Microsoft MDS replacement guide
Best Microsoft Master Data Services alternatives in 2026: what should replace MDS?
There is no new Microsoft Master Data Services waiting behind SQL Server 2025.
Microsoft removed MDS from SQL Server 2025 while continuing to support it in SQL Server 2022 and earlier releases. If you run MDS today, that leaves you with something more interesting than an upgrade problem.
You now have to decide what kind of Master Data Management you actually want next.
Before making a shortlist
Do not start by asking which platform looks most like MDS.
Start by deciding which parts of MDS are genuinely valuable, which parts are technical baggage, and what your data architecture needs to do over the next five to ten years.
First things first, there is no direct Microsoft successor to MDS
SQL Server 2025 does not contain Master Data Services. Microsoft continues to support MDS in SQL Server 2022 and earlier versions, which means existing environments have not suddenly expired.
What has disappeared is the assumption that MDS will simply travel forward with the next SQL Server upgrade. That gives organisations four broad choices:
01
Stay put
Keep MDS on a supported SQL Server release while you plan.
02
Build
Recreate the capabilities you need using Microsoft services and custom development.
03
Replace
Move to a dedicated enterprise MDM platform.
04
Modernise
Use the migration to change how master data is managed, governed and maintained.
Do you actually need another enterprise MDM platform?
If your MDS estate consists of a handful of reference tables, a small number of editors and straightforward approval requirements, buying a major MDM platform may be excessive.
A focused application built with technologies your team already operates may be enough.
The warning sign is when your "small replacement" starts acquiring matching, survivorship, hierarchies, stewardship, workflows, audit history, data quality, publishing and governance.
At that point you are no longer building a reference data application. You are building MDM.
The MDM market has changed rather a lot, too
If your last MDM review was a couple of years ago, your vendor map is already out of date. Salesforce completed its acquisition of Informatica in November 2025. SAP completed its acquisition of Reltio in May 2026. That matters. An MDM purchase is rarely just a feature comparison. Ownership, product direction, surrounding ecosystem and long-term architectural fit matter as well.
November 2025
Salesforce + Informatica
Informatica's data integration, governance, quality and MDM portfolio now sits within Salesforce.
May 2026
SAP + Reltio
Reltio is now part of SAP, with SAP positioning the technology as part of its wider AI-ready enterprise data strategy.
So, what should be on an MDS replacement shortlist?
The following is not a league table, and it is not exhaustive and is written by our team. These are different approaches to the same broad problem. The useful question is "which operating model fits the estate we are trying to build?".
For organisations using MDS retirement as a reason to change the operating model
CluedIn is a graph-native Agentic Master Data Management platform with direct Microsoft MDS migration and coexistence capabilities.
Rather than reproducing MDS object for object, CluedIn combines mastering, entity resolution, Golden Records, data quality, governance, relationships, enrichment and governed AI agents.
It is particularly relevant where the wider architecture is already moving toward Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft Purview, Power Platform, Azure and AI-based data operations.
Look closely if: MDS is business-critical, you want staged coexistence rather than a big-bang cutover, and the destination needs to do materially more than MDS did.
Informatica
Broad enterprise data management, now inside Salesforce
Informatica offers multidomain MDM alongside a much broader portfolio covering integration, data quality, governance, cataloguing and metadata.
Its current positioning extends into agentic MDM and trusted data for AI, with connectivity across environments including Microsoft Fabric, Databricks and other major data platforms.
Look closely if: you need a broad enterprise data management suite, already have significant Informatica investment, or see strategic value in its new position within Salesforce.
Semarchy
A modern multidomain MDM approach with flexible deployment
Semarchy positions its platform around trusted multidomain master data, federated governance and AI-ready data, with cloud, container and on-premises deployment options.
Its current platform positioning also brings DataOps and Copilot capabilities into the MDM proposition.
Look closely if: flexible deployment, multidomain management and a less suite-heavy MDM architecture are important requirements.
Reltio
Cloud-native multidomain MDM, now part of SAP
Reltio's MDM proposition centres on cloud-native multidomain mastering, entity resolution, continuous data quality, dynamic survivorship and real-time trusted data.
SAP completed its acquisition of Reltio in May 2026 and has said the technology will contribute to its wider Business Data Cloud and AI-ready data strategy.
Look closely if: real-time cloud MDM is central to the requirement, while also assessing how the SAP acquisition affects the long-term product and commercial roadmap.
Ataccama
Strong overlap between MDM and data quality
Ataccama combines MDM with data quality capabilities and supports cleansing, standardisation, matching and merging as part of the mastering process.
Its MDM product is data-source agnostic and designed to integrate into broader enterprise data estates.
Look closely if: your MDS replacement programme is tightly coupled to a wider data quality initiative.
Stibo Systems
Multidomain governance with deep domain management
Stibo Systems offers multidomain MDM designed to connect, govern and share master data across multiple internal and external sources.
Its platform supports relationships and hierarchies across domains and is commonly positioned around areas such as product, customer, supplier and other enterprise master data.
Look closely if: domain-rich MDM, governance and complex product or supplier data are significant parts of the programme.
SAP Master Data Governance
A natural candidate when SAP sits at the centre of the estate
SAP MDG provides central governance, consolidation, workflow, approval, distribution and data quality capabilities for domains including business partners, products, financial data and custom objects.
It can be deployed as a hub or alongside SAP S/4HANA, which makes the surrounding SAP architecture an important part of the buying decision.
Look closely if: SAP applications and SAP master data processes dominate the enterprise architecture.
The comparison that matters is not the feature checklist
Most established MDM platforms can tick a lot of the same boxes. That does not mean they will produce the same architecture, operating cost or migration experience.
What if Microsoft Fabric is already part of the plan?
This is where the MDS decision becomes more architectural. Fabric can become the centre of analytics, data engineering and AI workloads without requiring your MDM platform to become another isolated island. A sensible architecture separates the jobs:
ERP / CRM / PIM / legacy systems
→
Mastering + Quality + Governance
→
Fabric / Purview / Analytics / AI
When would we not recommend CluedIn?
If your current MDS deployment is little more than fifteen reference tables and an occasional approval workflow, you probably do not need to turn its retirement into a major enterprise MDM programme. Keep the solution proportionate to the problem.
CluedIn becomes much more relevant when MDS is managing business-critical entities across multiple systems, when matching and survivorship matter, when stewardship is consuming significant effort, or when the mastered data now needs to support Fabric, governance, analytics and AI.
The decision in one sentence
Do not choose the platform that most closely recreates MDS. Choose the operating model you want after MDS.
There is time to make a sensible decision
Microsoft has not switched MDS off. Existing SQL Server 2022 deployments remain supported. That breathing room is useful.
Use it to inventory what MDS actually does, identify the downstream contracts that matter, remove logic you no longer need and test the replacement architecture against a real domain before committing to an enterprise-wide migration.
The organisations that get this right will not simply have replaced MDS. They will have used its retirement to remove a chunk of legacy architecture and improve how trusted data gets produced in the first place.
Migrating from Microsoft MDS?
See what a staged move from MDS to CluedIn looks like.
Connect the existing MDS estate, validate the new mastered outputs alongside it and move downstream consumers progressively rather than forcing a single cutover.
Explore MDS migration with CluedIn Talk to CluedIn