Dataedo VS Purview

In this article, we would like to showcase key features that differentiate Dataedo from Microsoft Purview.

Dataedo and Purview present unique methods for discovering, documenting, and managing metadata, each boasting its own set of strengths. We grouped features and differences by Personas using Data Catalog and their specific needs.

ℹ️ Use the Table of Contents on the article's sidebar to jump to the Persona you are interested in.

Dataedo Overview

Dataedo excels with some convenient features for different Personas Business Users will appreciate a user-friendly web interface with features like Profiling, Lineage, Data Models, or the ability to collaborate with the community.
Data Stewards can use tools like Steward Hub, Workflows, AI Assistant, and the ability to track curation to boost their productivity.
In contrast to Purview, it supports open-source databases like MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL on all cloud platforms.
It is also worth mentioning that it supports better automated lineage for even Microsoft technologies like SQL Server, Microsoft Dataverse, and modern Data Management Platforms like Microsoft Fabric, DBT, and Databricks with Unity Catalog. A more detailed comparison is below.

Purview Overview

Purview, on the other hand, is a Microsoft product that integrates well with various Microsoft and Azure stacks, offering automated data classification using a reach list of built-in rules and sensitive data identification.
However, its support for metadata, lineage, or classification for many technologies is limited and requires additional manual effort, which is slowing down Catalog adoption in organizations.

Dataedo distinctive features grouped by Persona

Data Steward Features

Data Steward , and Data Curator - play a pivotal roles in documenting data ecosystems, adding business context to raw metadata harvested automatically. The features below were designed to help them be more productive and deliver better documentation.

Feature	Dataedo	Purview
Entity Relationship Diagrams	Automated Discovery (Reverse Engineering) and modeling of Data Models Entity Relationship Diagrams and Primary, Foreign Keys, to keep documentation up to date	In Purview Schema is discovered automatically but not harvesting PK, FK nor relationships to other tables, so Stewards or experts need to document it separately i.e. in the description as tables or adding links to external documentation with data model ERD which is usually stale
Documentation Curation	AI Auto Documentation help data steward automatically document metadata Power Users can self-document assets editing description directly from Dataedo Web, facilitating Crowdsourcing knowledge from experts	Documentation can be edited only by data steward (curators) so it's hard to collect knowledge from experts \| AI assistant not available
Documentation Export	Dataedo offers alternative ways of sharing documentation in the formats Html, Pdf & Excel	Documentation can't be exported in standard format
Documentation Format	Dataedo description provides full, rich text support, including attachments, pictures, hyperlinks, and code blocks	In Purview, Rich text editor has limited options for edition, i.e., can't attach code blocks, attachments, or pictures
Collaboration	Collaborate with Users Data Community, answering their comments or raised warnings in easy-to-manage threads	User can rate asset and leave simple comments but can't raise an issue or start thread
Steward Portal	Dataedo offering Steward Hub, which uses built-in rules and GenerativeAI models, automatically recommends areas of improvement, suggesting documentation fill-ins and potential entity links.	❌
Steward Reports	Offering Tracker to see the progress of the documentation process per source directly in the catalog explorer highlighting areas that need attention	In Purview Data Estate Insights has a couple of dashboards showing KPI's about curation of assets or catalog adoptions, classification and allow to drill down to see the details
Data Quality	Automatically generate Data Profiles so users can better understand data and quality Avoid surprises, troubleshoot faster by tracking Schema changes and quickly identify what has changed using code diff Instead of Excel, better manage your reference data (lookups, LoV) with ease using dataedo reference data management	❌

Data Workers Features

Data workers - can play different roles in the organization. They can be Business users looking for the right report. Data Analyst or BI Developer who is looking for data sources for the report creation or analysis. These Personas will use the Dataedo web portal to find & understand data assets and collaborate with stewards and owners in case of any doubts.

Feature	Dataedo	Purview
User Interface	Provides Business User-friendly Web Portal UI	Purview recently improved UI. However, less technical users might find features like search, browse, or lineage a bit overwhelming
Search & Browse	Find Popular keywords for your data source
Report Catalog	Easily find reports helpful for your use case, using business-friendly UI showing visualizations, business glossaries, and datasets cataloged in one place.	In Purview, users can find reports among other assets using filters, but the browsing experience might be difficult
Data Lineage	trace back the source of the data used in the report dataset in user-friendly end-to-end showing object or column level lineage.	The Purview lineage graph only shows objects. Mapping between columns is in the table view below. Navigation between objects is clunky
Collaboration	Using Data Community for data asset or lineage, you can ask questions or start discussion with experts to solve doubts, provide ratings or raise warnings to improve the trustworthiness of data	❌
Learning	Users can use Micro-Learning approach, leveraging provided Video Tutorials or	\| Bootcamp \|❌
Data Profiling	Better understand and increase confidence in your data using Data Profiling	❌
Data Quality checks	Are on the roadmap	❌

Data Catalog Owner Features

Feature	Dataedo	Purview
Customer Success Manager	Will help you to achieve goals, answer all your questions, and provide initial training and ongoing support	❌
Customer Support	You can report issues directly from the application, and Dataedo Support will help to solve it	Microsoft Support does not react to provided feedback
Product Roadmap	Dataedo has transparent Product Vision & Roadmap	Microsoft do not provide roadmap so hard to plan
Releases	Dataedo has regular minor releases of improving existing product features and major releases with new features	Users are informed about new features if they become available for public preview

Data Source Admin Features

Data Source Administrator is usually an IT person like Cloud engineer or Database admin, who manages the data stores or applications.

Feature	Dataedo	Purview
Native Connectors	68	46
Bring Your own Connector	Offering customers generic connectors can be used to configure custom connectors if a source is not yet supported	❌
Data Catalog API	REST API to easily integrate with Dataedo is on the roadmap	provides Apache Atlas API