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Alation Data Catalog vs Qlik Talend Cloud comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 18, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.7
Alation Data Catalog boosts efficiency by reducing search time, cutting costs, and enhancing user independence in data management.
Sentiment score
5.8
Qlik Talend Cloud enhances efficiency and cost savings, enabling rapid task completion and smooth transitions with reduced errors.
We have seen a return on investment, having saved close to 10.5% of our costs, with expected ROI growing yearly by about 17%.
Senior Staff Cyber Security Cloud Data Architect at GE Healthcare
Instead of going into Google or consulting a colleague, I can just go to Alation Data Catalog, search there, and understand everything by myself.
Data Engineer at Yum! Brands
It has helped us save a lot of time by automating repetitive data processes and reducing manual interventions.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
We achieved around 20% to 30% time savings in the ETL process, reduced operational errors, and improved pipeline stability.
Data & Analytics Engineer at PicPay
We actually achieved the first 18 months worth of work in the first six months.
Enterprise Architect at Waikato Regional Council
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.6
Alation's support is generally positive, with fast ticket processing but some issues with time zones and complex problem-solving.
Sentiment score
7.1
Qlik Talend Cloud's customer service is praised for responsiveness, efficiency, supportive interactions, knowledgeable support, and helpful resources.
Some of them have dragged on for six months, which is much longer than we would ever want some support issues to go on.
Senior Data Engineer & Data Platform Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
we have defined several SLAs that have resolved critical issues and incidents with excellent support.
Senior Staff Cyber Security Cloud Data Architect at GE Healthcare
we have been able to contact them, and they have been able to help us whenever we have had issues
Senior Data Analyst at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
The support team is responsive when we raise issues, and they usually provide clear guidance or solutions.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
I would rate the technical support from Talend Data Quality as an 8 or 9.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The customer support for Talend Data Integration is very good; whenever I raise a ticket in the customer portal, I immediately receive an email, and follow-up communication is prompt.
Assistant Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.8
Alation Data Catalog excels in scalability for expanding user bases and data size, with some API limitations on free versions.
Sentiment score
7.0
Qlik Talend Cloud efficiently scales in cloud environments, with positive feedback on performance, parallelization, and dynamic scaling capabilities.
As data sizes grow, we can also scale categorizations, calibrations, and the types of data we ingest and catalog through this tool.
Senior Staff Cyber Security Cloud Data Architect at GE Healthcare
Alation Data Catalog's scalability is really good since everything is cloud and everything gets pulled into the system via Snowflake and DBT automatically.
Senior Data Analyst at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
Alation Data Catalog's scalability has met our needs as our data and user base has grown.
Senior Data Engineer & Data Platform Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
By using features like job parallelization and modular design, we can expand our data flows without having to rebuild everything.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Its scalability is good, as Qlik Talend Cloud can handle large amounts of data and grow as needed, especially in cloud environments.
Data & Analytics Engineer at PicPay
The scalability of Talend Data Integration is good; if it weren't scalable, it wouldn't be reliable.
Assistant Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Alation Data Catalog is praised for stability, reliable performance, excellent maintenance, with minor on-premises outages and DBT load concerns.
Sentiment score
7.1
Qlik Talend Cloud is generally stable, though users may encounter issues with large datasets, server reboots, and updates.
It has never gone down when we wanted to access it.
Senior Data Engineer & Data Platform Engineer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Alation Data Catalog has been stable for me, as I haven't seen much downtime.
Senior ORM Analyst Assistant Vice President at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
From my experience, Alation Data Catalog is stable.
Senior Data Analyst at a government with 1,001-5,000 employees
We have not encountered many issues with remote engines, and the interfaces are properly developed.
Consultant en intelligence décisionnelle at VO2 Group
Once the jobs are properly designed and deployed, they run reliably without major issues.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
It was not as stable when we were using TAC and on-premise systems, but currently, with Qlik Talend Cloud version 8.3 or 8.1, it is stable.
Data Engineer at HCLSoftware
 

Room For Improvement

Alation Data Catalog needs improved lineage, user interface, automation, security, and integration with Power BI and external APIs.
Qlik Talend Cloud faces crashes, multitasking issues, poor documentation, stability problems, and lacks tools, needing improvements in security and support.
The platform needs improvement in integrating with BI tools, reducing manual efforts, and facilitating a smooth connection.
Senior Data Governance at a university with 51-200 employees
Additionally, bringing in AI capabilities to automate tracking and labeling can optimize how we handle data information levels.
Senior Staff Cyber Security Cloud Data Architect at GE Healthcare
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.
Senior Data and Analytics Consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
On the flip side, that is one of its amazing strengths, as you are not locked into a very rigid way of doing something.
Enterprise Architect at Waikato Regional Council
Better cost and resource visibility would help teams optimize their workloads.
Data & Analytics Engineer at PicPay
It would be great to have more ready-to-use connectors for modern cloud and SaaS platforms.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
 

Setup Cost

Alation Data Catalog pricing is high, but discounts and long-term agreements offer better value compared to competitors.
Qlik Talend Cloud offers subscription-based pricing with varied costs, emphasizing package evaluation to manage expenses effectively.
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.
Senior Data Governance at a university with 51-200 employees
Discussions with the vendor partners provided a detailed breakdown of costs and how they can be reduced over time.
Senior Staff Cyber Security Cloud Data Architect at GE Healthcare
My experience with Talend Data Integration's pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is a bit higher compared to other tools, making it not very affordable.
Assistant Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The license cost has increased significantly, leading many companies to seek more profitable options in the market.
ETL developer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Alation Data Catalog boosts productivity with intuitive features, seamless data management, and enhances collaboration through advanced governance and cloud integration.
Qlik Talend Cloud provides high-performance data integration with real-time access, extensive connectors, automation, and robust data quality tools.
It was the only data catalog tool where I could save and even create SQL queries.
Senior Data Governance at a university with 51-200 employees
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.
Senior Staff Cyber Security Cloud Data Architect at GE Healthcare
My stakeholders can find relevant data assets quickly using a Google search without needing technical jargon, reducing the time spent searching for data.
Data Engineer at Yum! Brands
By automating daily data loading processes, we reduced manual effort by around three or four hours per day, which saved roughly 60 to 80 hours per month.
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
We perform profiling prior to data quality and post-data quality, and based on that, we determine how much it has improved to measure the efficiency of Talend Data Quality cleaning tools.
Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
The feature that has made the biggest difference for me in Qlik Talend Cloud is the scheduling and automation, which helps me run ETL jobs automatically without manual work.
Data & Analytics Engineer at PicPay
 

Categories and Ranking

Alation Data Catalog
Ranking in Data Governance
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.8
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Metadata Management (3rd)
Qlik Talend Cloud
Ranking in Data Governance
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (9th), Data Quality (3rd), Data Scrubbing Software (1st), Master Data Management (MDM) Software (3rd), Cloud Data Integration (7th), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) (4th), Streaming Analytics (9th), Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Alation Data Catalog is 4.0%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qlik Talend Cloud is 1.8%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Alation Data Catalog4.0%
Qlik Talend Cloud1.8%
Other94.2%
Data Governance
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2776527 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data and Analytics Consultant at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Increases data discoverability and boosts self-service analytics through enriched metadata and intuitive search
The best features that Alation Data Catalog offers are its search capabilities and the fact that it works with many different data platforms; it is essentially platform agnostic. The other piece that I really think is important is how easy it is to use as well as to manage. What makes the search capabilities of Alation Data Catalog stand out for me is the fact that every item within the catalog is indexed and searchable, as well as the filtering features that allow you to narrow down to just the types of assets that you need. Wildcard searches are also very helpful. It is a very intuitive tool, as long as you are using the filters. Alation Data Catalog has positively impacted my organization by allowing users to answer questions that they had without trying to track down an expert. This has saved them quite a bit of time and frustration. It has allowed them to solve problems they probably would not have been able to solve had they not had the catalog. We have been measuring the curation of content within the catalog that has gone up over time, and we have also seen the number of users in the catalog increase, as well as the amount of activity within the catalog increase. We were seeing about an average of about 20% increase month over month for the last few months.
HJ
IT Consultant at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Has automated recurring data flows and improved accuracy in reporting
The best features of Talend Data Integration are its rich set of components that let you connect to almost any data design intuitive and its strong automation and scheduling capabilities. The TMap component is especially valuable because it allows flexible transformation, joins, and filtering in a single place. I also rely a lot on context variables to manage different environments like Dev, Test, and production, without changing the code. The error handling and logging tools are very helpful for monitoring and troubleshooting, which makes the workflow more reliable. Talend Data Integration has helped our company by automating and standardizing data processes. Before, many of these tasks were done manually, which took more time and often led to errors. With Talend Data Integration, we built automated pipelines that extract, clean, and load data consistently. This not only saves hours of manual effort, but also improves the accuracy and reliability of data. As a result, business teams had faster access to trustworthy information for reporting and decision making, which directly improved efficiency and productivity. Talend Data Integration has had a measurable impact on our organization. By automating daily data loading processes, we reduced manual effort by around three or four hours per day, which saved roughly 60 to 80 hours per month. We also improved data accuracy. Error rates dropped by more than 70% because validation rules were built into the jobs. In addition, reporting teams now receive fresh data at least 50% faster, which means they can make decisions earlier and with more confidence. Overall, Talend Data Integration has increased both efficiency and reliability in our data workflows.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise20
 

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?
I haven't had any experience with pricing, setup costs, or licensing, as I have been strictly an end user and haven't had any administrative or management responsibilities.
What needs improvement with Alation Data Catalog?
Some of the downsides about the lineage is that some of the code is quite difficult to read as the formatting is a bit ugly sometimes. Alation Data Catalog can be improved with the lineage formatti...
What do you like most about Talend Data Quality?
The most valuable feature lies in the capability to assign data quality issues to different stakeholders, facilitating the tracking and resolution of defective work.
What needs improvement with Talend Data Quality?
I don't use the automated rule management feature in Talend Data Quality that much, so I cannot provide much feedback. I may not know what Talend Data Quality can improve for data quality. I'm not ...
What is your primary use case for Talend Data Quality?
It is for consistency, mainly; data consistency and data quality are our main use cases for the product. Data consistency is the primary purpose we use it for, as we have written rules in Talend Da...
 

Also Known As

Alation
Talend Data Quality, Talend Data Management Platform, Talend MDM Platform, Talend Data Streams, Talend Data Integration, Talend Data Integrity and Data Governance
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Salesforce, Snowflake, Citrix, eBay, TripAdvisor, Albertsons, Nasdaq, Pfizer, LinkedIn, Finnair.
Aliaxis, Electrocomponents, M¾NCHENER VEREIN, The Sunset Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Alation Data Catalog vs. Qlik Talend Cloud and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.