Atlan vs Select Star: Full Product Comparison
Compare Atlan vs Select Star to choose the best Data Catalog for your business. Learn about their unique features in our full product comparison.
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Looking for a data catalog for your business? You’re in the right place.
We know how easy it is to get lost among all data within your business. It’s equally easy to feel confused by all the data catalogs out there that promise to help you find and organize your data points.
In this article, we are analyzing two popular data catalogs that promise to make you feel more confident in making data-driven decisions.
Atlan and Select Star are two solid options and each one of them stands out in different areas.
We are looking at six key categories in an unbiased process that will shape the final rating for both tools:
Atlan vs Select Star - is there a clear winner? Let’s find out!
Atlan is a modern data catalog that was built by data teams to be used by data teams. It was founded in Singapore in 2018 and claims to be the “only catalog that activates your metadata.”
It brings together metadata from various sources to create a unified data discovery, cataloging, and lineage experience among your data points.
Atlan’s goal is to break down the silos in a company’s data stack to simplify data management. Its no-code metadata builder makes it easier for everyone to use the platform to promote a data-driven culture within a company.
Its collaborative features receive very positive feedback while it also focuses on personalizing the metadata experience and providing customized automations to simplify your work.
Its features range from solid data discovery with natural language search to column-level lineage and data governance.
Select Star is a comprehensive data catalog that can serve as the single source of truth in capturing, finding, and organizing your data. It was founded in San Francisco in 2020 and it emphasizes its column-level lineage, ease of use, and quality of support.
Its simple interface aims to simplify metadata management to make it accessible to everyone in the organization. You can use it to find, tag, and document your data – whether you’re the head of data or a business analyst, everyone can benefit from using the platform.
Many data teams use Select Star to improve the visibility of their company’s use of data to promote a data-driven culture that is both transparent and efficient.
Its features include data discovery, data lineage, and data governance .
Atlan vs Select Star Comparison
How is Atlan compared to Select Star in the available tech integrations? How do both tools compare in the ease of use? Let’s look at six key categories to crown the winner.
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Target Audience
Atlan and Select Star are built for data teams – from the Head of Data to a Data Analyst, everyone can benefit from using both tools.
Atlan is “powering the next generation of data teams” and it aims to simplify data management with features built by data people for data people. Its simple interface can make it accessible to additional teams but the primary audience is still very clear.
Select Star is targeting technical users who want a comprehensive data discovery platform. Its high rating in ease of use (9/10 on G2) can still make it a useful option for the whole company.
Both tools are targeting a similar audience so there isn’t a clear winner in this category.
Technology Integration
Both platforms have a wide range of integrations – from data warehouses to BI tools and data quality. It’s worth mentioning that new integrations are added every day so it’s worth looking at Atlan’s integration page and Select Star’s integration page for the latest updates.
Atlan Integrations:
- Data Warehouse: Athena, Redshift, AWS Glue (including S3), Databricks, BigQuery, Hive, SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Presto, Salesforce, SAP HANA, Snowflake, Trino
- Data Visualization/Business Intelligence Tools: Looker, Metabase, Mode, Qilk Sense, PowerBI, Sigma, Tableau
- Auto-Ingestion/Data Movement: AWS Glue, dbt Cloud, dbt Core, Fivetran, Hive
- Cloud: Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure
Select Star Integrations:
- Data Warehouse: Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Redshift, PostgreSQL
- Data Visualization/Business Intelligence Tools: Tableau, PowerBI, Looker, Mode, Sigma, Sisense/Periscope, Metabase, Data Studio
- Auto-Ingestion/Data Movement: dbt
- Notifications: Slack
Atlan has more integrations for top data warehouses while it also mentions several integrations on its website that are coming soon.
Keep in mind that the number of integrations doesn’t necessarily define the value of the tool you’re using. It depends on your current tech stack and how you want to bring different solutions together.
Pricing
This category is not as straightforward as others. Atlan’s pricing is not listed on the website but you can get a customized quote if you contact them.
Select Star offers a 14-day free trial and several plans to find the one that works best for your needs.
The free Light plan is limited to 1 data source, up to 100 tables, and 10 users. This is a good way to test the platform on a very small scale. The Pro plan is $300/month for up to 2 data sources, 250 tables, and 50 users. Their Growth plan at $900/month is the most popular option with 3 data sources and up to 1000 tables and 100 users. You can also create a customized Enterprise plan.
Ease of Use
Both data catalog tools are rated highly for their ease of use with users commenting on how intuitive they are.
More specifically, G2 users gave Atlan 8.8/10 in ease of use while Select Star had a rating of 9/10. “Ease of use” is an important factor to determine user satisfaction for Machine Learning Data Catalog products and both tools are above the average of 8.6/10.
Atlan stands out for the ease of setup and the user interface that simplifies the process of finding and organizing your data.
“The product is very easy to use, and usually self-intuitive.”
– Verified user in Real Estate
A few users mentioned how the new features could be more stable but they are still happy with how quickly they usually roll out.
Select Star users are also happy with the platform and how easy it is for the data team to use all its features.
“UI is super intuitive - easy to search for tables or columns and find the data you need. Can also find commonly used queries and how to join tables together.”
– Verified user in Information Technology Services
However, a few reviewers found the UI a bit buggy and not mature enough compared to competitors. Still, its rating of 9/10 in Ease of Use places it among the highest-rated data catalog tools.
Review and Ratings
We looked at G2.com, an established site for product reviews, to find out what customers think about Atlan compared to Select Star.
Atlan has an overall rating of 4.6/5 with high ratings in data management and data governance along with the quality of support, ease of setup, and ease of use.
“Atlan helped us democratize our data. The data team receives many requests from business teams across the organization. Atlan helped us put the data in their hands, enabling them to be independent. Atlan also became a true home for the data team, increasing our productivity by reducing the time needed for impact analysis, training, and onboarding”
– Larisa G.
Select Star has an overall rating of 4.4/5 and its highest ratings are in metadata management, search, reporting, visualization, the quality of support, and ease of use.
“Select star helps me quickly find and understand data tables and columns. This is especially useful when working with unfamiliar data. Understanding data lineage helps me ensure I'm looking at the right information too.”
– Verified user in Wholesale
In terms of additional recognition, Atlan has been named a Forrester Wave Leader in 2022 for Enterprise Data Catalogs for DataOps while Select Star was named a G2 High Performer for Winter 2023.
On a closer review of G2’s side-by-side comparison:
- Reviewers felt that Altan is a better partner in doing business with a rating of 10/10
- Select Star wins in the quality of support while both tools are above the average rating
- Reviewers rated Atlan higher in the ease of setup, which is an important factor for users who are not technical experts
Based on G2’s overall rating, we will crown Atlan the winner in this category but we must admit, this was a close call.
Service and Support
Both Atlan and Select Star received positive feedback about their customer support.
Atlan offers 24/7 support, it has an AI chatbot to answer any quick questions you might have along with many resources to access. They also have a Customer Happiness Team:
“The customer success team is incredibly present and passionate about helping us meet our goals. They feel like coworkers.”
– Sara S
G2 reviewers gave Atlan 9.2 in the Quality of Support.
Select Star has a chat linked to Intercom and they promise to “typically reply in less than 2 minutes”. They also provide dedicated support and training to Enterprise users.
With a rating of 9.6/10 in G2, they are the winners in this category.
The Best Data Catalog For Your Business
Select Star vs Atlan - who wins? We reviewed the two popular data catalog tools to find the winner among six key categories. It was a close call, and each tool stands out in different areas and features and it’s up to you to decide what you’ll add to your tech stack.
If you are looking for a data catalog that beats its competitors consistently across key categories, we have the perfect option for you. CastorDoc is a proven market leader with a rating of 4.8/5 on G2
As the #1 platform for data lineage and ease of use for the whole organization, it stands out among all key categories – from the ease of setup to quality of support. It is also made for everyone in a company, which means that it provides a simplified interface that is easily accessible to bring data to the center of all business decisions.
Ready to give it a try? Activate your 14-day free trial today to enhance your data experience.
Get in Touch to Learn More
“[I like] The easy to use interface and the speed of finding the relevant assets that you're looking for in your database. I also really enjoy the score given to each table, [which] lets you prioritize the results of your queries by how often certain data is used.” - Michal P., Head of Data
