Top 10 Metaphor Alternatives and Substitutes

If you’re looking for a data catalog for your business, you’re in the right place. Metaphor is a modern data catalog that helps you discover and understand your data. But with so many options out there, it can be hard to choose the best tool for your business needs.

Don’t worry, we are here to help. In this guide, we are reviewing the top 10 Metaphor alternatives in key categories such as ease of setup, integrations, and pricing. We made sure that the process is as unbiased as possible and that all reviews are based solely on the available facts.

Let’s start with an overview of Metaphor first before we dive into its alternatives.

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Metaphor Overview 

Metaphor was established in 2020 by the team that created DataHub at LinkedIn. Its Metadata Platform was released in 2022, which makes it a new entry to the data catalog market. However, it has gained ground as a ‘social platform for data’ that stands out with its social and collaboration features.

It primarily appeals to companies to help data teams find and understand their data. Still, it’s useful for all business users with its ease of use and its built-in integrations with Slack and Teams.

Among its key features, you will find automated column-level lineage, a business-friendly wiki to assist with documentation and social hashtags that help users discover projects and conversations.

It offers a wide number of integrations, from data warehouses and BI tools to data quality and communication. Metaphor doesn’t have live reviews yet on sites like G2.com, since it’s still new to the market.   

If you are interested in Metaphor pricing, you will have to contact their team to get a custom quote as it’s not publicly listed on their website. 

So why would you be looking for a Metaphor substitute? You might be looking for a data catalog that is targeting a wider range of businesses. You may also need a data catalog that is established, well-reviewed, and very easy to use, such as CastorDoc, or you may still want to learn more about the available options in the data catalog market. 

Let’s jump into the top 10 Metaphor alternatives. 

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1. CastorDoc Overview

CastorDoc is a powerful data catalog that aims to enhance the data experience for businesses. It was established in 2020 by a team of data scientists, data engineers, and heads of data who understand the challenges a modern data team faces.

It’s a plug-and-play solution that stands out with its ease of use, and it is designed for mass adoption by everyone in the business. Data teams can use CastorDoc as the single source of reference to centralize a company’s metadata. Meanwhile, everyone on the team can benefit from its simple interface to find the data they need at any point.

With a rating of 4.8/5 on G2 and the recent award of Leader Spring 2023, its ratings are way above the industry average for Ease of Use (9.9/10), Quality of Support (9.8/10), and Ease of Setup (9.6/10) It also ranks higher than average for metadata management, business and data glossary, and automatic data cleansing. 

Key Features:

• Automated documentation
• Column-level, cross-system data lineage 
• Highly rated search tool
• Deep integrations with data warehouses, data transformation, and BI tools
• Easy to integrate with your company’s data stack in 30 minutes 

In terms of pricing, CastorDoc has three pricing plans -  Starter (starting at $10,000 per year), Premium (custom pricing), and Enterprise (custom pricing). 

A company can choose CastorDoc over Metaphor for being established in the market and used by companies of all sizes. It is also a reliable option if you want a data catalog both for your data team and all business users. The consistently high ratings by users on third-party review sites on key categories such as Ease of Use, Quality of Support, and Ease of Setup add more reasons why it stands out. You can find more details on CastorDoc vs Metaphor in our full comparison.

Do you want to try out CastorDoc? Get a free demo and explore how to take your data management to the next level. 

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2. Select Star Overview

Select Star was established in 2020 as a data catalog that helps you find, organize, and understand your data. Data teams can set up their automated data catalog in minutes, while it can serve as the go-to reference for all data questions. 

It appeals to a more technical audience compared to Metaphor but it still has a high rating for its ease of use.

Key Features:

• Column-level lineage
• Entity Relationship (ER) diagram
• Multilevel search 
• Metadata management 
• Automated data governance

When it comes to Select Star’s pricing, there is a free lite plan and three paid plans: Pro ($270/month), Growth ($810/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing).

Companies can choose Select Star over Metaphor if they want a more technical solution that is still highly rated in the Ease of Use (8.9/10 on G2) and Ease of Setup (8.6/10). Select Star also has a high rating on G2 in the Quality of Support and it also beats Metaphor in the wide number of pricing options.

You can visit Select Star’s website to find out more about the product and its integrations. 

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3. Atlan Overview

Atlan was developed in 2018 to help data teams discover, trust, and understand data. It’s a modern data catalog that was built by a data team and designed to be used by data teams.

It offers a wide range of integrations – from Snowflake and BigQuery to dbt and Looker.

Key Features:

• No-code metadata builder
• Column-level lineage
• Natural language search
• Customized automations
• Embedded collaboration

Atlan has an overall rating of 4.5/5 on G2 and it ranks higher than average in data lineage and search. Both Atlan and Metaphor appeal primarily to data teams, but you can choose Atlan over Metaphor for its high rankings in the Ease of Use (8.5/10), Quality of Support (9.5/10), and Ease of Setup (9.1/10).

Both Atlan and Metaphor don’t have a live pricing page on their website so you’ll have to contact them to find the best plan for your needs.

You can visit Atlan’s website to find out more about the product and its integrations.

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4. Secoda Overview

Secoda was established in 2021 to help data teams search, document, and manage all their data in one place. It’s a popular data catalog with an overall rating of 4.4/5 on G2 and high user ratings in Ease of Use (8.3/10) and Quality of Support (10/10).

Secoda appeals both to technical and non-technical users to make data accessible to everyone in the company. 

Key Features:

• Data catalog, lineage, and documentation features all in one workspace
• Automatically index the entire data stack
• Assign individual user access permissions
• Automate lineage and assess the impact of changes
• AI-powered data discovery

Secoda has three pricing plans available: a free plan, a Business plan ($800/month), and an Enterprise plan (custom pricing).

Both Secoda and Metaphor offer a wide number of integrations but Secoda offers more options in BI and data visualization tools.

Companies can choose Secoda over Metaphor if they are looking for a data catalog for everyone in the company that stands out with high user ratings in ease of use and quality of support. You can read more about Metaphor vs Secoda here.

Visit Secoda’s website to find out more about the product and its integrations.

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5. Stemma Overview

Stemma was launched in 2020 as a managed version of the Amundsen data catalog created by Lyft. It provides teams with robust tools to help them trust data in a self-serve culture. 

Stemma’s automated data stewardship and enhanced user workflows allow everyone in the company to access and trust data. Stemma integrates with data warehouses, BI tools, and transformation tools but also with collaboration tools and HR systems.

Key Features:

• Automated data stewardship
• Seamless integration into existing workflows
• Automated documentation
• Deep insights into data use
• Table and column-level lineage

Like Metaphor, Stemma doesn’t have a live pricing page but you can reach out to them to find the best plan for your business.

A company may choose Stemma over Metaphor if they are already familiar with Amundsen and want to upgrade to a managed version. 

Visit Stemma’s website to find out more about the product and its integrations.

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6. Informatica Overview

Informatica is an AI-powered enterprise data catalog that helps you find, understand, and prepare your data. It is integrated with Informatica Intelligent Cloud Service (IICS) to streamline and accelerate the data migration to Azure. 

Both business and IT users can benefit from its semantic searches and collaboration capabilities and it’s a great addition if you already have access to Informatica’s ecosystem.

Key Features:

• AI-powered data discovery
• End-to-end data lineage
• Data Asset Analytics to understand assets, enrichment, and collaboration
• Associate business terms to technical assets

Informatica has an overall rating of 4.3/5 on G2 and it stands out with the Quality of Support (8.3/10), its data lineage, and metadata management.

Businesses can choose Informatica over Metaphor if they are already using IICS, while it’s also a better fit for enterprise companies.

Visit Informatica’s website to learn more about the product and its integrations. 

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7. Amundsen Overview

Amundsen is an open-source data discovery and metadata engine created by Lyft in 2019. It helps analysts and data scientists get an immediate context of how everyone in the company uses data while it also helps data engineers share context automatically and reduce interruptions. 

Key Features:

• Open-source Apache license, version 2
• Automated metadata 
• Table/column descriptions and data stats
• Quick setup - runs on Docker, EC2, Kubernetes
• Collaboration features 

Companies can choose Amundsen over Metaphor if they are looking for an open-source data catalog targeting data teams that ideally have an organized data stack in place. Those who choose Amundsen would also need a large engineering team to build and maintain the platform, as it’s not a managed SaaS solution.

Visit Amundsen’s website to find out more about the product.

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8. Collibra Overview

Collibra’s data catalog was launched in 2018 to help all users discover, understand, and classify the data that matters.

It’s a one-stop-shop that delivers end-to-end visibility and it appeals both to technical and business users. Data stewards will benefit even more from Collibra, with its centralized policy management, asset certification, and out-of-the-box workflows that facilitate collaboration around data governance.  

Key Features:

• Native business and technical lineage
• Automated data governance
• ML-powered classification and automated workflows
• Data marketplace

Pricing is not available on Collibra’s website but you can request a quote. 

Collibra has an overall rating of 4.3/5 on G2 and it stands out with the high user ratings for Ease of Use (8/10), and Quality of Support (8.2/10). 

Companies may choose Collibra instead of Metaphor if they are looking for a tool that is primarily focused on enterprise-level data governance and don’t mind a longer implementation time.

Visit Collibra’s website to learn more about the product and its integrations. 

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9. Alation Overview

Alation launched its data catalog in 2015 to help enterprise companies find, understand, and govern their data. It’s a data intelligence solution that aims to increase productivity and confidence both for data analysts and business users when making data-driven decisions. 

Alation provides deep integrations with a wide range of tools – from data visualization and data governance to data quality and messaging.

Key Features:

• Automated data discovery
• Natural language search
• Data lineage and impact analysis
• Seamless collaboration and knowledge-sharing 
• Data governance workflows, data quality metrics, data dictionaries

There is no live pricing page but you can get a demo through their website.

Companies may choose Alation over Metaphor if they are looking for an enterprise data catalog with a wide range of integrations. Alation’s users also rated highly on G2  its Ease of Use (8.3/10) and Quality of Support (8.3/10) along with its search, business, and data glossary, and commenting features.

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10. Google Cloud Data Catalog Overview

Google Cloud Data Catalog enables organizations to centrally discover, monitor, and govern their data. Google’s Data Catalog was merged with Dataplex in 2022 to create a unified solution that simplified data discovery, management, and governance.

With an overall rating of 4.4/5 on G2, Google Cloud Data Catalog has high user ratings in natural language query, machine learning recommendations, and metadata management. 

Key Features:

• Unified search and data discovery
• Built-in data quality and lineage
• Centralized security and governance
• Serverless data exploration 

The pricing is based on a pay-as-you-go model and you can learn more on the pricing page. 

Companies can choose Google Cloud Data Catalog over Metaphor if they want to integrate their data catalog with Google Cloud sources. It’s also highly rated by G2 users for Ease of Use (8.7/10) and Quality of Support (9.2/10).

Visit Google Cloud Data Catalog’s website to learn more about the product.

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The Best Data Catalog For Your Business

We looked at Metaphor and its top 10 alternatives to help you find the best data catalog for your business. Now it’s up to you to decide what works best for your business needs.

Every product shines in different categories but CastorDoc is a proven market leader that stands out with mass business adoption and the high user ratings in ease of use and ease of setup. With an overall rating of 4.8/5 on G2, it ranks higher than the alternative options across all key categories.

‍Get a 14-day free trial today and enhance your data experience with CastorDoc.