Open-source alternatives to Collibra: DataHub and OpenMetadata

Which open-source alternative to Collibra fits your governance workflows

DataHub and OpenMetadata are the main self-hosted replacements for Collibra's catalog and governance workflows, and Apache Atlas fits estates built around Hadoop. If you are facing a renewal, an on-premises support question or a data residency requirement, start by mapping which Collibra workflows your stewards use daily, then test each candidate against them rather than against feature lists alone. Both DataHub and OpenMetadata are Apache-2.0 licensed and can run in your own infrastructure, so the choice depends on how your glossaries, domains and stewardship roles are modeled today. The pressure to look elsewhere has a documented basis. Collibra ended maintenance support for on-premises environments for commercial customers on January 30, 2023, while stating it will continue to support on-premises environments for the public sector (Collibra release announcements). If your organization is a commercial customer running Collibra on-premises, confirm your current support status and end-of-life dates in writing with your Collibra account team before you set a timeline. Public sector customers should confirm the terms of their own agreement, since the continued support commitment applies to that segment.

A second driver is data residency. Teams that must keep metadata inside their own network, or in an air-gapped environment, need a platform they can deploy, patch and back up themselves. Both DataHub and OpenMetadata support self-hosted deployment, and OpenMetadata documents production deployment on Kubernetes with Helm charts or on bare metal. Confirm with each vendor which deployment patterns fit your network controls, and whether your metadata store and search index can stay inside your boundary.

DataHub, OpenMetadata and Apache Atlas compared for Collibra teams

Collibra teams looking for a self-hosted replacement usually shortlist three open-source projects. Each covers part of Collibra's catalog and governance workflows, but they differ in their connector coverage, deployment model and the amount of governance work left for your team to build.

DataHub

DataHub is an Apache-2.0 licensed, self-hosted metadata platform with 150+ integrations, column-level lineage, governance and discovery. You can start a trial with the datahub docker quickstart command or deploy it on Kubernetes for production. The trade-off is breadth of features against operational load: your team runs the search, graph and ingestion components, and must map Collibra domains, glossary terms and steward roles onto DataHub's model. Confirm which governance workflows you need, such as compliance forms or access requests, are in the open-source edition and which sit in DataHub Cloud.

OpenMetadata

OpenMetadata is an Apache-2.0 licensed metadata platform with 130+ connectors, OpenLineage support and an MCP server. Production deployment is documented on Kubernetes with Helm charts, on managed Kubernetes services, on-premises Kubernetes or bare metal, and Docker Compose is available for evaluation. The trade-off is a more opinionated data model against your existing Collibra workflows: stewardship, glossary and domain structures will need a deliberate mapping exercise. Check that your required connectors exist before committing to a deployment target.

Apache Atlas

Apache Atlas is an Apache-2.0 licensed governance and metadata framework from the Apache Software Foundation, built for Hadoop. Its strengths are lineage, classification and integration with Apache Ranger for classification-based access control. The trade-off is scope: Atlas is oriented to Hadoop-era estates, so teams with cloud warehouses, BI tools and SaaS sources will need significant connector and user-experience work. It fits best as a classification and access-control backbone for Hadoop-heavy environments, not as a full Collibra replacement for mixed estates.

Managed options outside self-hosting

DataHub Cloud and Collate, which offers managed OpenMetadata, are commercial services run by the companies behind these projects. They add features such as managed upgrades and vendor support, but they are outside the scope of a self-hosted deployment. If your requirement is that metadata stays in your own infrastructure, confirm the hosting location in writing before choosing a managed edition. Ask each vendor where data is stored, who can access it and which features are excluded from the open-source edition.

Which Collibra capabilities map to DataHub, OpenMetadata and Apache Atlas

This table maps the Collibra capabilities most teams rely on to DataHub, OpenMetadata and Apache Atlas, with coverage marked as full, partial or to confirm. Read the Coverage column first, then the notes, because stewardship workflows and custom asset types need a pilot before any parity is assumed. Treat every mapping as a starting point to validate against your own Collibra export and your own governance process.

Collibra capability	DataHub	OpenMetadata	Apache Atlas
Asset catalog and search: Partial to full. Confirm search relevance on your own asset volume during a pilot.	Full for core catalog and discovery, per the project README	Full for core catalog and discovery, per the project README	Partial: metadata store and search exist, but the discovery experience is more basic and usually needs a custom UI
Business glossary: To confirm. Check term hierarchy, relationships and approval states against your Collibra model.	Glossary terms and term groups are supported; confirm how approval states map	Glossary and glossary terms are supported; confirm how approval states map	Partial: business metadata and classifications exist, but a managed glossary is not a core feature
Domains and ownership: To confirm. Map each Collibra community and domain to a platform domain or ownership model.	Domains and owners are supported; confirm how Collibra communities translate	Domains and owners are supported; confirm how Collibra communities translate	Partial: ownership is modeled through custom attributes rather than a domain construct
Stewardship roles and approval workflows: To confirm. Requires pilot validation of who can approve, reject and delegate.	Governance features exist; confirm approval routing against your steward roles	Governance and task features exist; confirm approval routing against your steward roles	Partial: approval workflows are not a core feature and typically need custom development
Lineage: Full for supported sources, verify column-level coverage for your systems.	Column-level lineage is listed in the project README	Lineage is supported and an OpenLineage connector is listed; verify per source	Partial: lineage is a core Atlas capability, strongest in Hadoop-based pipelines
Classification and sensitive data tagging: Partial. Classification is supported, but policy enforcement depends on your access tooling.	Tags and classifications are supported; enforcement depends on integrations	Tags and classifications are supported; enforcement depends on integrations	Full for classification, with Apache Ranger integration for classification-based access control
Custom asset types and metadata attributes: To confirm. Validate every custom Collibra asset type in a pilot.	Custom entity and aspect models are possible; confirm effort per type	Custom properties and types are possible; confirm effort per type	Partial: custom types are supported through the type system, usually with more modeling work
Bulk export (CSV or XLSX): Partial. Collibra exports follow on-screen filters, so plan a scripted export via API.	Export through the UI or API; no direct CSV or XLSX equivalent of Collibra's export is assumed	Export through the UI or API; no direct CSV or XLSX equivalent of Collibra's export is assumed	Export through the REST API; a CSV or XLSX format needs to be built
Workflow and approval audit trail: To confirm. Check whether audit records meet your retention and evidence needs.	Confirm audit logging scope in your deployment	Confirm audit logging scope in your deployment	Confirm audit logging scope in your deployment

How business glossaries, domains and stewardship roles move across

Treat the migration of glossaries, domains and stewardship as a mapping exercise, not a file copy. The CSV and XLSX export from Collibra follows the filters, columns and sorting of the table on screen, so the first job is to build export views deliberately: one view per asset type (business terms, domains, communities, data assets) with every column a target platform will need, including the relations to domains, owners and stewards. A view that was filtered to one community or sorted by a display column will silently drop records. Before exporting in bulk, confirm with your Collibra administrator which asset types, attributes and relation types your operating model actually uses, since custom asset types and attributes are where most glossary content lives.

Then decide where each Collibra concept lands in DataHub or OpenMetadata. Business glossary terms map to the glossary constructs in each platform, domains map to domain objects, and steward assignments map to ownership or stewardship fields on glossary terms and data assets. Collibra communities and their role hierarchies rarely have a one-to-one equivalent, so write the mapping table before any import script: for each Collibra role, state the target role or group, who may edit terms, and who approves changes. Keep the export files and the mapping under version control so the decisions can be reviewed later by compliance and data owners.

Do not assume approval workflows or role permissions transfer. Collibra workflows that gate term approval, ownership changes or access requests must be re-designed in the target platform, and DataHub Cloud's access request and compliance form features are not part of its open-source edition, so confirm which workflow you can run self-hosted before you promise one to stakeholders. Test with a pilot domain: import a sample of terms and assets, confirm that stewards can see and edit only what Collibra allowed, and check that a rejected or pending term behaves the same way it did before. Record the results as migration evidence, since the people who approve the new model will ask for it.

What you give up when leaving Collibra and the usual workarounds

Moving from Collibra to a self-hosted catalog trades vendor-packaged content and support for control over your own infrastructure. The gaps below are the ones teams most often underestimate, and each one has a workaround that is owned by your team, a managed vendor, or custom code.

Vendor-supplied workflow templates

Collibra ships governance workflows such as asset approvals, stewardship tasks and policy reviews that many teams use without rebuilding them. DataHub and OpenMetadata provide governance primitives such as domains, owners, tags and glossary terms, but approval flows for a given process are usually something you design. Inventory the workflows you run today, map each one to a native feature or an external workflow engine, and confirm what the open-source edition covers before you assume parity.

Packaged public sector support

Collibra has stated that it will continue to support on-premises environments for the public sector, a distinction that matters if your agency or contractor relies on vendor-maintained releases. Self-hosted open source has no equivalent default. Replace it with a written support arrangement from a commercial vendor, an internal runbook for upgrades and patches, or a retained support partner, and confirm which of these your accreditation boundary allows.

Out-of-box connectors for niche sources

DataHub lists 150+ integrations and OpenMetadata lists 130+ connectors, which cover most common warehouses, lakes and BI tools. Legacy mainframe stores, proprietary ERP extracts and internal tools often fall outside those lists. Build the gap list from your current Collibra connections, then decide between a custom ingestion job that pushes metadata through the platform API and a vendor-maintained connector request.

Certified vendor support SLAs

Commercial catalog contracts usually include a defined response commitment. Open-source projects publish no equivalent guarantee for the community edition. If you need a contractual uptime or response target, the managed options carry their own terms: DataHub Cloud lists a 99.5% uptime SLA, and Collate offers managed OpenMetadata and commercial support. Ask each vendor for the written SLA and compare it with your own on-call model before signing.

Polished enterprise user interface

Collibra's interface has years of packaged navigation, configurable asset pages and business-user onboarding. Open-source front ends are capable but usually need configuration, naming conventions and internal documentation before business stewards adopt them. Plan a short pilot with real stewards, record the screens they struggle with, and budget time for custom home pages, glossary guidance and training materials.

Enterprise identity and access hardening

Commercial catalogs typically ship SSO integration, role management and audit views as configured features. In a self-hosted deployment you own the identity provider integration, role mapping from your directory, and the hardening of every service the catalog depends on. Document who administers the platform, how stewardship roles map to directory groups, and how access reviews are evidenced, then test those controls before stewards are onboarded.

How to migrate off Collibra in seven phases

This sequence moves your catalog from Collibra to a self-hosted platform in controlled stages, so each domain is proven before the old system is switched off. It ends with a decommissioned Collibra instance and a retained record of what was moved, how it was checked and who approved the cutover.

Inventory assets, relations, workflows and integrations
Start by listing what Collibra actually holds: asset types, community and domain structure, relation types, glossary terms, data stewards, approval workflows, and every integration that reads from or writes to the catalog. Data owners and the platform team should review the list together, because workflows and integrations are where undocumented behavior usually hides. The step is done when each item has an owner, a target in the new platform (or a decision to retire it), and a short note on who depends on it.
Export assets and relations to CSV or XLSX
Use Collibra's documented export to pull assets or complex relations to CSV or XLSX. The export follows the filters, columns and sorting applied to the table on screen, so set those filters deliberately for each asset type and record the settings used. Confirm with your Collibra administrator whether your version limits row counts or exported relation types, and check how multi-valued attributes are written. The output is a set of versioned export files, each with a row count that you reconcile against the source table.
Map glossaries, domains and stewardship roles
Build a mapping document that links Collibra communities, domains, business glossary terms, asset types and attributes to the equivalent objects in DataHub or OpenMetadata. Map stewardship roles to owners and groups in the target, and decide how approval states and term relationships will be represented. Some Collibra concepts will not have a one-to-one equivalent, so mark those explicitly and agree a handling rule with the governance lead. The step closes when the mapping is signed off and each Collibra role has a named target role.
Pilot the migration on one domain
Choose a single domain with active stewards and moderate complexity, load its exported assets, glossary terms and owners into a non-production instance of the target platform, and have stewards review the results. Test search, lineage display and ownership against real questions users ask today. Record every gap, rework of the mapping, and any manual step. The pilot is complete when stewards accept the domain's content in the target and the gap log has a decision for every item.
Run the target platform in parallel
Keep Collibra and the self-hosted platform running side by side while the remaining domains are migrated and synchronized. Stewards maintain content in the system of record for each domain, and the team runs reconciliation checks that compare asset counts, owners and glossary links between the two systems. Monitor integrations to confirm that downstream consumers receive the same metadata. The phase closes when reconciliation differences are explained or fixed and stewards confirm they can complete their routine tasks in the new platform.
Cut over to the self-hosted catalog
Agree a cutover date with data owners, stewards and the consumers of each integration. Freeze edits in Collibra for the migrated scope, run a final export and load, repoint integrations and access, and update user guidance. Keep a documented rollback path until the new platform has passed a production check. The cutover is done when all in-scope domains are live in the target, integrations are verified, and the change record is signed by the business owner.
Decommission Collibra and retain evidence
Once the rollback window has closed, export a final archive of Collibra content, audit history and configuration, store it under your retention policy, and then shut down the instance and its access. Keep records of the mapping, reconciliation results, pilot decisions, approvals and the decommission itself, because auditors and internal reviewers often ask how governance records were preserved. Confirm the retention period with your compliance team. The step is complete when the archive is verified as readable and the decommission record is filed.

Which option fits your situation: residency, cost, customization or Hadoop

Teams that must keep metadata inside their own network, data center or air-gapped enclave usually start with DataHub or OpenMetadata, because both are Apache-2.0 licensed and self-hosted. Illustrative example: a public sector agency that has to keep its catalog inside a sovereign cloud account would deploy the open-source edition in that account and avoid any vendor-hosted control plane. Be aware that Atlan's Self-Deployed Runtime still sends metadata to Atlan's SaaS, so it does not meet a strict residency requirement on its own.

Deployment model: OpenMetadata documents production Kubernetes deployment on EKS, AKS, GKE, on-premises Kubernetes and bare metal, which fits most isolated networks.
Cloud-only features: Confirm which DataHub Cloud features (such as access request workflows or compliance forms) your controls depend on, since they are not in open source.
Image and dependency sourcing: Check whether you can mirror container images and Helm charts into a registry that your network can reach.
Identity: Confirm how SSO and group mapping will work with your directory service.
Egress: Verify that connectors can read sources without outbound calls to external services.

Confirm each residency rule with your legal and security teams before choosing a platform.

Questions buyers ask before replacing Collibra with open source

How much effort does a migration from Collibra to DataHub or OpenMetadata take?

The effort depends mostly on the size and state of the existing catalog, not on the open-source platform's install process. The main drivers are the number of asset types and custom attributes, how many business glossary terms and domains need restructuring, how many sources must be reconnected, and how much stewardship workflow logic has been built inside Collibra and must be rebuilt as ingestion recipes, metadata rules or manual processes. Installing DataHub or OpenMetadata is usually the smaller share of the work. Ask any partner for a written estimate broken into inventory, mapping, source connection, workflow rebuild, validation and cutover, and ask which of those steps assume a clean export.

Can our own team migrate off Collibra without outside help?

A capable platform team can run a pilot alone, especially if it already operates Kubernetes and has a data engineering group that owns source connections. Teams often need outside help for the governance design: mapping Collibra's operating model onto DataHub or OpenMetadata domains, glossary structures and ownership rules, and for hardening and evidence collection when the catalog supports regulated processes. DeployOpen plans, implements, integrates, hardens and documents self-hosted platforms in your own infrastructure under a fixed-scope agreement. Whether you need that help depends on how many people can give the migration sustained time, not on the tooling alone.

What do our internal staff need to contribute during the migration?

Three groups of people carry most of the load. Data stewards must confirm which glossary terms, domains and ownership assignments are current and which are obsolete. Platform engineers must provide the Kubernetes or bare-metal environment, identity integration, storage and network controls. Source system owners must approve connection credentials and confirm that metadata extraction is permitted. Stewardship roles in Collibra do not transfer automatically, so each steward's responsibilities should be written down and reassigned as owners or groups in the new catalog. Ask the implementer to name these roles in the written scope before work starts.

How does the CSV or XLSX export from Collibra work for migration?

Collibra's documented bulk export creates a CSV or XLSX file of assets or complex relations, and the export follows the filters, columns and sorting of the table on screen. That makes it a useful inventory and a starting point for mapping, but it is a flat view. Relationships, workflow history, comments and some attribute types may need separate extraction, and column order or filters set in the interface can silently change what is exported. Build a mapping sheet that links each Collibra asset type to a DataHub entity or OpenMetadata entity, then validate row counts and sample records after each import. Confirm the export coverage for your specific asset types with Collibra and your implementer before relying on it.

What does ongoing operation of a self-hosted catalog involve?

Ongoing operations include upgrades, backups, monitoring, access management and on-call coverage for the platform itself. Upgrades need a test environment and a rollback plan, and release cadence should be tracked against the project's release notes. For example, DataHub 1.7.0.1 was released on September 3, 2026, and OpenMetadata 2.0.5 was released on October 8, 2026, so a pilot started now should plan for at least one version change before production. Backups must cover the metadata store and search index as well as configuration. Decide who gets paged for a failed ingestion job versus a platform outage, and write that into the runbook.

Do we need DataHub Cloud or Collate to run this in production?

No. DataHub and OpenMetadata are both Apache-2.0 licensed and can be self-hosted in your own infrastructure without a commercial subscription. DataHub Cloud and Collate are managed or commercially supported products from the companies behind these projects. DataHub Cloud adds features not in open source, such as data quality monitoring, compliance forms, access request workflows, a 99.5% uptime SLA and AWS PrivateLink. Collate offers managed OpenMetadata, commercial support and AI features. Choose them only if a specific requirement, such as a contractual uptime commitment or a managed operating model, justifies the added cost. Confirm current feature availability with each vendor before deciding.

Which cost components should we compare against our Collibra renewal?

Compare the recurring and one-time costs in three groups. Licensing for Collibra is a commercial contract, while DataHub and OpenMetadata carry no license fee for the self-hosted editions. The open-source side adds infrastructure, which recurs, and migration, staffing and implementation, which are mostly one-time but can be recurring if you retain a partner for upgrades. Internal staff time for stewardship and operations is easy to omit and often the largest line. Ask any quote to separate platform setup, data migration, workflow rebuild, hardening, training and ongoing support, so you can see which costs disappear after cutover and which remain.

Does Collibra's end of on-premises support for commercial customers force a move now?

Collibra ended maintenance support for on-premises environments for commercial customers on January 30, 2023, while stating it will continue to support on-premises environments for the public sector. If your deployment is on-premises and commercial, that change affects how long you can run the current version safely and how you plan future upgrades. It does not by itself require a move to open source. Check your contract, the support status of your installed version and any hosting change Collibra has proposed, then compare the timing of a migration against your renewal date. Confirm your specific support status directly with Collibra.

What changes for stewards and consumers after cutover

Stewards will notice the biggest change in how they approve and maintain definitions. In Collibra, stewardship work is organized around its own asset types, workflows and approval paths. DataHub and OpenMetadata each model ownership, glossary terms, domains and tags differently, so a steward's queue, the places where they edit a term, and the way a change is reviewed may all look different on day one. Before cutover, walk each stewardship role through the exact sequence it performs today (proposing a glossary term, approving a change, attesting to a domain owner, retiring an asset) and map each step to its equivalent screen or API call in the target platform. Record every step that has no equivalent so it can be handled by a documented manual process or a custom workflow.

Analysts and other consumers will mostly feel the change in search and lineage. Search relevance, facets and the way lineage is displayed depend on the platform and on how metadata was ingested, so a query that found a certified asset in Collibra may return different results after migration until ingestion and ownership metadata are tuned. Governance leads should confirm that column-level lineage, glossary links and certification badges appear for the datasets their analysts use most, and that access request flows reach the right approver. Confirm access request and approval workflows in a pilot with real stewards, because these are the areas where an open-source platform may need configuration or custom development. Ask the implementation team to document which workflows are native, which need configuration, and which need build work.

Training and runbooks need to be updated before users are asked to switch. Stewards need hands-on sessions for the new approval and edit paths, analysts need a short guide to search and lineage, and platform operators need runbooks for ingestion schedules, upgrades and incident response that reflect the new system rather than the old one. Plan at least one pilot cycle in which a small steward group works in the target platform while Collibra remains the system of record, and treat any gap they report as a blocking item for cutover. Keep the Collibra CSV or XLSX exports described above as a fallback reference during the transition, and record in the runbooks who approves a rollback decision.

How DeployOpen scopes, migrates, hands over and supports the replacement

DeployOpen plans and implements self-hosted DataHub or OpenMetadata inside your own cloud accounts, data centers or air-gapped network, and it works from a fixed-scope written agreement. The migration covers CSV and XLSX exports from Collibra, glossaries, domains and stewardship roles, with testing and documentation delivered before handover.

How we scope

Inventory which Collibra assets, relations, glossary terms, domains and stewardship roles are in use today
Agree in writing which catalog platform, deployment target and connectors are covered
Confirm your Collibra deployment model and the export path your team will use

How we build

Deploy the chosen platform in your environment, using Kubernetes or Docker as the scope specifies
Map exported CSV or XLSX columns to the target catalog's entities and ownership fields
Configure SSO, access roles and stewardship workflows, then test them against your sample data

How we hand over

Document the architecture, configuration, migration mapping and open items for your own team
Walk your data governance and platform staff through stewardship tasks and daily operations
Deliver the written handover pack agreed in the scope, with a clear list of remaining gaps

How we support

Ongoing support, upgrades and continuous testing are available as a retainer after handover
Plan platform version upgrades, backups and hardening under the retainer terms you agree
Ask for the retainer scope, response expectations and upgrade responsibilities in your quote

Open-source alternatives to Collibra for self-hosted data governance