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

IBM Db2 Database pros and cons

Vendor: IBM

4.1 out of 5

75 reviews
90% willing to recommend

Pros & Cons summary

IBM Db2 Database offers stability, scalability, strong security, and performance for high-volume businesses and enterprise environments through seamless integration with IBM products. However, it requires simplification for easier management, faces pricing concerns, and lacks cloud integration, built-in backup, replication capabilities, and quality support. These challenges impact its competitiveness against Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, making it less ideal for users seeking comprehensive database solutions.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM Db2 Database offers excellent scalability and performance, making it suitable for various business needs.

It provides robust security and stability, ensuring reliable protection and uninterrupted performance.

The integration capabilities, particularly with other IBM products, add significant value.

Its self-management and optimization features are top-notch, reducing the need for manual intervention.

The high availability and resilience features, including the pureScale functionality, offer efficient operations even during upgrades.

CONS

IBM Db2 Database has complex initial setup and requires specialized knowledge, which leads to a steep learning curve.

There is a need for improved support with better response times in comparison to competitors like Oracle.

The pricing of IBM Db2 Database is considered high, and there's a demand for cost reduction.

Integration capabilities for cloud services and advanced analytics need enhancement.

IBM Db2 Database's replication feature is insufficient and should be included within the database instead of requiring a separate product purchase.

IBM Db2 Database Pros review quotes

Database Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Feb 2, 2013

IBM’s DB2 is a robust relational database management system (RDBMS).

Read full review

Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 18, 2013

DB2 is a very good, reliable and solid database server with many functionalities.

Read full review

Enterprise Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Nov 29, 2017

Stability, scalability and security with high performance.

Read full review

IBM Db2 Database

Free Report: IBM Db2 Database Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Db2 Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.

892,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Engineer at a tech services company

Jul 5, 2017

We use DB2 HADR to replicate data on LAN to another site, and it is easy to takeover to the other site with easy integration with TSM.

Read full review

Project Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Jul 10, 2017

We have moved a lot of our applications off zOS to distributed platforms and IBM UDB DB2 has been extremely critical in our solution to provide for a scale-able, cost-effective and reliable DBMS solution on distributed platform.

Read full review

DBA with Oracle Database, IBM DB2 and Cloudera Hadoop project at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jul 10, 2017

After migrating to DB2, the performance and stability of our Wealth Management system is much better than it was on Microsoft SQL Server.

Read full review

SAP Basis Administrator at a pharma/biotech company

Jul 10, 2017

DB2's performance and stability has been a key factor in the success of the SAP rollout.

Read full review

VMware & Storage Design Lead at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 12, 2017

It was very simple to get up and running.

Read full review

DL

Mainframe Application Analyst / Developer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

Jul 12, 2017

Data structure -- easy access batch or interface.

Read full review

DB2 DBA at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Jul 31, 2017

Due to the stability, the applications can have a very long uptime, even with modifications in the application.

Read full review

Show 10 more reviews (out of 72)

IBM Db2 Database Cons review quotes

Database Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Feb 2, 2013

Learning and understanding DB2 is a difficult process because no more resources are available for knowledge base.

Read full review

Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Feb 18, 2013

For me and the company that I work for was expensive.

Read full review

Enterprise Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Nov 29, 2017

Backing up databases from Windows and restoring them on AIX and vise-versa.

Read full review

IBM Db2 Database

Free Report: IBM Db2 Database Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about IBM Db2 Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.

892,646 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Engineer at a tech services company

Jul 5, 2017

Automatic upgrade process (e.g., from v9.7 to v10.5) often fails.

Read full review

Project Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Jul 10, 2017

Right now, the setup for AWS/Azure licensing is very confusing and not cost-effective.

Read full review

DBA with Oracle Database, IBM DB2 and Cloudera Hadoop project at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jul 10, 2017

As an unbreakable system, it's a very bad design.

Read full review

SAP Basis Administrator at a pharma/biotech company

Jul 10, 2017

The diagnostic log (db2diag.log file) could be a little bit more user-friendly.

Read full review

VMware & Storage Design Lead at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 12, 2017

In my limited use case, the only major thing would be improved reporting capability.

Read full review

DL

Mainframe Application Analyst / Developer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

Jul 12, 2017

Applications are used within the boundaries of their functionality and/or business purposes. While there are different situations that may occur either on a daily basis or once in a while, solutions are limited to the scope of their usage.

Read full review

DB2 DBA at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Jul 31, 2017

In other countries, different to US or Canada, the support is not straightforward.

Read full review

Show 10 more reviews (out of 72)

Product Categories

Product Categories

Relational Databases Tools

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

Teradata vs IBM Db2 Database

SQL Server vs IBM Db2 Database

Oracle Database vs IBM Db2 Database

MySQL vs IBM Db2 Database

SAP HANA vs IBM Db2 Database

MariaDB vs IBM Db2 Database

VMware Tanzu Data Solutions vs IBM Db2 Database

CockroachDB vs IBM Db2 Database

SAP IQ vs IBM Db2 Database

Amazon Aurora vs IBM Db2 Database

Oracle Database In-Memory vs IBM Db2 Database

YugabyteDB vs IBM Db2 Database

Heavy.AI vs IBM Db2 Database

IBM Informix vs IBM Db2 Database

Tibero vs IBM Db2 Database

See all alternatives

Product Categories

Product Categories

Relational Databases Tools

Popular Comparisons

Popular Comparisons

Teradata vs IBM Db2 Database

SQL Server vs IBM Db2 Database

Oracle Database vs IBM Db2 Database

MySQL vs IBM Db2 Database

SAP HANA vs IBM Db2 Database

MariaDB vs IBM Db2 Database

VMware Tanzu Data Solutions vs IBM Db2 Database

CockroachDB vs IBM Db2 Database

SAP IQ vs IBM Db2 Database

Amazon Aurora vs IBM Db2 Database

Oracle Database In-Memory vs IBM Db2 Database

YugabyteDB vs IBM Db2 Database

Heavy.AI vs IBM Db2 Database

IBM Informix vs IBM Db2 Database

Tibero vs IBM Db2 Database

See all alternatives

Related questions

48

When evaluating Relational Databases, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

72

Do general purpose or OLTP Oracle databases really perform better on SPARC based servers?

82

Microsoft sql2017 VS SAP Hana

57

What is the best database choice for a long term plan?

69

SQL Server 2005 vs. InfoBright - what are the pros and cons of these solutions?

72

How does NuoDB compare to MySQL and SQL Server?

146

Which RDBMS tool do you prefer and why?

133

Did you switch from a different solution to MySQL? Can you list a few pros and cons for making the move?

49

Why is Relational Databases Tools important for companies?