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Alation Data Catalog vs BigID 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

Alation Data Catalog
Ranking in Data Governance
7th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (2nd)
BigID
Ranking in Data Governance
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Data Privacy Management Software (3rd), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd)
 

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 BigID is 7.7%, up from 6.6% 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.…
Ankita Sabale - PeerSpot reviewer
Predefined classifiers in place support sensitive data scanning effectively
BigID does not currently support Kerberos authentication for DataStax. On the user interface, analyzing true and false positives can be challenging, as I can only view 2,000 characters at a time. When tagging scan results, all objects get tagged without the option to untag specific ones. This requires reverting changes through MongoDB, which can result in data loss.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Alation Data Catalog's best feature is the SQL query publication."
"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."
"We can customize templates based on our use cases."
"Alation Data Catalog provides a nice interface for connecting to the database, querying the data, and working on it."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the ALLIE AI feature."
"The most valuable feature of BigID is its large number of classifiers, which allow us to scan for specific data such as SSN numbers."
"Data classification is highly effective due to its automatic capabilities."
"The most valuable feature of BigID is its large number of classifiers, which allow us to scan for specific data such as SSN numbers."
"BigID's scanning feature is its most valuable component."
"The tool's most valuable feature is correlation. Using BigID's data classification capabilities has strengthened our data security. It lets me classify and connect data, which helps me manage data at various classification levels."
"The data classification offered by the tool can help companies improve their security strategy"
"BigID integrates well with our other products."
"It provides a unified view across different databases and supports a wide range of data source types, including cloud and on-premises systems."
 

Cons

"Data observability within Alation would be incredibly helpful for addressing these challenges"
"Although the solution performs far better in terms of data cataloging, its data governance capabilities need improvement."
"We have had issues setting up the connectors and getting Alation's support team to resolve issues."
"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."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"Alation Data Catalog does not provide end-to-end data lineage."
"The product's data governance features need improvement."
"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."
"More classifications about different states are needed"
"In terms of what could be improved, when you're looking in a BigID file, you cannot really get the whole file. You have to export it to download it to another platform that allows you to completely view it, or run a program. That was one of the things that was really a disappointing point for me. Not to be able to view everything. There's a lot more data, but you can't get it all at once."
"BigID is making some forays into the GRC space, and that's a natural progression. I'd like to see that improve so that data governance is better, data risk is identified, and the ability to control and mitigate it."
"There are some shortcomings when it comes to Calvirus authentication, which is not yet supported by BigID."
"The challenge we encountered was with data connection across multiple databases. We struggled with configuring the data connection successfully. However, with the assistance of dynamic teams, we resolved this issue."
"BigID needs improvement in terms of automation."
"BigID is expensive. I prefer McAfee."
"There are some shortcomings when it comes to Calvirus authentication, which is not yet supported by BigID."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 solution is a little expensive."
"The platform is moderately expensive compared to the other competitors in the market."
"I don't have all the details on the pricing side, but the solution was more expensive than originally expected."
"The pricing depends. If you have thousands of data sources to connect and manage, and you struggled with an MDM package in the past, you'll find BigID valuable and even cheap. But if you're a small business, it's probably not the right tool for you."
"The product is expensive, but so are all competitor tools"
"The solution is expensive."
"I think that BigID's pricing is very reasonable."
"The solution is not licensed per user but rather based on capacity. For instance, organizations with large amounts of data, such as 50 GB or more, are the ones that typically qualify for BigID."
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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
25%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

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?
The price difference between Alation Data Catalog and Collibra was not significant. Collibra is a little bit expensive than Alation, but I presented the benefits of having that platform, so that li...
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, lacking good visualization. In a fast-paced world, we need to grasp information ...
What do you like most about BigID?
I like BigID's in-depth discovery and scanning capabilities, especially for unstructured data. This feature is a standout compared to competitors. The tool's data classification capabilities are i...
What needs improvement with BigID?
BigID does not currently support Kerberos authentication for DataStax. On the user interface, analyzing true and false positives can be challenging, as I can only view 2,000 characters at a time. W...
What is your primary use case for BigID?
BigID is part of our data governance project. We onboard data sources in our environment and scan for specific sensitive data sets, such as SSN numbers, passport numbers, and medical information, w...
 

Also Known As

Alation
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Salesforce, Snowflake, Citrix, eBay, TripAdvisor, Albertsons, Nasdaq, Pfizer, LinkedIn, Finnair.
Home Depot, Grant Thornton LLP, Cimpress, Fidelity Investments
Find out what your peers are saying about Alation Data Catalog vs. BigID and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,390 professionals have used our research since 2012.