Side by side
Coalesce Catalog vs Dataform
Both stand on data preparation for analytics. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Choose Coalesce Catalog if your team needs discovery, documentation, lineage, and governance across a connected data stack. The free Developer plan has strict user, action, project, and environment limits; teams needing more capacity can consider Starter, which is $150 a month billed annually.
Visit Coalesce Catalog
Dataform combines SQL workflow development, versioning, quality checks, and scheduling for BigQuery teams. The service is free, though execution-related charges and its compilation and runtime limits are important to account for.
Visit DataformThe facts
| Coalesce Catalog | Dataform | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | API, Extension, Web | API, Web |
| Lowest paid plan | Starter: $150 a month | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | coalesce.io | cloud.google.com |
| On data preparation for analytics | #2 of 22 | #6 of 22 |
Coalesce Catalog: what it does well
- Natural-language search finds domains, dashboards, tables, and columns.
- Automatically maps column-level lineage from sources to BI tools.
- Governance includes sensitive-data classification and detailed audit trails.
- Public API can read and update metadata.
- Developer plan includes Transform and Quality.
What to know first
- The free Developer plan is limited to one user and 2,000 monthly actions.
- Developer is limited to one project and one environment.
- Starter requires annual billing at $150 a month.
- Starter includes only three Catalog integrations.
Dataform: what it does well
- Free service for developing BigQuery workflows.
- Adds dependencies, assertions, and documentation to SQL.
- Connects to four named Git providers.
- Supports workflow scheduling and automation.
- Dataform Core can run locally.
What to know first
- Execution-related Google Cloud services may incur charges.
- Compilation cannot access the internet or external APIs.
- Each repository needs a custom service account.
- V8 runtime lacks additional Node.js capabilities and modules.
Alternatives to Coalesce Catalog Alternatives to Dataform The whole list