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IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM) vs Perforce Delphix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM InfoSphere Optim Test D...
Ranking in Test Data Management
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Perforce Delphix
Ranking in Test Data Management
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
Copy Data Management (1st), Data Masking (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Test Data Management category, the mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM) is 6.1%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Perforce Delphix is 17.3%, down from 28.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Test Data Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Perforce Delphix17.3%
IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM)6.1%
Other76.6%
Test Data Management
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user727167 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Oct 19, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

Ajai Lal - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager at Mphasis
Supports both legacy and non-legacy systems
The solution's initial setup is neither complex nor too easy. Around six or seven people, including database administrators, were involved in the solution's deployment. On a scale from one to ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy, I rate the solution's initial setup a four to five out of ten.
PK
Release Train Engineer at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
Automated data masking and provisioning has improved compliance and accelerated secure testing workflows across cloud environments
Some of the best features of Perforce Delphix include its automation of sensitive data discovery and masking with referential integrity for Aurora and RDS, as well as support for diverse data sources including Oracle, SQL, SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. Additionally, its GUI workflows simplify the creation and scheduling of masking jobs and enhance data governance in cloud hybrid and on-premises environments. Perforce Delphix can deliver up to 25 terabytes of data in just minutes, making it approximately 100 times faster for development and testing needs. Perforce Delphix has positively impacted my organization by saving us 70 to 80% of the time, which has enabled us to complete data sprints earlier, and it has also helped reduce costs. The time to complete one story point has decreased from 10 hours to around 4 or 5 hours, leading to substantial cost savings. Furthermore, it's effective in managing scaled agile enterprise data management, as we orchestrate and govern masking jobs across multiple teams and agile release trains to ensure data privacy standards are maintained.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Data archiving saved much storage and improved production performance."
"Optim is a great tool for enterprise data movement, data masking, data sub-setting, data comparison, and data aging."
"Data archiving reduces application performance issues and storage."
"Data masking features are the most valuable, as non-production environments are used by diverse parties and data privacy has to be guaranteed."
"The product has helped to streamline the Test Data Management (TDM) process."
"The Data Archive or Data Growth feature is one of the very useful solutions that help organizations to manage and support their database archiving strategies."
"Makes it really easy to obfuscate big tables involving lots of columns and to manage 100’s of tables without putting in much effort."
"The platform's ability to generate metrics is the most valuable feature for data management. It is a user-friendly and easy-to-use tool."
"Delphix's data distribution is powerful."
"Delphix's data distribution is powerful. It's easy to distribute data with this solution. The main advantage of Delphix is that it generates copies of data."
"Perforce Delphix has made a huge impact in my projects in terms of time saving."
"The most valuable aspect is the product is easy to manage, with a good dashboard. We can easily configure it on the front end and back end."
"The solution's most valuable feature is data cloning."
"Perforce Delphix has positively impacted our organization by reducing the time it takes to do non-production environment data refreshes from weeks to hours, which has saved a lot of time for the teams; we were completely agile from top to bottom, enabling us to deliver quick turnaround and significant benefits to our teams, delivering value to the business—it was an excellent investment."
"Perforce Delphix has positively impacted my organization as the migration became fast, because earlier migration took four months to migrate our data from prod to non-prod, and now it is just a one-day or two-day task."
"Delphix interfaces are simple to use and very user friendly."
 

Cons

"TDM's efficiency in terms of generating reports needs improvement. It could work faster."
"The tool does not support new test data generation."
"The tool needs to have more test data management features like synthetic data generation and data reservation."
"Pricing and licensing is higher compared to other products."
"In the IBM Optim tool, the Synthetic Test Data Generation feature is lagging behind."
"Installation is too cumbersome."
"I would like to be able to combine different masking functions on the same column map, making more complex masking without the need of writing an Lua procedure."
"Improvisation in the area of the self-service user interface for test data management is required to cater to test data needs."
"I believe the data generation part should be included in Perforce Delphix, as it would be helpful for other organizations as well."
"In terms of challenges with Perforce Delphix, it would be really helpful if the tool provides a chance to use some transformation features, such as those in Informatica; for instance, if a column contains multi-value data, it would be helpful to separate the data."
"One challenge we have occasionally faced is troubleshooting complex provisioning or masking issues."
"Perforce Delphix can be optimized."
"My only complaint about this solution is the price."
"Occasionally, issues arise with VDBs, which can become corrupted, making data retrieval impossible and possibly resulting in data loss."
"They have masking engine which has many things that need to be improved."
"I think that the reporting side is the biggest area which needs improvement and could do with a bit of a refresher."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"You have to pay yearly for the license, which comes at a reduced cost. The monthly payment option for a shorter project duration is also good."
"We purchase TDM's yearly license."
"The cost is $370K annually for the Delphix Masking Engine and Delphix Virtualization Engine."
"It is an expensive solution."
"I would say the price is a little high but affordable for our needs."
"I rate the product price seven to eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is the low price, and ten is the high price."
"The product is a little bit expensive."
"The solution's pricing was reasonable and lower than one million."
"Delphix's pricing is affordable."
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Answers from the Community

it_user727167 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Oct 19, 2017
Oct 19, 2017
Hi, I can’t help re Delphix but see below for IBM Optim and Informatica archive solutions. Need archival software comparison for IBM OPTIM,Informatica ILM, Delphix. - What database it will support? Both IBM and Informatica will support all the main DBs, mainframe and distributed. IBM have a tool called Federated server which helps connect to any obscure databases you may have. In...
See 2 answers
it_user722664 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Consultant - Data Management Services and GDPR at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Oct 4, 2017
Hi, I can’t help re Delphix but see below for IBM Optim and Informatica archive solutions. Need archival software comparison for IBM OPTIM,Informatica ILM, Delphix. - What database it will support? Both IBM and Informatica will support all the main DBs, mainframe and distributed. IBM have a tool called Federated server which helps connect to any obscure databases you may have. Informatica might need a little more fiddling and has had issues around connecting to obscure data sources. Both are now archiving unstructured data but be careful around cloud (SFDC etc), they may not be as far ahead as they claim. Try before you buy. SAP can be a problem. - Performance Would not choose one over the other re performance. To an extent it’s down to the kit you provide and often clients look to save here especially where kit performance affects license. - System Requirements Again similar although the Informatica solution may have higher needs, probably looking at a min 8 core server to run the software. Often clients are looking at cheapest option they can get away with. Will need at least 1 repository data base created which has to be either DB2, Oracle or SQL server. Might need a separate server for that. Compression rates are excellent for both. Both will need storage for archive files. I recommend getting a detailed breakdown on the infrastructure required up front and how it might impact performance. - Cost You are likely looking at 6 figure sums for both, also think about services for getting you going which is likely a 4-6 week project. If you buy at an end of quarter you might get better discounts. They may be licensed slightly differently from IBM to Infa so comparing like for like may need some investigation. - Support Interesting one in both cases. Informatica have been running down both development and support for Archiving which was a bought in product and does not integrate with its Powercenter toolset. IBM have ‘outsourced’ development and support for Optim. I would be more worried about Informatica at this point. - Recommendation to use which one and why I would tend towards IBM but make sure you understand whats happening re development and support moving forwards. I would definitely get a PoC run to prove it can achieve your main (especially obscure) requirements. Surprise Surprise Sales will promise the earth but the reality can be very different especially around connecting to certain Data sources. Neither tool is aimed at users, you will need a techy. You can automate many of the processes but will need ongoing BAU/management.
it_user758541 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director, Customer & C-suite Programs at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Oct 19, 2017
Hello, This from the 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Structured Data Archiving and Application Retirement on Delphix, who was a Leader in that MQ along with IBM and Informatica. I updated a few things such as our headquarter move and anything else that was dated. I'd be happy to send you the full report if you'd like - just let me know. ----------------------------------------------- Delphix, headquartered in Redwood City, California, offers the Delphix Dynamic Data platform. The platform supports Oracle E-business Suite, PeopleSoft, Siebel, JD Edwards, Baan and SAP application environments, as well as IBM DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and other databases. The offering works through copy data management, meaning it creates and manages virtualized copies of the database/application environment and provides management controls, including retention and access, as part of the life cycle. Delphix has recently seen an upsurge in SAP archiving opportunities, and is providing governance and data modeling capabilities to support financial services for Dodd-Frank compliance initiatives. Delphix is largely sold by a direct sales force through which pricing is offered in server- and term-based models. Support for DB2 on z/OS and SAP Hana are on the roadmap. Delphix announced in 2017 partnerships with AWS and Azure for accelerating data migration to the cloud. In Gartner's Data Masking Magic Quadrant, Delphix was recognized as THE ONLY solution solving for masking and data distribution challenges. Hope that helps.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
14%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What advice do you have for others considering IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM)?
The solution does not need much maintenance. The solution is maintained by the infrastructure team. There is a separate team for the software installation. I would recommend the solution to other u...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Delphix?
Regarding my experience with pricing, Perforce Delphix is not cheap. I have no issues with licensing.
What needs improvement with Delphix?
I cannot answer that regarding Perforce Delphix at the moment as I would have to see what the new versions offer. Perforce Delphix is a great product that I find very useful. Regarding Perforce Del...
What is your primary use case for Delphix?
For my main use case, I use Perforce Delphix for test environment and release management. Being able to go back in time and do time-lapse information on Perforce Delphix, along with the ability to ...
 

Also Known As

IBM Optim Test Data Management, Optim Test Data Management, IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dignity Health
Alberta Blue Cross, Fastweb, SABMiller, California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA), Molina Healthcare, AT&T, Nike, Facebook, eBay, Comcast, IBM, HP, Intel, Avaya, BNP Paribas, P&B, Toyota, Walmart, Best Western, Directv, JPMorganChase, Verizon, Bank of the West, Fannie Mae
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere Optim Test Data Management (TDM) vs. Perforce Delphix and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
906,781 professionals have used our research since 2012.