Alation Reviews & Product Details

For my team, Alation is more than just a SaaS tool; it represents a partnership that extends our governance capabilities beyond the boundaries of our organization. We have been using Alation for several months, though we are still participating in the Right Start program. The interface offers flexibility, allowing us to tailor the experience for end users through data products and domain pages, as well as enhance catalog elements with rich text and image formatting. Alation fulfills its promise by efficiently scanning our data landscape, which helps keep our compute overhead costs low.

While the tool itself is top-tier, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the Alation team. From sales to onboarding and ongoing support, Alation invests in the relationship and genuinely listens to client concerns. Their team is a valued partner to our governance program. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

To be determined. The only complaint I can offer is the limited number of data products offered with non-enterprise licenses. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Alation is a strong and mature data catalog platform built around the idea of making data easier to discover, govern, and trust. Its biggest strengths are its user-friendly interface and its ability to bring business, technical, and governance users together in one place. Search works well, the catalog structure is intuitive, and built-in features like popularity ranking and behavioral analysis help users quickly find the right data. The right startnprogram that they offer was a great way to kick off the implementation of the product. We also have a wonderful Customer Engagement Manager. The admin team uses the site everyday to make updates that are scalable and the interface is extremely user friendly.

Where Alation really shines is in governance workflows. The stewardship framework, policy center, and data quality integrations provide organizations with a structured, repeatable way to manage data. For teams focused on compliance or consistency across domains, this can be a major advantage. Collaboration features—such as conversations, article creation, and steward assignments—help create a shared understanding of data assets. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

That said, Alation isn’t perfect. Some features feel rigid, especially when it comes to custom workflows or notifications. We often find the stewardship assignments, forms, and conversation-triggered emails to be more limited than expected. Integration with certain platforms (like Microsoft Fabric or customized semantic models) can require additional configuration. Performance and metadata freshness can vary depending on how ingestion jobs are set up and the size of the catalog. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We value how the platform allows us to connect detailed technical information about our data, such as data dictionaries and lineage, with non-technical documentation. Automations of essential data governance functions has proven crucial for us to effectively manage regulatory & data risk compliance requirements. Alation’s highly engaged approach, along with their account management and technical support, has truly set them apart. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The roll-out of (agentic) AI has started in Alation's product offering, but has not matured as much yet as we would like. Data profiling capabilities do exist but in our view are underdeveloped. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love how easy Alation is to navigate, making it straightforward to find the information I need swiftly and efficiently. Its built-in Composer and Analytics tools are invaluable, offering robust support for complex tasks. I truly appreciate how Alation links assets together, enhancing the cohesiveness of our documentation efforts. When documenting a project, Alation enables seamless connections between primary documents and other relevant documentation hubs, including data extraction or ingestion requests. As a result, referencing and navigating through different project documents becomes highly intuitive and organized. Additionally, having a one-stop view area for projects allows me to gain insight into a project's high-level details and access all related documents via convenient links. The simplicity with which I can navigate project documents enhances productivity and reduces time spent searching for interconnected assets. Switching from Collibra to Alation has been a positive shift as Alation's user interface is notably less complex and more user-friendly, eliminating excess clicks that were previously required. The ease of Alation's initial setup was remarkable once I understood the essential elements like templates and document hubs, streamlining our transition and integration process. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are two minor aspects of Alation that I find could be improved. Firstly, when an asset is hidden by an admin, it would be beneficial to have a visual indicator in the sidebar to easily identify that the asset is hidden. Secondly, a feature allowing users to log in as a different user to see that user's view of Alation would be extremely useful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Trust signals (certified, deprecated, warnings) that put governance right in the user’s flow.

Business glossary + policies tied to real objects, keeping definitions, owners, and rules in one place.

Lineage you can act on (table → column → BI asset) to see impact before you change a model or warehouse.

Stewardship workflows (owners, Q&A, flags) that make “who maintains this?” obvious. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Lineage gaps. Cross-system lineage (e.g., Snowflake → dbt → Tableau) can be incomplete, and column-level lineage isn’t perfect for all connectors.

Freshness lag. Harvesters run on schedules; usage/lineage can be hours or days behind fast-moving warehouses. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find Alation to be fantastic with its product innovation and am impressed by its ongoing development, including piloting a new AI product feature. The excellent customer service stands out, with the Alation team being very approachable and consistent in their client interactions. From the initial sale through to software renewal, they immerse themselves in understanding the client's perspective and strive to ensure their success. I'm grateful for the ease of setup, facilitated by Alation's professional services team through their Right Start program, making the implementation process smooth and hassle-free. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find the pricing of Alation relatively high, which is an area that needs to be reconsidered, especially given the current financial situation. When comparing Alation with other products in the market, the cost stands out as a notable concern, suggesting room for improvement in this aspect. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I find Alation to be incredibly valuable for exploring our data catalogue and executing queries. With its central location, it facilitates easy data exploration and enhances trust in our data through the provision of high-quality metadata. I particularly appreciate the simple, context-rich search feature that allows me to find and understand data quickly. This enables me to delve deeper into our datasets and execute queries efficiently. The deep integration with various services like AWS Glue, AWS S3, and Zeppelin is another aspect I greatly enjoy, as it allows for seamless connectivity with other tools we use. Alation has been our primary data catalogue for five years, a testament to its reliability and effectiveness in meeting our needs. Overall, these features make Alation indispensable in my daily work, and I highly recommend it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I feel that Alation could benefit from enhanced AI features, such as a better understanding of data and the ability to prefill missing metadata. Additionally, during the initial setup, I encountered the need for reworking, particularly in renaming and ensuring that autogenerated titles were correct and contextually appropriate. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love that Alation is evolving from a mere catalog to a highly efficient data marketplace, which greatly enhances our data management capabilities. The easy search and guided navigation are standout features for me, particularly the enhanced left-handed navigation which has significantly improved our ability to find necessary data. I find Alation's lineage feature to be incredibly useful, and their analytics is extremely user-friendly, catering well to our analytical needs. This functionality, combined with the seamless integration with tools like Snowflake and Databricks, maximizes our data architecture's effectiveness. I truly appreciate how straightforward the initial setup of Alation was, which eased our transition from Informatica EDC and has established a strong foundation for our metadata management and enterprise initiatives. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I dislike the inconsistency in Alation's approach to Lineage Analytics. It has been added and removed from their roadmap for years, which makes it difficult to rely on this feature for long-term planning. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like most about Alation is that it reduces the amount of time I spend searching for data. Before using it, I often had to rely on multiple people or old documentation to figure out where something lived. Now I can usually find the table, definition or owner through a quick search. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The main issue I run into with Alation is that some parts of the interface can feel slow especially when navigating between sections or loading larger assets. It’s not unusable but there are moments where it takes longer than I’d expect for a tool that’s meant to speed up data work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I appreciate how easy Alation is to use and access, which simplifies my tasks when working with metadata. Its capability to help identify the correct data structures, tables, and views is invaluable to me. I find it particularly helpful in resolving issues I encounter during my day-to-day querying tasks, as it effectively removes blockers related to data points and tables, enabling me to move forward smoothly. Furthermore, the initial setup of Alation was straightforward, enhancing my overall user experience. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I think the data structures in Alation need to be organized in buckets for metadata to allow for easier identification, so simplification in this area is needed. Additionally, the user interface and user experience could be further simplified to provide quicker answers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.