Effective data management makes data relevant, easy to find, and ready to use. In fact, individuals generate about 408.22 quintillion bytes of data daily in 2024. For comparison, it’s over 2x more than in 2020. As data volume grows, more businesses struggle to understand what data they have, how it’s used, and who owns it. Based on a Capital One study, 76% of organizations found it difficult to manage their data due to a lack of proper cataloging and governance.
So, how can a business handle so much data from different sources? The answer lies in the use of robust data management tools. In this article, we’ll look at the best options in 2024, their pros & cons, and pricing. Let’s start our review to help you choose the best data management software for your business.
Data management software is a set of tools designed to manage, store, organize, and retrieve data. These programs help businesses handle vast amounts of data, ensure its quality, and make it accessible for analysis.
Today, the data management tools are available in various types of programs:
Besides core functionalities, modern data management tools often include:
All in all, data management tools are a go-to choice to prevent data loss and integrate it with existing workflows.
Data management is more and more integrated with business needs. Today, AI functions, support for cloud environments, and low- or no-code data development are already a standard part of this field. Here are some top data management tools available today:
Now, let’s examine data management software examples in detail.
Rating: 4.2 (388 Reviews)
Price: By request; free trial for 30 days
Informatica MDM is one of the best master data management tools with AI features and low-code/no-code development. As a part of Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC), it provides a range of complementary services. Based on your data type, you can work with customer, product, supplier, finance, or reference 360 products.
Informatica Master Data Management features include:
Informatica MDM is ideal for enterprises that need robust data management solutions. All in all, it is a great choice for quick time to value and ease of configuration for both standard and advanced deployments.
Flexible deployment options across various environments
Not suitable for small business
Enhanced data processes with AI
Non-flexible pricing models
Prebuilt accelerators for key industries
Intuitive and simple user interface
Rating: 4.2 (36 Reviews)
Price: By request
Oracle is a cloud data management platform for enterprises with real-time collaboration. Users can connect both Oracle and non-Oracle business apps. This tool allows visual comparison of business perspectives, lists, or hierarchies side-by-side. Here, you can browse, filter, and download detailed change histories, as well as manage requests and submissions.
Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud provides:
The solution is on offer to enterprise customers, but Oracle also provides product master data management tools as an alternative.
Simplified rich user interface
Complexity of configuration
Visualization and complex data management
Lower performance with non-Oracle products
Packaged cloud app integration
Rating: 4.4 (215 Reviews)
Price: $1,044/year or pro-rated per month per block of 5,000 objects; 30-day free trial
SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) provides comprehensive tools for data management available on SAP S/4HANA or in the cloud. You can manage master data or create, change, and distribute it across your enterprise system. SAP MDG offers customer, supplier, material, financial, retail, and technical data solutions.
SAP MDG has the following features:
SAP MDG suits finance, retail, manufacturing, and supply chain enterprises.
Mature, governed, and compliant multidomain MDM
Lack of native lineage capabilities
Strong support for compliance standards and automated validations
Lagging AI
Pricing flexibility, tiered and deployment-based
Potential integration challenges with non-SAP systems
Provides dynamic scaling, sync options, and audit trails
Not suitable for small business
Rating: 4.5 (103 Reviews)
Price: By request; cloud plans start at $31,000/month
IBM InfoSphere complements analytics, data science, and AI services. These customer data management tools accelerate insights with near real-time consolidation. IBM InfoSphere delivers self-service data access with role-based control capabilities. Here, you can handle data governance, quality, and harmonization in one solution.
InfoSphere MDM features include:
IBM InfoSphere is the go-to solution for enterprises. However, it is not suitable for small businesses with limited data.
Flexible deployment on-premises and on IBM-managed cloud services
Limited data intelligence
Complements data management, analytics, data science, and AI services
Complicated pricing due to a mix of consumption, storage, and compute
Accelerates insights with near real-time data consolidation
Limited reference data sources for data enrichment
Offers role-based access control
Limited traceability of data transformations
Suitable for large companies with complex ecosystems
Lack of automation
Rating: 4.4 (154 Reviews)
Price: By request; 20-day free trial
Collibra is a leader in data governance solutions. It offers four main features: Business Glossary, Policy Manager, Reference Data, and Collibra Assessments. In Business Glossary, users can manage asset types, attributes, taxonomy, and relations. It also provides reporting, traceability, comments, and workflows.
Policy Manager helps adopt, install, and track digital policies. The Reference Data app offers a systematic approach with codes and values to control inputs. Collibra Assessments enable tests using Privacy-packaged templates to check data-related risks.
Collibra Data Governance features include:
Collibra is an excellent choice for organizations needing software data management. It is ideal for businesses managing data policies and assessing data risks.
Feature-rich
Too technical user interface
Automated workflows
Custom connection issues
Business-driven collaboration
Manual lineage documentation
Rating: 4.6 (77 Reviews)
Price: $1 per 1,000 runs; available free $200 credit to use within 30 days
Azure Data Factory offers a range of cloud data integration capabilities. It includes managed SSIS for migrating SQL Server projects to the cloud and serverless data pipelines. Clients can construct code-free ETL (extract, transform, and load) and ELT (extract, load, and transform) processes. Last but not least, its data management products provide business insights with Azure Synapse Analytics.
Azure Data Factory includes:
Azure Data Factory is suitable for businesses that need to transform and move data.
Code-free environment
Complex setup
Comprehensive connectors support
Low granularity of errors, which makes fixes difficult
Unified monitoring dashboard
Rating: 4.4 (1,938 Reviews)
Price: $0.375/hour+
Microsoft SQL Server SSIS is a platform for building enterprise-level data transformation and integration solutions. With SSIS, you can handle data migration, warehousing, and processing.
Microsoft SQL Server SSIS features include:
Microsoft SQL Server SSIS is suitable for businesses that use Microsoft SQL Server and need robust ETL and data integration solutions.
Comprehensive ETL capabilities
Requires SQL Server licensing, which can be costly
Seamless integration with Microsoft SQL Server
Limited to Windows environments
Built-in error handling and logging
May have a learning curve for new users
Rating: 4.1 (107 Reviews)
Price: By request; free trial available
Talend is a unified platform for integration, quality, governance, and data management tools. It offers a self-service app with collaborative management features. Clients can choose to work on on-premises, cloud, multi-cloud, or hybrid cloud. Also, it includes automated quality checks and browser-based, point-and-click options. Notably, Gartner named Talend a Leader for the 7th year among Data Integration Tools.
Talend Data Fabric features include:
To use Talend, an organization needs to have data engineers or coders, as it requires specialized skill sets.
Сonnection to a vast number of system types
Complex setup of some features
Intuitive user interface
Frequent patching issues
Helpful support desk
Rating: 4.2 (24 Reviews)
Price: Free
Apache NiFi is an open-source data integration tool designed to automate flows between systems. It provides a user-friendly interface to design data flows, track provenance, and ensure its quality. NiFi supports directed data routing, transformation, and system mediation logic graphs.
Apache NiFi features include:
Apache NiFi is suitable for organizations with data engineers in the team, as it has a significant learning curve.
Open-source and free-to-use
Requires initial setup and configuration
User-friendly visual interface
Can be complex for users without prior data integration experience
Strong data provenance and tracking features
Rating: 4.3 (309 Reviews)
Price: By request; free trial for 30 days.
Dell Boomi is a multi-cloud platform that combines app integration, B2B/EDI, API governance, flow, event stream, and master data management tools. Boomi’s Master Data Hub allows clients to model master data and gain 360-degree insights across products, employees, and customers.
Dell Boomi offers such functionality:
Dell Boomi is suitable for medium and large businesses with many data sources.
UI-driven/low-code development
Complicated pricing model
Flexible for various business needs
Issues with integrations
A unified platform for integrations, APIs, and data management
Large learning curve for new users
Rating: 4.5 (1,113 Reviews)
Price: Free version available; pro plan starts at $10 user/month; enterprise version price by request
Power BI is an interactive data visualization and analytics platform powered by Microsoft. This tool offers extensive features to integrate, process, analyze, track, and visualize your data. Power BI integrates with various data sources and supports apps you use daily, like those in Microsoft 365.
Power BI features include:
Power BI data management tools are suitable for a wide range of users, from small businesses to large enterprises.
User-friendly report-creation
Performance issues with large datasets
Free training resources
No support for MacOS
Microsoft governance, security, and compliance
Large learning curve for new users
Extensive customization and interactive visualization options
Rating: 4.5 (964 Reviews)
Price: $6.25 per TiB or $0.06/slot hour
BigQuery is a fully managed, serverless data warehouse offered by Google Cloud. It works as a data storage management software with analysis features. BigQuery allows users to run SQL queries on vast amounts of data. It integrates with other Google Cloud services and supports real-time analytics.
BigQuery features include:
BigQuery is a great choice for organizations needing a scalable, high-performance data warehouse for large-scale data storage. It’s the perfect option if your company already has integrated Google Cloud services.
Fully-managed and serverless
Can be expensive for large-scale data usage
Scalable storage and high-performance querying
Requires knowledge of SQL for effective use
Real-time data processing
Limited to Google Cloud Platform ecosystem
Integration with Google Cloud services and BI tools
Rating: 4.6 (16 Reviews)
Price: $12.96 per capacity unit: free trial available
SAP Datasphere is one of the data management tools for integration, cataloging, semantic modeling, and virtualization. It provides data access across hybrid and cloud environments. Users can create and optimize business semantic models by reusing definitions and associations from different SAP apps.
SAP Datasphere include:
SAP Datasphere is an enterprise technology that works best when you have already integrated the SAP ecosystem. It may not be suitable for small businesses with limited data.
Comprehensive data modeling
Unclear pricing
Ease of use
Data import issues
Data visualization
Rating: 4.1 (649 Reviews)
Price: free community edition, $969/month for Cloud Enterprise Edition; 30-day free trial
IBM Db2 is a cloud-native database management platform for transactions, real-time analytics, and AI apps. It helps clients optimize query performance, backup, restore, migrate, clone, and manage databases. Db2 provides features to analyze governed data across hybrid-cloud environments and open formats. Businesses can develop new apps, store and monitor data, and run analytics all in one platform.
IBM Db2 features:
IBM Db2 is suitable for data engineers, enterprise architects, and developers. Depending on the plan, it is a good fit for both large and small businesses.
Strong platform support
Require specialized skills for effective use
Rich ecosystem from development to data management
Lack of automation features
Real-time analytics and AI applications
Limited tools for a free version
Comprehensive backup and restore capabilities
Rating: 4.4 (2,071 Reviews)
Price: $75 user/month + premium data capabilities by request; free trial available
Availability: web, desktop app, IOS, Android
Tableau is an interactive BI data visualization and AI-powered analytics platform. Besides its basic functionality, Tableau provides a set of enterprise data management tools. Clients can benefit from data freshness, usage, and meaning at the point of consumption. It also includes metadata from your enterprise data catalog. Tableau supports data cleaning, transformation, and loading processes.
Tableau data management tools include:
Tableau Data Management is a part of the offer for enterprise customers. However, basic Tableau is also great for small businesses, students, and data analysis experts.
Free 1-year license for students and teachers
Productivity problems with large datasets
Flexible deployment on Tableau cloud (SaaS), Salesforce Hyperforce, public cloud, or on-prem
The learning curve for new users
Advanced analytics engine with AI & ML
Rating: 4.2 (374 Reviews)
Price: By request; available free plan and trials
Fivetran is a data movement platform with over 500 sources of popular SaaS applications, databases, and ERPs. It supports multiple deployment models, including on-premise, cloud, and hybrid environments. Fivetran powers real-time analytics, database replication, AI workflows, cloud migrations, and information management tools.
Fivetran features include:
Fivetran provides plans for organizations of all sizes, from startups to global enterprises.
Ease of use
Confusing pay-as-you-go pricing model, making it challenging to forecast expenses
Large amount of connectors
Slow technical support
Multiple deployment models
Implementing data management tools in your business brings many benefits. To take full advantage of them, identify your company’s challenges. Here’s our quick guide to choosing the right data management tool for your needs:
The data management efficiency also depends on the experience of data engineers and analysts. Contact us, and we’ll provide CVs of top developers with experience in data engineering within a few days.
Get a consultation and start building your dream team ASAP.
REQUEST CVSData management often includes warehousing, integration, quality, and governance. Data warehousing involves the secure storage of data. Data integration combines inputs from different sources to create a unified view. Data quality ensures its accuracy, consistency, and reliability. Data governance sets procedures for managing data assets and ensuring their security.
A data manager tool is software that helps businesses store, organize, manage, and retrieve data. It ensures data integrity, quality, and accessibility for analysis.
As of June 2024, the most popular database management software worldwide is Oracle, with a ranking score of 1,244. MySQL (1,061) and Microsoft SQL Server (821) are the 2nd and 3rd.
