IBM Db2 Database vs SQL Server comparison

IBM and Microsoft are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.1, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. IBM holds a 7.1% mindshare in SQL, compared to Microsoft’s 18.6% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IBM Db2 Database

Read 73 IBM Db2 Database reviews

6,854 Views
4,346 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SQL Server

Read 268 SQL Server reviews

18,969 Views
14,206 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

IBM Db2 Database

SQL Server

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

SQL Server and IBM Db2 are prominent players in the database management system category. While SQL Server stands out for its user-friendliness, IBM Db2 excels in cross-platform flexibility and advanced features.

Features: SQL Server offers dynamic resource allocation for better performance, a robust OLAP service for data warehousing, and an intuitive usability that minimizes technical support needs. IBM Db2 is recognized for its strong support for multiple platforms, a secure and stable environment, and self-tuning memory management, ensuring efficient operation.

Room for Improvement: SQL Server users note latency issues, a need for faster data processing, and pricing improvements, while its documentation and security can be enhanced. IBM Db2 faces challenges in ease of learning, lacks in analytics support, and has complex licensing, which users find expensive and cumbersome.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SQL Server supports diverse deployment options, including on-premises and hybrid cloud, with generally reliable support but rooms for better response times. IBM Db2 is mainly deployed on-premises, offering less flexibility in cloud environments. However, its robust support from IBM caters well to enterprise needs despite complex interfaces.

Pricing and ROI: SQL Server has varied pricing, with the advanced versions being costly, yet it remains a cost-effective option compared to Oracle. Its significant ROI derives from its stability and enterprise-grade functionality. IBM Db2, with high pricing and complex cloud licensing models, competes well with Oracle, particularly with comprehensive offerings, though cost considerations are decisive for users.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Db2 Database vs. SQL Server Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database vs. SQL Server

April 2025

Download the complete report

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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:

Categories and Ranking

IBM Db2 Database

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SQL Server

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

268

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Db2 Database is 7.1%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SQL Server is 18.6%, down from 23.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

SimonHiggins

Mainframe Technical Manager/Service Integration Lead at Saudi Business Machines

Very scalable with high availability and excellent technical support

The good thing is that there are improvements coming with later function levels for the z/OS Db2. I'd like it if, with the operating system that we've got, z/OS, on the mainframe, it would allow us to refresh the hardware to run Linux dockers on the mainframe. This means this might give us opportunities for different ways of coming into the Db2 environment in the future. We just want a bit more integration with Linux. That said, we are already seeing Linux more readily available on the mainframe environment. Not only have we got the premium operating systems on OS. We can run LPARs on the same mainframe footprint that is also supporting Linux. This is what has improved and made the mainframe environment more competitive. We're also looking at AI for Db2 as well, and machine learning for the future. We know that AI has come out, that we're going to get that, and we're going to evaluate that product next year for Db2. That said, I haven't got any real complaints about Db2 on the mainframe. For the most part, a lot of the problems we have nowadays are to do with communication between the various teams that you would class as stakeholders.

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Azizul Haque

AVP, IT Division at NCC BANK LIMITED

It has eliminated all kinds of inconsistencies, and it is reliable, secure, and fast

I don't know whether SQL Server can support large organizations where the database size is more than 100 GB. It might be because of SQL Server, or it might be because of the programming of the software vendor, but a lot of people think that it is a problem with SQL Server. It can't handle a large amount of data or large data size. In terms of its usage, about 90% of our applications are running on the SQL Server database. We have around 1,600 users for our software, and all the applications are connected to the SQL Server database.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's very secure."

"Db2 database scalability and performance capabilities match our database needs. It covers pretty much everything a database administrator or engineer might need."

"Its robustness, scalability, availability, and performance are valuable. All these are the major attributes of a relational database for supporting a very high-volume business, and Db2 is very good in all those areas and in all those attributes."

"The newly added feature of ALSM is one of the top features"

"The most valuable feature of IBM Db2 Database is its ability to perform automatic self-management, reducing the need for manual tasks such as managing logs and folders."

"The initial setup was easy."

"The setup process has become much easier recently."

"The solution is very stable, in both hardware and database."

More IBM Db2 Database pros

"I would say that it is a stable product."

"The license fee is very low."

"It is a very user-friendly solution. It is easy to manage the databases and troubleshoot any issue. It is a perfect solution for the volume or transactions that we need to manage."

"SSAS is the most interesting feature to organize the data and let the users play with it."

"I use it to fine tune my procedures and functions."

"It works fine in terms of performance and stability."

"There was an online system in which we had about 2500 requests to the DB per second. Every request had a completion window of one second to process and retrieve data. After switching to SQL Server, and AlwaysOn, and Snapshot, and tinkering, and configuring and tinkering, the handling capacity we measured increased to about 5000 requests per second, while the time decreased to 0.5 seconds per request."

"The replication feature, user interface, reporting services, and notification services are really good. They are providing SQL profiler and SQLCMD as their integrated software, so we don't find it difficult to integrate any of our third-party applications with MS SQL because all of them support MS SQL very clearly."

More SQL Server pros

Cons

"The only drawback that we see in Db2 Database is the crash recovery. When there is a crash and somebody has to do the recovery, Db2 Database first stops, and then it does any crash recovery. In Oracle Database, crash recovery happens within the database. The database is not shut down."

"The product’s user interface is not easy to use."

"The solution could be more modern and have updated database technology."

"The usage of Db2 could be simplified, as it is quite complex and requires substantial knowledge of Db2 and zOS."

"IBM Db2 Database could improve the user-defined functions. There are some user-defined functions that are missing, such as the spring functions. I used to have Teradata for my projects and I was used to working in the environment. They had a good set of user-defined functions."

"The initial setup could be improved."

"The backup solution lacks flexibility."

"Also, the website could be more intuitive. I didn't find it easy to find documentation on the website."

More IBM Db2 Database cons

"Right now we don't get much technical support from Microsoft"

"Scalability is an area that needs improvement, and the deployment is difficult, which why I'm looking for an appliance to deploy it in a much more scalable way."

"Their datatypes need improvement."

"We experience latency at times when there is a lot of data being processed."

"The solution could use better governance on the management side, especially around data governance."

"The solution’s initial setup could be complex, requiring some design of how you want to lay everything out and what type of storage you want to put certain things on."

"The licensing costs are very high."

"You do need to have technical knowledge in order to install the solution. It's not something a layperson can do."

More SQL Server cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Clients are required to purchase a license."

"We normally handle large size businesses and as far as I am aware, the license is negotiable based on the number of users and the quantitative data."

"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."

"Db2 is less expensive than Oracle."

"I think that everyone knows that with IBM the standard price is higher than the others."

"We did not buy it. It came with our hardware without any complimentary maintenance. If I compare Db2 Database with Oracle Database, its price is lower than Oracle Database."

"Licensing fees are on a yearly basis."

More IBM Db2 Database pricing and cost advice

"The pricing from Microsoft is quite expensive compared to Oracle."

"The price could always be lower."

"It is expensive, especially when you have open-source products that are just about as functional and they're free. They might want to consider re-evaluating their pricing. We purchased it in retail. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000. There is just the standard licensing fee. If they migrate this product the way they're trying to do everything else, eventually, it is going to be subscription-based, which is going to suck, but that's the way the industry is going, so it is what it is."

"We did a one-time payment. Its price, in general, can be reduced."

"This is a downside of enterprise Microsoft products."

"It is expensive, but you get what you pay for."

"We pay approximately $12,000 USD per month for both the server and the license."

"We are on an annual enterprise license for the solution and the cost of the license could be reduced."

More SQL Server pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

59%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Educational Organization

49%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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?

The user interface is old and needs to be improved. It doesn't match the responsive and suggestion-rich UI of cloud solutions. New functions don't come to mind.

See all answers

Would you say the price of SQL Server is high compared to that of similar products?

SQL Server is fairly priced because it has various editions, depending on the number of users, servers, or core packs you are using. If you compare the product to others in this category, the price...

See all answers

Has using SQL Server helped your organization in any way?

SQL Server has helped my organization through partitioning to distribute the workload, as it splits them up into smaller pieces so the machines can easily deal with it. However, this comes with a h...

See all answers

Which authentication mode is best for SQL Server?

My company connects through SQL Server authentication. We have company Windows accounts, but we do not want to connect the two, out of security concerns and to keep things separated for our own pur...

See all answers

Comparisons

Oracle Database vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 18% of the time

SAP HANA vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 16% of the time

Teradata vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 13% of the time

MySQL vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 5% of the time

IBM Informix vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 2% of the time

More IBM Db2 Database Competitors

MariaDB vs SQL Server

Compared 14% of the time

SAP HANA vs SQL Server

Compared 14% of the time

LocalDB vs SQL Server

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Database vs SQL Server

Compared 9% of the time

Teradata vs SQL Server

Compared 7% of the time

More SQL Server Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database

April 2025

Download IBM Db2 Database product report

Buyer's Guide

SQL Server

March 2025

Download SQL Server product report

Also Known As

DB2

Microsoft SQL Server, MSSQL, MS SQL

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.

IBM

SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) by Microsoft. The product's main purposes are to store data and retrieve it as requested by other software applications - on the same computer or on another computer across a shared network. The solution is built on top of Structured Query Language (SQL), which is a standardized programming language used for relational database management.

The product is tied to Transact-SQL (T-SQL), which is an implementation of SQL from Microsoft that adds several proprietary programming extensions to the standard language. SQL Server is built similarly to other RDBMS products, as its structure is a row-based table that connects related data elements in different tables to one another. One of its most important components is the SQL Server Database Engine, as it controls data processing, storage, and security. Beneath the Database Engine is the SQL Server Operating System, which is used for memory and I/O management, locking data to avoid unneeded upgrades, and job scheduling.

The solution has four editions with different sets of services and tools. They include:

SQL Server Developer
SQL Server Expression
SQL Server Standard
SQL Server Enterprise

The first two are available for free and are typically utilized by smaller companies, as they work with fewer functions and storage. The second two editions are generally used by bigger organizations and enterprises and offer more features.

The solution has several functions through which users can facilitate different data-related processes. These include:

Aggregate functions: These functions are used to calculate one or more values and return a single value.
Window functions: Window functions calculate an aggregate value based on a group of rows and return multiple rows for each involved group.
Date functions: These functions allow clients to handle data and time data efficiently.
String functions: Through the string functions, SQL Server processes an input string and returns a string or numeric value.
System functions: The system functions of the product return objects, values, and settings.

SQL Server Services

SQL Server has a wide range of add-on services that provide additional benefits beyond database management. These services include:

Machine learning: SQL Server machine learning services allow users to do machine learning and data analytics within the product.
Service broker: This feature is a part of the database engine and offers messaging and message queuing for applications on the platform.
Replication: This feature consists of transaction replication, merge replication, and snapshot replication.
Analysis: SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) adds online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining capabilities to SQL Server databases.
Reporting: This feature supports the development of custom reporting applications.
Notifications: This feature generates data-driven notifications which are sent to subscribers of Notification Services.
Integration: This SQL Server feature provides capabilities for data integration, data import, and data warehousing.
Full-text search: Through this feature, users can utilize specialized indexing and query for unstructured text stored in the solution.
Visual studio: This feature supports data programming with SQL Server.
Azure Data Studio: This is a cross-platform query editor that can be downloaded and used alongside SQL Server.

SQL Server Benefits

The solution has many benefits for users. These include the following:

The platform ensures a consistent experience across other platforms while being fast and agile.
Through the built-in intelligence features, users can understand their data better.
The solution has enterprise-level security, which ensures the smooth and safe performance of users' data.
SQL Server offers the ability to retrieve large amounts of data quickly and efficiently.
The product installation process is fairly easy, and it offers a user-friendly interface.
SQL Server offers improved data storage and retrieval functions through frequent upgrades.
The solution reduces the risk of database server attacks, since it is not an open-source database.

Reviews from Real Users

A president at a consultancy evaluates SQL Server as a veteran solution with critical log shipping feature.

Harkamal S., a user at a manufacturing company, rates SQL Server with a high mark because it is a stable, scalable, and easy-to-deploy solution that pretty much covers everything.

Microsoft

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

Microsoft SQL Server is used by businesses in every industry, including Great Western Bank, Aviva, the Volvo Car Corporation, BMW, Samsung, Principality Building Society, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario.

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database vs. SQL Server

April 2025

Free Report: IBM Db2 Database vs. SQL Server

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