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IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs erwin Data Catalog comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

erwin Data Catalog
Ranking in Metadata Management
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM InfoSphere Information ...
Ranking in Metadata Management
9th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Metadata Management category, the mindshare of erwin Data Catalog is 3.3%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is 3.1%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Metadata Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog3.1%
erwin Data Catalog3.3%
Other93.6%
Metadata Management
 

Featured Reviews

Andres-Martinez - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Data Analytics Engineer at Targa Research
Helps with metadata management, saves time, and allows us to do impact analysis on any changes
There are always ways to improve things. For example, we can use AI to be able to find out something. When we are typing something, if we don't know the exact term, Artificial Intelligence would be useful to find terms that are phonetically or syntactically similar. Instead of having to type in the exact name, they can provide those in the list. So, they can provide AI support for the search because when you have thousands and thousands of terms, it is hard to remember all the names. There were some issues when drawing the data models. If you have more than 500 or 600 tables, it takes a long time to display those in the right position on the screen. That can also be improved. They need some caching and some parallel pipelines working on the backend in order to divide it into sections.
KM
Member Of Technical Staff at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
A solution that allows for custom assets and data lineages but experiences performance issues when scaling up
The solution has performance issues when scaling up small sets of information such as assets and data lineage to the ITC. It is an Open IGC issue and does not allow a large volume of records to upload in one pass. We have experienced this issue with multiple versions of the solution including 11.3, 11.5 and 11.7 and have escalated the concern to IBM who is trying to resolve it. It would be a benefit to allow more customizations on the UI. Internally, we have identified a number of solutions to the look and feel of the product that we would like to be able to customize.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The data catalog feature is pretty good."
"When you combine it with data lineage, every time you need to make a change, it allows you to do impact analysis on any changes and then connect to the end-users or data stewards so that they can be aware that a change is coming. That's one of the main benefits we use it for."
"The feature I found most valuable in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is the lineage as it's very powerful and it provides data analytics in terms of where the data lives and where it goes. The interface is also clear, though it could still be sorted out, but the lineage is the most powerful thing in the solution."
"The solution allows us to leverage a concept called Open IGC to create custom assets and data lineages that are not technologies typically supported by IBM via connectors."
"Working on the roles, actually, is the most valuable aspect."
"The ability to create special rules inside the solution using Portuguese is the most valuable feature."
"It is easy to use."
"Ability to connect with multiple types of sources."
"The graphic flows and the lineage are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The best feature of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog for me is that it's easy to use and only requires a little bit of manual intervention. Once you discover the data sources, everything flows into the tool automatically, so you do not have to map it manually. There's been a lot of automation in the solution which I like best."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement with respect to the connector and how to connect to the structured and unstructured database."
"There are always ways to improve things. For example, we can use AI to be able to find out something. When we are typing something, if we don't know the exact term, Artificial Intelligence would be useful to find terms that are phonetically or syntactically similar. Instead of having to type in the exact name, they can provide those in the list. So, they can provide AI support for the search because when you have thousands and thousands of terms, it is hard to remember all the names."
"What I would tell IBM in terms of what needs to change or improve is that the product is too complicated. IBM purchased various components from different vendors over time and certainly in the UK, IBM did not have anybody that had the expertise to be able to get IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog to run properly."
"The simplicity of usage could improve. Perhaps the simplicity of use for end users, not for system integrators, but for the user, the end users."
"A complex solution that requires a lot of coding."
"The solution has performance issues when scaling up small sets of information such as assets and data lineage to the ITC."
"They need to improve asset management."
"An area for improvement in IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is that it's missing a lot of connectors. Clients complain about not being able to connect some data sources because there's no available connector, so my company raised that issue with IBM. In some cases, third-party connectors are available, but not for all data sources. Another area that needs improvement in the solution is stability because it also has some stability issues. This is the same issue with the other IBM products bundled with IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog. The solution is connected with IBM Infosphere Information Analyzer and IBM InfoSphere DataStage in my company, so if one has issues with stability, the rest of the products are affected as well."
"The scalability has room for improvement."
"Sometimes, if the product is new, getting support is difficult and the team was facing some challenges."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am not very familiar with its pricing. I know it is not cheap, but it is also not super expensive. It depends on the company size. For a company making $1 million, it is very expensive. For a company making 10 million and above, it might be okay."
"Erwin Data Catalog is very expensive."
"Licensing for IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is per user."
"IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog is expensive."
"In terms of pricing, I find IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog excessive. It's at the top end of the price range in terms of what you get for your money. It's an expensive product, and contractually, IBM is difficult to deal with. I can't remember the exact cost of IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog, but it could be in the region of three hundred thousand pounds."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
35%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
 

Questions from the Community

Which ETL tool would you recommend to populate data from OLTP to OLAP?
There are two products I know about * TimeXtender : Microsoft based, Transformation logic is quiet good and can easily be extended with T-SQL , Has a semantic layer that generates metat data for cu...
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Also Known As

No data available
IBM Information Governance Catalog
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Balfour Beatty Construction, Banco de México, BFSI Canada, CenturyLink, Daktronics
Rabobank, QuadReal Property Group, Jakarta Smart City
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog vs. erwin Data Catalog and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.