Apache Hadoop vs IBM Db2 Warehouse comparison

Apache and IBM are both solutions in the Data Warehouse category. Apache is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.2, while IBM is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0. Apache holds a 3.6% mindshare in Data Warehouse, compared to IBM’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of Apache users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Apache Hadoop

Read 41 Apache Hadoop reviews

2,177 Views
1,306 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

IBM Db2 Warehouse

Read 12 IBM Db2 Warehouse reviews

1,588 Views
1,239 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Apache Hadoop

IBM Db2 Warehouse

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

IBM Db2 Warehouse and Apache Hadoop are both key players in the big data and analytics field. IBM Db2 Warehouse stands out for its robust data integration and advanced analytics capabilities, while Apache Hadoop excels in scalability and flexibility, making it ideal for those needing a customizable framework.

Features: IBM Db2 Warehouse offers efficient data warehousing, advanced analytics, and strong SQL support, facilitating seamless cloud integration. Apache Hadoop is recognized for its distributed storage and processing capabilities, handling diverse data formats and offering high scalability for big data applications.

Room for Improvement: IBM Db2 Warehouse could improve on reducing its complexity for non-SQL users, enhancing its cost-effectiveness, and expanding its open-source integrations. Apache Hadoop might benefit from simplifying its setup process, offering better real-time processing capabilities, and improving native security measures.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Db2 Warehouse offers a straightforward deployment experience with managed services and robust support, suitable for businesses seeking reliability. Apache Hadoop requires a more complex setup, leveraging open-source benefits with extensive community support, but demands a solid understanding for effective deployment.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Db2 Warehouse involves higher initial costs but provides significant returns through performance and analytics capabilities, justifying investment for enterprises prioritizing speed and integrated features. Apache Hadoop presents a cost-effective solution with lower upfront costs, appealing for budget-constrained firms, though infrastructure investments are necessary for optimal performance.

To learn more, read our detailed Apache Hadoop vs. IBM Db2 Warehouse Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Apache Hadoop vs. IBM Db2 Warehouse

January 2026

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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

6th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of Apache Hadoop is 3.6%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Db2 Warehouse is 3.4%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Warehouse Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Apache Hadoop	3.6%
IBM Db2 Warehouse	3.4%
Other	93.0%

Data Warehouse

Featured Reviews

Nick Rapoport

Financial Advisor at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Reliable performance maintained but requires ongoing management and support

Hadoop was used for years, but there were problems since the people who originally set it up left the firm. The group that owned it later didn't have the technical resources to properly maintain it. Although there was nothing wrong with Hadoop itself, issues arose without proper management and upgrades.

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Sherpard Muzuva

Senior Technical Manager- IBM Enterprise Systems at SYSTEMS INTEGRATED LTD (SYMPHONY)

Advanced features enhance business intelligence, but complex management calls for improved user guidance

While my experience with IBM Db2 Warehouse is somewhat limited, when compared to other databases such as Oracle, there are areas for improvement. They need to enhance the database to make it more user-friendly and easier to master. They should implement a more comprehensive graphical user interface with additional features. For instance, when users encounter problems, the system should provide better guidelines and troubleshooting directions, except for hardware-related issues. They need to implement tools that would help users perform basic troubleshooting rather than solely relying on support. Other databases have features where users can investigate specific issues using error codes. From my experience, many minor issues could be resolved before escalating to support.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution is easy to expand. We haven't seen any issues with it in that sense. We've added 10 servers, and we've added two nodes. We've been expanding since we started using it since we started out so small. Companies that need to scale shouldn't have a problem doing so."

"One valuable feature is that we can download data."

"Data ingestion: It has rapid speed, if Apache Accumulo is used."

"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."

"What I like about Apache Hadoop is that it's for big data, in particular big data analysis, and it's the easier solution. I like the data processing feature for AI/ML use cases the most because some solutions allow me to collect data from relational databases, while Hadoop provides me with more options for newer technologies."

"Hadoop is a distributed file system, and it scales reasonably well provided you give it sufficient resources."

"It is a file system for data collection. There are nodes in this cluster that contain all the information, directories, and other files. The nodes are based on the MySQL database."

"Its flexibility in handling and storing large volumes of data is particularly beneficial, as is its resilience, which ensures data redundancy and fault tolerance."

More Apache Hadoop pros

"It can scale effectively as long as resources are available."

"IBM Db2 Warehouse is more resilient when dealing with business intelligence applications."

"The analytics engine is not bad at forecasting predictions."

"The most valuable features of IBM Db2 Warehouse 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 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."

"The solution is stable."

More IBM Db2 Warehouse pros

Cons

"It could be more user-friendly."

"I mentioned it definitely, and this is probably the only feature we can improve a little bit because the terminal and coding screen on Hadoop is a little outdated, and it looks like the old C++ bio screen. If the UI and UX can be improved slightly, I believe it will go a long way toward increasing adoption and effectiveness."

"Real-time data processing is weak. This solution is very difficult to run and implement."

"There is a lack of virtualization and presentation layers, so you can't take it and implement it like a radio solution."

"In the next release, I would like to see Hive more responsive for smaller queries and to reduce the latency."

"Hadoop lacks OLAP capabilities."

"The upgrade path should be improved because it is not as easy as it should be."

"We would like to have more dynamics in merging this machine data with other internal data to make more meaning out of it."

More Apache Hadoop cons

"Lacks sufficient documentation and particularly in Spanish."

"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."

"In terms of improvement, IBM Db2 Warehouse should be more scalable."

"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 biggest problems we have is when the backup solution is failing or slow and we run out of log space, which has happened probably a couple of times in the last four years."

"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."

More IBM Db2 Warehouse cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be better. Hortonworks no longer exists, and Cloudera killed the free version of Hadoop."

"The product is open-source, but some associated licensing fees depend on the subscription level."

"We just use the free version."

"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."

"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."

"This is a low cost and powerful solution."

"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."

"There are no licensing costs involved, hence money is saved on the software infrastructure."

More Apache Hadoop pricing and cost advice

"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

33%

Computer Software Company

Government

University

Financial Services Firm

28%

Manufacturing Company

Government

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

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.

See all answers

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...

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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...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Db2 Warehouse?

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What is your primary use case for IBM Db2 Warehouse?

The main advantages of IBM Db2 Warehouse become apparent when dealing with business intelligence applications. I worked with it when it was installed for one of our customers, a utilities company, ...

See all answers

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Apache Hadoop

February 2026

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Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Warehouse

January 2026

Download IBM Db2 Warehouse product report

Also Known As

No data available

InfoSphere Warehouse, IBM InfoSphere Warehouse

Overview

The Apache Hadoop project develops open-source software for reliable, scalable, distributed computing. The Apache Hadoop software library is a framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using simple programming models. It is designed to scale up from single servers to thousands of machines, each offering local computation and storage. Rather than rely on hardware to deliver high-availability, the library itself is designed to detect and handle failures at the application layer, so delivering a highly-available service on top of a cluster of computers, each of which may be prone to failures.

Apache

InfoSphere Warehouse is a suite of products that combines the strength of DB2 with a data warehousing infrastructure from IBM. You can use InfoSphere Warehouse to build a complete data warehousing solution that includes a highly scalable relational database, data access capabilities, and front-end analysis tools.

IBM

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

Buyer's Guide

Apache Hadoop vs. IBM Db2 Warehouse

January 2026

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