> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.opscompendium.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://www.opscompendium.com/dataops/data-catalogs.md).

# Data Catalogs

Tools

1. [Alation](https://www.alation.com/) - "A [Data Catalog](https://www.alation.com/product/data-catalog/) is a collection of metadata, combined with data management and search tools, that helps analysts and other data users to find the data that they need, serves as an inventory of available data, and provides information to evaluate fitness of data for intended uses."

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