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Amazon Aurora vs IBM Db2 Database comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and IBM are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.5, while IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.3. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 2.9% mindshare in SQL, compared to IBM’s 7.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of IBM users who would recommend it.
Amazon Aurora
Read 20 Amazon Aurora reviews
  • 2,225 Views
  • 2,181 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
IBM Db2 Database
Read 75 IBM Db2 Database reviews
  • 4,932 Views
  • 4,735 Comparison Views
90% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

IBM Db2 and Amazon Aurora are strong contenders in the database management category. However, Db2 holds an advantage in security and platform flexibility, while Aurora is superior in cloud-native operations and AWS ecosystem integration.

Features: IBM Db2 offers a robust SQL dialect with advanced capabilities like object tables and Java support, ensuring flexible platform use and enhanced performance through self-tuning memory management. Its integration with IBM products is highly valued for security and reliability. Amazon Aurora efficiently standardizes SQL with features such as auto-scaling and high availability, seamlessly integrating with AWS to offer low-latency replication and ease of management, favoring businesses focused on cloud services.

Room for Improvement: IBM Db2 requires simplification in terms of learning curve, particularly for users unfamiliar with Java, and faces challenges with its licensing complexities and cost. Enhancements for cross-platform deployments and development tools are needed. Amazon Aurora could refine its pricing model and compatibility with MySQL, while boosting its documentation on performance tuning for improved user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Db2's deployment is mainly on-premises, requiring skilled personnel due to its complex process, with customer support regarded as positive but needing faster responses. Amazon Aurora benefits from its cloud-native structure, offering straightforward deployment and scalability with AWS, and customer support services considered consistent and user-friendly, simplifying management processes for users.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Db2 is notable for its high costs driven by intricate licensing fees, though it can be cheaper than Oracle solutions, providing a favorable ROI for its strong capabilities. Amazon Aurora is perceived as cost-effective with its pay-as-you-go model, leveraging AWS's infrastructure to manage costs effectively. Though more expensive than some self-managed solutions, its feature-rich offering compensates for the higher price, delivering solid ROI through its expansive functionalities.

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To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Aurora vs. IBM Db2 Database Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Amazon Aurora vs. IBM Db2 Database
July 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.6
Switching to Amazon Aurora saves costs nearly 30% over RDS while improving performance, reliability, and manpower efficiency by 50%.
Sentiment score
6.6
IBM Db2 Database offers high ROI with enhanced efficiency and performance, despite initial costs, supporting seamless business projects.
Using Amazon Aurora has saved us significantly in terms of manpower costs, with nearly fifty percent savings compared to an on-premises solution.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.3
Amazon Aurora offers varying support quality; enterprise users get prompt help, while free trial users experience limited assistance.
Sentiment score
6.5
IBM Db2 support is generally reliable yet requires speed improvements; users find response times and expertise occasionally lacking.
Technical support from Amazon is rated very highly.
The initial support could improve by having engineers familiarize themselves with the issue content to provide more specialized assistance from the start.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
We normally receive substantial discounts on the price.
For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report
SP
Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2708292 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Amazon Aurora excels in scalability, seamlessly auto-scaling for dynamic environments, though AWS's pricing model has limitations.
Sentiment score
7.1
IBM Db2 excels in scalability for large companies but faces challenges with horizontal scaling and increasing costs.
This scalability is critical as it allows for runtime expansion, which is essential for businesses moving from on-premises to the cloud.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Amazon Aurora is stable with occasional minor issues, offering high availability and reliability for MySQL and PostgreSQL engines.
Sentiment score
7.7
IBM Db2 Database is highly rated for stability and reliability, though performance can dip with significant data growth.
It offers a stable environment, ensuring consistent performance.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon Aurora users seek better pricing, expanded support, smoother migrations, and improvements in performance, scalability, and developer resources.
IBM Db2 Database needs usability, integration, and cloud improvements, plus better licensing, analytics, security, and standardization tools.
There are technical challenges, such as the inability to provision the database using a PostgreSQL snapshot directly.
Keeping extensions up-to-date with PostgreSQL releases would enhance Aurora's functionality.
I used the backup options in Amazon Aurora for cloning databases. It's very common.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
It might be slightly slower than other database vendors, but it works well since banks typically do not move quickly with leading-edge technology.
For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report
SP
Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewerRubens Oliveira - PeerSpot reviewerreviewer2708292 - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Setup Cost

Amazon Aurora provides flexible, cost-effective pricing with notable performance benefits, though some consider it expensive compared to self-managed solutions.
IBM Db2 pricing is complex and expensive, especially in Africa and the Middle East, but offers robust features.
Amazon Aurora is not very expensive as other solutions with similar features from other vendors come at almost the same cost.
The pricing is reasonable and not overly expensive.
The pricing for Amazon Aurora is different from DocumentDB because DocumentDB is cheaper.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
No quotes available
For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report
Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewer
SP
Rubens Oliveira - PeerSpot reviewer
 

Valuable Features

Amazon Aurora offers automated maintenance, high scalability, and compatibility, ideal for diverse databases and efficient FinOps management.
IBM Db2 Database offers SQL, Java integration, scalability, security, and seamless IBM integration for flexible, reliable enterprise applications.
It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR.
Amazon Aurora offers a 99.9% SLA compared to PostgreSQL. This ensures a high level of availability for our applications.
For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon Aurora report
IBM Db2 Database, because of enterprise performance and support, is why banks still maintain their relationship with it.
The IBM Db2 Database is trusted, and IT effort is less than any other product.
For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report
Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewer
SP
reviewer2708292 - PeerSpot reviewer
MM
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon Aurora
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Db2 Database
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon Aurora is 2.9%, down from 4.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Db2 Database is 7.6%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Adnan Shafiq - PeerSpot reviewer
High availability and geographical redundancy ensure reliable performance and cost efficiency
Amazon Aurora ( /products/amazon-aurora-reviews ) provides up to fifteen to sixteen read replicas. It replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and geographical redundancy, which can be considered a GR instead of a DR. As a managed service, maintenance tasks like backup and restore are handled by AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ), saving my organization significant time and money. Additionally, its fast cloning feature allows us to create a new clone from a large database swiftly, similar to a zero-copy cloning feature in Snowflake ( /products/snowflake-reviews ). This makes Amazon Aurora a compelling choice for my organization.
Read full review
ArpitKhare - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers optimizer plan and ALSM features along with exceptional stability
The TSA version of IBM Db2 Database doesn't meet my stability expectations. Every time when a switch over occurs, some stability issues can be noticed. The vendor should offer a free version of IBM Db2 Database. For instance, if our company wants to train new individuals on all the features of IBM Db2 Database, they can only be trained after purchasing the paid version of the solution. About ten years ago, a trial version was available for the solution that was highly beneficial for companies. The vendor can add AI or ML features in the future version of IBM Db2 Database.
Read full review
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
6%
Healthcare Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Aurora?
Aurora's compatibility with MySQL or PostgreSQL benefited our database management. The migration from on-premise MySQL to Aurora was similar, so we didn't need to change our source code.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Aurora?
Amazon Aurora is not very expensive as other solutions with similar features from other vendors come at almost the same cost. I rated it as two to three on a scale where ten is very expensive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?
I would like to see some tutorials from Amazon for Aurora because I'm too new to it. I believe Amazon can make more tutorials for the product since there's a lot of reading required, and a short tu...
See all answers
What do you like most about IBM Db2 Database?
Db2 database scalability and performance capabilities match our database needs. It covers pretty much everything a database administrator or engineer might need.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Db2 Database?
IBM Db2 is an expensive solution. While I am not heavily involved with pricing, additional companies provide capabilities or products like those from BMC, which many installations might also purchase.
See all answers
What needs improvement with IBM Db2 Database?
IBM is implementing some release improvements. It might be slightly slower than other database vendors, but it works well since banks typically do not move quickly with leading-edge technology.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 26% of the time
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Compared 16% of the time
MariaDB vs Amazon Aurora Logo
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Compared 8% of the time
Citus Data vs Amazon Aurora Logo
Citus Data vs Amazon Aurora
Compared 8% of the time
MySQL vs Amazon Aurora Logo
MySQL vs Amazon Aurora
Compared 5% of the time
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SQL Server vs IBM Db2 Database Logo
SQL Server vs IBM Db2 Database
Compared 33% of the time
Oracle Database vs IBM Db2 Database Logo
Oracle Database vs IBM Db2 Database
Compared 19% of the time
SAP HANA vs IBM Db2 Database Logo
SAP HANA vs IBM Db2 Database
Compared 13% of the time
Teradata vs IBM Db2 Database Logo
Teradata vs IBM Db2 Database
Compared 13% of the time
Oracle Database In-Memory vs IBM Db2 Database Logo
Oracle Database In-Memory vs IBM Db2 Database
Compared 2% of the time
More IBM Db2 Database Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Amazon Aurora
July 2025
Amazon Aurora reportDownload Amazon Aurora product report
Buyer's Guide
IBM Db2 Database
July 2025
IBM Db2 Database reportDownload IBM Db2 Database product report
 

Also Known As

No data available
DB2
 

Overview

Amazon Aurora is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud, that combines the performance and availability of traditional enterprise databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.

Amazon Aurora is up to five times faster than standard MySQL databases and three times faster than standard PostgreSQL databases. It provides the security, availability, and reliability of commercial databases at 1/10th the cost. Amazon Aurora is fully managed by Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS), which automates time-consuming administration tasks like hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups.

Amazon Aurora features a distributed, fault-tolerant, self-healing storage system that auto-scales up to 64TB per database instance. It delivers high performance and availability with up to 15 low-latency read replicas, point-in-time recovery, continuous backup to Amazon S3, and replication across three Availability Zones (AZs).

Visit the Amazon RDS Management Console to create your first Aurora database instance and start migrating your MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
DB2 Enterprise for Linux, UNIX, and Windows is the ideal data server for the most demanding workloads. New XML support is designed to help firms minimize the time and effort it takes to persist and use their XML data reducing development costs and improving business agility.
IBM
 

Sample Customers

Dow Jones, Arizona State University, Verizon, Capital One, United Nations, Nielsen, Autodesk, Fanduel
Knorr-Bremse, Mizuho Bank Ltd., Australian Government Department of Defence, SCHWENK Zement, Friedhelm Loh Group, YAZAKI Europe Limited, Ekornes ASA, Baldor Electric, VSN Systemen BV, Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC, PLANSEE Group, TE Connectivity, Hansgrohe SE, Openmatics, University of Toronto
Buyer's Guide
Amazon Aurora vs. IBM Db2 Database
July 2025
Free Report: Amazon Aurora vs. IBM Db2 Database
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