At a glance
| Metadata ingestion and connectors | 80+ native connectors; Self-Deployed Runtime for private networks |
| Lineage | Yes, cross-system lineage |
| Business glossary | Yes, with AI-assisted term linkage |
| Stewardship and workflows | Certification, conflict resolution, feedback loops and governance workflows |
| Access policies | Governance policies on assets; enforcement scope not documented in the pages checked |
| Classification | Labelling and tagging; details not documented in the pages checked |
| Search and discovery | Catalog search; MCP server and APIs for AI agents |
| Deployment | Single-tenant SaaS on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud; no self-hosted platform option |
| Licensing | Proprietary subscription; quote only |
Atlan suits modern data teams on cloud warehouses, dbt and BI tools who want a collaborative catalog with lineage and governance, and who want to expose that metadata to AI agents through APIs and an MCP server. It is SaaS only, with a customer-hosted runtime for private sources, and prices come from sales.
Overview
Atlan is a metadata platform built around a data catalog. Its site groups the product into catalog, governance, lineage, quality and glossary features, AI-assisted generation of descriptions, metrics and semantic views, collaboration features such as certification and annotations, and access through an MCP server, SQL, APIs and an SDK. Atlan says it connects natively to more than 80 enterprise systems and can sit on top of catalogs such as Microsoft Purview, Snowflake Horizon and Databricks Unity Catalog.
Atlan's documentation describes it as a cloud-first, single-tenant SaaS platform: each tenant has dedicated compute and storage, hosted on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. For on-premises or VPC-locked sources you run the Self-Deployed Runtime in your own network on Docker Compose or Kubernetes; it connects outbound to Atlan, so no inbound access is needed.
Key features
- Data catalog with search, certification, annotations and collaboration
- Lineage across warehouses, transformation tools and BI
- Business glossary with AI-assisted term linking and description generation
- Governance policies and data quality signals on catalog assets
- MCP server, SQL access, APIs and SDK to expose metadata to AI agents and automation
- More than 80 native connectors, including Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Redshift, dbt, Airflow, Tableau, Looker and Power BI
- Self-Deployed Runtime for private sources, with credentials kept in your own secret manager
Integrations and ecosystem
Pros and cons
Pros
- Single-tenant SaaS with isolated compute and storage per customer
- Broad coverage of the modern data stack, including dbt and Airflow
- Metadata exposed to AI agents through an MCP server, APIs and SDK
- Can layer over platform catalogs such as Purview, Horizon and Unity Catalog
Cons
- No published pricing
- No self-hosted option for the platform itself
- Teams that used the Secure Agent must move to the Self-Deployed Runtime (Secure Agent deprecated 30 June 2026)
Pricing
Atlan publishes no price list: its pricing address leads to a "talk to sales" page rather than published tiers, so pricing is by quote.
Pricing checked on the vendor's official page on 7 November 2026. Prices change; confirm before buying.
Who it is best for
Cloud data teams using warehouses, dbt and BI tools who want a collaborative catalog with lineage and governance, and an API layer for AI agents.
Typical use cases
- Giving analysts and engineers one place to find and trust tables, models and dashboards
- Running impact analysis with lineage before changing dbt models or warehouse tables
- Maintaining a business glossary and metric definitions
- Feeding governed metadata and definitions to AI agents through MCP
Who should look elsewhere
- Organisations that require the whole catalog to run on their own infrastructure: see Alation (customer-managed) or DataHub.
- Teams that want published or free pricing.
Verdict
Atlan is a strong fit for cloud-first data teams that want a collaborative catalog and lineage tied to the modern data stack, with metadata available to AI tools. It is SaaS only and quote-priced, so organisations needing a self-hosted catalog or a deep formal governance programme should compare it with customer-managed or governance-led products.
Frequently asked questions
Can Atlan be self-hosted?
No. Atlan is a single-tenant SaaS platform on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. Only the Self-Deployed Runtime, which reaches private sources, runs in your environment.
How much does Atlan cost?
Atlan does not publish prices or tiers; its pricing page leads to a sales conversation.
What replaced the Atlan Secure Agent?
The Self-Deployed Runtime. Atlan deprecated the Secure Agent on 30 June 2026 and no longer supports it.
Sources
- Atlan home page
- Atlan pricing (contact sales)
- Atlan architecture (documentation)
- Atlan Self-Deployed Runtime architecture (documentation)
- Atlan Self-Deployed Runtime deployment options (documentation)
- Atlan: migrating from Secure Agent to the Self-Deployed Runtime (documentation)
Checked November 2026.
Listed in: Data Catalog & Governance.
How we research reviews and what star ratings mean: our editorial method.