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IBM InfoSphere Optim vs Oracle Enterprise Manager comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 23, 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 InfoSphere Optim
Ranking in Database Development and Management
14th
Average Rating
6.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Enterprise Manager
Ranking in Database Development and Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
129
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of IBM InfoSphere Optim is 2.4%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Enterprise Manager is 4.0%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Enterprise Manager4.0%
IBM InfoSphere Optim2.4%
Other93.6%
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

Kenneth Estanislao - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Designer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Backups become efficient while cost concerns remain
I am still working with IBM and we are transitioning to other tools rather than using IBM InfoSphere Optim. We use other tools, but I cannot recall the name because I am not the one currently handling it. It has transitioned to other architects. For IBM InfoSphere Optim, we are still currently using it, but we have transitioned to the newer version, the latest one with support for AWS S3. I cannot identify a main competitor for IBM InfoSphere Optim because we have transitioned to other architects, and they are the ones looking for other tools. The last comparison I did was almost 4 years ago. I am not using any AI technology with IBM InfoSphere Optim. I rate IBM InfoSphere Optim a seven out of ten. The tool is good, but the price is not favorable as it is the most expensive part. I can recommend IBM InfoSphere Optim for enterprises.
reviewer996648 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and President at a training & coaching company with 1-10 employees
Extensive functionality impresses despite occasional setup complexity
The functions and features of Oracle Enterprise Manager that I have found most valuable are its evolution from being problematic in 10g and 11g versions to becoming better and more stable. Now it has become a significantly improved product. We have integrated identity management, and we are using it for normal database examination, tuning, and performance. We are working with STATSPACK and similar tools that are integrated in Oracle Enterprise Manager. We are currently working with version 13.5, having upgraded from 13.4 last year. Automation is useful for improving operational efficiency, and there are many more opportunities to automate outside the databases. Not many things need to be automated inside the databases. We have jobs running, imports, exports, and similar tasks. To automate these processes, we utilize the Scheduler from Oracle, which is managed in the databases by the vendor. This is not part of our DBA functions in Oracle Enterprise Manager.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I feel the solution to be a bit faster than the traditional methods, which makes it easy to customize."
"We like that we can easily restore the database with just a few clicks."
"The compression feature is valuable because it achieves around 80% compression."
"We like that we can easily restore the database with just a few clicks. The database is linked as well."
"This solution was the only one which allows us to monitor all our solutions from one interface."
"One of the valuable features is performance drill down."
"From my experience, I'd say that the most valuable feature is the ability to manage all the databases, hardware, and middleware from one pane of glass."
"It has improved significantly our monitoring and tuning of our databases."
"It's a standardized GUI tool, which is very good and pluggable with automatic connection to an Oracle database, in comparison with any other GUI tools available in the market."
"Can easily visualize bottlenecks in database performance tuning with historical graph trends; whereas before it would be based upon manually tuning using scripts which are text based."
"I can see the whole picture and analyze the data; I rely on that a lot."
"My high rating reflects its ease of use and that it contains a host of features, anything and everything a database administrator would want it to perform; all the way from creating a database to adding space, to performance monitoring, to back up and recovery, to exports and imports, and security."
 

Cons

"While masking PII information in huge tables [more than 500 million record count with more than five PII columns present] the Extract-Convert-Load [ECL] process becomes extremely slow and can take a huge amount of time."
"While the solution is very supportive of Db2, it is not so friendly when it comes to IMS databases."
"IBM InfoSphere Optim can be implemented on AWS, but it costs more than double what we're currently paying, so it's not really of good value for us."
"We're looking for a solution that can be implemented on AWS. IBM InfoSphere Optim can be implemented on AWS, but it costs more than double what we're currently paying. So, it's not really of good value for us."
"The potential room for improvement for IBM InfoSphere Optim is usually its cost, as it is too expensive."
"There are some monitoring tools, such as GoldenGate, that would be great if they could put them in OEM."
"I would like to have more details and privileges. I would say more grantable and obtainable privileges are needed."
"Customer Service: Appalling, raised issues with support and that take ages to respond.Technical Support: Appalling; they take far too long to understand the issue, they just simply appear to read scripts; if our problem is not on the script; then they struggle to think."
"The deployment is not straightforward."
"I feel more dashboards can be added, especially those useful to higher levels of IT management."
"The product is pretty comprehensive, but quite resource hungry. This might be due to the majority of the application seemingly being written in Java."
"It needs to support the Database versions lower than 10.2."
"The solution has a very large resource system. It's too big."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM InfoSphere Optim is a very expensive solution. Actually, it's the most expensive archiving solution that we have."
"Oracle Enterprise Manager is a free tool from Oracle."
"The licensing is the responsibility of our customers."
"We are satisfied with the pricing."
"The pricing is very high."
"There are a few bugs with the software which require opening SRs with Oracle Support which contribute to the day-to-day cost. Perhaps 8 hours per month is spent dealing with support, just as a rough guess."
"Be careful to only enable the packs for which you have a license as this is an issue we see time and again."
"As with all Oracle products, care should be taken when using any features to ensure that they do not activate licensed features that have not been paid for."
"The basic functions are free. You only pay license fees for advanced features."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Construction Company
7%
Retailer
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise81
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM InfoSphere Optim?
The potential room for improvement for IBM InfoSphere Optim is usually its cost, as it is too expensive. Currently, there are no issues with IBM InfoSphere Optim; the only problem is the cost, whic...
What is your primary use case for IBM InfoSphere Optim?
My current use case for IBM InfoSphere Optim is just for doing backups. We are using IBM InfoSphere Optim specifically for backup purposes.
What advice do you have for others considering IBM InfoSphere Optim?
I am still working with IBM and we are transitioning to other tools rather than using IBM InfoSphere Optim. We use other tools, but I cannot recall the name because I am not the one currently handl...
What do you like most about Oracle Enterprise Manager?
What I like most about Oracle Enterprise Manager are its features, particularly the active session history. It provides insights into SQL, and I use it regularly to identify potential issues.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Enterprise Manager?
I would rate the pricing of Oracle Enterprise Manager as very expensive, definitely deserving a 10 out of 10.
What needs improvement with Oracle Enterprise Manager?
The weaknesses I would like to address in Oracle Enterprise Manager involve the dealing of Grid Infrastructure. Oracle Enterprise Manager's handling of Grid Infrastructure needs some improvement. I...
 

Also Known As

IBM Optim, Optim
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Durham Police Department, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., Continental, KCE Electronics Public Company Limited, The University of Adelaide, Migros Zurich, COPROB
7-Eleven, Halliburton, Cisco, Garmin, Nationwide, Korea Telecom, Allied Irish Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM InfoSphere Optim vs. Oracle Enterprise Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,244 professionals have used our research since 2012.