It is installed on the mainframe that we use for our applications.
Director at Pharos Consulting
Has great performance, security, and availability
Pros and Cons
- "It's the best solution in terms of security, performance, and availability because the system is available 24/7."
- "The problem with this environment is that any software that you install is very costly because there are no free tools for this environment."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
It's the best solution in terms of security, performance, and availability because the system is available 24/7.
What needs improvement?
The problem with this environment is that any software that you install is very costly because there are no free tools for this environment.
The environment itself comes at a very high cost because the mainframe machine is very costly, and the licensing cost is very high as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using IBM Db2 Database for the past 22 years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable, and the performance is very good.
How are customer service and support?
We use IBM technical support for the big bugs related to the operating system and the database. We haven't faced any problems with the database. Sometimes, with the operating system we need some fixes, and technical support has sent us those. On the application side, our team develops the application and solves any problems related to it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used COBOL with a database sold by Computer Associates. We didn't have lot of choices for mainframes at the time. The best database that can run on the mainframe is the IBM Db2 Database, and we have stayed with Db2 from 2000 to the present.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was quite simple because we've been working in this area for more than 40 years.
It took about a year and a half to develop and deploy the whole application.
What about the implementation team?
We developed the application, and we deployed it using a solution strategy. We have an IBM partner who gave us all the software that we needed, and we implemented it ourselves.
We had three system engineers, two people for the database, and two people for the application.
What was our ROI?
Our ROI is big because we earned about 100 billion in our currency.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's very expensive for West African countries like ours.
We are currently in discussions with IBM concerning the reduction of licensing costs. We have a license based on the capacity of the machine and are looking into a license based on usage.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There weren't a lot of choices for mainframes at the time.
What other advice do I have?
If you're going to use it for the first time, you would need lot of training and some technical support. You would need support during development as well.
I would rate this solution at nine on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: integrator
Consultant at Discount Bank
Very good in terms of robustness, scalability, availability, and performance
Pros and Cons
- "Its robustness, scalability, availability, and performance are valuable. All these are the major attributes of a relational database for supporting a very high-volume business, and Db2 is very good in all those areas and in all those attributes."
- "They should simplify the management of Db2 as a relational database system. There should be the simplification of management. This is probably one of the most important asks for being successful in the future."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for the core banking business. We have Db2 for z/OS 2.4 on the IBM mainframe machine. It is on-premises of one of the big banks in Israel.
What is most valuable?
Its robustness, scalability, availability, and performance are valuable. All these are the major attributes of a relational database for supporting a very high-volume business, and Db2 is very good in all those areas and in all those attributes.
What needs improvement?
They should simplify the management of Db2 as a relational database system. There should be the simplification of management. This is probably one of the most important asks for being successful in the future.
They should add AI support for performance improvements for application and system performance and tuning management. AI is a very deep and complex product. There are thousands of parameters, and it is very hard to do it manually. So, I would suggest developing an AI system to do the monitoring, tuning, and performance improvements.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this product for 40 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. There are organizations where Db2 has been working for more than a year and sometimes, for many years without going down. The operating system as well as Db2 work for a long time. There is no downtime at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very scalable. There are about 250 application systems with even more different databases on the same server with data sharing.
How are customer service and support?
Their technical support is okay. It was better 10 years ago, but it is still okay.
How was the initial setup?
It must be done by a professional. It is not a simple task. Somebody with quite significant experience must do the initial setup. It is difficult.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Buyer's Guide
IBM Db2 Database
May 2025

Learn what your peers think about IBM Db2 Database. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Data Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Data access is simplified with key identification but outdated interface needs revamping
Pros and Cons
- "I can easily export that to further work on it in Snowflake."
- "The user interface is old and needs to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
The data resides in Db2, and the application is linked to Db2. My job is to pull the data through the Talend tool from Db2 and load it into Snowflake. At the Snowflake level, I handle the data for reporting purposes.
What is most valuable?
Db2 is an on-premises solution. I only use SQL over there. It's very easy to figure out how the data is present. I can check what the keys in the table are. I can easily export that to further work on it in Snowflake. For data modeling and other tasks, I have to pull the information from Db2.
What needs improvement?
The user interface is old and needs to be improved. It doesn't match the responsive and suggestion-rich UI of cloud solutions. New functions don't come to mind.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Db2 for around one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, I would rate it as seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is not always good in on-premises solutions. I would rate it five out of ten. The difficulty in scaling on-premises solutions is one reason we moved to the cloud.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Postman previously, which I worked on when I was involved in mobile development. Now, at IBM, I have switched to the data engineering stack.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is not difficult; it's simple.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate Db2 as six out of ten. I can recommend it if someone wants to go to IBM stack. If someone is willing to adopt IBM's stack, then definitely they will be using IBM Db2.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Last updated: Feb 12, 2025
Flag as inappropriateSolutions Architect at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Reliable, mature, and able to extend
Pros and Cons
- "It's a very mature product."
- "When I look at Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server provides me with better tools for database management."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution for handling retail customer information. We use it as an integration broker. It stores all the vendor information.
How has it helped my organization?
We rely on it for our data transfers. If we need to send an invoice, for example, we'd use this product.
What is most valuable?
The solution is very stable and reliable. It's a very mature product.
If you have specialized support, it's fine in terms of getting assistance.
The solution can scale.
What needs improvement?
IBM gives us tools that help us
When I look at Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server provides me with better tools for database management. IBM is missing things like data permissions and backups, et cetera. Microsoft has a very user-friendly interface that IBM lacks. The user interface from IBM is not great.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution on and off for the past ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution. It's been around for quite some time and is very mature. It's reliable. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's quite scalable. We haven't had any issues. We can reuse DB2 mainframes, et cetera. We haven't had issues.
We're not increasing usage. We're pushing towards the cloud and Azure systems.
How are customer service and support?
We are a big customer of IBM and have some sort of specialized services. We have an elevated support agreement that helps. In general, it's not the greatest. That's only at a personal level.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I am familiar with the Microsoft SQL Server, which is more user-friendly and has more user-friendly features. We're also exploring moving away from this solution to more cloud-based Azure services.
How was the initial setup?
The setup wasn't part of my job. We had a team that handled it. However, my understanding is it was straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't deal with the pricing. I can't speak to its exact cost.
What other advice do I have?
I'm not a database person. I'm a programmer.
I'm using version nine in the company.
If a person wants to use the solution from a user perspective, I'd suggest they actually look at cloud programs, not IBM or on-premises. Cloud simplifies a lot of things. If I were starting from scratch, I'd go right to the could.
The reliability is excellent, and therefore I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. I only have issues with the user interface.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
System engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Contributes to our organization's work efficiency with valuable querying feature
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's querying feature is most valuable. It allows me to retrieve data quickly."
- "The solution's data retrieval speed could be improved, especially for heavy queries. Better optimization or indexing might also be involved."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the platform to store query data. I work in a bank, where we store customer information on it.
How has it helped my organization?
The product has improved our organization by performing well for data storage and queries. It helps us retrieve information quickly.
What is most valuable?
The solution's querying feature is most valuable. It allows me to retrieve data quickly.
What needs improvement?
The solution's data retrieval speed could be improved, especially for heavy queries. Better optimization or indexing might also be involved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with IBM Db2 for about two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is mostly stable, even in a large organization like ours.
I rate the stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We manage around 15,000 to 20,000 platform users. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I do not interact directly with the technical support team.
Our internal support team handles any issues and communicates with the provider.
What was our ROI?
The solution has been good with strong performance, contributing to our organization's efficiency.
What other advice do I have?
We use the product combined with other solutions, such as SAP Crystal Reports and various reporting tools, but we do not directly integrate it with databases like SQL Server.
I rate it as ten because, despite occasional issues, it performs very well overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Last updated: Sep 16, 2024
Flag as inappropriateTough, impenetrable security but hardware and subscription-based support are very expensive
Pros and Cons
- "The solution's security is very tough and impenetrable."
- "The solution no longer supports POWER8."
What is our primary use case?
Our company uses the solution as a database service for a client in the furniture manufacturing industry.
What is most valuable?
The solution's security is very tough and impenetrable.
What needs improvement?
Hardware and support subscriptions are very expensive. Better partnerships in the Middle East or Egypt could reduce costs.
The solution no longer supports POWER8.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very, very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is an issue for us because Database Hammer does not work with IBM Power and POWER9 is too expensive.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very helpful and better than competitors such as Dell, Lenovo, or HP.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used POWER5 and POWER7 so have been with the solution for some time.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is very easy and we accomplished it through self education.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the solution in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution's hardware and subscription model for support are very expensive in the Middle East or Egypt.
I rate cost a three out of ten.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Database Hammer does not work with IBM Power or POWER8. It is too expensive for us to purchase POWER9 so we are migrating to AWS and comparing that to Azure.
Currently, our server and database are shut down and not in use.
What other advice do I have?
Stability, mobility, and security are rated a ten out of ten but the extreme cost changes my overall rating to a five out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Project Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
We use it to provide for back-end DB for many proprietary applications.
What is most valuable?
We use it to provide for back-end DB for many proprietary applications. The most valuable features are reliability, performance, and portability across different platforms.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
The other advantage is we don't have to make lot of changes in the application DB2 access layer in order for it to work with IBM DB2 UDB. These applications have been originally designed to work with the host database (IBM DB2 zOS).
What needs improvement?
I would definitely like to see a better interface to interact with the database. Performance monitoring tools which come out of the box don't need to come along with all the bells and whistles. They need to be effective and intuitive. There are ways to do that out-of-box even today, but it can be improved
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used this solution for over 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There were no issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There were no issues with scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
The IBM Technical Support model is satisfactory.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used XDB (Micro Focus RDBMS equivalent to DB2) which used to have scalability and reliability issues in our development environments. We switched to IBM UDB DB2 in our DEV environments on account of its reliability and scalability.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was straightforward. However, the Linux setup can be improved.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I love the way the product is licensed on zOS and zLinux (core-based). However, IBM needs to improve their licensing for cloud environment, as we are planning to leverage that platform extensively in the future. Right now, the setup for AWS/Azure licensing is very confusing and not cost-effective.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated Oracle, but the ease of application re-hosting with IBM DB2, as well as its comparable reliability and scalability tilted it in favor of IBM DB2 UDB.
What other advice do I have?
For folks looking to re-host applications that are using zOS DB2, our advice is to strictly go with IBM UDB DB2. Do not consider other options, as they usually require extensive changes in the application layer.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are IBM's partner.
Architect at a wellness & fitness company with 1-10 employees
Performs well, easy to manage, technical support is helpful, and responsive
Pros and Cons
- "I believe that because the support is good, they jump in and assist us in determining the root cause."
- "The pricing could be improved, it's expensive."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case of the IBM Db2 Database is our trading platform.
We use store procedures and SQL.
We have some tables with partitions, as well as some tables with a large amount of data.
We use partitions, we use views, and we know who uses them.
What is most valuable?
We don't have any compatibility issues because we use all IBM products. We use every IBM product. That is why we use IBM's developer tool as well. We never encounter any product compatibility issues during development and deployment.
That is one of the good things that happened to us, in my opinion.
When we had server-related issues, such as a database outage, compatibility and support were good. I believe that because the support is good, they jump in and assist us in determining the root cause.
The product is really reliable.
We have seen very few instances of problems, overall IBM products are valuable.
The most valuable features are compatibility and support.
What needs improvement?
I am currently moving away from that core application. I am not focusing on the solution.
It is our trading application, and there are some reservations, about continuing to upgrade to the latest versions even though we are currently running on older versions. I believe the first step would be to upgrade it to the most recent versions and then see if any improvements are required while continuing to provide feedback on older versions.
The pricing could be improved, it's expensive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I am not working on it as closely these days, but our application began in 2001, and we have been using the IBM Db2 database since then.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
IBM products are very nice and perform very well.
IBM Db2 Database is a stable product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We use a scalable WebSphere Application Server topology, but it's a monolithic application that can only be scaled vertically, not horizontally, because it's a monolithic single database, but those limitations exist. But there are times when I believe we are pleased with the product.
We have multiple production environments and various resources, as well as separate teams to manage the database and separate teams to manage the Application Server. I believe it began with a small team, but as time passed, I believe the number of environments and teams increased. Teams are popular now. I believe we have teams dedicated to each area.
I can say that there are approximately 100 developers, both offshore and onshore.
How are customer service and support?
We have support. In my opinion, they are prompt, we receive responses from IBM within two to three hours.
There are some challenges. There may be one or two instances where it exceeds, but we are content with that.
The product is very reliable and stable, and we used to receive prompt responses from IBM on support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we were using the WebSphere Application Server. Those applications are in maintenance mode.
We also worked with the Application Developer,m which is the Rational Application Developer for WebSphere software. It is running on legacy Java version 8.
No one is currently using this software because everyone has upgraded to the latest version, but our application is still running with an older version. I don't believe anyone is currently using the older version of Java and the Application Developer that we are.
It's an older version of Java, and I don't believe any developmental improvements will be made to the tool as of now. Because we are not using the most recent version of the tool and the most recent version of the WebSphere Application Server, the feedback I could provide may be ineffective.
We are in the process of migrating to the AWS Cloud.
Our design approach is to convert our monolithic applications to microservices.
We have not used Hadoop, High-Availability Clustering, or Backup and Recovery, we only use the Application Server to host our applications.
How was the initial setup?
The monolithic application is hosted on-premises.
We installed the system in 2001 and have been using it ever since.
The maintenance and support staff is quite small. We have a dedicated database team, we can support multiple database products in addition to Db2.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am aware that IBM pricing is expensive in comparison to other products.
However, I am not the person who dealt with pricing.
It is expensive when compared to other products.
What other advice do I have?
We are moving away from IBM products.
Everyone is now gravitating toward AWS and cloud computing. And this is a legacy monolithic platform. My advice will be ineffective. The legacy system was designed in the year 2000.
When we first launched our product, IBM hosted our client platform.
Our client insisted on using IBM products, but I believe we are now satisfied. However, the company where we started, has now been acquired by four different companies.
We are working on a different company that has Java-based products, department-based products, and many other products. It's obvious it's a trade. We will build a trading platform on which our clients and sponsors will trade.
I would rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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