

Alation Data Catalog and BigID Next compete in the data management space. Alation seems to have the upper hand with its robust data context and governance approach, whereas BigID predominantly shines in data discovery and compliance management.
Features: Alation offers SQL query publication, active data governance, and excellent search capabilities. It enhances data discovery and collaboration with cloud integration and workflow automation. BigID excels with discovery and scanning capabilities, especially for unstructured data. It provides strong data classification and compliance management features, offering a unified data view across diverse sources.
Room for Improvement: Alation lacks end-to-end data lineage and struggles with integration. Users desire improvements in governance capabilities, search effectiveness, and usability for non-technical users. BigID faces challenges with UI, scan reliability, and navigation. Enhancing automation capabilities and export functions is necessary, as is improving data connection efficiency.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Alation supports hybrid, private, and public cloud deployments, generally receiving positive feedback on support despite some delays. BigID deploys across on-premises and cloud environments, with recent improvements in support efficiency, although users face challenges with endpoint deployment and accessing support for technical issues.
Pricing and ROI: Both Alation and BigID are premium solutions with complex pricing models. Alation users see significant ROI in efficiency and integration capabilities, while BigID's modular pricing suits large organizations dealing with numerous data sources. BigID provides substantial compliance benefits despite being costly for smaller businesses. Both tools offer notable ROI predominantly in time savings and compliance advantages.
We have seen a return on investment, having saved close to 10.5% of our costs, with expected ROI growing yearly by about 17%.
Instead of going into Google or consulting a colleague, I can just go to Alation Data Catalog, search there, and understand everything by myself.
It is one of the best tools in the market.
We have seen returns across all three aspects: fewer employees needed, money saved, and time saved with BigID.
I have seen a return on investment from using BigID, particularly as it is a regulatory and compliance tool that helps avoid potential penalties for non-compliance.
Some of them have dragged on for six months, which is much longer than we would ever want some support issues to go on.
we have defined several SLAs that have resolved critical issues and incidents with excellent support.
we have been able to contact them, and they have been able to help us whenever we have had issues
BigID has one of the best technical support teams.
I would rate the customer support a six because you cannot directly reach out to L3 or L2 support if there's a major issue.
developing the custom connectors was relatively easy because of the courses I attended at BigID University and the support given by the BigID engineering team.
As data sizes grow, we can also scale categorizations, calibrations, and the types of data we ingest and catalog through this tool.
Alation Data Catalog's scalability is really good since everything is cloud and everything gets pulled into the system via Snowflake and DBT automatically.
Alation Data Catalog's scalability has met our needs as our data and user base has grown.
I have added very large data sources to the BigID environment, and it remains stable.
BigID is scalable, allowing you to purchase as many scanners as you want.
It has never gone down when we wanted to access it.
Alation Data Catalog has been stable for me, as I haven't seen much downtime.
From my experience, Alation Data Catalog is stable.
BigID is generally stable, however, there is a noted issue with bulk tagging that can affect scan results.
The platform needs improvement in integrating with BI tools, reducing manual efforts, and facilitating a smooth connection.
Additionally, bringing in AI capabilities to automate tracking and labeling can optimize how we handle data information levels.
Alation Data Catalog can be improved by enhancing their lineage capabilities to make it easier for us as users to search the lineage without having to use the Alation Data Catalog user interface.
There is also an issue with incident tagging, where all objects get tagged without an option to untag specific ones, and reverting changes is only possible through MongoDB Central, which can lead to data loss for certain periods.
I want them to focus on data mapping, assessment, automation workflow, and privacy incident management.
BigID deserves recognition for the data discovery part, which has been wonderful and quite accurate, along with the confidence level process that allows us to fine-tune results for better accuracy from the database.
Collibra is a little bit expensive than Alation, but I presented the benefits of having that platform, so that little bit of money was not a big deal.
Discussions with the vendor partners provided a detailed breakdown of costs and how they can be reduced over time.
BigID might be expensive as it involves various paid services, like data retention and graphic rights management.
The pricing is competitive in the market, however, I need to ask for the right price.
It was the only data catalog tool where I could save and even create SQL queries.
Importantly, we establish a single source of truth, centralizing metadata and standardizing definitions, which minimizes confusion and helps with consistent data use across the organization.
My stakeholders can find relevant data assets quickly using a Google search without needing technical jargon, reducing the time spent searching for data.
One of the best features of BigID is its strength in data discovery and governance.
BigID simplifies things by integrating both data protection and data privacy in one environment, making it easier for end users.
The most valuable feature of BigID is its large number of classifiers, which allow us to scan for specific data such as SSN numbers.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Alation Data Catalog | 4.0% |
| BigID | 5.2% |
| Other | 90.8% |

| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 4 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 |
| Large Enterprise | 15 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 5 |
| Large Enterprise | 11 |
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.
BigID Next offers advanced data discovery, classification, and governance tools, streamlining compliance with privacy laws while integrating seamlessly with Microsoft platforms.
BigID Next provides comprehensive data management through machine learning-enhanced capabilities, supporting data discovery and classification for both structured and unstructured data. By simplifying processes for GDPR and CCPA compliance, and facilitating data scanning and mapping across databases, it optimizes data management. Automation is central to its design, with solutions for DSAR requests, organizing data with security labels, and ensuring a holistic organizational data view. Improvements in navigation, bug fixes, and scan reliability remain essential, along with enhancing classifiers for broader region coverage.
What features does BigID Next offer?BigID Next is commonly implemented in industries needing robust data governance, such as finance and healthcare, where data privacy and compliance with regulations are critical. It aids in scanning and classifying extensive data volumes, helping businesses maintain regulatory compliance while managing data risks effectively.
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