Collibra is a comprehensive data intelligence and management platform that offers solutions for data governance, privacy, quality, search, and discovery.
In this article, we explore Collibra’s pricing plans, the platform's primary benefits and drawbacks, how its pricing compares with other top data catalog tools, and the key cost variables you need to know across data catalog providers.
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What is Collibra?
Collibra’s main solutions include data governance, data catalog, data privacy, and lineage tools that help organizations understand their data and stay compliant.
Their data governance capabilities are core to the platform. They include tools to define and enforce internal data policies and standards and automate compliance processes.
Collibra also features a data catalog that enables users to discover data assets. The platform’s metadata management capabilities allow users to annotate data assets with information like data source, structure, and relationships to build understanding and improve data usage. Collibra's platform is designed to be flexible and scalable.
Collibra's cost & pricing plans
Collibra offers a yearly licensing subscription to their Collibra Cloud Platform at the following rates: $170,000 for a 12-month plan, $340,000 for a 24-month plan, and $510,000 for a 36-month plan.
The platform is positioned as a premium solution for larger companies, making it cost-prohibitive for many small to mid-sized businesses. A few customers noted in Collibra’s G2 reviews that license costs for users with write/author access were high.
Most data catalog solutions do not share pricing on their websites, and prospective customers must book a demo to get fill pricing details.
Collibra pros & cons
Pros
Data governance
Automated workflows, processes, and policies for AI governance
Data reconciliation between systems ensures accurate reporting and analysis
Data helpdesk to manage and resolve data-related issues
Data catalog
Connect with various types of metadata for comprehensive context, enhancing data understanding and insight discovery
Automated classification and categorization save time and reduce manual efforts
Data lineage
End-to-end lineage mapping that offers complete visibility of data paths across sources, including detailed technical lineage (table, column, transformation level)
Interactive lineage diagrams display data flows clearly from origin to destination
Security
Advanced algorithms for sensitive data classification improve accuracy and operational efficiency
Cons
Implementation challenges
A steep learning curve requires extensive time and training for users to understand and deploy effectively
Users and deployment teams face difficulties during setup and implementation due to the system's complexity
User interface and experience
Complex UI/UX can lead to poor user experiences
Occasional sluggish or unresponsive interface can hinder productivity
The flexibility and scope of customization features can be confusing and overwhelming for new users
AI and analytics limitations
Lacks AI-assisted search and advanced analytics capabilities
Inadequate for users needing intuitive data visualization and reporting functionality
Non-technical users may find the metadata structure difficult to comprehend
Data quality, security, and support issues
Less mature data quality functions like observability, security administration, and connectivity
Customer support might be lacking when creating custom connections
Viewed as less secure compared to other market solutions, with some users citing security vulnerabilities with data transfers between systems
How does Collibra pricing compare? Popular alternatives explained
Unhappy with Collibra's pricing? Discover some top alternatives, along with insights into their pricing models and product features.
1. data.world
data.world offers comprehensive data cataloging features enhanced with AI and knowledge graph capabilities, enabling users to find data and context up to 10 times faster. This platform is user-friendly, benefiting all users regardless of their technical skills, eliminating the need for external support.
data.world provides four pricing plans. Here’s an overview of each plan:
Essentials
Basic integrations for essential data sources
A dedicated private instance for your organization
Always the latest version, with no need for installations or upgrades
Inventory, glossary, and metadata management features
Supports up to 20 datasets and projects, unlimited live tables, and query minutes while in Preview
Secured access management through SAML
Comprehensive reporting tools for data usage and governance
Standard
Broader integration support
Enhanced support with Service Level Agreements
Comprehensive logging of data auditing
Data lineage tracking and data relationships visualization
Core features for data governance
Enterprise
On-premise secure metadata collection options
High availability and secure data connectivity
Secured connection via AWS PrivateLink
Option to host data in either the US or the EU region
Enterprise+
Custom solutions that can include advanced offerings
Single-tenant installation with AWS account-level isolation
Better security with customer-managed keys
All plans include Archie Bots, BB Bots, and Hoots, which make data discovery and cataloging quicker and more reliable.
To learn the price of your chosen plan, contact our team.
2. Informatica
Informatica's Enterprise Data Catalog leverages AI and machine learning to automate metadata management and enhance contextual data enrichment in large, complex data environments.
Some of Informatica's key features include:
Contextual Data: Provides data lineage, profiling, and quality analysis across your entire data ecosystem
Automated Data Cataloging: Uses AI scanners that can automatically index your metadata across the cloud
Data Collaboration: Eliminates data silos and enables company-wide data sharing
Intelligent Data Curation: Uses AI to run data similarity analyses, business term associations, and automated annotations to reduce the risk of human error and increase data visibility
Informatica products use IPU-based (Informatica Processing Unit) pricing, but the specific compute and storage capacity of an IPU is not clearly defined. According to the AWS Marketplace, 120 IPUs for Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud cost $129,600 annually. Running Informatica for up to 50 metadata resources is priced at $100,000 per year, while a subscription for 100 users starts at $150,000 annually.
Licensing fees for 1,800 metadata resources are quoted at $531,149.99 by CDW. These prices exclude cloud computing or infrastructure costs. Informatica doesn't provide pricing on its website, but estimates range from hundreds of thousands to over half a million dollars.
3. Talend
Talend’s data catalog offers a centralized control point for your entire data ecosystem and governance systems, enhancing security and collaboration within your organization. It can extract metadata from various sources, automatically profile, organize, and enrich it. Additionally, the catalog integrates with Talend's broader product suite, including tools for data quality, integration, and analytics.
Some of Talend's key features include:
Automated data discovery: Uses machine learning to automatically create and enrich smart relationships with your metadata
Multi-cloud support: Provides seamless storage and integration across cloud data warehouses such as Snowflake, Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, etc.
Collaboration: Enables crowd-sourcing of metadata, business glossary information, and data certifications
Automated data prep: Securely integrates data sources while extracting relevant metadata
Talend prices per user, per year, making it cost-effective for smaller companies with fewer users. They offer four different solutions depending on the capabilities and personas using the tool:
Stitch: No-code ingestion for busy analysts
Data management platform: A starting point for data professionals and data teams
Big data platform: Advanced analytics for cross-team initiatives
Data fabric: The most complete data integration and sharing solution across the enterprise
Data catalog pricing: What you need to know
When considering data catalog providers, know that pricing encompasses more than just licensing fees. Some costs are fixed, but many elements tied to your specific needs factor into data catalog costs, like:
1. Base platform cost
Most data catalog providers charge a base subscription fee for access to the platform and its core functionality. This often includes access to a set number of initial user licenses, a specific number of data connectors, and tables indexed.
2. User licensing fees
Pricing can vary significantly based on the type/role and number of users. Different roles, such as admins with full system control, viewers (who have read-only access), authors (with read/write/edit permissions), and stewards who manage metadata, are usually priced differently.
While additional users with view-only permissions may be inexpensive, adding authors can be quite costly. In some cases, providers may offer bulk discounts for user licenses, or for long-term contract agreements, which can bring costs down significantly for organizations with many users.
3. Feature and enhancement costs
Standard vs. advanced features: While a standard set of features is included in the base price, more specialized functions like advanced analytics, AI capabilities, or custom integrations may cost extra.
Add-ons: Additional features not included in the base package, such as enhanced security features or advanced data governance tools, might also be available at an extra cost.
4. Integration and customization
Costs can increase with the number and complexity of integrations with external data sources. Simple one-way integrations are generally less expensive than two-way “sync” integrations. Customizing your data catalog to specific organizational needs can also add to the cost, depending on the extent of customization required.
5. Volume and scale
The volume of your organization’s data and the associated storage and processing capabilities needed can also factor into your catalog costs. Beyond data volume, the number of data sources and transaction frequency are often cost variables.
6. Support and services
Implementation: Some vendors charge for the initial catalog setup and configuration, with costs that can vary widely among providers. More complex setups typically require more extensive support from the provider (and higher costs) or implementation partners, while other platforms are more DIY-friendly.
Ongoing support: After deployment, ongoing support costs cover issues that arise with the platform. These costs may be tiered based on your plan, with higher levels of support offering quicker and more comprehensive service.
7. Additional operational costs
Hosting: If the data catalog is not hosted by the provider (SaaS model), additional hosting costs for a cloud-based provider like AWS must be factored in, including expenses for storage, computing, and data transfers.
Internal Support and Training: In addition to the catalog provider costs, internal costs like training new users, adoption, and maintaining the system also contribute to the total cost.
Identify your best solution with data.world
Collibra is a powerful data management platform that allows you to govern your metadata, discover data, collaborate, automate workflows, and ensure data privacy.
However, Collibra’s platform can be difficult and time-consuming to implement, and is cost-prohibitive for most smaller and mid-sized organizations, with a pricing model best suited for large enterprises.
The right data catalog tool will fit your budget, support your use cases and specific data management needs, and empower your users, regardless of technical skill, to find and use data.
That’s why more and more companies are turning to data.world’s data catalog platform for data management and governance.
data.world is built on a unique knowledge graph architecture, which connects your data as a collection of real-world concepts and relationships in the form of a graph. These semantic relationships between data points bridge the “data-meaning gap,” connecting business terminology and context with your data. This architecture builds a shared understanding of (and trust in) your enterprise data, improving data searchability, clarity, and accuracy.
With 2+ million users and counting, data.world is the most-used data catalog on the market today.
We serve as your dedicated data management partner, supporting you from intake and implementation to scaling. And with our knowledge graph architecture, you can find all of the data and context you are looking for 10x faster than traditional data catalogs.
Here are some additional resources to help you understand what data catalog options best fit your needs and budget:
Read Collibra vs. data.world, for a deeper look at key differences between each platform.
Check out our comparison page to see how data.world and Collibra stack up with other top data catalog tools.
Watch our webinar on the central role data catalogs play in building a strong data architecture and driving data transformation at your organization.
To learn more about why data teams prefer data.world, get a demo today
