At a glance
| Metadata ingestion and connectors | 130+ connectors per the project site |
| Lineage | Yes, including column level |
| Business glossary | Yes, with domains and data products |
| Stewardship and workflows | Ownership, collaboration and review workflows; some reviewer features are Collate-only |
| Access policies | Role and policy based access to catalog objects |
| Classification | Manual classifications and tags; automated PII classification is listed from Collate Premium |
| Search and discovery | Search across assets with the knowledge graph |
| Deployment | Self-hosted (Docker, Kubernetes, bare metal) or Collate SaaS, hybrid or BYOC |
| Licensing | Apache 2.0; Collate Free, Premium and Enterprise plans |
OpenMetadata suits teams that want catalog, lineage and data quality tests in one open source product rather than stitching tools together. The free Collate tier (5 users, 500 assets) is a low-effort way to evaluate it; production use means either self-hosting on Kubernetes or a quote for Collate Premium or Enterprise.
Overview
OpenMetadata is an open source metadata platform released under the Apache 2.0 licence. It connects technical metadata, lineage, ownership, glossaries, data quality results, policies and data contracts into one knowledge graph, and exposes it through a web UI, APIs, SDKs and an MCP server for AI assistants. The project site lists more than 130 connectors across databases, warehouses, dashboards, pipelines, messaging and ML systems.
Collate, Inc., which owns the OpenMetadata trademark and is built by the project's creators, sells Collate as the managed version, adding AI agents and enterprise features; some capabilities in the release notes are marked as Collate-only. The 2.0 line arrived in August 2026 and is patched every one to three weeks, which shows an active project.
Key features
- More than 130 connectors for databases, warehouses, BI, pipelines, messaging and ML platforms
- Table and column-level lineage with impact analysis
- Built-in data quality tests and profiling alongside the catalog
- Business glossary, classifications and tags, domains and data products
- Data contracts, ownership and collaboration features
- APIs, SDKs and an MCP server for AI assistants and agents
- Self-hosted on Docker, Kubernetes (EKS, AKS, GKE or on premises via Helm) or bare metal
Integrations and ecosystem
Pros and cons
Pros
- Catalog, lineage and data quality tests in one open source product
- Free managed tier through Collate for small teams and evaluation
- Frequent 2.0.x patch releases in 2026
- Kubernetes deployment guides for the three big clouds and on premises
Cons
- Some features are Collate-only, so check release notes before assuming parity with the open source build
- Collate Free Tier is capped at 5 users and 500 data assets
- No published prices for Collate Premium or Enterprise
Pricing
OpenMetadata is free to self-host under the Apache 2.0 licence. Collate, the managed service from the company that owns the OpenMetadata trademark, publishes three plans: a Free Tier (multi-tenant SaaS, 5 users, 500 data assets, unlimited connectors), Premium (single-tenant or hybrid SaaS, 25 users, 5,000 assets, adding automated PII classification, SSO and API and SDK access) and Enterprise (single-tenant, hybrid or private BYOC, 50 users and 10,000 assets with unlimited options, adding custom integrations, audit logs and dedicated support). No prices are shown for Premium or Enterprise; both are by sales contact.
Pricing checked on the vendor's official page on 7 November 2026. Prices change; confirm before buying.
Who it is best for
Teams that want an open source catalog with built-in data quality testing, and a cheap path to a managed evaluation through the Collate free tier.
Typical use cases
- One catalog and quality dashboard for warehouse tables, dbt models and BI dashboards
- Running data quality tests and showing results next to table documentation
- Tracing column lineage to assess the impact of schema changes
- Publishing data products with owners, glossary terms and contracts
Who should look elsewhere
- Organisations that need a vendor-supported governance suite with formal stewardship and policy workflows, where an enterprise catalog such as Alation may suit better.
Verdict
OpenMetadata is a strong open source choice when you want discovery, lineage and data quality in one tool, and its 2026 release pace is healthy. Plan for either the operational work of self-hosting or Collate pricing by quote beyond the free tier, and confirm which features are open source and which are Collate-only.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenMetadata free?
Yes. OpenMetadata is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence and free to self-host. Collate, the managed service, also has a free SaaS tier limited to 5 users and 500 data assets.
What is Collate?
Collate is the managed, hosted version of OpenMetadata from Collate, Inc., which is built by the project's creators and owns the OpenMetadata trademark. It adds AI agents and enterprise features and comes in Free, Premium and Enterprise plans.
How does OpenMetadata compare with DataHub?
Both are Apache 2.0 catalogs with lineage, glossaries and 100+ connectors (OpenMetadata lists 130+, DataHub 140+). OpenMetadata builds data quality tests into the open source product, and its managed edition, Collate, has a published free tier; DataHub Cloud has no published free tier.
Sources
- OpenMetadata website
- OpenMetadata GitHub repository (Apache 2.0)
- OpenMetadata release notes
- OpenMetadata deployment documentation
- Collate pricing
Checked November 2026.
Listed in: Data Catalog & Governance.
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