100% Source-Code Lineage coverage. Stop incidents before they reach production.
.png){kind=icon}
Foundational is built on modern lineage that analyzes source code and transformations to understand how data actually flows. Governance happens before changes ship.
Atlan is built on a catalog led approach that aggregates metadata after data is already in motion. Governance focuses on documentation, discovery, and collaboration.
Foundational is build time governance that analyzes uncommitted source code changes in Git before merge to prevent breaking changes. Atlan is a production data catalog that extracts metadata after deployment to support discovery and documentation.
Foundational helps teams prevent incidents before deployment. Atlan helps teams find and document production data after deployment.
Choose Foundational if your goal is preventing incidents and governing change at build time.
Choose Atlan if your goal is discovery and documentation of production assets.
Foundational integrates with Git workflows to analyze code changes during pull requests. It parses uncommitted diffs to detect schema changes, contract violations, and downstream impacts while prevention is still possible.
Atlan connects to production systems to extract metadata and populate a centralized catalog. Teams use Atlan to search for assets, document systems, and understand relationships across deployed pipelines.
Recommended: Foundational
Why: catches breaking changes during pull requests before they ship
Recommended: Atlan
Why: discovery focused search and cataloging for business users
Recommended: Foundational
Why: validates training inputs and detects breaking changes before promotion
Recommended: Foundational
Why: validates training inputs and detects breaking changes before promotion
Recommended: Foundational
Why: build time enforcement with auditable gates
Source code lineage is lineage extracted by analyzing transformation code in version control before it runs in production. It helps teams predict dependencies and downstream impact for a proposed change.
Build time governance enforces policies and quality standards during development, usually via automated checks in CI before code is merged or deployed.
A data catalog is an inventory of production data assets created by extracting metadata from running systems. It supports discovery, documentation, and understanding what exists.
Foundational uses a usage-based pricing model tied to the specific pipelines and assets governed during the build process. Unlike data catalogs or observability tools that price per user seat or connector, Foundational scales with governed change rather than headcount. This approach ensures predictable costs even as data volume and team sizes grow.
Foundational typically delivers value within two to four weeks. Because it integrates directly into Git repositories and CI/CD pipelines, it does not require complex production system connections. Organizations often start by governing high-risk pipelines first to achieve immediate protection against breaking changes.
No. Foundational does not require access to production warehouses, live databases, or BI tools. It operates entirely by analyzing source code in Git to enforce governance standards before code is deployed. This "shift-left" architecture minimizes security risks and simplifies compliance in regulated industries.
Foundational replaces manual code reviews and reactive governance but is often used alongside catalogs for discovery. While catalogs focus on "what exists," Foundational focuses on "what is changing." Some teams eventually consolidate tools once Foundational’s source-code lineage and preventive controls meet their discovery and reliability needs.
Foundational is designed specifically for Data, Analytics, and ML Engineering teams responsible for CI/CD and change management. While business users do not interact with the code-level interface, they benefit from the resulting dashboard stability, trusted metrics, and the elimination of data downtime.
Foundational replaces Atlan’s manual governance workflows and change coordination. It does not replace Atlan’s business-facing glossary or search features. Engineering-led teams often choose Foundational to automate governance directly in the developer workflow rather than relying on manual metadata curation.
It is built into the Git and CI/CD workflow, allowing engineers to govern data as code. Atlan is better suited for non-technical users looking for documentation after data has already been deployed.
If you want governance to happen before deployment, choose Foundational. If you want a catalog to help people find and document production assets, choose Atlan. Many organizations start with prevention where risk is highest, then expand coverage.
Explore how proactive governance creates measurable impact across your entire data lifecycle.
