OpenMetadata pricing guide details
OpenMetadata pricing stands out in the data catalog and metadata management space because the platform is completely free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license. With over 3,000 enterprise deployments and 120+ native connectors, OpenMetadata delivers enterprise-grade metadata management at zero cost for self-hosted deployments, while Collate offers a free managed SaaS option for teams that prefer not to manage infrastructure.
Pricing Overview
OpenMetadata follows an open-source model that removes licensing costs entirely. Here is how the available options break down:
| Plan | Price | Deployment | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source (Self-Hosted) | Free | Your own infrastructure | Teams with DevOps capacity who want full control |
| Free SaaS (Collate) | Free | Collate-managed cloud | Teams wanting quick setup without infrastructure management |
| Live Sandbox | Free | Hosted demo environment | Evaluation and testing with demo data |
The self-hosted open-source edition includes the full platform with no feature gating or artificial limitations. Every capability, from data discovery and lineage tracking to data quality checks and governance workflows, ships in the core open-source release. Collate, the company founded by OpenMetadata's creators, provides a managed SaaS version that you can sign up for at no cost, removing the operational burden of self-hosting.
Key Features by Plan
Since OpenMetadata is fully open source, all features are available regardless of how you deploy it. The platform includes:
Data Discovery and Search -- Search, facet, and preview across your entire data estate including tables, topics, dashboards, pipelines, and services. The unified metadata graph centralizes all metadata for all data assets in a single place.
Data Lineage -- Column-level lineage and data transformation tracking give full visibility into how data flows through your organization. This helps teams understand data origins and downstream impacts of changes.
Data Quality and Observability -- Built-in data quality checks, profiling, and observability features let you monitor data health without purchasing separate tools. Data validation and quality checks run natively within the platform.
Governance and Collaboration -- Metadata versioning supports data governance workflows. Teams can collaborate through annotations, tags, and ownership assignments. User management features control access across the organization.
100+ Data Connectors -- The ingestion framework supports connectors for over 100 data services, covering databases (Snowflake, BigQuery, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redshift), dashboards (Tableau, Power BI, Looker, Metabase), pipelines (Airflow, Dagster, Fivetran), and many more. New connectors are added with every release.
API-First Architecture -- Standardized schemas and APIs provide full metadata control and customization. Extensible metadata entities and relationships let you tailor the metadata graph to your specific data needs.
Plan Comparison With Competitors
OpenMetadata's open-source model creates a dramatic cost difference compared to commercial alternatives in the metadata management space:
| Tool | Pricing Model | Starting Price | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenMetadata | Open Source | Free | Full platform, no limitations |
| Alation | Enterprise | Quoted; no public rate | No free tier |
| Secoda | Freemium | $99/month | 1 editor, 500 resources, 2 integrations |
| Snowplow | Usage-Based | $9/month | No free tier |
Alation sells at the high end of the market and publishes no rate; licences, connectors, add-ons and services are all quoted. Secoda offers a more accessible entry point with a free tier, though it is limited to 1 editor, 500 resources, and 2 integrations, with paid plans starting at $99/month. Snowplow operates on a usage-based model starting at $9/month but serves a different primary use case focused on behavioral data collection rather than metadata management.
The cost savings with OpenMetadata are substantial. A team that would pay Alation's quoted enterprise price can deploy OpenMetadata for the cost of infrastructure alone, which runs far below commercial catalog licensing fees.
Free Tier and Trial Options
OpenMetadata provides three ways to get started at no cost, each suited to a different evaluation workflow:
Self-Hosted Open Source -- Download and deploy the full OpenMetadata platform in your own environment. This is not a trial or a limited edition. You get the complete platform with all features, all 120+ native connectors, and no usage caps. The only cost is your own infrastructure and the engineering time to deploy and maintain it. The platform uses a streamlined architecture with only four system components, making deployment simpler than many alternatives.
Free SaaS via Collate -- Sign up for the free Collate-managed cloud service and connect your own data sources. This eliminates infrastructure management while still giving you access to OpenMetadata's full feature set. This is the fastest path to using OpenMetadata with your actual production data.
Live Sandbox -- Experience OpenMetadata instantly with pre-loaded demo data. This sandbox environment requires no signup or installation and lets you explore the interface, search capabilities, lineage views, and governance features in seconds.
Who Should Choose Each Plan
Self-Hosted Open Source works best for mid-size to large data teams that have dedicated DevOps or platform engineering capacity. If your organization already manages Kubernetes clusters or similar infrastructure, adding OpenMetadata is straightforward. This option gives you complete control over upgrades, security configurations, and network isolation, making it the preferred choice for organizations with strict compliance requirements.
Free SaaS via Collate is the right choice for teams that want to move fast without allocating engineering resources to infrastructure management. Startups, growing data teams, and organizations evaluating metadata management for the first time benefit from the zero-setup experience. You connect your data sources and start cataloging immediately.
For teams comparing OpenMetadata against Alation, the decision often comes down to whether you need the commercial support contracts and professional services that come with enterprise pricing, or whether your team can operate an open-source platform independently. OpenMetadata's 3,000+ enterprise deployments and active community of 11,000+ members demonstrate that organizations across industries successfully run it in production without commercial support.
For teams comparing OpenMetadata against Secoda, OpenMetadata offers a more comprehensive free option. Where Secoda's free tier limits you to 1 editor, 500 resources, and 2 integrations, OpenMetadata imposes no such restrictions. If your data estate exceeds those limits, OpenMetadata is the clear choice for teams that want full-featured metadata management without per-user or per-resource costs.