Searching for Informatica Alternatives? 6 Reasons Why Top Data Teams Prefer Atlan

Updated March 19th, 2025

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A data catalog makes data easier to find, use, and manage no matter where it lives in your organization. By utilizing a data catalog, your organization can minimize dark data and improve data quality, while also establishing global security and compliance rules for all organizational data.

Why modern data teams need an alternative to Informatica #

For many data teams, the limitations of traditional tools like Informatica become apparent when scaling up data operations. Challenges such as rigid integrations, manual processes, and user-unfriendly interfaces lead to inefficiencies. Newer alternatives, such as Atlan, focus on streamlining workflows through automation, collaboration, and ease of use, making them a preferred choice for modern enterprises.

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Top Features to Look for in an Informatica Alternative #


  1. Collaboration Capabilities: Seamless collaboration tools embedded in the platform (e.g., Slack, Jira) to prevent disruptions in workflows.
  2. Automation of Metadata and Data Lineage: Automated lineage features that help data teams track data flow easily without manual efforts.
  3. Ease of Integration: A modern data catalog should support no-code integrations, enabling quick and easy onboarding of new tools.
  4. Scalability for Growing Teams: Tools that grow with the team, offering customizable solutions for both technical and non-technical users.

Here’s why data teams are choosing Atlan #

While Informatica has been a long-standing solution, modern data teams increasingly prefer tools that provide:

  • Intuitive User Interfaces: Suitable for both technical and non-technical users.
  • Automation Capabilities: Simplifies repetitive tasks and reduces manual effort.
  • Cross-Persona UI: Customizable to different user needs across the organization.
  • Embedded Collaboration Tools: Direct integration with tools like Slack and Jira.
  • Faster Time-to-Value: Allows organizations to achieve results in weeks, not months.

In fact, 83% of data teams prefer Atlan as an alternative to traditional solutions like Informatica. The following six reasons are why Atlan stands out (and will be discussed further in this article):

  1. A partner approach
  2. One-stop design
  3. Best-in-class lineage experience
  4. Automation capabilities
  5. Integration with collaboration tools
  6. Customizability

Table of contents #

  1. Why Modern data teams need an Informatica alternative
  2. A partner approach
  3. One-stop design
  4. Usable and actionable data lineage
  5. Automated metadata and lineage
  6. Embedded collaboration
  7. Customizability
  8. Why is Atlan the best Informatica alternative?
  9. FAQs about Informatica alternatives
  10. Related Reads

A partner approach #

A data catalog is a critical part of your data infrastructure that requires connecting with dozens — even hundreds — of data sources and tools in your existing data stack. Doing this effectively requires that customers and vendors work together in a partner approach.

At Atlan, we create custom strategies and implementation plans for all our customers. We help them identify their specific use cases and map out their data estates. Atlan users report achieving widespread adoption of their first use case within their first 90 days of ownership, instead of Informatica’s typical six months to one year timeframe.

In contrast, systems like Informatica Data Catalog can be difficult to install and configure. Originally designed for traditional data environments, Informatica’s architecture often requires cumbersome, manual effort to connect with modern platforms and emerging data ecosystems.

We’ve heard from Informatica users that the more rigid and closed nature of the platform makes integration with popular tools — e.g., data quality frameworks like Great Expectations — difficult and frustrating. These customers are choosing Atlan because they need a data catalog that will help them flexibly adopt new technologies and rapidly respond to changing market trends.

One-stop design #

For years, many data catalog vendors have built their products primarily for technical users like data engineers, IT support engineers, etc.

That’s a costly mistake. For a data catalog to deliver real value, all users who need data access — from business users and IT professionals to data stewards, engineers, compliance officers, and analysts — must be able to find what they need quickly and easily.

Atlan is a single unified platform with an intuitive User Experience (UX) so that any user can find what they need. Features such as natural language query enable every user to identify and use data without learning specialized query languages.

Informatica Data Catalog (and similar alternatives) are mostly geared toward technical users. As a result, they often have a confusing and hard-to-use interface. Many of these systems also spread features across separate tools: A common complaint from technical administrators is that they have to use several different tools to manage their Informatica installations!

Informatica’s lack of integration forces users to navigate multiple tools and UIs to perform a single business task — and the lack of usability makes it harder for users to integrate a data catalog into their daily workflows, which in turn inhibits adoption.

Usable and actionable data lineage #

Data lineage shows the journey that your data takes through your data estate: where it comes from, who owns it, and how it changes as it moves. Column-level lineage gives an even more detailed view of this movement, not just at the table level but down to each individual field.

Column-level data lineage is critical for:

  • Building trust in data
  • Performing root-cause analysis on data issues
  • Performing impact analysis for planned data changes

Atlan provides first-class support for column-level lineage through a single pane of glass. Using Atlan, you can gather both data and its corresponding metadata easily using our out-of-the-box data connectors and data lineage miners. Support for impact analysis in GitHub and GitLab will alert your data engineers when a proposed change might break downstream data consumers, such as BI reports and data-driven apps.

Column-level lineage is a table stakes feature for data catalogs these days. Informatica Data Catalog, like Atlan, supports it. However, customers have told us that Informatica’s general lack of usability results in problems, like overwhelmingly dense presentation of information at the column level, that make it hard (especially for non-technical users) to trace the data flow at a granular column level.

Automated metadata and lineage #

Metadata — the data about your data — is critical for putting your data in context. Metadata describes the context of your data (who owns it, what it’s for, who has updated it, etc.), metadata helps you make data discoverable, accessible, trustworthy, and valuable.

With data growing exponentially year over year, no company can keep its metadata and data lineage updated with strictly manual features. Informatica’s more traditional approach can slow down the process of discovering and classifying large volumes of data assets compared to Atlan’s wide variety of tools for automated metadata management, including:

  • Automated and continuous ingestion of metadata via pre-provided connectors
  • AI-generated suggestions for enriching metadata and adding additional context
  • Rule-based enrichment and tagging of data use playbook automation
  • An open API architecture for custom metadata ingestion and enrichment

Embedded collaboration #

When a data catalog like Informatica forces users to switch between tools—such as moving from a data catalog to an issue reporting system or a messaging platform—it complicates collaboration. A modern data catalog, on the other hand, offers built-in collaboration features that allow users to address data-related issues directly within the business tools they use every day

Collaboration in Informatica Data Catalog is often a sore spot for customers. Some who’ve tried Informatica have even told us that it became a blocker in their data catalog adoption.

Atlan, by contrast, has long been a leader in embedded collaboration making it the best alternative to Informatica. You can easily start Slack discussions or log Jira tickets directly from the Atlan data catalog. Business users can use our Chrome extension to look up key metadata (e.g., ownership) for a table or field directly from their cloud BI tools.

Customizability #

With a data catalog, there’s no such thing as “one size fits all.” Each company needs the flexibility to tailor their data catalog implementations to their specific technical and business needs, which means their data catalog must offer personalization capabilities. This includes customizing its UI and workflows to its user base as well as the ability to integrate deeply into the organization’s existing technology stack.

Teams can customize Atlan through features like Personas and Purposes, which can adjust the data that users see based on their job roles. For example, technical users might see technical metadata (e.g., a link to a table’s corresponding dbt model) that enables them to debug data-related issues. Meanwhile, this data can be hidden from business users so they are free to focus solely on the information related to their data domain.

Once again, many Informatica Data Catalog customers find customizability to be yet another sore point. Some customers say that the platform’s closed nature and rigid architecture, coupled with its hard-to-use UX and lack of responsive customer support, make it challenging to fit Informatica to their workflows and data.

Why is Atlan the best Informatica alternative? #

Atlan has become the go-to alternative to Informatica due to its focus on collaboration, accessibility, automation, and customizability. These features make it stand out in the crowded data catalog space.

Forrester’s Endorsement #


The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Data Catalog for DataOps, Q3 2024 report awarded Atlan the highest score among all data catalog vendors, with perfect marks in 15 key criteria, including:

  • Governance, Risk, and Compliance
  • Data Lineage
  • Adoption
  • Deployment Time-to-Value

Forrester praised Atlan as “an unparalleled partner” for organizations that are focused on data democratization.

User Feedback: Atlan vs. Informatica #


On Gartner Peer Insights, Atlan continues to shine with ratings from enterprise customers in the Active Metadata Management sector. Atlan holds an impressive rating of 4.5/5, compared to Informatica’s 3.9/5.

Verified reviews from users in the Active Metadata Management sector

What users love about Atlan:

  • Seamless Integration: Integrates easily with existing data tools and platforms.
  • “Extremely Handy” Search: Intuitive search capabilities for faster data discovery.
  • Best-in-Class Data Lineage: Provides rich context for upstream and downstream dependencies, allowing for more informed decision-making.

In contrast, users of Informatica frequently cite performance issues, with one user summarizing their experience as: “Bugs, performance bad, AI.”

Case Study: Porto’s Switch to Atlan #


When Porto, a leading insurance and banking company in Brazil, faced limitations with Informatica, they looked for an alternative. According to Danriel Alves, Senior Data Governance Analyst at Porto:

“It was frustrating to implement features like lineage and a business glossary in Informatica. The technology was blocking us from reaching where we wanted to go.”

After switching to Atlan, Porto successfully deployed its autonomous data mesh network with federated data governance in just six weeks, from initial login to production rollout. This quick migration demonstrated Atlan’s capability to streamline complex data processes while minimizing disruption.

Ready to make the switch to the best Informatica Data Catalog alternative? Try Atlan.

Book your personalized Atlan demo ✨ today

FAQs about Informatica alternatives #

What are the best alternatives to Informatica data catalog? #


Some of the top alternatives include Atlan, Alation, and Collibra. Atlan is often preferred for its automation, ease of use, and embedded collaboration tools, which streamline workflows and enhance productivity.

Why are teams switching from Informatica to Atlan? #


Teams are switching due to Atlan’s intuitive user interface, seamless integration capabilities, advanced automation of metadata management, and collaborative features. Atlan also offers faster time-to-value compared to Informatica.

How does Atlan compare to Informatica in terms of usability? #


Atlan is designed to be user-friendly for both technical and non-technical users, featuring a clean, intuitive interface. Informatica, on the other hand, is more complex and often requires more technical expertise, making adoption slower.

Can Atlan handle large-scale data lineage like Informatica? #


Yes, Atlan provides robust support for column-level data lineage, allowing teams to easily track data as it moves across systems. It also integrates with modern development tools like GitHub and GitLab to ensure smooth workflow management.

What kind of support does Atlan provide compared to Informatica? #


Atlan takes a partner approach to onboarding and support, offering personalized strategies for implementation. Customers often report faster adoption with Atlan (within 90 days) compared to the longer timeframes associated with Informatica.

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