IBM Db2 Database vs SAP HANA comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Jan 9, 2023

We performed a comparison between IBM DB2 Database and SAP HANA based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: For the most part, users of both solutions say they are easy and straightforward to deploy.
  • Features: IBM DB2 Database users say the solution is available 24/7 and offers very good performance, availability and security. The self-maintaining and self-monitoring features are cost-effective. Reviewers say that users of this solution need to be tech savvy; it is not for the complete novice.

    Users say SAP HANA is easy to use, scalable, and very flexible. Its robust memory capabilities help make the performance excellent and reliable. The solution can easily scale both horizontally and vertically. Reviewers say SAP HANA should consider providing more mobile options and improved open-source integrations.
  • Pricing: Users of both solutions feel they are expensive.
  • Service and Support: IBM DB2 Database users are satisfied with the support; SAP HANA users feel the support has room for improvement.

Comparison Results: SAP HANA finishes ahead of IBM DB2 Database in this comparison. Users say SAP HANA fully controls workflows and makes almost every process automated. This improves productivity and saves time and money. The solution makes it easy to manage enterprise resources, which facilitates good company growth. Users say IBM DB2 Database has a very steep and long learning curve. It is very complex and many users feel it takes a long time to learn how to use it productively and properly.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP HANA Report (Updated: September 2023).
735,432 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Its functionality and availability are valuable. Its availability is great. It is available 99.99% of the time.""I believe that because the support is good, they jump in and assist us in determining the root cause.""It's a very mature product.""IBM Db2 Database has good performance.""The most valuable feature of the IBM Db2 Database is the ease of use, and the ability to do query writing of any SQL statement and have an output.""The setup process has become much easier recently.""It has a good feature called pureScale, which is just for scalability. It is a perfect solution for environments where scalability is going to be an issue.""The solution's initial setup is straightforward."

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"SAP HANA's interface is pretty user-friendly.""The most valuable features I have found are speed, dashboard, and reporting.""As I only worked part-time on SAP HANA, I did not have the opportunity to explore the advanced features of the solution. However, I did work with basic features, such as user administration and access controls for the accounting department. The feature that stood out to me the most was the Single Sign-On and user administration, backup, and server management. My experience with SAP HANA was mainly focused on basic server improvements.""Eases management of databases.""It's user-friendly so long as you use it frequently.""The solution is marvelous because it controls everything including workflow and that makes our company more productive.""We use SAP HANA for Master Data Governance.""The most valuable features are the flexibility and the integration with other solutions in data quality."

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Cons
"Microsoft SQL Server is comparatively very simple to use. I wish IBM would move towards making Db2 easy to use for both basic and advanced users. This is where I see room for advancement. Db2 is also more expensive than Microsoft SQL Server, and its price can be reduced. The replication feature needs to be there in Db2. Microsoft provides similar functionality in SQL Server. IBM also has similar functionality, but it exists in a different product. So, to have the replication ability, you have to buy a different product. It makes sense to have this functionality within Db2 instead of a different product. It will also be helpful in terms of competition. In Africa, the problem for Db2 is competition. Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server have been in this market for a very long time. These companies have built the ecosystem and the brand within this market for a very long time. So, they are very popular with users. Db2 or IBM came a little later in the game, and that's where the problem lies. They also don't do a lot of marketing for it, which is also a problem.""The product’s user interface is not easy to use.""The pricing could be improved, it's expensive.""The technical support can be faster.""The queries can be difficult for beginners because there are so many. I would like to see more use cases for flow analysis that enable us to correlate the flow with events. Adding this feature in a QI format would be good for beginners.""When I look at Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server provides me with better tools for database management.""We just want a bit more integration with Linux. That said, we are already seeing Linux more readily available on the mainframe environment.""I would like to see some artificial intelligence brought into the solution."

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"SAP HANA isn't user-friendly, and it's very hard to train newcomers to use it.""The solution could improve in the handling of backup data and the administration tools.""They should develop and improve the solution's data management system.""The initial setup of SAP HANA is complex. We did the implementation of one site, and a global deployment will take another three to four years.""It could be a bit more scalable.""I would like to see improvement on the feedback from the road-map; it is currently extremely hard to get insight in this area.""Ease of use could be improved in SAP HANA. I like SAP because SAP solutions can be used by anyone, which means even laymen can start working on SAP tools, but in SAP HANA modeling, you'll need to know some other technologies and sequel scripting, and you need a separate skillset, so if you don't have the skillset, you won't be able to work on SAP HANA. Making SAP HANA low-code would make it even better.""The openness of the system could be more developed. The solution should go into the cloud. The cloud mechanism should be more invested."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It is expensive."
  • "It's very expensive for West African countries like ours."
  • "It's very expensive."
  • "It is expensive. The price depends on the size of the machine on which you are installing the Db2 and the features you are using. It also depends on the country. IBM has different policies and different options for payment for this product."
  • "It is expensive when compared to other products."
  • "Among Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and Db2, Microsoft SQL Server is the cheapest one, and Oracle is the most expensive one. Db2 is in the middle. As compared to SQL Server, its price could go down. It will be good for customers."
  • "The solution's hardware and subscription model for support are very expensive."
  • "Clients are required to purchase a license."
  • More IBM Db2 Database Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The price of SAP HANA is very expensive and it is paid annually."
  • "We pay annually for the license of the solution."
  • "The pricing is a bit on the high side."
  • "There is an annual license to use SAP HANA."
  • "The price of licensing is dependent on the size of the project, however, we have found that there is scope to negotiate the cost. If the solution is implemented on-premises there may be some extra costs for hosting etc."
  • "We are spending about 20,000 to 30,000 euros on the solution."
  • "SAP HANA is more expensive than other solutions."
  • "The solution's license is very expensive so I rate pricing a one out of ten."
  • More SAP HANA Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Compared to other databases, Db2 is relatively cheaper. Oracle is very expensive. Sometimes, it is ten times more expensive than what we pay for Db2. However, Db2 has more features as compared to… more »
    Top Answer:The tool is not easy to use. It needs to improve scale computing so that the tool can be scaled vertically. The product needs to enhance pre-engine optimization and it needs to be more efficient in… more »
    Top Answer:Based on my work with SAP HANA, the biggest benefit that it can bring to your business is total data management. This product is by SAP - a company that serves almost all needs a client may have… more »
    Top Answer:We have been using SAP HANA for a fairly short period of time and have only taken advantage of their customer support. So far, we have not had issues that required specialized help from technical… more »
    Top Answer:SAP HANA is fairly easy to set up, however, I do not think a complete beginner can do it. You certainly need some preparation - either you need to have experience with similar solutions, or with other… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    12,009
    Comparisons
    7,991
    Reviews
    30
    Average Words per Review
    512
    Rating
    8.1
    Views
    17,955
    Comparisons
    11,378
    Reviews
    44
    Average Words per Review
    407
    Rating
    8.5
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    DB2
    SAP High-Performance Analytic Appliance, HANA
    Learn More
    Overview
    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.

    SAP HANA, also known as SAP High-performance Analytics Appliance, is a multi-model database that stores data in its memory, allowing users to avoid disk storage. The product combines its robust database with services for creating applications. SAP HANA is faster than other database management systems (DBMS) because it stores data in column-based tables in main memory and brings online analytical processing (OLAP) and online transaction processing (OLTP) together.

    The column-oriented in-memory database design allows users to run high-speed transactions alongside advanced analytics, all in a single system. This provides companies with the ability to process very large amounts of data with low latency and query data in an instant. By combining multiple data management capabilities, the solution simplifies IT, helps businesses with innovations, and facilitates digital transformation.

    The solution is structured into five groups of capabilities, categorized as:

    • Database design
    • Database management
    • Application development
    • Advanced analytics
    • Data virtualization

    There are three more SAP products that work alongside SAP HANA and complete the experience for users together. SAP S/4HANA Cloud is a ready-to-run cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP). SAP BW/4HANA is a packaged data warehouse, based on SAP HANA, which allows users to consolidate data across the enterprise to get a consistent view of their data. Finally, SAP Cloud is a single database as a service (DBaaS) foundation for modern applications and analytics across all enterprise data. All three products can combine with SAP HANA to deliver to users an optimized experience regarding their data.

    SAP HANA Features

    Each architectural group of capabilities of SAP HANA has various features that users can benefit from. These include:

    • Parallel processing database: SAP HANA utilizes a single platform to run transactional and analytical workloads.

    • ACID compliance: This feature ensures compliance with requirements for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability (ACID) standards.

    • Multi-tenancy: This feature allows multiple tenant databases to run in one system while sharing the same memory and processors.

    • Multi-tier storage and persistent memory support: SAP HANA's native storage extension is a built-in capability to manage between memory and persistent storage, including SAP HANA Cloud Data Lake.

    • Scaling: The scaling feature supports terabytes of data in a single server and distributes large tables across multiple servers in a cluster to scale further.

    • Data modeling: This feature consists of graphical modeling tools that enable collaboration between stakeholders and the creation of models to execute complex business logic and data transformation in real time.

    • Stored procedures: The product has a native language to build stored procedures and uses advanced capabilities to create complex logic.

    • Administration: This feature consists of administration tools for various platform lifecycle, performance, and management operations and automations.

    • Security: SAP HANA provides its users with real-time data anonymization features to extract value from data while protecting privacy.

    • Availability and recovery: The tool supports high availability and disaster recovery through an array of techniques, including backup, storage mirroring, synchronous, asynchronous, and multitarget system replication.

    • Extended application services: Through its built-in application server, users can develop services such as REST and ODATA, as well as web applications that can run on multiple locations.

    • Client access: The product offers clients the ability to access it via other application platforms and languages, including Java, JavaScript, R, and Go.

    • Application lifecycle management: This set of features facilitates the building and packaging of applications, transporting them for development to test to production, and then deploying them.

    • Application development: This feature consists of a set of tools that offer application development on premises and in the Cloud. The programming language ABAP includes additional optimized features to build extensions to SAP applications.

    • Search: The search feature uses SQL to locate text promptly across multiple columns and textual content.

    • Spatial processing: This product feature provides native support for spatial data types and spatial functions.

    • Graph: Through this feature, users of the product can store and process highly connected data using a property graph.

    • Streaming analytics: This feature combines various data sources that users can utilize to discover trends over a set period.

    • Data integration and replication: The solution offers comprehensive features to handle all data integration scenarios.

    • Data federation: This feature allows users to perform queries on remote data sources in real time with data federation.

    • Caching: The capacity to cache data provides users with the ability to optimize federated queries against remote sources of data.

    SAP HANA Benefits

    SAP HANA provides many benefits for its users. These include:

    • This solution offers a high level of data and application security, beginning from a secure setup and providing continuous support.

    • SAP HANA offers augmentation for applications and analytics with built-in machine learning (ML).

    • The solution works in a timely manner, as it provides a response to queries within seconds in large production applications.

    • SAP HANA simplifies work, as it provides a single gateway to all user data with advanced data virtualization.

    • The product is very flexible, as it allows users to deploy applications in a public or private cloud, in multiple clouds, on premises, or hybrid.

    • SAP HANA scales easily for data volume and concurrent users across a distributed environment.

    • This is a powerful solution in terms of querying large datasets with a massively parallel processing (MPP) database.

    • SAP HANA is a versatile product that supports hybrid transactional and analytical processing as well as many data types.

    • The product provides a smaller data footprint with no data duplication or advanced compression, and reduces data silos.

    Reviews from Real Users

    According to a database consultant at a pharma/biotech company, SAP HANA is a very robust solution with good data access.

    Bruno V., owner at LAVORO AUTOM INF E COM LTDA, likes SAP HANA because the product offers advanced features, helps reduce hours, and makes it easy to find what you need.

    Offer
    Learn more about IBM Db2 Database
    Learn more about SAP HANA
    Sample Customers
    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
    Unilever, NHS 24, adidas Group, CHIO Aachen, Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm38%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Insurance Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization50%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Computer Software Company6%
    Government4%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Energy/Utilities Company11%
    Financial Services Firm7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company12%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise58%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business9%
    Midsize Enterprise55%
    Large Enterprise36%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise60%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise13%
    Large Enterprise67%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP HANA
    September 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP HANA and other solutions. Updated: September 2023.
    735,432 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM Db2 Database is ranked 5th in Relational Databases Tools with 30 reviews while SAP HANA is ranked 3rd in Relational Databases Tools with 45 reviews. IBM Db2 Database is rated 8.0, while SAP HANA is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of IBM Db2 Database writes "Very scalable with high availability and excellent technical support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP HANA writes "Good integration capabilities, easy to implement, and reliable". IBM Db2 Database is most compared with SQL Server, Oracle Database, MySQL, Teradata and IBM Informix, whereas SAP HANA is most compared with Oracle Database, SQL Server, MySQL, Apache Spark and Oracle Database In-Memory. See our IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP HANA report.

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