Top 10 CastorDoc Alternatives and Substitutes

Managing the modern data stack can be a daunting task. That's where data catalogs come in - and there are many to choose from! CastorDoc is one of the most popular data catalog solutions on the market. In today’s article, we'll take a look at Castor as well as the top 10 CastorDoc alternatives. Whether you're a small business owner or a large enterprise, a data catalog can help you organize your data and gain insights that can drive growth and success. 

When looking at CastorDoc substitutes, we considered factors like pricing, target audience, user reviews, features, and functionality in our analysis. We have kept our process as unbiased as possible and have focused solely on the facts available.

So let's dive in and discover the best data catalog options for your organization!

First, here’s a quick overview of CastorDoc.

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CastorDoc Overview

CastorDoc was established in 2020 and is headquartered in Paris and Brooklyn. It was designed by former data scientists, engineers, and heads of data with the goal of helping companies improve their data experience. CastorDoc offers a plug-and-play solution that simplifies data discovery, health, and community all in one place.

One of the most unique and sought-after features of CastorDoc is that it was designed to be used by business teams in addition to data analysts. Its user interface is intuitive and easy for anyone to understand, allowing companies to better analyze their data more effectively and efficiently.

CastorDoc can be integrated with a company’s data stack within 30 minutes. It provides deep integrations across data warehouses, data transformation, and data visualization tools. Per user reviews, some of the best features include column-level, cross-system data lineage, an automated documentation experience, automated infrastructure monitoring, and a surprisingly fast and intuitive search experience.

G2.com rates CastorDoc as 9.9/10 for Ease of Use, 9.8/10 for Quality of Support, 9.6/10 for Ease of Setup, and 4.8/5 overall. It is worth noting that these scores are all significantly higher than the industry average.

CastorDoc pricing is listed transparently, and includes three pricing plans - Starter (starting at $10,000), Premium (custom pricing), and Enterprise (custom pricing). They also offer a 14-day free trial.

For more information on CastorDoc, visit their website. 

Next, we’re going to walk you through 10 CastorDoc substitutes.

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1.  Alation Overview

Alation was released in 2015 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California. Its goal is to help organizations make sense of their data by providing a comprehensive view of their data assets, improving data discoverability, and promoting collaboration among data users.

Alation appeals mostly to data teams.

Key Features:

• Data lineage and impact analysis
• Automated data discovery with machine learning algorithms
• Data governance workflows, data quality metrics, data dictionaries
• Collaboration features

Alation offers integrations with a variety of data visualization, governance, and virtualization tools. Pricing is not listed online, but you can visit their website to learn more. 

While Alation offers a solid data catalog platform, companies may prefer CastorDoc due to Alation’s high cost, long implementation times, and overall challenges with adoption. They may also prefer CastorDoc as a 3rd generation data catalog, providing business value from Day 1. You can view more information on CastorDoc vs Alation here.

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2. Select Star Overview

Select Star entered the market in 2020 as a one-stop shop for companies to efficiently capture, locate, and manage their data. As a comprehensive data catalog, it strives to be the ultimate source of truth for businesses. Select Star is a good fit for data stewards, enabling them to streamline their workflow and enhance their productivity.

Key Features:

• Column-level lineage
• Find, tag, and add documentation to data
• Auto-populated documentation
• AICPA SOC 2 Security, Confidentiality, and Availability standards
• Entity Relationship (ER) diagram

Select Star offers integrations with Cloud Data Warehouses, BI/Data Visualization Tools, and ETL Tools. 

While Select Star has some great features, companies may prefer CastorDoc due to its sleek and streamlined UX, which allows business users to make data-driven decisions. G2 users rated CastorDoc higher than Select Star in all categories, including Ease of Use (9.9 vs 8.9), Ease of Setup (9.6 vs 8.6), and Quality of Support (9.8 vs 9.6). More information is available here about CastorDoc vs Select Star.

Select Star offers a free 14-day trial and four different tiers of plans - Light (free), Pro ($270/month), Growth ($810/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing).

You can learn more about Select Star here. 

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3. Atlan Overview

Atlan was built by data people for data people. Released in 2018, it addresses the major pain points that data teams face on a daily basis. While it does offer some tools for business users, its main focus is on data teams.

It features integrations with several warehouse, transformation, and business intelligence tools.

Key Features:

• Column-level lineage
• Data discovery with natural language search
• Customized automation
• Codeless metadata builder

On G2.com, Atlan is rated with an overall score of 4.5/5. It has higher-than-average scores in all categories, including Ease of Use, Ease of Setup, and Quality of Support. They offer 24/7 support, with several routes of escalation. Atlan pricing is not available online, but you can learn more here.

While Atlan is a solid choice for companies seeking a solution for their data teams, CastorDoc is the preferred choice if you are looking for business audiences to access and take advantage of the catalog. You can learn more about CastorDoc vs Atlan here.

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4. Secoda Overview

Secoda was created in 2021 and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It strives to provide organizations with a better way to organize and access their data, all from one place. It’s powered by AI algorithms, which automatically index and categorize data assets. 

Secoda is designed for both data people and non-technical users. It allows for collaboration amongst teams and promotes data democratization.

Key Features:

• Simplify the data request flow
• Automatically index the entire data stack
• Assign individual user access permissions
• Simplify the data request flow
• Automate lineage and assess the impact of changes

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

Companies may prefer CastorDoc to Secoda if they want auto-documentation, which Secoda does not offer.  Per user reviews, CastorDoc offers better Looker integration, more stability, and a smoother onboarding process. You can read more about CastorDoc vs Secoda here.

You can learn more about Secoda at their website, and view a full list of their integrations here.

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5. Metaphor Overview

Metaphor as a company was established in 2020, and its Metadata Platform was released in 2022. It is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and was built by the team that created DataHub at LinkedIn. Much like the other data catalogs, it offers a centralized location to house all company data. Unique to Metaphor is its goal of being the “Social Platform for Data”, with its use of social hashtags and wikis. 

Metaphor’s target audience is data teams, though it has features for non-technical people, such as product managers and business analysts.  

Key Features:

• Business-friendly wiki and social hashtags to capture tribal knowledge
• Slack and Teams integration
• Governance tools
• Automated column-level lineage

It is worth noting that Metaphor’s features and structure are dependent on Datahub - CastorDoc’s are not. It’s also still in the Seed Stage, with less funding than Castor. For these reasons, as well as Castor’s exceptionally high ratings on G2.com, companies may prefer CastorDoc over Metaphor. You can read more about CastorDoc vs Metaphor here.

Metaphor’s pricing is not listed online.  They offer a full suite of warehouse and business intelligence integrations, and you can learn more on their website.

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6. Informatica Overview

Informatica is a software company based out of Redwood City, California, dating back to 1993. They offer an AI-powered enterprise data catalog with detailed lineage and metadata management across millions of datasets. 

With its machine-learning discovery engine, you can efficiently scan and categorize data stored on-premise and in the cloud. This platform serves the needs of both business and IT users by providing semantic searches and collaboration features. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with Informatica Intelligent Cloud Service (IICS), facilitating the smooth and speedy migration of data to Azure.

Key Features:

• Integration with IICS
• Associate business terms to technical assets
• Tableau extension
• End-to-end data lineage
• AI-driven collaboration

Overall, Informatica is rated at 4.3/5 on G2.com. According to users, Informatica's data catalog is ideal for businesses that are already using Informatica's ecosystem. However, for the majority of companies who are not invested in Informatica products, the costs are high and the implementation time can be lengthy. In addition, it’s not built for viral adoption. For these reasons, CastorDoc is the better choice for companies looking for a modern solution that they can get value out of immediately. 

Pricing for Informatica’s Enterprise Data Catalog is not available but you can learn more on their website. 

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7. Stemma Overview

Stemma was released in 2020 as a managed version of Lyft’s Amundsen data catalog project. Stemma provides users with the necessary tools to ensure data reliability in a self-service environment. Like CastorDoc, Stemma appeals to business users looking for data-informed insights, as well as data teams.

Stemma integrates with a variety of Data Warehouses, Security, HR, and Business Intelligence tools. 

Key Features:

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

Stemma’s a good choice for companies already familiar with Amundsen that want to migrate to a managed version. However, CastorDoc has a better UX and is not dependent on Amundsen’s feature set in order to innovate and evolve.

Pricing for Stemma is not available online, but you can learn more at their website.  

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8. Collibra Overview

Collibra’s Data Catalog was founded in 2008 with the goal of being the Data Intelligence Company. Their data catalog allows companies to find and understand data across all sources and breaks down traditional silos.

Collibra appeals to data teams as well as business analysts, though it focuses mostly on data governance users. CastorDoc, on the other hand, offers data governance tools along with a full suite of data functionality suitable for the entire organization.

Key Features:

• Link business, privacy, and technical data
• Native business and technical lineage
• Column-level lineage
• Data Marketplace
• Embedded data governance and privacy
• ML-powered classification and automated workflows

A complete list of Collibra’s integrations can be found on their website. Collibra also offers the assistance of a Professional Services team for custom integrations. Their pricing is not available online, though user reviews reference high costs as well as long implementation times.

While Collibra is generally well-reviewed on G2.com, it’s worth noting that they come in slightly lower than the industry standard in most categories, including Ease of Use and Quality of Support. Collibra is a complex legacy product, making CastorDoc the superior choice for companies seeking a modern data catalog with innovative features and quick implementation. 

You can learn more about Collibra here.

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9.  Segment Overview

Twilio acquired Segment in late 2020, which offers a Customer Data Platform to help companies gain a comprehensive understanding of their customers. By dismantling data silos and creating a unified customer profile that all teams can access, Segment empowers businesses to obtain a complete view of their customer base. When coupled with Twilio's personalized communication capabilities, companies can not only gather and analyze data but also communicate with customers from a single source.

Key Features:

• Data collection from web and mobile apps
• Complete data toolkit for every team in your company
• Data pipeline functionality
• Consolidates all customer touchpoints

Segment offers three pricing plans - a free plan, a Team plan ($120/month), and a Business Plan (custom pricing). 

Segment may be the right choice for companies that are interested or already invested in Twilio’s comprehensive customer data solutions. However, for companies seeking a purpose-built data catalog, CastorDoc is the better choice.

You can read more about Segment on their website.

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10. Amundsen Overview

Lyft has created an open-source data catalog platform called Amundsen to assist businesses in locating, comprehending, and cooperating on their data resources. Data professionals such as Data Engineers, Data Analysts, and Data Scientists can leverage Amundsen, which interfaces with a variety of data warehouses and tools. A comprehensive list of its integrations is available for reference.

Key Features:

• Open-source
• Automated and curated metadata
• PageRank-inspired search algorithm
• Collaboration features
• Table/column descriptions and data stats

Amundsen may be appropriate for companies seeking an open-source data catalog that have the engineering resources to build and maintain it in-house. Companies without these vast resources may prefer CastorDoc’s SaaS platform, which is built and managed for them. 

You can read more about Amundsen here.

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The Best Data Catalog For Your Business

This article has reviewed CastorDoc and its top 10 alternatives. While there are plenty of great options on the market, CastorDoc is a proven market leader. It’s easy to use, quick to implement, and purpose-built for full-company adoption.  

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

You can view all of our product comparisons here.