Alation is a solid choice for cataloging and data governance. They stand by their product.
March 20, 2023

Alation is a solid choice for cataloging and data governance. They stand by their product.

Nicole Guaetta-Hoffmann, CDMP | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Alation Data Catalog

Documentation is often sparse for data in any organization. We use Alation as a central repository for metadata curation and documentation, and also as a central communication hub for our data.
  • Easy to navigate
  • Easy to curate metadata
  • Automates metadata ingestion
  • Excellent support from sales team after the sale
  • Reporting
  • Fine tuning exports for data curation
  • Ability to make mass edits within the interface without another add on product
  • Search
  • Catalog metadata with curated custom fields
  • Tableau integration
  • Provides centralized hub for data knowledge
We tried a home grown catalog, Informatica and Collibra in the past and none of these solutions were successful, in part because the company was not ready and also because they were not the right tools for the job. For each, the price point was also much higher.

Do you think Alation Data Catalog delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Alation Data Catalog's feature set?

Yes

Did Alation Data Catalog live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Alation Data Catalog go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Alation Data Catalog again?

Yes

If you want to get up and running for governance and cataloging with little learning curve for stewards and end users, Alation is a wonderful tool. People take to it like a duck to water because it is so intuitive.

If you want a full integrated, powerful lineage solution, Alation requires add on products and their partners are not the best choice for automated lineage without manual components for some highly used types of connections like SSIS.

Evaluating Alation Data Catalog and Competitors

Yes - Collibra - terribly expensive and not user friendly at all.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
Alation was significantly less expensive that their competitors while offering an intuitive, easy to use product.