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BMC AMI DevX vs IBM InfoSphere Optim comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 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

BMC AMI DevX
Ranking in Database Development and Management
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Software Configuration Management (1st), Debugging (2nd), Mainframe Application Development (1st), Test Data Management (4th), Mainframe Testing Tools (1st), Data Masking (3rd), AI Software Development (30th)
IBM InfoSphere Optim
Ranking in Database Development and Management
14th
Average Rating
6.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of BMC AMI DevX is 1.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Optim is 2.3%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
BMC AMI DevX1.7%
IBM InfoSphere Optim2.3%
Other96.0%
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

Wisdom Mbiza - PeerSpot reviewer
Product Engineer at Absa Group
Modern tools have boosted mainframe file extraction speed and simplified everyday workflows
I definitely think BMC AMI DevX could be improved or enhanced in terms of the logging in features. BMC AMI DevX's logging in feature is not so great. Whenever you try to log in, it always prompts you for passwords. Then when you have to switch sessions, because we usually have to switch between production and UAT, there's no quick way of switching between the two. Every time you try to switch, it prompts you to log in. Additionally, there's a pop-up that I always receive. When you click X on it, it doesn't disappear. Eventually, I just end up minimizing it. Furthermore, the startup of BMC AMI DevX takes a long time to start up before it loads. It doesn't just immediately start up and it's ready. It takes a good solid two to three minutes before it's ready so that you can work on it. BMC AMI DevX's logins and the other ones I can understand because security has to be there, but I do feel that once I've logged in, I shouldn't need to log in again. The startup problem is the annoying one because if I want to do something, I need to open it two or three minutes earlier to give it time to load up. The startup problem is the one that definitely needs to be addressed.
Kenneth Estanislao - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Designer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Backups become efficient while cost concerns remain
I am still working with IBM and we are transitioning to other tools rather than using IBM InfoSphere Optim. We use other tools, but I cannot recall the name because I am not the one currently handling it. It has transitioned to other architects. For IBM InfoSphere Optim, we are still currently using it, but we have transitioned to the newer version, the latest one with support for AWS S3. I cannot identify a main competitor for IBM InfoSphere Optim because we have transitioned to other architects, and they are the ones looking for other tools. The last comparison I did was almost 4 years ago. I am not using any AI technology with IBM InfoSphere Optim. I rate IBM InfoSphere Optim a seven out of ten. The tool is good, but the price is not favorable as it is the most expensive part. I can recommend IBM InfoSphere Optim for enterprises.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have seen an improvement in the rate and level of quality at which we deploy changes."
"I have worked with DB2's great features in the last five years. The IDAA feature transformed the vision of warehousing, business analytics, and big data at my bank. Besides the mainframe, I saw that this solution was evolutionary. It gives real-time information."
"Compuware Xpediter is one of the best debugging tools for mainframe software development."
"It helps our staff work by speeding up their documentation process."
"The plugin ISPW integrated into Eclipse is a really valuable functionality for developers who already use it."
"Our intention is to use Topaz for the next generation of mainframe developers to maintain mainframe applications."
"My guess is this would have taken twice as long, or we would have had many more issues without using Xpediter."
"I think the most valuable features are code management, code deployment, and code generation. The fact that those three features are included makes BMC Compuware ISPW a robust product. If one of those features was missing, it would be less robust and less interesting. But because it has those three features, it is a very good solution for code development and management."
"I feel the solution to be a bit faster than the traditional methods, which makes it easy to customize."
"We like that we can easily restore the database with just a few clicks. The database is linked as well."
"The compression feature is valuable because it achieves around 80% compression."
 

Cons

"There are some features that are not well documented, so documentation could use a little help, on things like setting up deployment and which structures in the database correspond to which tables."
"DB2 is a hard tool to grasp. It's hard for users to learn how to use it. It's not easy to see how it works."
"I'm always looking for improvement in things like the documentation, to make things a little bit easier and simpler to understand, a place where people can go to troubleshoot issues."
"I find it more cumbersome to use Topaz."
"The area for improvement is related to the testing tools that are available for unit testing or acceptance testing. I know they have some out there that we are not licensed for at this time, but it seems like some of the Eclipse tools that are used for other programming languages, they're all just built-in and they're a little more intuitive to the developers. Making those testing tools as intuitive as possible, and as integrated as possible into the workbench, would be really beneficial."
"Better discussions to identify inventory prior to the start of any migration would be helpful for potential clients that have applications with code that is not modified often."
"When you're setting up the parameters for how ISPW will work in your shop, there are a lot of questions that have to be answered... BMC Compuware should have more in-depth explanations about what the choices in each question mean. If you pick A, what does that mean has to happen? What does that impact? If you pick B, what does that mean? What does that impact?"
"The only thing that bothers me about BMC AMI DevX Code Pipeline is the screen movement."
"The potential room for improvement for IBM InfoSphere Optim is usually its cost, as it is too expensive."
"We're looking for a solution that can be implemented on AWS. IBM InfoSphere Optim can be implemented on AWS, but it costs more than double what we're currently paying. So, it's not really of good value for us."
"While masking PII information in huge tables [more than 500 million record count with more than five PII columns present] the Extract-Convert-Load [ECL] process becomes extremely slow and can take a huge amount of time."
"While the solution is very supportive of Db2, it is not so friendly when it comes to IMS databases."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The only thing I would mention related to the licensing and/or the pricing, is that they have some visualization features in there that are licensed by concurrent users. We're starting to trip up on that. We're looking to probably increase the number of concurrent licenses that we have. But those types of licensing strategies, where they license by concurrent users or the number of seats is confusing for some people. They don't understand why it works sometimes and doesn't work other times."
"I like the seat-based licensing much more than MSU-based licensing, and that the cost has been competitive."
"It has saved our developers time and effort when working on documentation, which is now more readable and fluent."
"In general, Compuware tools are very competitive."
"The price point is great."
"In terms of pricing, there isn't an extra charge for the parts of it we use. It comes with the licenses we purchased for other products, so no complaints there. The licensing is built in with the other products that you purchase from Compuware."
"IBM InfoSphere Optim is a very expensive solution. Actually, it's the most expensive archiving solution that we have."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Insurance Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Construction Company
9%
Insurance Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise19
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with BMC AMI DevX?
I definitely think BMC AMI DevX could be improved or enhanced in terms of the logging in features. BMC AMI DevX's logging in feature is not so great. Whenever you try to log in, it always prompts y...
What is your primary use case for BMC AMI DevX?
I work on mainframe, and some of the developers prefer to code on BMC AMI DevX because it looks more modern. For me, my basic use of it is just to extract information. Most of the time we end up ha...
What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere Optim?
The potential room for improvement for IBM InfoSphere Optim is usually its cost, as it is too expensive. Currently, there are no issues with IBM InfoSphere Optim; the only problem is the cost, whic...
What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere Optim?
My current use case for IBM InfoSphere Optim is just for doing backups. We are using IBM InfoSphere Optim specifically for backup purposes.
What advice do you have for others considering IBM InfoSphere Optim?
I am still working with IBM and we are transitioning to other tools rather than using IBM InfoSphere Optim. We use other tools, but I cannot recall the name because I am not the one currently handl...
 

Also Known As

File-AID, Data for Db2, Code Debug, Data Studio, Workbench for Eclipse, Code Pipeline
IBM Optim, Optim
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NRB, Iberdrola, Consorzio Servizi Bancari 
Durham Police Department, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., Continental, KCE Electronics Public Company Limited, The University of Adelaide, Migros Zurich, COPROB
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC AMI DevX vs. IBM InfoSphere Optim and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.