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Actian Ingres vs IBM Informix comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Actian Ingres
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
25th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (16th)
IBM Informix
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
23rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Actian Ingres is 1.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Informix is 1.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Informix1.8%
Actian Ingres1.1%
Other97.1%
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

GH
Sr Sales Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Reliable performance enhances operations with good technical support
We run the entire IRS system, the income system, and the tax system. We also manage the entire Absa banking system in Africa. There's a lot of database applications, similar to those used in banks and the IRS The most valuable features for us are reliability and performance. Our system is used…
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The deployment of our solution across a number of servers using Ingres .NET has meant that we can protect the database server behind a highly secure firewall and deploy the front end solutions on a normal web server."
"The most valuable features for us are reliability and performance."
"The solution's stability, performance, enhanced functionality, and replication are all great features."
"It is very easy to install IBM Informix, very easy to scale, and support is quite better."
"Flexible Grid provides the ability to automatically create database objects, such as tables, indexes, and stored procedures on all nodes within the grid as a single operation."
"Replication, all levels of replication, query charting, and the MongoDB embedded are the most valuable features of this solution."
"The scalability is very good."
"The stability is incredible. I have customers with uptimes of several years."
"It supports in-house-built applications in .NET and VB6"
"Every version is faster than the previous."
 

Cons

"The ability to reset the log file without stopping the DBMS would be helpful for us."
"The seamless integration is a bit of an issue."
"The solution lacks some functionality."
"There should be more intelligence surrounding discovering data to be able to automatically create indexes."
"In my opinion, the packages could be improved. The version I use doesn't allow for packages. I can do some general procedures, but no packages like in Oracle. So, develop separate modules in SQL language. This would be most beneficial for me."
"The technical support services need substantial improvement."
"It would be helpful to have IBM salespeople know that Informix exists, and sell it. Currently, it is completely ignored by IBM."
"Continue extending the SQL language for compatibility with the competition's language, including Stored Procedure Language."
"This solution is in need of more current tools."
"The solution really doesn't add new features very often."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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."
"For me, it's always too expensive."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Legal Firm
7%
University
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Actian Ingres?
The seamless integration is a bit of an issue. I would like to see more direct connectors and stuff like SQLAlchemy. It's there but isn't available as a standard, so it involves going to GitHub to ...
What is your primary use case for Actian Ingres?
We run the entire IRS system, the income system, and the tax system. We also manage the entire Absa banking system in Africa. There's a lot of database applications, similar to those used in banks ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Actian Ingres?
Initially, it's a lot less expensive than competitors. Price performance has always been a priority, ensuring we remain competitive in the market.
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 ...
 

Also Known As

Ingres, Ingres 2006
Informix
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Groupe Adeo, IsCool Entertainment
Shaspa, Hildebrand, Kaifa, Ranhill Powertron, Federaci‹ Farmacutica (FedeFarma), Camden Council, The German Aerospace Center (DLR), Myers, Votorantim Group, Doosan Infracore, GreenIvory
Find out what your peers are saying about Actian Ingres vs. IBM Informix and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.