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Alation Data Catalog vs Collibra Governance 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 Collibra Governance is 9.0%, down from 12.0% 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.…
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…
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

"Alation Data Catalog's best feature is the SQL query publication."
"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."
"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 platform's most valuable features are workflow automation, automated business metadata tagging, technical metadata tagging, and data integration with data quality tools or platforms."
"Alation Data Catalog was very useful for sharing SQL queries easily in a platform."
"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."
"We can customize templates based on our use cases."
"The solution's technical support is helpful and responsive."
"In terms of data governance, as I mentioned, it can be a one-stop solution for all of your data governance needs."
"We use the solution's Data Stewardship part."
"Collibra's lineage is a very powerful feature. We have integrated Collibra with Azure and ADLS storage and we create lineage diagrams using the two tools."
"One of the most valuable features of Collibra Governance is its scanning feature, which allows us to onboard multiple applications and their underlying databases."
"It helps us build a powerful workflow mechanism where there can be any stewardship, including issue management governing assets using policies, regulations, or business rules."
"I like the lineage feature the most because I don't think there's any other tool that actually depicts the data flow from multiple sources and the connectivities between every data element inside those sources."
"I rate the technical support from Collibra as nine out of ten."
"Performance and flexibility-wise, they're very user-friendly."
"The solution offers good data governance."
"I like the fact that you can find almost any product connection that you need and the list is always expanding."
"I like the connectivity and richness of features for the technical team, the maturity of the product, and that it had a cloud version. There is Informatica Cloud, and it is part of the Informatica Cloud platform."
"It has flexibility in extending the data model."
"The valuable feature is that we can automate the integration part...It is a stable solution."
"The technical support services are good."
"Address Doctor gives an accurate combination of information provided with a level of returned threshold value."
 

Cons

"It would be good if the tool could show the output from the records while querying."
"The interface is not user-friendly."
"Alation Data Catalog is not user-friendly for business users. Its user experience is comparable to a Wikipedia page, lacking good visualization."
"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 does not provide end-to-end data lineage."
"The tool's domain model needs to be changed."
"Although the solution performs far better in terms of data cataloging, its data governance capabilities need improvement."
"They could simplify the platform's setup and design process. It requires significant IT involvement and expertise, which can be a barrier for smaller organizations."
"There should be more detailed documentation on the selectors and certain information, and a reduction in cost as compared to other tools."
"The workflows and the language they use needs to be improved."
"The domain-based approach could be more helpful for aspects such as customer 360 and product 360."
"The interface is not very user-friendly and can be difficult to navigate."
"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."
"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."
"There are various areas for improvement in IDMC. Enhancements on the UI front, such as multiple templates and improved grid views, would be beneficial."
"It can be improved in terms of performance and execution. I'm expecting better performance. It currently has some restrictions in terms of execution. For example, if we want to run it in the command mode and execute it, there are some restrictions, and we are facing some issues with a huge volume of data. These restrictions are not there in Informatica PowerCenter because we are able to execute a huge volume of data, and there are more ways to execute it."
"The product is not too user-friendly to do the configurations."
"It would be great if the cloud version could match the full range of capabilities available on-premise."
"Its pricing model can be improved. The response time from technical support can also be improved."
"The UI is extremely complex"
"The UX and UI of the solution are areas with certain shortcomings where improvements can be made in the future."
"Right now, although they offer some templates, I would want more templates available to be imported."
 

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."
"Collibra provides you with a license based on the subscription model that you purchase."
"Collibra is a bit expensive."
"Collibra Governance is extremely expensive"
"I am not so much aware of price details. Initially, there was an add-on NuSoft license to use the DVC connector that NuSoft gives to create integrations, but Collibra is now phasing out of it slowly. Collibra is cutting ties with them is what we have been led to believe, and we have started developing on Spring Boot, which is open source."
"Many of our customers I spoke to felt that the solution is a bit highly-priced."
"Collibra Governance is an expensive solution."
"I think it is on a yearly basis, but I'm not involved with the pricing session, so I have no idea. There are several licenses for different models. You get one license per product, but a lot of features are controlled separately through different licenses. So, as and when you want to use a feature, you have to procure the license for that feature."
"Collibra Governance is expensive - I would rate its pricing as one out of five."
"We got a 50% discount."
"I rate the licensing cost of Informatica MDM a five out of ten."
"I have heard from customers that the product comes with a huge license cost."
"it's expensive, but if you're looking for a stable solution, Informatica MDM is a good one to choose."
"It is an expensive solution. I would say it is the most expensive solution in the market."
"The platform has a premium cost. I rate the pricing as seven out of ten."
"The product has a high price point."
"The price of Informatica Cloud Data Integration could be reduced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance 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 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 Collibra Governance?
We use the solution's Data Stewardship part.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Collibra Governance?
The pricing of Collibra Governance is moderate. It is neither extremely costly nor very cheap, as it depends on the u...
What needs improvement with Collibra Governance?
There is room for improvement in the Collibra Data Catalog regarding data classification and categorization. It strug...
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
Collibra
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.
Ministry of Economy Science and Innovation, Aspen Insurance, Barry Callebaut, Colt
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Informatica, Collibra and others in Data Governance. Updated: June 2025.
859,687 professionals have used our research since 2012.