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Alation Data Catalog vs Collibra 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

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)
Collibra Governance
Ranking in Data Governance
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Alation Data Catalog is 5.5%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Collibra Governance is 8.0%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Collibra Governance8.0%
Alation Data Catalog5.5%
Other86.5%
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.…
DeepakArora - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhancing data management with user-friendly features but needs better documentation
We are a customer of Collibra. Collibra Governance is applied in our data management workflows by creating all the business functions separately, maintaining the data sources of those KPIs and everything separately on those businesses Collibra Governance provides ease of use. The portal is…

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 provides a nice interface for connecting to the database, querying the data, and working on 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."
"We can customize templates based on our use cases."
"The tool's metadata cataloging is the most valuable feature."
"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."
"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 solution's most valuable feature is the ALLIE AI feature."
"Alation Data Catalog was very useful for sharing SQL queries easily in a platform."
"Collibra Governance allows users to scan the data in the Schema and check its quality"
"It enables a linear view of the data assets across different levels, providing a comprehensive understanding."
"The solution's most valuable feature is data cataloging."
"We have folks in the field doing our clinical research operations, and they have the opportunity to refer to Collibra when they are examining a particular report. When they have a question about how something in that report is derived, they can pull a metric that is defined fully in Collibra. They have the opportunity to drill back into Collibra to see that."
"I find the metadata feature valuable because it replaces the coding."
"Provides a good view of the data and how it's being utilized, as well as calibration quality."
"The customization and the dashboards are pretty good."
"I like Collibra's flexibility. I like to be able to modify things for our own use. For example, we've chosen to use Collibra also as a knowledge management tool, even though it is not designed to be a knowledge management tool. That's the beauty of it. It can serve as a knowledge management tool by creating some custom assets specifically for knowledge management."
 

Cons

"Data observability within Alation would be incredibly helpful for addressing these challenges"
"Alation Data Catalog is not user-friendly for business users. Its user experience is comparable to a Wikipedia page, lacking good visualization."
"Although the solution performs far better in terms of data cataloging, its data governance capabilities 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."
"Alation Data Catalog does not provide end-to-end data lineage."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"The tool's domain model needs to be changed."
"The product's data governance features need improvement."
"Collibra is not very user-friendly in terms of lineage generation. The lineage generation process is quite tough, and it takes lots of time to understand it. Business staff are also struggling to generate lineages and to understand them. So, it is not very user-friendly."
"There should be more detailed documentation on the selectors and certain information, and a reduction in cost as compared to other tools."
"Many other tools like Collibra Governance give you the option to actually see the data in the tool, which is not an option in Collibra."
"I'm fairly new to the product, however, what I generally hear from my clients is that the requirement around having ways to ingest more metadata."
"I rate scalability a six out of ten. There is some room for improvement in terms of scalability."
"The licensing is one area that could get improved."
"The solution's data lineage is a little difficult and will not support all the source systems on the database."
"There's still room for improvement in Collibra Governance. Right now, the solution focuses more on publishing and subscription where metadata is being consumed from all systems and processes within Collibra Governance. I'd like to see more features around external systems that let those systems start consuming or start referring things from Collibra Governance automatically, in particular, more API-based integrations, so the solution can truly work as an enterprise governance tool at the heart of the organization. There have been many cases where business stakeholders feel, "Okay. I'll be doing a manual activity because every time I have to maintain and make sure that the solution is working, for example, ensuring the reporting works, I have to go to Collibra Governance." I want this step taken out of the equation, and it has to be an automatic conversion or automatic notification that something has changed. Scalability also needs improvement in the solution. If there could be some sort of self-service where people can customize the solution a bit more, that would make Collibra Governance better. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is an enhanced search feature because it's what users want to use. You want to search for a term and get all details in one go. Right now, if you type a term in the Collibra Governance global search function, it returns a lot of results that you need to know how to filter and what to filter, so there should be automatic filters that give accurate information to somebody who does a search on the solution. I want Collibra Governance to provide a capability where you can search and get relevant information."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is a little expensive."
"I don't have all the details on the pricing side, but the solution was more expensive than originally expected."
"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."
"We purchase its annual license. There is an extra cost for additional users."
"The solution's pricing is moderate and not very expensive."
"Collibra Governance is extremely expensive"
"Collibra provides you with a license based on the subscription model that you purchase."
"Collibra Governance is an expensive solution."
"I rate the pricing a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is expensive, and ten is cheap."
"It is substantial, and we do pay yearly."
"Generally, it is a rather expensive solution compared to some other tools in the market, but I found it to be fair-priced for its capabilities."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise32
 

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 Collibra Governance?
We use the solution's Data Stewardship part.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Collibra Governance?
Regarding licensing, I find it is one of the more expensive options, so it is not particularly affordable.
What needs improvement with Collibra Governance?
In future updates, I would like to see more AI-based capability in Collibra Governance, wherein the data definitions can be auto-generated and lineage can be tracked down easier.
 

Also Known As

Alation
Collibra
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Salesforce, Snowflake, Citrix, eBay, TripAdvisor, Albertsons, Nasdaq, Pfizer, LinkedIn, Finnair.
Ministry of Economy Science and Innovation, Aspen Insurance, Barry Callebaut, Colt
Find out what your peers are saying about Alation Data Catalog vs. Collibra Governance and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
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