Alation
vs Atlan

Industry experts and practitioners who have used both agree: there's simply no comparison to Atlan.

While evaluating Alation vs Atlan: why 83% of data teams chose Atlan

Seven of the top reasons why over 83% of data teams chose Atlan over Alation in head-to- head trials.

1. Easy to set up, deploys in weeks, not months
2. Collaboration-focused UI/UX that encourages adoption amongst both technical and
business users
3. Column-level lineage that actually works. It’s automated, brings in key metadata context
and is intuitive to use
4. Metadata and context are embedded directly in tools, that users already love and use
5. Native and deep integrations with all best of breed tools across the data estate
6. Strategic customer support that partners in identifying and driving business critical initiatives
7. Upfront pricing that is based on value and non-prohibitive, an investment that you can feel confident leaning into

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Alation vs Atlan:
a comparison of how they drive
business outcomes

In the table below, you can find a quick comparison of how Alation and Atlan
address common challenges faced by data leaders

Factor
Enabling self-service analytics across your org	Not the easiest to use, and no easy way to collaborate with data experts	Open, scalable, non-technical users typically start self-serving their data requests within a month of deployment
Encouraging adoption across your org	Non-intuitive UI/UX and poor product experience, leading to poor adoption	Intuitive collaboration-focused UI/UX, any type of user can hit the ground running
Ease of setting up	Require 4 months or more, need implementation support experts	DIY setup, typically in weeks
Time to experience actual value	Long time to value, often taking a year or more, after a cumbersome multi-month deployment cycle The major roadblock to realizing value is the lack of adoption	First, metadata-driven value is in a matter of weeks not months. Easy adoption by diverse stakeholders makes value inevitable
Keeping pace with how you grow as a business	May not handle change well Legacy platform, a closed solution, incapable of supporting federated/ automated/ distributed paradigms like Data Mesh, Data Fabric, and Data-as-a-Product	Is open to change in your stack and growth Open-by-design, cloud-first Kubernetes-based platform with natively built-in microservices. Purpose-built for Data Mesh and Fabric
Bringing visibility into your entire data estate	Focused on the breadth of integrations vs depth of integrations. Better for on-prem integrations, but not good for cloud-native modern tools	Deep integrations with cloud-native modern tools. Cloud-first, Cloud-native platform as core DNA Present with major on-prem providers and emerging in others
The overall cost of deployment and maintenance	Prohibitive pricing, plus support needed to deploy is added cost	Pay-as-you-go pricing, aligned to usage and value

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Alation vs Atlan:
which solution is the most future ready?

Alation and Atlan are two generationally different products. Alation is a traditional data catalog. Atlan is an active metadata platform.
Here are some key differences in how the platforms are being built:

Factor
Forward looking architecture	Static closed platform that operates in silos	Open, scalable, tech-debt-free platform, suited for data fabric and data mesh
Active governance	Manual stewardship	Programmatic governance through metadata activation
AI readiness	Limited AI/ML capability	The truly AI-ready data catalog

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Alation vs Atlan:
notes from users who’ve used both

How do users who’ve used both compare Alation and Atlan?

Collaboration focused UI/UX
Pay as you go pricing
“Our priority was to find a tool that business wants to use, not have Informatica like scenario. Alation wasn't like the easiest to use, it was super expensive, their user profile was confusing.

Atlan’s simple UI makes it easy for someone senior like me to traverse. Atlan was bang on the buck - what you got us for the package was amazing”
Leading search platform powering 50% of the Fortune 500
Plug and play
Partner, not vendor
There’s something really intuitive about your platform especially when users go in, they just get it right away - which speaks volumes to the work you’ve put in to make the experience intuitive.

The leadership and working group especially loves and appreciates how you guys have been a partner versus a sales pitch!
$4.5B North American mission oriented outdoor apparel brand
Active Metadata
Open API’s
Atlan just seemed to have more potential with extensibility, and the APIs. We wanted to build more than a data catalog and replace amundsen, or even alation. We wanted to build a metadata hub.

The vision of Atlan totally makes sense. We're a fan!
$50B global architecture, design, and engineering software company

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Alation vs Atlan:
the long and short of it

Alation is a traditional data catalog, while Atlan is a pioneering active metadata platform. Atlan is not just rated over Alation in terms of product functionality, but also in product vision, innovation roadmap, and market approach. The company focuses on constant innovation and partnering with customers to generate value.