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IBM Db2 Warehouse vs Oracle Database Appliance comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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 Warehouse
Ranking in Data Warehouse
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Database Appliance
Ranking in Data Warehouse
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of IBM Db2 Warehouse is 2.6%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Database Appliance is 5.7%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Sherpard  Muzuva - PeerSpot reviewer
Advanced features enhance business intelligence, but complex management calls for improved user guidance
While my experience with IBM Db2 Warehouse is somewhat limited, when compared to other databases such as Oracle, there are areas for improvement. They need to enhance the database to make it more user-friendly and easier to master. They should implement a more comprehensive graphical user interface with additional features. For instance, when users encounter problems, the system should provide better guidelines and troubleshooting directions, except for hardware-related issues. They need to implement tools that would help users perform basic troubleshooting rather than solely relying on support. Other databases have features where users can investigate specific issues using error codes. From my experience, many minor issues could be resolved before escalating to support.
Rubens Oliveira - PeerSpot reviewer
Automated provisioning simplifies deployment and integration
The Oracle Database Appliance is customizable and has excellent features.I don't have any problems with Oracle Database Appliance because this product is very automated, with scheduler and automatic processes throughout. You can make small inferences and changes for creating all the specific modifications. The automated provisioning feature helps speed up the database deployment process because you can use one command or option to resize all the disks or increase memory, depending on the occasion. The Oracle Database Appliance has integration in OCI Cloud. The same services simplify all the manager work regarding backups, configuration, resizing disks, and other services. Deploying the Oracle Database Appliance both on-premises and in the cloud offers the same simplification. You simply input your database name and specify memory quantity, CPU quantity, and database size. The process is identical for both on-premises and cloud deployments. The flexibility of Oracle Database Appliance has helped grow business needs for many customers. Using the Oracle Database Appliance has positively impacted my organization because I can deliver it much more comfortably. Creating a database involves many processes, but with this solution, you just input the name and configure the network and other parameters. It is very similar to RDS in AWS services, where you specify the name, choose the engine, indicate parameter groups, VPC, subnet groups, and proceed. Both Oracle Database Appliance and RDS have greatly simplified the work.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It can be mounted on the cloud, which is a huge plus. If the client, for example, starts small with on-premise deployment and then it rapidly needs to grow, we can transfer this to the cloud easily."
"The analytics engine is not bad at forecasting predictions."
"The standout feature of IBM Db2 Warehouse, which is particularly valuable for large enterprises, is its ability to handle big data."
"The solution is stable."
"It can scale effectively as long as resources are available."
"Provides good security and reliability."
"Some of the best features are stored procedures, parallelism, and different indexing strategies."
"IBM Db2 Warehouse is more resilient when dealing with business intelligence applications."
"Oracle offers ETL with PL/SQL as a programming language for SQL programming, which is majorly used in data engineering."
"We primarily use it for OLTP, which has improved our costs."
"The most valuable feature of Oracle Database Appliance is the ease of management."
"I give it a nine out of 10 because it gives the customer easy access to a complete database solution within 30 minutes."
"If the database goes down on one of the servers, the load is automatically shifted to another server. You can troubleshoot the one that is down without affecting uptime."
"The product’s valuable feature is its capability to pre-configure and pre-install the settings."
"Oracle Database Appliances are specifically designed for Oracle databases. They have built-in utilities and tools that simplify management, making them the best option for Oracle database management systems."
"The Oracle Database Appliance is customizable and has excellent features.I don't have any problems with Oracle Database Appliance because this product is very automated, with scheduler and automatic processes throughout."
 

Cons

"The biggest problems we have is when the backup solution is failing or slow and we run out of log space, which has happened probably a couple of times in the last four years."
"It takes a long time to have a new version or release, similar to Oracle."
"Lacks sufficient documentation and particularly in Spanish."
"Responding to support tickets takes a lot of time. It can range from two to four days, even for critical issues."
"IBM Db2 Warehouse needs to improve its interface."
"In terms of improvement, IBM Db2 Warehouse should be more scalable."
"The primary challenges customers face with IBM Db2 Warehouse are related to its complexity in usage. It requires highly skilled professionals who understand Db2, and both training and support are challenging to obtain."
"There were some initial challenges with IBM Db2 Warehouse about eight months ago when I worked in this environment. When I coordinated with IBM support, they mentioned that the memory was insufficient for our needs. Our business environment required significantly more memory than the previous cluster could provide. Consequently, we have worked closely with on-site IBM technical personnel to address this issue."
"Oracle's product support is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Oracle could improve its capacity for built-in visualization."
"I would rate the scalability a seven out of ten. It has some problems. Databases are huge. This leads to needing more and more RAM and capacity resources, making it hard to scale. Because of this, we use Exadata. That's definitely a point for improvement."
"The main thing would be to make ODA more affordable, to make it a more economical machine. Also, I would like to see virtualization, so you could implement all of your functions on one machine. Finally, improvement in the speed and performance would be good."
"We would like the ability to add more storage without having to upgrade to Oracle Exadata."
"The solution's initial setup is not easy."
"The setup is a bit complex."
"I would like it if the scalability could be increased without having to change versions."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In a traditional on-prem database, in a data warehouse, the solution is probably on the expensive side."
"Compared to Oracle Exadata, Oracle Database Appliance is affordable."
"Leverage the Pay-As-You-Grow licensing, and consider using the ODA X6-2 S/M/L models also for SE2/SE."
"The solution may be expensive, but when we consider the problems it solves, the stability it provides, and the fact that we don't have to buy separate parts and assemble them into a system, it becomes more affordable."
"You must pay for the license."
"The price of the solution should be less expensive. However, they will increase the price more."
"The solution's pricing is very high."
"Get benefit from the capacity-on-demand features. License your cores according to your licenses."
"I would rate the pricing a four on a scale of one (high price) to ten (low cost)."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
28%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Db2 Warehouse?
The standout feature of IBM Db2 Warehouse, which is particularly valuable for large enterprises, is its ability to handle big data.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Db2 Warehouse?
The pricing for medium and large environments is almost the same as Oracle. I rate the pricing as six out of ten.
What needs improvement with IBM Db2 Warehouse?
While my experience with IBM Db2 Warehouse is somewhat limited, when compared to other databases such as Oracle, there are areas for improvement. They need to enhance the database to make it more u...
What do you like most about Oracle Database Appliance?
Oracle Database Appliance provides high stability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Database Appliance?
While I'm somewhat familiar with standard licensing, pricing isn't really my area of expertise. However, Oracle is on the higher end of the pricing spectrum, along with SAP.
What needs improvement with Oracle Database Appliance?
There is room for improvement in better integration with third-party tools, such as Power BI or Redshift. When dealing with federated data sources, this integration can be a challenge.
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Warehouse, IBM InfoSphere Warehouse
X5-2
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alameda County Social Services Agency, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited
LifeLock, Incarlopsa, Al Yusur Industrial Contracting
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Db2 Warehouse vs. Oracle Database Appliance and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,155 professionals have used our research since 2012.