Amundsen Alternatives – DataHub, Metacat, and Apache Atlas
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What are some alternatives to Amundsen? #
Amundsen is a popular open-source data discovery platform and metadata engine built by the Lyft engineering team.
Introduced and open-sourced in 2019 for adoption outside of Lyft, the platform was initially built to improve the productivity of engineers, data scientists, and analysts at the ride-hailing app.
In addition to a high adoption at Lyft, Amundsen has an open-source community currently spanning ~100 contributors and 39 organizations.
While you are evaluating Amundsen in the process of building an open-source-based data catalog, you might want to consider these alternatives to Amundsen as well.
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3 open source Amundsen alternatives #
- LinkedIn’s DataHub
- Netflix’s Metacat
- Hortonworks’ Apache Atlas
A Guide to Building a Business Case for a Data Catalog
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DataHub #
Built by LinkedIn, DataHub is an open-source metadata search and discovery tool.
Open-sourced in 2020, this tool is LinkedIn’s second attempt at solving cataloging and data discovery problems. Its first attempt, WhereHows, was in 2016.
Popular use cases of DataHub include:
- Automating metadata ingestion from multiple data sources
- Streamlining data discovery via searching and browsing data assets
- Enhancing understanding of data with context
Further reading about DataHub as an Amundsen alternative:
Metacat #
An open-source metadata management platform, Metacat powers data discovery and metadata interoperability at Netflix.
With a single access layer for data across a diverse mesh of data sources, Metacat simplifies data discovery, cataloging, processing, and management.
Metacat’s best-known capabilities include:
- Easy data discovery
- Data change notifications
- One common abstraction layer
- Provisions for the user-and business-defined metadata storage
Further reading about Metacat as an Amundsen alternative:
Apache Atlas #
Apache Atlas is a popular open-source software used to build catalogs of data assets.
With an active community of committers from Hortonworks, Aetna, Merck, IBM, Target, and more leading companies, the Apache Atlas project expands year by year.
Apache Atlas has the following main capabilities:
- Visualizing metadata lineage
- Adding entities to metadata to streamline searches
- Creating classifications for data
Further reading about Apache Atlas as an Amundsen alternative:
Amundsen: Related Resources #
- Amundsen vs. Atlas: A comparison of architecture, data discovery features, deployment, and data observability
- Amundsen vs DataHub: A comparison of architecture, primary capabilities, deployment and roadmap
- Introduction to Amundsen: An open-source data discovery tool and metadata engine.
- A step-by-step guide to installing Amundsen.
- Try a pre-built Amundsen demo instance
- Guide To Set Up OIDC Authentication in Amundsen
- Evaluating modern data catalogs: 5 essential features to look for and an evaluation guide.
Evaluating open source data catalog tools #
One of the crucial steps in enabling a collaborative and efficient data culture in your organization is deploying a data catalog software. Discovering the right one for your organization requires answering many different questions — all at once.
- Will this platform support all our primary use cases?
- Will it still work if our data stack changes?
- Will our users feel comfortable using it?
- Should we build it or buy it?
- How do we justify the money we’re asking for?
We know thinking about all of that can be overwhelming. It helps to have a framework to objectively evaluate. Here’s how we could help:
The Ultimate Guide to Evaluating an Enterprise Data Catalog
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