Report:
The Forrester Wave™: Data Governance Solutions, Q3 2025
How does Forrester define the Data Governance Solutions market in 2025?
Data governance has outgrown its compliance roots: In today's AI-fueled and data-saturated enterprise, it's the control plane for trust, agility, and scale. The next frontier isn't just about managing metadata — it's about activating it. Agentic AI is setting the pace for the market, promising self-driving governance systems that automate classification, policy enforcement, and remediation while keeping humans in the loop. As organizations shift from managing data to monetizing it, the most advanced solutions are enabling governed, reusable data products to flow through dynamic marketplaces — fueling AI models, accelerating insights, and unlocking new value streams across the business.
Key Facts for The Forrester Wave™: Data Governance Solutions, Q3 2025 in 2025
- Publication Date: 09-Jul-2025
- Document ID: b6985956
- Summary: In our evaluation of data governance solutions providers, we identified the most significant ones and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report shows how each provider measures up and helps you select the right one for your needs.
- Authors: Raluca Alexandru
How did the Data Governance Solutions market evolve in 2025?
- Data governance has outgrown its compliance roots and is now the control plane for trust, agility, and scale in AI-fueled enterprises
- Agentic AI is setting the pace for the market, promising self-driving governance systems that automate classification, policy enforcement, and remediation
- Leading technology providers are prioritizing data governance as a cornerstone for enabling AI readiness and advancing agentic AI capabilities
- Organizations are shifting from managing data to monetizing it through governed, reusable data products
- Advanced solutions enable data products to flow through dynamic marketplaces, fueling AI models and unlocking new value streams
- The next frontier is about activating metadata, not just managing it
- Recent acquisitions in the industry reflect the growing importance of data governance for AI readiness
- 13 providers were evaluated in this Forrester Wave assessment
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- Standalone data governance solution that integrates into open data infrastructures
- Native provision of all core data governance functionalities
- Demonstrated track record for supporting large enterprises
- Coverage beyond single data governance segment (not solely data security, privacy and compliance, data strategy and process solutions, analytics and insights support, or data sharing and commercialization)
- Business presence and revenue in at least two major geographic areas
- At least $25 million in annual revenue from data governance solutions product
What are the common features of top products in the Data Governance Solutions space?
No common features specified.
Scope Exclusions
- Vendors whose data governance solutions primarily focus on their proprietary platform, solution, or infrastructure
- Vendors that provide an offering solely in one data governance segment (e.g., data security, privacy and compliance, data strategy and process solutions, analytics and insights support, data sharing and commercialization)
- Vendors without coverage of at least two major geographies
- Vendors with less than $25 million in annual category revenue
- Vendors without sufficient mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- A standalone data governance solution that integrates into open data infrastructures
- Broad, enterprise-level support for data governance functionalities - natively provides all core functionalities
- Coverage of at least two major geographies with business presence and revenue
- More than $25 million in annual category revenue from data governance solutions
- Mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients - frequently mentioned in client interactions
Offering Strengths — Relative Weighting
- Data discovery — 5%
- Business glossary — 6%
- Data catalog — 5%
- Semantics — 5%
- Lineage acquisition and visualization — 3%
- Data observability — 5%
- Data enrichment — 5%
- Impact analysis — 5%
- Policy compliance monitoring/reporting — 5%
- Policy development and management — 5%
- Stewardship roles and responsibilities — 5%
- Stewardship workflows — 5%
- Issue remediation and approval workflows — 5%
- Data usage monitoring — 5%
- Data collaboration — 5%
- Lineage analysis and management — 5%
- Data valuation — 3%
- Data governance management — 5%
- Data sharing and commercialization — 3%
- Security, privacy, and compliance features — 5%
- AI governance — 5%
Strategy Strength — Relative Weighting
- Vision — 20%
- Innovation — 10%
- Roadmap — 20%
- Partner ecosystem — 10%
- Adoption — 15%
- Pricing flexibility and transparency — 15%
- Community — 10%
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates 13 data governance solutions providers across current offering capabilities, strategy, and customer feedback. It covers vendors that provide standalone data governance solutions integrating into open data infrastructures, with broad enterprise-level support, coverage of at least two major geographies, and more than $25 million in annual category revenue.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: Data governance solutions customers should use this evaluation to inform purchase decisions. Organizations seeking to infuse governance workflows with automation and AI, empower business users and stewards with intuitive experiences, and align governance capabilities with business value creation should use this research to identify the right provider for their needs.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: To be included in this evaluation, vendors must offer: 1) A standalone data governance solution that can be implemented and used outside of the vendor's own ecosystem and integrates into open data infrastructures, 2) Native provision of all core data governance functionalities with demonstrated enterprise-level support (not just offerings in a single segment like security or privacy), 3) Business presence and revenue in at least two major geographic areas, 4) At least $25 million in annual revenue from data governance solutions in the last four quarters, and 5) Sufficient mindshare among Forrester's enterprise clients as evidenced by frequent mentions in client interactions and competitive positioning.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Data governance solutions that primarily focus on the vendor's proprietary platform or infrastructure rather than integrating into open data environments
- Point solutions that only address one data governance segment (such as only data security, only privacy and compliance, only data strategy, only analytics support, or only data sharing)
- Lack of enterprise-level capabilities or demonstrated track record supporting large organizations
- Limited geographic coverage (presence in only one major region)
- Insufficient revenue scale (less than $25 million annual revenue from data governance solutions)
- Limited market presence or mindshare among enterprise clients
- Vendors that declined to participate in the full evaluation process
Q: What should buyers consider when evaluating products in this market?
A:
- Infuse governance workflows with automation and AI - assess how vendors are operationalizing AI not just as a feature, but as a foundation for scale, consistency, and speed
- Empower business users and stewards with intuitive, intelligent experiences - look for platforms that combine role-based personalization, embedded collaboration, and AI-driven recommendations
- Align governance capabilities with business value creation - seek solutions that enable faster decision-making, reduce risk, and lay groundwork for intelligent data products and dynamic data marketplaces
Q: How has the Data Governance Solutions market evolved in 2025?
A:
- Agentic AI emerging as a key differentiator, enabling systems to act autonomously while encoding human intent
- Governance evolving from passive documentation to intelligent, agentic workflows
- Leading technology providers prioritizing data governance as a cornerstone for enabling AI readiness
- Organizations shifting from managing data to monetizing it through governed, reusable data products
- Advanced solutions enabling data products to flow through dynamic marketplaces
- Recent acquisitions in the industry reflecting growing importance of data governance for AI capabilities
Q: What differentiates Strength of Offering vs. Strength of Strategy?
A: Strength of Offering evaluates current product capabilities across 21 criteria focused on functional completeness, automation, AI integration, and user experience - measuring what the platform can do today. Strength of Strategy assesses the vendor's vision, innovation approach, roadmap clarity, ecosystem partnerships, market adoption, pricing models, and community engagement - measuring where the vendor is headed and how well positioned they are for future market needs. Offering is about present capabilities; Strategy is about future direction and market positioning.
Reference
- Forrester, The Forrester Wave™: Data Governance Solutions, Q3 2025, 09-Jul-2025, ID b6985956
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