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Azure SQL Managed Instance vs IBM Informix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Azure SQL Managed Instance
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
30th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Database as a Service (DBaaS) (19th)
IBM Informix
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
25th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (10th)
 

Featured Reviews

FataiAkinwande - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief IT Consultant at d3astech
Managed database service has simplified hybrid integration and strengthened automated backups
The only red flag I could point out is you don't have 100% control of your data. You don't have 100% control of that particular server because it is Microsoft that has access to it. For instance, if you are working with a government organization that doesn't want their data to be resided outside the country, it will not work. You cannot use it because there's no way the data is going to be resided somewhere outside a particular country. Let's say for instance, I'm having an engagement with a Lagos state government with a particular product that need to be deployed and then I can never propose such kind of environment for them because Lagos state will never allow their data to be resided elsewhere except within their data center. In that case, you can't use it. Technology evolves every day and then as technology moves, I move as well. Currently, with what I'm seeing on Azure SQL Managed Instance, it's somewhat perfect, but they still need to do more. But if I'm going to probably figure out what could be the added features within the environment, maybe probably the SA admin should be released to the users within the SQL infrastructure team, SQL team, that is the database team members. Because currently, nobody has access to the SQL admin. The SA admin is one of the greatest accounts. Although Microsoft put a provision for that, your Active Directory account can perform the same function that SA admin can do, because you're not running the SQL within your own VM or physical server. Microsoft controls that. Aside from that, because to me, I don't even see it as a problem because there's a provision for that. In the absence of that SA admin, your Active Directory account can be probably elevated to perform the same function. I don't see anything that's probably against it.
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

"I can tell you categorically that the ROI, the return on investment is very, very high and it's very commendable."
"Security-wise, Azure SQL Managed Instance is absolutely robust, and governance-wise, the manageability of Azure SQL Managed Instance is very good."
"The scalability is very good."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"So far, we do not have a lot of issues. It's pretty problem-free."
"We don't have any problems with the Informix Database."
"It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools."
"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."
"Every version is faster than the previous."
"The stability is incredible. I have customers with uptimes of several years."
 

Cons

"The only red flag I could point out is you don't have 100% control of your data. You don't have 100% control of that particular server because it is Microsoft that has access to it."
"Azure SQL Managed Instance can be improved by adding more scalability options."
"The solution really doesn't add new features very often. Other solutions are much more actively pushing out upgrades and improvements."
"Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal."
"The support team could include local engineers to establish efficient communication. It will help us speed up the escalation process."
"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."
"Continue extending the SQL language for compatibility with the competition's language, including Stored Procedure Language."
"There should be more intelligence surrounding discovering data to be able to automatically create indexes."
"The solution lacks some functionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"For me, it's always too expensive."
"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."
"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

What needs improvement with Azure SQL Managed Instance?
Azure SQL Managed Instance can be improved by adding more scalability options. I need to have more flexibility in terms of scalability with Azure SQL Managed Instance. In sizing, I need some option...
What is your primary use case for Azure SQL Managed Instance?
My main use case for Azure SQL Managed Instance is for storing information related to insurance and claims in the staging database to avoid using Dataverse because it is more expensive. I use Azure...
What advice do you have for others considering Azure SQL Managed Instance?
My advice for others looking into using Azure SQL Managed Instance is that if they have some SaaS applications such as Dataverse or any other SaaS applications like BPM or ServiceNow, wherein their...
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

No data available
 

Also Known As

No data available
Informix
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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 Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and others in Relational Databases Tools. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.