Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM Informix vs Teradata comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 30, 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
24th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (10th)
Teradata
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
77
Ranking in other categories
Customer Experience Management (6th), Backup and Recovery (21st), Data Integration (17th), Data Warehouse (3rd), BI (Business Intelligence) Tools (13th), Marketing Management (5th), Cloud Data Warehouse (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Informix is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Teradata is 4.5%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Teradata4.5%
IBM Informix1.9%
Other93.6%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Nasir Niamat - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Kirk Robinson - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved data quality, optimized reporting processes, and enabled predictive insights across business units
The limitation we encountered was related to speed, prompting us to increase our AWS cloud thresholds and benchmarks on the servers, adding more throughput. We have been testing that, but speed remains one of our key issues. The integration has been awesome because of the platforms and their usage, and usability is great. The most challenging aspect is finding Teradata resources, so we are focusing on internal training and looking for more Teradata experts. If Teradata could provide a list of certified experts, that would be fantastic. I rated Teradata a nine because the main area for improvement is the bandwidth of resources that could assist us in applying to our projects, specifically more certified and expert resources. The market share of Teradata professionals is limited, creating an issue for us.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is very easy to install IBM Informix, very easy to scale, and support is quite better."
"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."
"Replication, all levels of replication, query charting, and the MongoDB embedded are the most valuable features of this solution."
"It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools."
"The solution's stability, performance, enhanced functionality, and replication are all great features."
"Replication is a valuable feature and easy to use."
"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."
"It supports in-house-built applications in .NET and VB6"
"Teradata features high productivity and reliability because it has several redundancy options, so the system is always up and running."
"Teradata's most valuable feature is that it's easy to use."
"Teradata has positively impacted our organization by allowing our team to reduce from 27 people down to eight, consolidating our headcount, and helping the enterprise achieve a higher rate of internal return on financials."
"It effectively has allowed us to remove over 20 portion copies of the data sets on other DB platforms for real-time operational reporting purposes."
"The two types of partitioning have been very significant for us - row and columnar partitioning."
"I like writing preformance queries for preprocessing on AWS Cloud."
"It is quick, secure, and has less hassles because we don't have to involve our networking team, infrastructure, etc. It is very easy to deploy and make market ready."
"Teradata can be easily used in ETL mode transformations, so there is no need for expensive and inconvenient ETL tools"
 

Cons

"Continue extending the SQL language for compatibility with the competition's language, including Stored Procedure Language."
"The solution lacks some functionality."
"I would like to see backups from secondary servers."
"It would be helpful to have IBM salespeople know that Informix exists, and sell it. Currently, it is completely ignored by IBM."
"Every month or every second month, we find some bugs in it, which is not ideal."
"The technical support services need substantial improvement."
"The solution really doesn't add new features very often."
"I really would love to have a QT plugin."
"Teradata hardly supports unstructured data or semi-structured data"
"The limitation we encountered was related to speed, prompting us to increase our AWS cloud thresholds and benchmarks on the servers, adding more throughput."
"Apart from Control-M, it would be nice if it could integrate with other tools."
"Limited interest and success in some areas make us hesitate about upgrading."
"​I think the UI is not there yet. It could be improved by being more user-friendly.​"
"I would like to see an improved Knowledge Base on the web."
"There is a need to improve performance in high transaction processes, as well as the reporting system."
"It's primarily designed for big projects and therefore, the pricing is pretty high. It's not suitable for smaller companies."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For me, it's always too expensive."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
"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."
"The cost is significantly high."
"We are looking for a more flexible cost model for the next version that we use, whether it be cloud or on-premise."
"Price is quite high, so if it is really possible to use other solutions (e.g. you do not have strict requirements for performance and huge data volumes), it might be better to look at alternatives from the RDBMS world."
"Teradata is not cheap, but you get what you pay for."
"It's a very expensive product."
"The price of Teradata is expensive. However, what they deliver they are outstanding. If you're looking for an inexpensive solution to run a database, this isn't your tool. It's the Ferrari of databases for data warehousing."
"The price of Teradata is on the higher side, and I think that it where they lose out on some of their business."
"In this day and age, we want to get things done quickly. So, we go to the AWS Marketplace."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Relational Databases Tools solutions are best for your needs.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user232068 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 5, 2015
Netezza vs. Teradata
Original published at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-i-choose-net Two leading Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) architectures for Data Warehousing (DW) are IBM PureData System for Analytics (formerly Netezza) and Teradata. I thought talking about the similarities and differences…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Healthcare 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 Business26
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise49
 

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...
Comparing Teradata and Oracle Database, which product do you think is better and why?
I have spoken to my colleagues about this comparison and in our collective opinion, the reason why some people may declare Teradata better than Oracle is the pricing. Both solutions are quite simi...
Which companies use Teradata and who is it most suitable for?
Before my organization implemented this solution, we researched which big brands were using Teradata, so we knew if it would be compatible with our field. According to the product's site, the comp...
Is Teradata a difficult solution to work with?
Teradata is not a difficult product to work with, especially since they offer you technical support at all levels if you just ask. There are some features that may cause difficulties - for example,...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Informix
IntelliFlex, Aster Data Map Reduce, , QueryGrid, Customer Interaction Manager, Digital Marketing Center, Data Mover, Data Stream Architecture, Teradata Vantage Enterprise (DIY)
 

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
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Informix vs. Teradata and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.