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Actian PSQL vs IBM Informix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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

Actian PSQL
Ranking in Embedded Database
9th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Informix
Ranking in Embedded Database
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Relational Databases Tools (25th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Embedded Database category, the mindshare of Actian PSQL is 6.4%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Informix is 3.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Embedded Database Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Actian PSQL6.4%
IBM Informix3.8%
Other89.8%
Embedded Database
 

Featured Reviews

辺琢也 渡 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at Dropbox
Easy configuration, with affordable pricing, and reliable
We use Actian PSQL for analytics purposes Actian PSQL is easy to configure and the performance is affordable. It would be great to have some sizing guides to configure the on-premise software to make it easier. We need to improve the security options for the on-premise option. I would like to…
Nasir Niamat - PeerSpot reviewer
DB Consultant at i2c
Has offered a cost-effective option despite frequent technical issues and limited market demand
We find some bugs in IBM Informix. Maybe we are using it more aggressively than others. Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal. It should be rare, not this frequent. The good thing is they cover those bugs in the next release within weeks or days on demand. IBM Informix should become hybrid and should include AI features similar to other DBMS systems such as Snowflake, Redshift, and DataBricks. This would help its value rise with the market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"MySQL is too poor in functionality, Oracle is too big slow and the price is not quite good."
"Actian PSQL is easy to configure and the performance is affordable."
"The most valuable feature is concurrency and locking because my customers usually use databases in OLTP mode. So, for a large number of competitive users. Other features that are well valued are quick large-scale data types. It is better than Oracle."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"The initial setup is very simple."
"My advice is to take it; you will never regret it."
"Not looking at Informix would really mean a shot in your own leg before walking a long distance."
"OLTP processing capacity and the availability of information with high availability implementation have been significantly improved."
"So far, we do not have a lot of issues. It's pretty problem-free."
"It supports in-house-built applications in .NET and VB6"
 

Cons

"We need to improve the security options for the on-premise option."
"Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal."
"In my opinion, the packages could be improved. The version I use doesn't allow for packages. I can do some general procedures, but no packages like in Oracle. So, develop separate modules in SQL language. This would be most beneficial for me."
"I would like to see backups from secondary servers."
"Informix is very sturdy, but the problem for us is the marketing action around Informix."
"The pricing is a bit expensive."
"The product needs a lot more marketing involvement from IBM."
"I experienced poor input/output (IO) performance."
"It would be helpful to have IBM salespeople know that Informix exists, and sell it. Currently, it is completely ignored by IBM."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have found Actian PSQL to be affordable."
"The free edition can be enough to handle moderate-size implementations, but you may want a pay for edition to benefit from more functionality, such as replication."
"For me, it's always too expensive."
"The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Informix?
There is a cost reason to move from IBM Informix. It is relatively cheaper than Oracle. The second reason is that moving the whole application to a new database would require significant cost. The ...
What needs improvement with IBM Informix?
We find some bugs in IBM Informix. Maybe we are using it more aggressively than others. Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal. It should be rare, not this f...
What is your primary use case for IBM Informix?
We are using IBM Informix for OLTP systems. We are using IBM Informix although it is a technology that is not very popular compared to others. We are using it because our application was initially ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

PSQL, Pervasive PSQL
Informix
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Datamatics, Medical Data Vision, Inferenda, Sheetz, SecureAlert, Zilliant
Shaspa, Hildebrand, Kaifa, Ranhill Powertron, Federaci‹ Farmacutica (FedeFarma), Camden Council, The German Aerospace Center (DLR), Myers, Votorantim Group, Doosan Infracore, GreenIvory
Find out what your peers are saying about Actian PSQL vs. IBM Informix and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.