Metadata Management Solutions
Metadata management solutions are undergoing a significant evolution, shifting from augmented data catalogs to metadata “anywhere” orchestration platforms, acting as technology enablers. D&A leaders must consider the market evolution and vendor landscape as they start data and AI journeys.
Market Definition
Gartner defines metadata management solutions as applications to enable the collection, analysis and orchestration of metadata related to organizational data assets. These solutions enable workflow and operational support to make data easy to find, use and manage. They do this by collating metadata in any form from within its own application and third-party systems, and providing the ability to search, analyze and make decisions on the collated results. They also provide transparent cross-referencing over all related metadata, and derive insights from data (such as usage patterns and performance) through analysis of metadata to support a wide range of data-driven initiatives.
Metadata management solutions should assist in all of the following regardless of format, structure or location of metadata:
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Improve data understanding and enhance data usage.
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Break down data silos by providing a unified and organized view of data across an organization.
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Capture the context of how data is being used across organizational processes by looking at various types of metadata.
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Establish metadata as the primary form of communications across what were once barriers to collaboration between applications and humans.
The use cases for metadata management solutions are focused on discovering, assembling, accessing and accumulating metadata from origination points such as applications, databases, file systems, data science notebooks, IT systems administration, content, media and more.
Report 2025
Here is a summary of the vendors featured in the Gartner magic quadrant 2025 report.
For the full analysis and detailed insights, you can read the report
here
and view the magic quadrant graphic
here.
| Market Status | Market Vendor |
|---|---|
Leader |
IBM |
Leader |
Informatica |
Leader |
Alation |
Leader |
Atlan |
Leader |
Ab Initio Software |
Visionary |
ServiceNow (data.world) |
Visionary |
Coalesce |
Visionary |
Alex Solutions |
Niche Player |
Ataccama |
Niche Player |
Precisely |
Niche Player |
DataGalaxy |
Niche Player |
OvalEdge |
Niche Player |
Solidatus |
Challenger |
Collibra |
Challenger |
Quest Software |