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IBM Informix vs MySQL comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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 Informix
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
17th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (9th)
MySQL
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Informix is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 8.1%, down from 8.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Nazzareno Maria Rezzini - PeerSpot reviewer
Supports multiple business intelligence tools, but the technical support services need improvement
IBM Informix is a central database solution across various environments, supporting multiple applications and business intelligence tools The key areas for improvement revolve around understanding the current customer trends and demands, particularly in software and database requirements. The…
Muzzamil  Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
Native encryption ensures secure data management with a simple deployment
The most valuable feature is the on-premises data encryption facilities. By default, we can provide encryption, and this feature in MySQL is why we prefer it over other databases. The native encryption in MySQL encourages us to use this database model more frequently compared to Oracle and other databases. With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment. It perfectly supports our ROI, and we have no issues with its functionality.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's stability, performance, enhanced functionality, and replication are all great features."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"The scalability is very good."
"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."
"This solution has made financial reporting possible by allowing financial people the opportunity to set Informix to "Auto Pilot" so that they can attend other duties."
"So far, we do not have a lot of issues. It's pretty problem-free."
"It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools."
"It supports in-house-built applications in .NET and VB6"
"The IO segregation in CGE is valuable."
"A good traditional database that supports JSON."
"MySQL is an open-source product and has good community support. If you encounter any problem, you can easily ask other members of the community to help. They help you a lot. On top of being free, MySQL is a cross-platform database, meaning it can work on both Windows and Linux. It is very good for us."
"For sure, the solution is very stable."
"We use the basic features of MySQL. The interface that allows us to see the parameters of the server is good."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of use."
"​The most valuable feature of MySQL is the informative error outputs of command line interface.​"
"The one interesting thing about this product is that it is open source. It comes from an open source product. MySQL has been positioned as open source, but it also provides support."
 

Cons

"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 really would love to have a QT plugin."
"Continue extending the SQL language for compatibility with the competition's language, including Stored Procedure Language."
"I would like to see backups from secondary servers."
"The support team could include local engineers to establish efficient communication. It will help us speed up the escalation process."
"I experienced poor input/output (IO) performance."
"The solution lacks some functionality."
"There should be more intelligence surrounding discovering data to be able to automatically create indexes."
"It is not as powerful as SQL Server. It can be more powerful. It is not scalable and has certain limitations, which is not the case with SQL Server."
"I would rate the stability a seven out of ten. It does break down a little at times."
"The performance, stability, and security are areas with shortcomings in MySQL, where improvements are required."
"MySQL lacks a feature akin to Oracle's Real Application Clusters, which ensures continuous database availability within the same data center or nearby data centers."
"We have encountered some performance issues, and the solution takes time for performing complex queries."
"When it comes to supporting big data, there is space to improve upon the database engines that are supported by MySQL."
"The workbench could be improved. In particular, error messages can be improved, which are horrific and completely unhelpful. I'd like to see improved parsing of errors. When you write SQL and it crashes, it usually is something completely irrelevant and not helpful. I've started to use GPT 3.5 for finding out how to do things. I got to do something a bit different, and that I found to be very useful. If there was some way to tie it into one of the new AI tools, that would probably be a good idea."
"While utilizing a comparable algorithm, is noted to be sensitive, especially when configuring the inner device."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
"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."
"For the on-premise version, no license is required."
"We are using the free version of MySQL. We prefer paying for a yearly license."
"The tool is open source."
"We are using the free community edition of MySQL."
"The solution’s pricing depends on customer requirements. A license is not required for the community edition."
"There is no cost involved, no licensing fees."
"MySQL is cheaper than Microsoft SQL Server."
"I am using the Community Edition, which is available free of charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
46%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Retailer
5%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Informix?
It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Informix?
The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license.
What needs improvement with IBM Informix?
The key areas for improvement revolve around understanding the current customer trends and demands, particularly in software and database requirements. The product's performance could be better com...
Why are MySQL connections encrypted and what is the biggest benefit of this?
MySQL encrypts connections to protect your data and the biggest benefit from this is that nobody can corrupt it. If you move information over a network without encryption, you are endangering it, m...
Considering that there is a free version of MySQL, would you invest in one of the paid editions?
I may be considered a MySQL veteran since I have been using it since before Oracle bought it and created paid versions. So back in my day, it was all free, it was open-source and the best among sim...
What is one thing you would improve with MySQL?
One thing I would improve related to MySQL is not within the product itself, but with the guides to it. Before, when it was free, everyone was on their own, seeking tutorials and how-to videos onli...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Informix
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shaspa, Hildebrand, Kaifa, Ranhill Powertron, Federaci‹ Farmacutica (FedeFarma), Camden Council, The German Aerospace Center (DLR), Myers, Votorantim Group, Doosan Infracore, GreenIvory
Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Informix vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.