Also known as: Acryl Data (company), Acryl Cloud (now DataHub Cloud).
At a glance
| Metadata ingestion and connectors | 140+ sources, push and pull ingestion, including new Informix, Monte Carlo and SQLMesh sources in v1.8.0 |
| Lineage | Column-level lineage in Core and Cloud |
| Business glossary | Yes, with domains and data products |
| Stewardship and workflows | Ownership and incidents in Core; access requests, change proposals and compliance forms in Cloud |
| Access policies | Role-based policies for the catalog itself; fine-grained access control is listed as Cloud only |
| Classification | Tags and glossary terms; not documented as automatic PII classification in Core |
| Search and discovery | Full-text search, usage-aware ranking in Cloud |
| Deployment | Self-hosted Core (Docker, Kubernetes) or managed DataHub Cloud |
| Licensing | Apache 2.0 (Core); commercial subscription by quote (Cloud) |
DataHub suits engineering-led teams that want a free, extensible catalog with column-level lineage and a large connector set, and are prepared to run its services themselves. Teams that want observability monitors, access workflows and an uptime SLA without operating the stack should price DataHub Cloud, which is sold by quote.
Overview
DataHub is a metadata platform that started at LinkedIn and is now developed in the open as DataHub Core under the Apache 2.0 licence. It ingests metadata from databases, warehouses, BI tools, pipelines and streaming systems, then gives people and AI agents one place to search for assets, follow lineage down to columns, read ownership and glossary terms, and manage data contracts and incidents. The project now describes itself as a context platform for data and AI, with GraphQL, APIs, SDKs and MCP access.
DataHub Cloud is the commercial edition from the company that the project founders started in 2021 as Acryl Data and renamed DataHub in 2025. According to the official comparison page, both editions share the connectors, column-level lineage, glossary and data contracts, while Cloud adds AI documentation, a hosted MCP server, freshness and volume monitoring, access request workflows, metadata tests, fine-grained access control and a 99.5% uptime SLA.
Key features
- More than 140 source connectors in both Core and Cloud, per the official comparison page
- Column-level lineage across ingestion, transformation and BI tools
- Business glossary, domains, data products (nestable since v1.8.0) and structured properties
- Data contracts and incident management shared by both editions
- GraphQL API, a full API and SDK, and MCP retrieval for AI agents
- DataHub Cloud adds observability monitors, access workflows, change proposals and compliance forms
- Self-hosted on Docker or Kubernetes, with OpenSearch 2.x and 3.x or Elasticsearch 8.x as the search engine
Integrations and ecosystem
Pros and cons
Pros
- Apache 2.0 licence, with connectors, lineage, glossary and data contracts all in the free edition
- Large connector catalogue and column-level lineage in the free edition
- Very active project: frequent releases in 2026
- Managed edition available when you no longer want to run the stack
Cons
- Self-hosting means running several services, including a search engine (OpenSearch or Elasticsearch), and handling upgrades yourself
- Observability monitors, access workflows and the uptime SLA are DataHub Cloud only
- No public pricing for DataHub Cloud
Pricing
DataHub Core, the open source project, is free to download and run on your own infrastructure under the Apache 2.0 licence; you pay only for the servers and supporting services you run it on. DataHub Cloud is the commercial managed edition sold by the company behind the project. datahub.com publishes no plan names or list prices for DataHub Cloud: the site offers demos and sales contact only, 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
Data platform teams that want an open source, API-first catalog with lineage across a modern data stack and the option to move to a managed edition later.
Typical use cases
- Impact analysis before changing a dbt model or warehouse table, using column-level lineage
- A single search portal for tables, dashboards and pipelines across several platforms
- Recording ownership, glossary terms and data contracts for critical datasets
- Giving AI agents governed metadata through MCP and GraphQL
Who should look elsewhere
- Teams without engineers to operate Kubernetes services, unless they budget for DataHub Cloud.
- Organisations that want a business-led governance suite with formal stewardship workflows out of the box, where an enterprise catalog such as Collibra may fit better.
Verdict
DataHub is one of the most capable open source catalogs, with lineage, glossary and contracts in the free edition and a release cadence that shows active development. The trade-off is operational: self-hosting is real infrastructure work, and the features that larger governance programmes ask for, such as access workflows and monitoring, sit in the quote-priced Cloud edition.
Frequently asked questions
Is DataHub free?
DataHub Core is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence and free to run yourself. DataHub Cloud, the managed edition, is a commercial subscription with no published prices.
What happened to Acryl Data?
Acryl Data, the company founded in 2021 to commercialise DataHub, rebranded as DataHub in May 2025, and its Acryl Cloud product became DataHub Cloud. The legal entity still appears as Acryl Data, Inc. on the website footer.
What is the difference between DataHub Core and DataHub Cloud?
Both share connectors, column-level lineage, glossary and data contracts. Cloud adds AI documentation, a hosted MCP server, freshness and volume monitoring, access workflows, metadata tests, fine-grained access control and a 99.5% uptime SLA, according to the official comparison page.
How does DataHub compare with OpenMetadata?
Both are Apache 2.0 catalogs with 100+ connectors, lineage and glossaries, each with a commercial managed edition (DataHub Cloud and Collate). Collate publishes a free SaaS tier with fixed user and asset limits; DataHub Cloud has no published free tier.
Sources
- DataHub website
- DataHub Cloud vs DataHub Core (documentation)
- DataHub GitHub repository (Apache 2.0)
- DataHub v1.8.0 release notes
- DataHub Series B announcement
- DataHub Cloud v0.3.11 release notes (Acryl rebrand)
Checked November 2026.
Listed in: Data Catalog & Governance.
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