No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

IBM Informix vs Oracle Database In-Memory comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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 Embedded Database
10th
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
26th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Database In-Memory
Ranking in Embedded Database
2nd
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
12th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
33
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Embedded Database category, the mindshare of IBM Informix is 3.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Database In-Memory is 11.9%, up from 10.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Embedded Database Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Database In-Memory11.9%
IBM Informix3.9%
Other84.2%
Embedded Database
 

Featured Reviews

Nasir Niamat - PeerSpot reviewer
DB Consultant at i2c
Has offered a cost-effective option despite frequent technical issues and limited market demand
We find some bugs in IBM Informix. Maybe we are using it more aggressively than others. Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal. It should be rare, not this frequent. The good thing is they cover those bugs in the next release within weeks or days on demand. IBM Informix should become hybrid and should include AI features similar to other DBMS systems such as Snowflake, Redshift, and DataBricks. This would help its value rise with the market.
Hosney Osman - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Solution Architect at Vodafone
Real-time analytics have transformed response times and support huge data volumes with compression
I do not have any comment related to the improvement of the solution; for sure, it needs improvement, but for my use cases, it is very sufficient, and I think for the biggest companies, it needs a very powerful infrastructure. The area where improvement is required the most in the product is the UI. The problem with the UI is that it is not complex for understanding, but it needs some training to know what each button does, how it works, and the many variables needed.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Not looking at Informix would really mean a shot in your own leg before walking a long distance."
"Informix can support huge quantities of data with less memory and less capacity."
"The solution's stability, performance, enhanced functionality, and replication are all great features."
"My advice is to take it; you will never regret it."
"IBM Informix benefits users with high availability and good integration capabilities."
"So far, we do not have a lot of issues. It's pretty problem-free."
"The solution is quite stable and reliable; we use it mainly due to its general stable nature."
"The stability is incredible. I have customers with uptimes of several years."
"After we started using the in-memory product, we saw really dramatic figures."
"Combined with Exadata, it makes a solution that will deliver the best performance related to the volume of data."
"The scalability of the solution is very good, and it's able to support large amounts of data once the architecture is in place."
"It efficiently handles low-code data and supports read-and-write operations for clustering."
"The valuable features of Oracle Database In-Memory include its capability to bypass disk storage for faster memory operations, which is critical for transactions and analytics."
"The on-premise version is stable. We have different teams and resources for the server side, for admin, and for development. We can easily take care of all the services and applications."
"The most valuable feature of Database In-Memory is that it's really fast."
"I find the performance features of Oracle Database In-Memory to be most beneficial, with system performance in milliseconds, dual format architecture positively impacting our data processing, and clear financial benefits from its efficient operation that improve our overall operational efficiency."
 

Cons

"The support team could include local engineers to establish efficient communication. It will help us speed up the escalation process."
"It would be helpful to have IBM salespeople know that Informix exists, and sell it. Currently, it is completely ignored by IBM."
"Informix is very sturdy, but the problem for us is the marketing action around Informix."
"The solution lacks some functionality."
"Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal."
"The solution should offer replication. It would be helpful if the solution would allow us to access third-party tools."
"This product could be made easier to use for beginners."
"I would like to see backups from secondary servers."
"The solution should move to the new way of writing software code with AI that is intelligent and learns."
"The query optimization and backup features should be added."
"Lacks sufficient integration with other tools."
"They should lower the price. My customers think that it's too expensive."
"We use some partitions in In-Memory. We have a very large table and a low dose. It is very expensive in data to load all of them into In-Memory. It takes up more memory slots in the server, as well as a lot of RAM. We use last partitions on the table. We always need to create a script and make a schedule that can load a last partition in In-Memory. Oracle doesn't have features to do this automatically. I would like them to allow us to load last partitions, as well as other table partitions, in In-Memory. I think a good feature would do that automatically, letting you see a table, load a large partition, and monitor loading memory. It's quite a good feature."
"They should improve the solution's scalability for large databases."
"For some reason, the stats optimizer doesn't work well. We had to disable some of the Oracle’s new features that are not quite mature."
"Oracle Database In-Memory could improve by better supporting generative AI challenges, such as hallucination management."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
"The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license."
"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."
"Database In-Memory is priced a bit higher than its competitors like Microsoft."
"The platform's licensing cost needs improvement."
"The pricing is pretty good so I rate it an eight out of ten."
"The solution's pricing is high."
"Oracle Database In-Memory is expensive."
"The product is expensive."
"It's quite costly and it comes with a fixed price."
"There is a need to make a yearly payment towards the licensing costs, after which there is any to pay towards the support cost attached to the solution."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Embedded Database solutions are best for your needs.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
12%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise23
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Informix?
There is a cost reason to move from IBM Informix. It is relatively cheaper than Oracle. The second reason is that moving the whole application to a new database would require significant cost. The ...
What needs improvement with IBM Informix?
We find some bugs in IBM Informix. Maybe we are using it more aggressively than others. Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal. It should be rare, not this f...
What is your primary use case for IBM Informix?
We are using IBM Informix for OLTP systems. We are using IBM Informix although it is a technology that is not very popular compared to others. We are using it because our application was initially ...
What needs improvement with Oracle Database In-Memory?
I do not have any comment related to the improvement of the solution; for sure, it needs improvement, but for my use cases, it is very sufficient, and I think for the biggest companies, it needs a ...
What is your primary use case for Oracle Database In-Memory?
The major use case for Oracle Database In-Memory is real-time applications that need a fast response between the application and the database directly without any latency.
 

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
Shanghai Customs
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Informix vs. Oracle Database In-Memory and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.