catalog and Collibra was not significant. Collibra is a little bit expensiv...
What needs improvement with Alation Data Catalog?
Alation Data Catalog is not user-friendly for business users. Its user experience is comparable to a Wikipedia page, ...
What do you like most about Ataccama ONE Platform?
The notable aspect lies in the workflow structure, where building the workflow aligns significantly with data governa...
What needs improvement with Ataccama ONE Platform?
The interfacing to tools such as Collibra was somewhat cumbersome and required more thought. While it was possible to...
What is your primary use case for Ataccama ONE Platform?
Some of the use cases for Ataccama ONE included data quality, identifying and mapping to Collibra, which was their da...
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 transfor...
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...
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 r...
 

Also Known As

Alation
No data available
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.
Société Générale, First Data, Raiffeisenbank International, T-Mobile, Avast, RSA, Toronto Public Library
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Informatica, Collibra and others in Data Governance. Updated: June 2025.
860,632 professionals have used our research since 2012.