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Apache Hadoop vs IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud 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

Apache Hadoop
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Data Warehouse (10th)
IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (16th)
 

Featured Reviews

NR
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.
FM
Database Engineer at Meezan Bank
Enhancing analytics with seamless data dumping and reliable support
Our primary use case is data storage and analytics The organization has decided to purchase a full stack solution from IBM due to positive responses, which helped them upgrade from the previous version. The data dumping into the raw zone and the feature of BigQuery is quite attractive. There…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The performance is pretty good."
"The most important feature is its ability to handle large volumes, as 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."
"The most valuable feature is the database."
"I recommend it for the telecom sector. I know it well, and it's a good fit."
"The tool's stability is good."
"Hadoop can store any kind of data—structured, unstructured, and semi-structured—and presents it using the relational model through Hive."
"Hadoop is a distributed file system, and it scales reasonably well provided you give it sufficient resources."
"What comes with the standard setup is what we mostly use, but Ambari is the most important."
"DashDB is a good product to work with and the extra cost you spend on performance, technical support and tools to work with is worth it."
"The performance is okay as long as the volume of queries is not too high."
"It will be MPP, so performance should improve."
"I like that the dashDB solution is built on DB2 technology, which means that you can use all the features of a DB2 database while outsourcing all the hardware and software maintenance."
"Ease of migration from Netezza DB; IBM ported over all Netezza's functionality and made the warehouse DB/dashDB the best of breed of the two."
"One of the most amazing features of dashDB is how it uses compression to get results in lighting speed."
"It is stable when there is support from IBM."
"Since my company is an IBM partner, it has enabled us to offer cloud data warehouse solutions on a 100% IBM stack."
 

Cons

"What could be improved in Apache Hadoop is its user-friendliness. It's not that user-friendly, but maybe it's because I'm new to it. Sometimes it feels so tough to use, but it could be because of two aspects: one is my incompetency, for example, I don't know about all the features of Apache Hadoop, or maybe it's because of the limitations of the platform. For example, my team is maintaining the business glossary in Apache Atlas, but if you want to change any settings at the GUI level, an advanced level of coding or programming needs to be done in the back end, so it's not user-friendly."
"The product's availability of comprehensive training materials could be improved for faster onboarding and skill development among team members."
"Since it is an open-source product, there won't be much support."
"I think more of the solution needs to be focused around the panel processing and retrieval of data."
"In terms of processing speed, I believe that some of this software as well as the Hadoop-linked software can be better."
"It would be helpful to have more information on how to best apply this solution to smaller organizations, with less data, and grow the data lake."
"The load optimization capabilities of the product are an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The main thing is the lack of community support. If you want to implement a new API or create a new file system, you won't find easy support."
"Right now, we are implementing on ESX VMware 6.0. Support for this platform is poor. Also, one of the backup/recovery options is broken and IBM is not addressing the issue."
"The support channels need to improve."
"Db2 is not a solution that I recommend. We have a lot of experience and we are not satisfied with the product or the support that we received."
"There are some limitations in adding data files to table spaces, and improvements are needed for regional support."
"I would like to see improvements in backup and authentication. It needs the ability to increase the number of retained backups to more than 2 days."
"With dashDB, scalability and uptime need more improvement."
"I would rate the level of dashDB support 3.5/5. While they are very knowledgeable in many areas, you can still struggle to get the correct resolution."
"Containers get corrupted very easily. Restoring them using GPFS can result in a lot of issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"​There are no licensing costs involved, hence money is saved on the software infrastructure​."
"The price of Apache Hadoop could be less expensive."
"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."
"It's reasonable, but there's room for improvement in cost-effectiveness."
"The price could be better. Hortonworks no longer exists, and Cloudera killed the free version of Hadoop."
"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."
"This is a low cost and powerful solution."
"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."
"If your going to go with warehouse DB/dashDB, use the cloud or Sailfish version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
24%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise22
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

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 is your primary use case for Apache Hadoop?
My use cases for Apache Hadoop include the setups I completed, connecting to the database, and analyzing the incidences, making it a good tool for Hadoop. Apache Hadoop helps us analyze all of the ...
What advice do you have for others considering IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud?
Organizations of all sizes, especially those who are in need of powerful and elastic cloud data warehouse solutions that can help administrators maximize the efficiency of their data-based operatio...
What needs improvement with IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud?
There are some limitations in adding data files to table spaces, and improvements are needed for regional support.
What is your primary use case for IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud?
Our primary use case is data storage and analytics.
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM dashDB
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amazon, Adobe, eBay, Facebook, Google, Hulu, IBM, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Spotify, AOL, Twitter, University of Maryland, Yahoo!, Cornell University Web Lab
Copenhagen Business School, BPM Northwest, GameStop
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Hadoop vs. IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.