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IBM Informix vs Oracle Database 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)
Oracle Database
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
290
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Informix is 1.8%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Database is 12.8%, down from 15.1% 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…
Ismail Aboulezz - PeerSpot reviewer
Continuous updates improve performance and add valuable features to meet workload demands
Oracle Database ( /products/oracle-database-reviews ) is easy to install, customize, troubleshoot, and maintain. Its data management capabilities include data quality, data integration, data architecture, modeling, and data security, which are very important for data-driven companies. Furthermore, Oracle Database's performance and scalability features meet workload demands, and its continuous updates improve performance and add valuable features.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It supports in-house-built applications in .NET and VB6"
"Every version is faster than the previous."
"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."
"IBM Informix benefits users with high availability and good integration capabilities."
"It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools."
"Replication, all levels of replication, query charting, and the MongoDB embedded are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The stability is incredible. I have customers with uptimes of several years."
"The scalability is very good."
"I use Oracle Database just for storage of the corporate database data and the finance data."
"The solution is stable and has good performance."
"Oracle can quickly expand its capacity to handle growing data needs by adding additional server resources."
"The most valuable feature of Oracle Database is all the functionalities. When we write a code we sometimes have to create an explicit functionality to process the data that we want. At times we find that there is already existing functionality in data created by Oracle itself, it is helpful."
"I love the performance tuning feature of Oracle Database because it provides hints and indexing, which are very valuable. Some of its other valuable features are its rack, record key vaults, and backup compression."
"Oracle Database is stable. I'm quite happy with the performance."
"The support is always very helpful and responsive."
"A really large and very useful language to process data."
 

Cons

"I really would love to have a QT plugin."
"The support team could include local engineers to establish efficient communication. It will help us speed up the escalation process."
"The solution really doesn't add new features very often."
"I would like to see backups from secondary servers."
"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."
"Continue extending the SQL language for compatibility with the competition's language, including Stored Procedure Language."
"The technical support services need substantial improvement."
"This solution is in need of more current tools."
"The tool is costly, and migration is hard. We need tools like Database Migration Assistant for Oracle to migrate data between databases. Sometimes, older versions of Oracle are no longer supported, making the transition even more difficult."
"Oracle Database's migration capabilities could be improved because it's very difficult. So even if you migrate where you host your data, be it on Windows SQL Server, there is a problem because migrating the package is highly complex. The technical support could also be faster."
"The connection can be slow due to the distance from the provider."
"Technical support and how they treat their customers need to be improved."
"Integration with big data would be helpful since we are planning to load a lot of big data."
"CRM could be improved."
"The integration can be made much easier for the Oracle tools, for example, Oracle Database or OPI. The integration sometimes can be a little complicated for us because we have to do a number of integrations with other tools, such as Oracle computation. The integration could be more streamlined and easier to work with."
"We don't really find that any features are lacking."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"For me, it's always too expensive."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
"The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license."
"The license is yearly."
"​The license cost need to be optimized. The licensing cost is very high compared to other RDBMS."
"Oracle is an expensive product."
"We have a yearly license, and it could be cheaper."
"Oracle Database is expensive. We also need to buy additional products."
"The price of Oracle Database is too expensive and especially for individual environments. The pricing model is not clear, if I want to run it on a virtual environment, I still need to license the whole physical box."
"It is quite expensive."
"The price of Oracle Database could improve, it is expensive and they are paid annually. We are looking for lower pricing and flexible pricing plans, they are very rigid in the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

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...
How do you run Oracle Database at your organization and why?
My company has been using Oracle Exadata Database Service for some years now, and we are happy with it. I will allow myself to answer your questions about why and what benefits it provides us with ...
Do you know of any disadvantages of Oracle Database?
Undoubtedly, Oracle Database is a top product in its category. But it does have its disadvantages, and for me and my organization, that has been the limitations of the product. When it comes to Ora...
What is the best use for Oracle Database?
Oracle Database is flexible and can be used for many things. My company's main use case for this product is for storing data. We benefit from its high level of security as well as from the fact tha...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Informix
Oracle 12c, RDBMS
 

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
Agncia Nacional de guas, Anbima, Aria Systems, Asiana Airlines, Astelit LLC, Australian Finance Group, Banco Occidental de Descuento, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, BT, Caja de Seguros S.A., Casas GEO S.A.B. de C.V., Comic Relief UK, Corsair Components Inc., CSAM Health AS, CSOB Group, Datacraft Solutions, DenizBank A.S., Department of Treasury and Finance WA, Office of State Revenue, Deutsche B_rse AG, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Deutsche Messe AG, Digicel Haiti, DPR COSEA, Essar Group, Essatto Software Pty Ltd, Farmšcia e Drogaria Nissei Ltda., Fomento Econ‹mico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (FEMSA), FundaÊo Petrobras de Seguridade Social, Future Group, GFKL Financial Services AG, Grupo Posadas S.A.B. de C.V., Grupo Sinosserra, Guerra S.A. Implementos Rodovišrios, Hanatour International Service, Hays plc, Henan Mobile Co. Ltd, Hochschule Hof, Hong Kong and China Technology (Wuhan) Co. Ltd (Towngas Technology), Industries Corpa_al C.A., Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatstica, Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, Kcell, LinkShare Corporation, MercadoLibre Inc., MetLife Inc., Nextgen Distribution, €BB-IKT GmbH, Octagon Research Solutions, Pacific Lutheran University, Paragon Data GmbH, Ping ltd., PJSC Trustbank, Prodaub _ Processamento de Dados de Uberl_ndia, Purdue University, Redknee Inc., Robi Axiata Limited, Shanghai Infoservice Technology Co. Ltd, Shanghai Sihua Technologies Co. Ltd, Sistema de Aguas de la Ciudad de M_xico, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Suddenlink Communications, Suprajit Engineering Limited, Tallink Grupp, Terminales Ro de la Plata S.A., Therap Services LLC, Think Passenger Inc., Trafigura, Transmed S.A.L Lebanon, ValeShop, VelQuest Corporation, Vodafone Group plc, West Virginia Network, WIND Hellas Telecommunications S.A
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Informix vs. Oracle Database and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.