Great Expectations (GX) is an open-source Python framework for data quality. Teams declare "expectations" — assertions such as column non-nullness, value ranges, set membership, or distribution properties — and validate batches of data against them.
Validation runs inside pipelines (commonly from Airflow, Dagster, or dbt-adjacent steps) and produces structured results plus human-readable Data Docs, turning quality checks into browsable documentation.
GX fits as the testing layer of a platform: catching bad data at ingestion boundaries and before publication to consumers. GX Cloud is the managed offering; alternatives include dbt tests for warehouse models and Soda for standalone quality monitoring.