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Apache Hadoop vs IBM Db2 Warehouse comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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

Apache Hadoop
Ranking in Data Warehouse
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Db2 Warehouse
Ranking in Data Warehouse
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Apache Hadoop is 4.9%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Db2 Warehouse is 2.5%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

Sushil Arya - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides ease of integration with the IT workflow of a business
When working with Kafka, I saw that the data came in an incremental order. The incremental data processing part is still not very effective in Apache Hadoop. If the data is already there, it can be processed very effectively, especially if the data is coming in every second. If you want to know the location of some data every second, then such data is not processed effectively in Apache Hadoop. I can say that one of the features where improvements are required revolves around the licensing cost of the tool. If the tool can build some licensing structures in a pay-per-use manner, organizations can get the look and feel of Apache Hadoop. Apache Hadoop can offer a licensing structure of the product that can be seen as similar to how AWS operates. Apache Hadoop can look into the capability of processing incremental data. The tool's setup process can be a scope of improvement. Also, it is not very simple because while doing the setup, we need to do all the server settings, including port listing and firewall configurations. If we look at other products on the market, then they can be made simpler. There are certain shortcomings when it comes to the product's technical support part, making it an area where improvements are required. The time frame for the resolution is an area that needs to be improved. The overall communication part of the technical support team also needs improvement.
Ismail Aboulezz - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhancements in data analysis and decision-making elevate overall performance
The most valuable features of IBM Db2 Warehouse ( /products/ibm-db2-warehouse-reviews ) include its availability, easy integration, ability to deal with a large size of data, excellent performance with no delays, powerful security mechanisms, and effective support. The response time is very quick, and the technical manuals and support from IBM are of high quality. Additionally, it is easy to install, troubleshoot, operate, and secure the environment.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Hadoop is a distributed file system, and it scales reasonably well provided you give it sufficient resources."
"One valuable feature is that we can download data."
"Most valuable features are HDFS and Kafka: Ingestion of huge volumes and variety of unstructured/semi-structured data is feasible, and it helps us to quickly onboard a new Big Data analytics prospect."
"We selected Apache Hadoop because it is not dependent on third-party vendors."
"The most important feature is its ability to handle large volumes. Some of our customers have really large volumes, and it is capable of handling their data in terms of the core volume and daily incremental volume. So, its processing power and speed are most valuable."
"Its flexibility in handling and storing large volumes of data is particularly beneficial, as is its resilience, which ensures data redundancy and fault tolerance."
"Initially, with RDBMS alone, we had a lot of work and few servers running on-premise and on cloud for the PoC and incubation. With the use of Hadoop and ecosystem components and tools, and managing it in Amazon EC2, we have created a Big Data "lab" which helps us to centralize all our work and solutions into a single repository. This has cut down the time in terms of maintenance, development and, especially, data processing challenges."
"It's open-source, so it's very cost-effective."
"Provides good security and reliability."
"The analytics engine is not bad at forecasting predictions."
"IBM Db2 Warehouse is more resilient when dealing with business intelligence applications."
"It can be mounted on the cloud, which is a huge plus. If the client, for example, starts small with on-premise deployment and then it rapidly needs to grow, we can transfer this to the cloud easily."
"The solution is stable."
"The standout feature of IBM Db2 Warehouse, which is particularly valuable for large enterprises, is its ability to handle big data."
"I think it scales really well and as long as you take enough time to learn a little bit about it, it works really well."
"It can scale effectively as long as resources are available."
 

Cons

"The integration with Apache Hadoop with lots of different techniques within your business can be a challenge."
"It needs better user interface (UI) functionalities."
"There is a lack of virtualization and presentation layers, so you can't take it and implement it like a radio solution."
"It would be good to have more advanced analytics tools."
"Hadoop's security could be better."
"I would like to see more direct integration of visualization applications."
"The upgrade path should be improved because it is not as easy as it should be."
"In certain cases, the configurations for dealing with data skewness do not make any sense."
"The areas of the solution that is needing the most improvement are separating compute from storage, elasticity, which means scaling up and then retracting."
"There were some initial challenges with IBM Db2 Warehouse about eight months ago when I worked in this environment. When I coordinated with IBM support, they mentioned that the memory was insufficient for our needs. Our business environment required significantly more memory than the previous cluster could provide. Consequently, we have worked closely with on-site IBM technical personnel to address this issue."
"The primary challenges customers face with IBM Db2 Warehouse are related to its complexity in usage. It requires highly skilled professionals who understand Db2, and both training and support are challenging to obtain."
"Responding to support tickets takes a lot of time. It can range from two to four days, even for critical issues."
"It takes a long time to have a new version or release, similar to Oracle."
"IBM Db2 Warehouse needs to improve its interface."
"The biggest challenge anyone could have with Db2 Warehouse is their references or online resources and documentation. They are very, very, very limited on the web."
"There should be more material available for training and training should be free."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Apache Hadoop could be less expensive."
"We don't directly pay for it. Our clients pay for it, and they usually don't complain about the price. So, it is probably acceptable."
"If my company can use the cloud version of Apache Hadoop, particularly the cloud storage feature, it would be easier and would cost less because an on-premises deployment has a higher cost during storage, for example, though I don't know exactly how much Apache Hadoop costs."
"The product is open-source, but some associated licensing fees depend on the subscription level."
"It's reasonable, but there's room for improvement in cost-effectiveness."
"For any big enterprise the costs can be handled, and it is suitable for big enterprises because the scale of data is large. For medium and small enterprises, the tool is on the high-price side."
"We just use the free version."
"Do take into consider that data storage and compute capacity scale differently and hence purchasing a "boxed" / 'all-in-one" solution (software and hardware) might not be the best idea."
"In a traditional on-prem database, in a data warehouse, the solution is probably on the expensive side."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
34%
Computer Software Company
12%
University
5%
Energy/Utilities Company
5%
Educational Organization
32%
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apache Hadoop?
It's primarily open source. You can handle huge data volumes and create your own views, workflows, and tables. I can also use it for real-time data streaming.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Hadoop?
The product is open-source, but some associated licensing fees depend on the subscription level. While it might be free for students, organizations typically need to pay for their subscriptions. Th...
What needs improvement with Apache Hadoop?
The problem with Apache Hadoop arose when the guys that originally set it up left the firm, and the group that later owned it didn't have enough technical resources to properly maintain it. This wa...
What do you like most about IBM Db2 Warehouse?
The standout feature of IBM Db2 Warehouse, which is particularly valuable for large enterprises, is its ability to handle big data.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Db2 Warehouse?
The pricing for medium and large environments is almost the same as Oracle. I rate the pricing as six out of ten.
What needs improvement with IBM Db2 Warehouse?
There is room for improvement in optimizing certain processes, but most issues arise from my data, hardware architecture, and resources, not from IBM Db2 Warehouse itself.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
InfoSphere Warehouse, IBM InfoSphere Warehouse
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon, Adobe, eBay, Facebook, Google, Hulu, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Spotify, AOL, Twitter, University of Maryland, Yahoo!, Cornell University Web Lab
Alameda County Social Services Agency, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Hadoop vs. IBM Db2 Warehouse and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.