Alation Data Lineage vs OpenMetadata

Alation Data Lineage9.2Visit OpenMetadata8.8Visit

Higher score Alation Data Lineage #1 in Data Lineage Tools 9.2/10 Pricing on request ✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Alation

vs

OpenMetadata #5 in Data Lineage Tools 8.8/10 Open source ✓ 5 of 5 features Visit OpenMetadata

• Alation Data Lineage fits best

  Governed lineage with BI traceability

• OpenMetadata fits best

  Open-source full catalog and lineage

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Side by side

Feature	Alation Data Lineage 9.2/10 Visit ↗	OpenMetadata 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.2	8.8
Ranking	#1 in Data Lineage Tools	#5 in Data Lineage Tools
Best for	Governed lineage with BI traceability	Open-source full catalog and lineage
Pricing model	Paid	Free
Starting price	Pricing on request	Open source
Free plan	—	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Docs	Community, Docs
Compliance	SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA	SSO/SAML
Integrations	120+ integrations	130+ integrations
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Alation Data Lineage 5/5 · OpenMetadata 5/5
Automated discovery	✓	✓
Column-level lineage	✓	✓
Impact analysis	✓	✓
Pipeline lineage	✓	✓
Report lineage	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment	Hybrid	Hybrid
Our review
Pros	Automates lineage discovery from metadata, query logs, and Compose queries Traces table, column, pipeline, transformation, and BI report relationships Adds governance context with policy, trust, and data-quality overlays	Automated table, pipeline, column, dashboard, and report lineage Impact analysis, data quality, and observability in one platform REST APIs, SDKs, events, webhooks, and hybrid deployment
Cons	Pricing requires contacting sales and estimating ACU consumption No free plan is available Column transformations depend on supported connectors and BI SQL sources	Self-managed deployment puts infrastructure responsibility on the adopting team Its broad scope may exceed the needs of lineage-only teams Managed enterprise capabilities are offered separately through Collate
Our verdict	Alation Data Lineage maps data flows, transformations, dependencies, and relationships across an organization’s data ecosystem. It is aimed at data teams, analysts, governance teams, and enterprise stakeholders that need to trace data… Read the review →	OpenMetadata is an open-source metadata platform for data teams and organizations managing complex data ecosystems. It combines metadata discovery and cataloging with governance, data quality, observability, semantic context, lineage,… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Alation Data Lineage — where it wins

  • Automates lineage discovery from metadata, query logs, and Compose queries
  • Traces table, column, pipeline, transformation, and BI report relationships
  • Adds governance context with policy, trust, and data-quality overlays

  Where it doesn't

  • Pricing requires contacting sales and estimating ACU consumption
  • No free plan is available
  • Column transformations depend on supported connectors and BI SQL sources

• OpenMetadata — where it wins

  • Automated table, pipeline, column, dashboard, and report lineage
  • Impact analysis, data quality, and observability in one platform
  • REST APIs, SDKs, events, webhooks, and hybrid deployment

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-managed deployment puts infrastructure responsibility on the adopting team
  • Its broad scope may exceed the needs of lineage-only teams
  • Managed enterprise capabilities are offered separately through Collate

• Alation Data Lineage9.2/10 · Pricing on request

  A broad lineage system for tracing data from source systems through BI outputs.

  Visit AlationFull verdict →
• OpenMetadata8.8/10 · Open source

  A broad open-source catalog with automated lineage and impact analysis.

  Visit OpenMetadataFull verdict →