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IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs SAP Information Steward comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 3, 2025

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

IBM InfoSphere Information ...
Ranking in Metadata Management
5th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SAP Information Steward
Ranking in Metadata Management
6th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Data Quality (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Metadata Management category, the mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is 5.0%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP Information Steward is 3.9%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Metadata Management
 

Featured Reviews

DEVINDRA SINGH CHAUHAN - PeerSpot reviewer
User-friendly and good for streamlining and organizing data
Sometimes, if the product is new, getting support is difficult and the team was facing some challenges. Though it was managed, later on, I would say if there is some easy support mechanism is there, it would be very good. We'd like the option to have more integration. We have different databases. We have moved our ERP Oracle system and data warehousing system to the cloud, however, we have too many legacy systems. We were not able to integrate with all those legacy systems. However, it's not a critical factor as no product, no new product provides all support for the legacy products. It's not a deal-breaker, let's say.
FranciscoSantos - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides accurate data that is validated against a personalized reference tool
For most SAP customers, Information Steward is enough because it is able to build quality data rules to detect issues in the source systems like SAP HANA, Business Warehouse, or other systems. A business user can first organize their data into several data domains. For example, procurement, human resources, and logistics setup. The domains can build data quality dimensions where you can describe the kind of rule that you are going to use. The user then can immediately see if something is wrong with their data using traffic lights. Another great feature of SAP Information Steward is the accuracy that the content is followed by validating against the reference tool. With the solution, you are creating data quality dimensions. Within these dimensions, you are creating business data quality rules that are looking for specific fields. From these rules, you can create a scorecard. The scorecard will highlight the percentage of good data and ensure the user can feel confident that the data is accurate within predetermined limits. SAP tables have field names that are very cryptic, making them hard to understand the meaning of the fields. Metapedia helps describe these fields in business terms.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Working on the roles, actually, is the most valuable aspect."
"What I liked about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is that it seemed to have most of the options that you would want from a government catalog. The features of the product are very rich and comprehensive."
"It is easy to use."
"The ability to create special rules inside the solution using Portuguese is the most valuable feature."
"The graphic flows and the lineage are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The solution allows us to leverage a concept called Open IGC to create custom assets and data lineages that are not technologies typically supported by IBM via connectors."
"The feature I found most valuable in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is the lineage as it's very powerful and it provides data analytics in terms of where the data lives and where it goes. The interface is also clear, though it could still be sorted out, but the lineage is the most powerful thing in the solution."
"Ability to connect with multiple types of sources."
"Setup is straightforward."
"The scorecard will highlight the percentage of good data and ensure the user can feel confident that the data is accurate within predetermined limits."
"Ability to collect information, monitor user access and to plan storage capacity."
"Initial setup was straightforward."
"The most valuable features are data quality insight, metadata management, and metadata dictionary."
"Data insight is the most valuable feature."
"The solution is very fast."
"The Data Cleansing and the scorecard dashboard are very valuable. Additionally, the financial aspect of SAP Information Steward is very good. When a rule is incorrect then it will show how much is it costing the business. These features are very valuable."
 

Cons

"An area for improvement in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is that it's missing a lot of connectors. Clients complain about not being able to connect some data sources because there's no available connector, so my company raised that issue with IBM. In some cases, third-party connectors are available, but not for all data sources. Another area that needs improvement in the solution is stability because it also has some stability issues. This is the same issue with the other IBM products bundled with IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog. The solution is connected with IBM Infosphere Information Analyzer and IBM InfoSphere DataStage in my company, so if one has issues with stability, the rest of the products are affected as well."
"The simplicity of usage could improve. Perhaps the simplicity of use for end users, not for system integrators, but for the user, the end users."
"The scalability has room for improvement."
"What could be improved in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is its query tool, including its terms, labels, and reports because the query tool isn't user-friendly. This would also be an additional feature or enhancement in the solution that would make it more attractive to users and would make IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog a really good solution."
"The solution has performance issues when scaling up small sets of information such as assets and data lineage to the ITC."
"They need to improve asset management."
"Sometimes, if the product is new, getting support is difficult and the team was facing some challenges."
"What I would tell IBM in terms of what needs to change or improve is that the product is too complicated. IBM purchased various components from different vendors over time and certainly in the UK, IBM did not have anybody that had the expertise to be able to get IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog to run properly."
"The support team is not very responsive."
"The solution could improve by incorporating other applications, such as Power BI to show more visualization. More interaction with other solutions would be a good benefit."
"The user experience of metapedia could be improved."
"We'd like to see some manipulation techniques included in SAP Information Steward."
"Performance could be improved."
"Needs to be more powerful on rules."
"Granularity could be reduced from an application level to the object level."
"SAP Information Steward could be improved by offering a cloud version of the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In terms of pricing, I find IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog excessive. It's at the top end of the price range in terms of what you get for your money. It's an expensive product, and contractually, IBM is difficult to deal with. I can't remember the exact cost of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog, but it could be in the region of three hundred thousand pounds."
"Licensing for IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is per user."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is expensive."
"Smaller-sized organizations may not be able to invest in SAP Information Steward because of the cost."
"A bit pricey, and better tools are available for a lower price."
"I do not know if there were additional costs beyond the standard licensing fees."
"SAP Information Steward is an expensive solution compared to others."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
36%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Government
13%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
The ability to create special rules inside the solution using Portuguese is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
The scalability has room for improvement. I would like the ability to run the solution from different servers. The price has room for improvement.
What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog?
IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is used to integrate and govern our information.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

IBM Information Governance Catalog
Information Steward, SAP Data Insight
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Rabobank, QuadReal Property Group, Jakarta Smart City
American Water, Graphic Packaging International, OSRAM Licht AG, Maxim Integrated
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs. SAP Information Steward and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.