Collibra Units (CUs) are “the consumption-based measurement used to track usage of advanced capabilities across the Collibra Platform”. They work as “a flexible credit system” for the computing cost of premium services such as AI-powered Copilot queries and automated description generation.[1] The Collibra documentation says CUs “currently power most Collibra AI features”, and that the consumption model is expected to expand to new advanced capabilities and premium features.[2] The Master Collibra Agreement already lists “consumption units” as a possible Usage Limit, so CUs fit the contract framework in Master Collibra Agreement and policies.[3] Catalog proof: Collibra Units measure use of advanced capabilities across the Collibra Platform.
Editions
CUs are not a separate edition. Every package includes an initial allocation, and “once this allocation is exhausted, additional CUs are required to maintain access to advanced Collibra capabilities”.[1] The factsheet gives the allowances per package.
| Package | Included Collibra Units per contract |
|---|---|
| V3 and Standard/Premiere Package | 70,000[1] |
| V4 Ultimate Package | 100,000[1] |
Catalog proof: V3 and Standard/Premiere contracts include 70,000 Collibra Units; V4 Ultimate contracts include 100,000 Collibra Units. The factsheet says the allowances apply “based on their license” for new and existing customers, that customers are allocated free units as of the April 2026 release (2026.04), and that CUs apply to the 2026.04 release or later versions.[1] Catalog proof: Collibra Units apply to the 2026.04 release or later. SKU rows: Collibra Standard or Premiere package (V3), Collibra Ultimate package (V4), Collibra Units add-on bundle.
AI Governance and AI Command Center are listed among Collibra’s products and features.[6] The AI Governance limitations page says “performance is significantly impaired if you have more than 1,000 AI Use Case assets” in the environment, with some related-policy features not working for all AI Use Case assets.[5] That is a technical limit rather than a licence term. Catalog proof: AI Governance performance is impaired above 1,000 AI Use Case assets.
Metrics
What consumes CUs. CU consumption “is driven by two mechanisms”: transactions (one-time actions such as generating a description, running an AI query or submitting a Copilot request) and storage (indexing data for advanced retrieval or permanent storage for a feature).[1] The documentation lists the features that currently consume CUs: the AI-powered writing assistant agent (in preview), Asset Description Generation, Collibra AI Copilot (in preview), Control Tower, Diagram Description Generation, DQ AI Rule Generation (SQL Assistant for Data Quality), Maestro Studio, the Semantic Mapping Agent and Semantic Model Generation.[2] Generally Available and Public Preview features consume CUs, while features in Private Preview “are free to use and do not draw down CU balances”.[1][2] Catalog proof: Private Preview features do not consume CUs; GA and Public Preview features do; CUs power most Collibra AI features and the model will expand to new capabilities.
No public rate card. The cost of a Copilot query “varies based on computation complexity and the amount of data processed (input/output tokens)”, so “there is no static per-query price list”, and an estimator tool was in development.[1] CUs are consumed when a transaction occurs, “regardless of whether the output is accepted or saved”. Storage is charged daily, so disabling a feature stops new storage charges from that point and deleting embedded assets lowers the daily burn rate the next day.[1] Catalog proof: CUs are charged when a request is made, whether or not the output is accepted; CU storage is charged daily and stops when a feature is disabled.
MCP. “MCP itself is free”, although two MCP tools (discover_business_terms and discover_data_assets in the factsheet, named discover_business_glossary and discover_data_assets in the product documentation) call Copilot functions and consume CUs. They can be disabled in settings or removed from the MCP server.[1][2] Catalog proof: Collibra MCP is free but two tools consume CUs.
Counting / floors
Allowance structure. Each environment within a contract (for example Production, Development and Testing) receives the same starting allowance, and usage is shared across all environments under the contract. The factsheet’s example is a Standard customer with three environments, where Development and Testing consume 30,000 units and 40,000 remain for Production or any other environment. A separate contract, such as one for another department or region, has its own independent allowance, and units are not shared across contracts.[1] The CU documentation adds that the allowance is “shared across all environments tied to the contract”.[2] Catalog proof: CU allowance is shared across all environments of one contract; Units are not shared across separate contracts.
Reset and add-ons. “No rollover: Unused units do not carry over.” The factsheet says balances reset at the start of a new contract term, aligned to the full contract term (a two-year contract resets at the start of the next two-year term). The product documentation describes an annual reset instead: the balance “resets annually at the start of a new contract year”, and for multi-year contracts the dashboard shows only the current contract year.[1][2] The two descriptions differ for multi-year contracts, so the Order is the authority on the reset date. Additional CU bundles are bought through the account team and applied at the contract level, upgrading the shared allowance for all environments tied to it.[2] The dashboard totals the annual allowance and the additional allowance acquired during the contract year. Catalog proof: Unused Collibra Units do not roll over and reset with the contract term; Add-on CU bundles are bought at contract level and raise the shared allowance.
Guardrails. Three thresholds apply to the total allowance.
| Threshold | Effect |
|---|---|
| 80% | Warning. Administrators receive an automated email alert (available after the 2026.04 release); no impact on usage[1] |
| 100% | Rate limiting. Premium features remain available but are slower to reduce the pace of consumption[1] |
| 120% | Service paused. All CU-powered consumption halts, including new transactions and ongoing storage charges, until an add-on CU bundle is purchased; “no unexpected billing occurs”[1] |
The product documentation describes the same three levels and notes that users see banners in the CU-connected features at 80%, 100% and 120%, and that at 120% users “encounter system errors” until additional CUs are purchased or the annual contract resets.[2] There is no configurable spending limit in the platform, but features that consume CUs can be turned off at any time. “Collibra does not charge beyond 100% of your allocation and does not block usage until 120%.” There is no emergency unlock process, and the 20% buffer between 100% and 120% “is provided free of charge”.[1] Catalog proof: At 100% of CUs premium features are rate-limited; At 120% of CUs all CU-powered consumption is paused until an add-on bundle is bought; There is no configurable CU spending limit, and no charge beyond 100%.
The guardrails are technical limits. The MCA separately says the customer pays for excess use above Usage Limits at Order rates and for usage in excess of Order commitments.[3] The factsheet says the CU disclosure is incremental to existing agreements and that “in the event of any conflict or ambiguity… the terms of the existing agreement shall control”.[1] Catalog proof: CUs are incremental to existing agreements, which control in a conflict.
Rates can change. “Collibra Unit consumption rates are subject to change. Collibra will provide reasonable advance notice prior to implementing any rate adjustments that may adversely affect your allocation or consumption.”[1] Catalog proof: CU consumption rates can change with reasonable advance notice.
Virtualization & partitioning
CU allowances are not tied to hosts, processors or cores. There is no way to set separate budgets for departments or user groups: the factsheet says distinct CU budgets or limits for different groups “is not available at this time”, and CU consumption data is visible only to users with administrator privileges.[1] The dashboard can be filtered by environment and date range, and it breaks consumption down by feature and environment.[2] The retrieved documents contain no rule of the kind described in virtualization and partitioning.
Cloud / BYOL
The CU model applies to Cloud environments only. The documentation states that it “doesn’t impact Collibra Platform for Government or Collibra Platform Self-Hosted (CPSH) environments”.[2] Catalog proof: CU consumption applies to Cloud environments, not Platform for Government or CPSH. The factsheet FAQ says Collibra Units apply to the 2026.04 release or later versions.[1]
For AI data handling the Master Collibra Agreement says Collibra “shall not send Customer Data to any third party to train or retrain a third party’s Generative AI without prior written consent”, treats customer input and output as Customer Data, and commits to ISO 42001 applicable practices for generative AI features.[3] The AI Acceptable Use Policy makes customers responsible for lawful use, appropriate use cases, validating AI outputs and human oversight, and prohibits automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects without human oversight.[4] Catalog proof: Collibra will not send Customer Data to third parties to train their Generative AI without consent; AI Services users are responsible for legality, suitability and reviewing outputs; AI AUP bars automated decisions with significant effects without human oversight.
Programs
- Collibra Units included allowance. Included with every contract, shared across environments, reset each contract term, with 80%, 100% and 120% guardrails.[1]
- Add-on bundles. Extra CU bundles can be purchased through the account team at contract level.[2]
- Tracking. Administrators with the Product Rights > System administration global permission can open the Collibra Units consumption dashboard under Users and subscriptions in Settings.[2]
Out of scope
This article does not give CU prices, add-on bundle sizes, per-feature unit costs or the estimator’s results, because Collibra does not publish them. It does not cover user seats (Collibra user licenses and seats) or data quality jobs (Collibra Data Quality, self-hosted and public sector licensing).