# AWS Glue vs Alation Comparison

| | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Star Rating** | 4.3 out of 5 | 4.4 out of 5 | 
| **Total Reviews** | 202 | 91 | 
| **Largest Market Segment** | Enterprise (47.9% of reviews) | Enterprise (61.4% of reviews) | 
| **Entry Level Price** | No pricing available | No pricing available | 

---
## Top Pros & Cons

### AWS Glue

Pros:
- Ease of Use (6 reviews)
- Data Integration (3 reviews)

Cons:
- Slow Performance (3 reviews)
- Debugging Difficulty (2 reviews)

### Alation

Pros:
- Ease of Use (16 reviews)
- Data Discovery (10 reviews)

Cons:
- Slow Performance (8 reviews)
- Missing Features (6 reviews)

---
## Ratings Comparison
| Rating | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
  | **Meets Requirements** | 8.5 (158 reviews) | 8.3 (67 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Use** | 8.4 (161 reviews) | 8.3 (71 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Setup** | 8.6 (76 reviews) | 8.1 (49 reviews) | 
  | **Ease of Admin** | 8.3 (68 reviews) | 8.5 (41 reviews) | 
  | **Quality of Support** | 8.3 (156 reviews) | 8.5 (60 reviews) | 
  | **Has the product been a good partner in doing business?** | 8.8 (68 reviews) | 8.8 (44 reviews) | 
  | **Product Direction (% positive)** | 9.0 (157 reviews) | 9.0 (71 reviews) | 

---
## Pricing

### AWS Glue

#### Entry-Level Pricing

No pricing available

#### Free Trial

Yes

### Alation

#### Entry-Level Pricing

No pricing available

#### Free Trial

Yes

---
## Features Comparison By Category

### Machine Learning Data Catalog

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | 8.7/10 | 20 |
| **Alation** | 7.4/10 | 29 |

#### Data Governance

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **User Access Management** | 8.6 (17 reviews) | 7.8 (25 reviews) | 
| **Dynamic Data Masking** | 8.8 (14 reviews) | 7.6 (25 reviews) | 
| **Data Lineage** | 8.7 (14 reviews) | 7.2 (24 reviews) | 

#### Data Preparation

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Search** | 8.2 (17 reviews) | 8.1 (27 reviews) | 
| **Data Quality and Cleansing** | 8.9 (15 reviews) | 7.8 (26 reviews) | 
| **Data Transformation** | 8.9 (16 reviews) | 7.4 (24 reviews) | 
| **Data Modeling** | 8.8 (18 reviews) | 6.9 (24 reviews) | 

#### Collaboration

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Commenting** | 8.2 (16 reviews) | 8.3 (24 reviews) | 
| **Profiling and Classification** | 9.0 (16 reviews) | 7.9 (24 reviews) | 
| **Business and Data Glossary** | 8.9 (16 reviews) | 8.7 (26 reviews) | 
| **Metadata Management ** | 8.6 (18 reviews) | 7.9 (22 reviews) | 

#### Artificial Intelligence

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Machine Learning Recommendations** | Feature Not Available | 7.4 (24 reviews) | 
| **Natural Language Query** | Feature Not Available | 7.4 (23 reviews) | 
| **Automatic Data Cleansing** | Feature Not Available | 6.5 (21 reviews) | 

#### Generative AI

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **AI Text Generation** | Not enough data | 7.5 (14 reviews) | 
| **AI Text Summarization** | Not enough data | 7.5 (14 reviews) | 

#### Agentic AI - Machine Learning Data Catalog

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Autonomous Task Execution** | Not enough data | 6.7 (12 reviews) | 
| **Multi-step Planning** | Not enough data | 6.8 (12 reviews) | 
| **Cross-system Integration** | Not enough data | 6.8 (11 reviews) | 
| **Adaptive Learning** | Not enough data | 7.1 (11 reviews) | 
| **Decision Making** | Not enough data | 7.4 (11 reviews) | 

### Data Preparation

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | 8.4/10 | 70 |
| **Alation** | N/A | N/A |

#### Data Source Access

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Breadth of Data Sources** | 8.5 (60 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Ease of Data Connectivity** | 8.4 (61 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **API Connectivity** | 8.5 (57 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Data Interaction

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Profiling and Classification** | 8.4 (58 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Metadata Management** | 8.5 (62 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Modeling** | 8.3 (61 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Joining** | 8.8 (61 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Blending** | 8.6 (54 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Quality and Cleansing** | 8.9 (59 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Sharing** | 8.6 (57 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Governance** | 8.3 (58 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Data Exporting

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Breadth of Integrations** | 8.6 (58 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Ease of Integrations** | 8.2 (58 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Workflows** | 8.4 (61 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Generative AI

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **AI Text Generation** | 6.9 (8 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Data Virtualization

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | 9.0/10 | 28 |
| **Alation** | N/A | N/A |

#### Administration

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Database Management** | 9.1 (23 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Access Control** | 9.0 (23 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Security** | 9.1 (25 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Federation

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Architecture** | 9.1 (24 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Provisioning** | 9.2 (23 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Orchestration** | 8.9 (22 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **API / Integrations** | 8.9 (22 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Transformation

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Data Visualization** | 8.7 (24 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Application Performance** | 9.1 (23 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Data Modeling** | 8.6 (24 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Data Governance

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | N/A | N/A |
| **Alation** | 6.9/10 | 44 |

#### Administration

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Data Modelling** | Not enough data | 6.9 (38 reviews) | 
| **Recommendations** | Not enough data | 7.2 (41 reviews) | 
| **Workflow Management** | Not enough data | 6.9 (39 reviews) | 
| **Dashboards and Visualizations** | Not enough data | 7.1 (39 reviews) | 

#### Management

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Business Glossary** | Not enough data | 8.2 (39 reviews) | 
| **Data Discovery** | Not enough data | 8.4 (40 reviews) | 
| **Data Profililng** | Not enough data | 6.8 (38 reviews) | 
| **Reporting and Visualization** | Not enough data | 6.9 (39 reviews) | 
| **Data Lineage** | Not enough data | 7.3 (38 reviews) | 

#### Compliance

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Sensitive Data Compliance** | Not enough data | 7.5 (38 reviews) | 
| **Training and Guidelines** | Not enough data | 7.6 (39 reviews) | 
| **Policy Enforcement** | Not enough data | 7.5 (36 reviews) | 
| **Compliance Monitoring** | Not enough data | 7.2 (39 reviews) | 

#### Security

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Access Control** | Not enough data | 7.5 (36 reviews) | 
| **Roles Management** | Not enough data | 7.6 (36 reviews) | 
| **Compliance Management** | Not enough data | 7.6 (37 reviews) | 

#### Data Quality

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Data Preparation** | Not enough data | 6.8 (36 reviews) | 
| **Data Distribution** | Not enough data | Feature Not Available | 
| **Data Unification** | Not enough data | 7.3 (37 reviews) | 

#### Maintainence

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Data Quality Management** | Not enough data | 7.2 (35 reviews) | 
| **Policy Management** | Not enough data | 7.2 (34 reviews) | 

#### Generative AI

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **AI Text Generation** | Not enough data | 6.4 (29 reviews) | 
| **AI Text Summarization** | Not enough data | 6.5 (29 reviews) | 

#### Agentic AI - Data Governance

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Autonomous Task Execution** | Not enough data | 5.5 (7 reviews) | 
| **Multi-step Planning** | Not enough data | 6.0 (7 reviews) | 
| **Cross-system Integration** | Not enough data | 6.2 (7 reviews) | 
| **Adaptive Learning** | Not enough data | 5.8 (6 reviews) | 
| **Natural Language Interaction** | Not enough data | 5.2 (7 reviews) | 
| **Decision Making** | Not enough data | 5.2 (7 reviews) | 

### ETL Tools

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | 8.9/10 | 82 |
| **Alation** | N/A | N/A |

#### Management

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Reporting** | 8.7 (61 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Auditing** | 8.7 (56 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Functionality

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Extraction** | 9.0 (67 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Transformation** | 8.9 (73 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Loading** | 9.2 (70 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Automation** | 8.8 (69 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Scalability** | 8.9 (70 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Data Replication

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | 9.1/10 | 22 |
| **Alation** | N/A | N/A |

#### Management

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Real-Time Analytics** | 9.1 (18 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Solution Integration** | 9.0 (19 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Infrastructure Compatibility** | 9.1 (18 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Monitoring** | 9.1 (17 reviews) | Not enough data | 

#### Solution Provision

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **System Failover** | 9.0 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Pay by Usage** | 8.8 (15 reviews) | Not enough data | 
| **Service Provision** | 8.9 (16 reviews) | Not enough data | 

### Active Metadata Management

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | N/A | N/A |
| **Alation** | 7.7/10 | 25 |

#### Data management

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Metadata Management** | Not enough data | 8.3 (24 reviews) | 
| **Automation Features** | Not enough data | 7.4 (24 reviews) | 
| **Collaboration** | Not enough data | 8.3 (24 reviews) | 
| **Data Lineage** | Not enough data | 8.0 (22 reviews) | 
| **Data Discovery** | Not enough data | 8.3 (24 reviews) | 

#### Reporting

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Intelligent Insights** | Not enough data | 7.5 (23 reviews) | 
| **Actionable Insights** | Not enough data | Feature Not Available | 
| **Dashboards** | Not enough data | 7.4 (20 reviews) | 

#### Generative AI

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **AI Text Generation** | Not enough data | 7.0 (19 reviews) | 
| **AI Text Summarization** | Not enough data | 7.1 (19 reviews) | 

### AWS Marketplace

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | N/A | N/A |
| **Alation** | N/A | N/A |

#### Agentic AI - AWS Marketplace

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Autonomous Task Execution** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Multi-step Planning** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Cross-system Integration** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

### Backup

| Product | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| **AWS Glue** | N/A | N/A |
| **Alation** | N/A | N/A |

#### Management

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Disaster Recovery** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Remote Backup** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Storage Formats** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Scheduled Backups** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **On-Demand Restoration** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Reporting

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Activity Monitoring** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Documentation** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Alerts/Notifications** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

#### Security

| Feature | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Data Encryption** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Security and Compliance** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 
| **Deduplication ** | Not enough data | Not enough data | 

---
## Categories
**Shared Categories (1):** [Machine Learning Data Catalog Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/machine-learning-data-catalog)

**Unique to AWS Glue (6):** [AWS Marketplace Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/aws-marketplace), [Data Replication Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/data-replication), [Data Virtualization Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/data-virtualization), [Data Preparation Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/data-preparation), [Big Data Integration Platforms](https://www.g2.com/categories/big-data-integration-platforms), [ETL Tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/etl-tools)

**Unique to Alation (2):** [Active Metadata Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/active-metadata-management), [Data Governance Tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/data-governance-tools)


---
## Reviewer Demographics

### By Company Size

| Segment | AWS Glue | Alation | 
|---|---|---|
| **Small-Business** | 22.7% | 8.4% | 
| **Mid-Market** | 29.4% | 30.1% | 
| **Enterprise** | 47.9% | 61.4% | 

### By Industry

#### AWS Glue

- **Information Technology and Services:** 18.1%
- **Computer Software:** 15.0%
- **Financial Services:** 6.7%
- **Hospital & Health Care:** 5.7%
- **Computer & Network Security:** 4.1%
- **Telecommunications:** 3.6%
- **Insurance:** 3.6%
- **Banking:** 3.1%
- **Airlines/Aviation:** 2.6%
- **Marketing and Advertising:** 2.6%
- **Other:** 34.7%

#### Alation

- **Information Technology and Services:** 13.3%
- **Financial Services:** 8.4%
- **Computer Software:** 6.0%
- **Airlines/Aviation:** 4.8%
- **Hospital & Health Care:** 4.8%
- **Insurance:** 4.8%
- **Retail:** 4.8%
- **Manufacturing:** 4.8%
- **Health, Wellness and Fitness:** 3.6%
- **Non-Profit Organization Management:** 3.6%
- **Other:** 41.0%

---
## Alternatives

### Alternatives to AWS Glue

- [Alteryx](https://www.g2.com/products/alteryx/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (817 reviews)
- [Fivetran](https://www.g2.com/products/fivetran/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (796 reviews)
- [Hevo Data](https://www.g2.com/products/hevo-data/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (283 reviews)
- [Workato](https://www.g2.com/products/workato/reviews) — 4.7/5 stars (773 reviews)
- [Databricks](https://www.g2.com/products/databricks/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (804 reviews)
- [Snowflake](https://www.g2.com/products/snowflake/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (754 reviews)
- [SnapLogic Intelligent Integration Platform (IIP)](https://www.g2.com/products/snaplogic-intelligent-integration-platform-iip/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (398 reviews)
- [Integrate.io](https://www.g2.com/products/integrate-io/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (212 reviews)
- [Maia](https://www.g2.com/products/matillion-maia/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (124 reviews)
- [Azure Data Factory](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-data-factory/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (100 reviews)

### Alternatives to Alation

- [Atlan](https://www.g2.com/products/atlan/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (131 reviews)
- [Collibra](https://www.g2.com/products/collibra/reviews) — 4.2/5 stars (102 reviews)
- [Informatica Enterprise Data Catalog](https://www.g2.com/products/informatica-enterprise-data-catalog/reviews) — 4.3/5 stars (19 reviews)
- [Egnyte](https://www.g2.com/products/egnyte/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (1161 reviews)
- [Twilio Segment](https://www.g2.com/products/twilio-segment/reviews) — 4.5/5 stars (566 reviews)
- [Informatica Cloud Data Quality](https://www.g2.com/products/informatica-cloud-data-quality/reviews) — 4.1/5 stars (20 reviews)
- [data.world](https://www.g2.com/products/data-world/reviews) — 4.2/5 stars (12 reviews)
- [SAP Master Data Governance (MDG)](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-master-data-governance-mdg/reviews) — 4.4/5 stars (283 reviews)
- [IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-infosphere-information-governance-catalog/reviews) — 4.0/5 stars (19 reviews)
- [Databricks](https://www.g2.com/products/databricks/reviews) — 4.6/5 stars (804 reviews)

---
## Top Discussions

### AWS Glue

- Title: [What does AWS Glue do?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-does-aws-glue-do) — 2 comments
  > **Top comment:** "AWS Glue is a serverless data integration service that makes it easier to discover, prepare, move, and integrate data from multiple sources for analytics,..."
- Title: [What are the main components of AWS Glue?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-main-components-of-aws-glue) — 2 comments
  > **Top comment:** "Data Catalog
Crawlers and data discovery
DataBrew"
- Title: [What is AWS Glue and how it works?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-aws-glue-and-how-it-works) — 1 comment
  > **Top comment:** "I used glue to create a batch job which can trigger and schedule an event and run the process. "
- Title: [What are the features of glue?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-are-the-features-of-glue) — 1 comment
  > **Top comment:** "AWS Glue is a fully managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) service offered by Amazon Web Services.
Features of AWS glue are
1.Data Catalog: AWS Glue..."

### Alation

- Title: [Which three are capabilities of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure data catalog service?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/which-three-are-capabilities-of-oracle-cloud-infrastructure-data-catalog-service) — 1 comment
  > **Top comment:** "Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Data Catalog service offers several capabilities to help organizations manage and govern their data assets. Here are three key..."

---
**Source:** [G2.com](https://www.g2.com) | [Comparison Page](https://www.g2.com/compare/aws-glue-vs-alation)