IBM Db2 Database vs SAP IQ comparison

IBM and SAP are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.1, while SAP is ranked #26 with an average rating of 7.7. IBM holds a 7.1% mindshare in SQL, compared to SAP’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 84% of SAP users who would recommend it.

IBM Db2 Database

Read 73 IBM Db2 Database reviews

6,854 Views
4,346 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SAP IQ

Read 21 SAP IQ reviews

364 Views
264 Comparison Views

84% willing to recommend

IBM Db2 Database

SAP IQ

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

SAP IQ and IBM Db2 compete in the business intelligence and data warehousing domain. SAP IQ seems to have the upper hand in query performance and data compression, while IBM Db2 is superior in platform support and transaction management.

Features: SAP IQ's columnar database design enables high compression and quick query performance, optimizing storage and offering scalability. It excels in high-speed data loading. IBM Db2 is recognized for advanced SQL capabilities, broad platform support, and robust transaction management, along with autonomic features that optimize performance without manual intervention.

Room for Improvement: SAP IQ needs enhanced backup options, better integration with technologies like Hadoop, and improved support as experienced resources are limited. Its marketing efforts require strengthening. IBM Db2 could benefit from user interface updates, improved cloud readiness, and simplified licensing and performance monitoring tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SAP IQ is primarily an on-premises solution and lacks cloud integration flexibility, whereas IBM Db2 supports hybrid and private clouds, offering broader deployment options. SAP IQ's customer service needs improvement, in contrast to IBM Db2, which receives positive feedback for global support and efficient problem resolution.

Pricing and ROI: SAP IQ is cost-effective but has a complex pricing structure that requires careful evaluation. IBM Db2, though pricier than some competitors like Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, offers comprehensive features that can deliver good value, especially when integrated with IBM hardware. Additionally, IBM’s pricing and support structures are perceived as complex, emphasizing the importance of negotiations.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP IQ Report (Updated: February 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP IQ

February 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 845,406 peers since 2012

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

IBM Db2 Database

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP IQ

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

26th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Warehouse (13th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Db2 Database is 7.1%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP IQ is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

SimonHiggins

Mainframe Technical Manager/Service Integration Lead at Saudi Business Machines

Very scalable with high availability and excellent technical support

The good thing is that there are improvements coming with later function levels for the z/OS Db2. I'd like it if, with the operating system that we've got, z/OS, on the mainframe, it would allow us to refresh the hardware to run Linux dockers on the mainframe. This means this might give us opportunities for different ways of coming into the Db2 environment in the future. We just want a bit more integration with Linux. That said, we are already seeing Linux more readily available on the mainframe environment. Not only have we got the premium operating systems on OS. We can run LPARs on the same mainframe footprint that is also supporting Linux. This is what has improved and made the mainframe environment more competitive. We're also looking at AI for Db2 as well, and machine learning for the future. We know that AI has come out, that we're going to get that, and we're going to evaluate that product next year for Db2. That said, I haven't got any real complaints about Db2 on the mainframe. For the most part, a lot of the problems we have nowadays are to do with communication between the various teams that you would class as stakeholders.

Read full review

Tejas Raj

Manager at Capgemini

Columnar database, so pulling records is easy but there isn't enough documentation for installation

I've seen very few SAP IQ systems in recent years. So people are moving away from SAP IQ In the last three years, I've rarely encountered customers using it. Fewer systems with SAP IQ usage among our customers. Most of them have moved on to HANA. There are parallel products, and there are also viable alternatives from AWS, so many have migrated to those.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Db2 Database has given us good results since we have started to use it. We predominantly use IBM hardware, and this is one of the reasons why we started to use Db2 Database. Db2 Database has a very good HADR capability. High availability resilience is also good in this solution. It also has pureScale, which allows you to upgrade one node to get very good and high-level resilience. If you are using a database on five nodes, you can take one node down, upgrade that, and let that node up. You can then bring the second node down, upgrade that, and so on."

"The solution is very stable, in both hardware and database."

"It's the best solution in terms of security, performance, and availability because the system is available 24/7."

"I believe that because the support is good, they jump in and assist us in determining the root cause."

"The solution can scale."

"The solution helps secure the database."

"it is very stable and runs smoothly once it is deployed and it is almost maintenance-free."

"The initial setup was easy."

More IBM Db2 Database pros

"The initial setup is easy."

"The product is easy to learn."

"All data is compressed and indexed, allowing for fast execution of transactions."

"Columnar storage allows high compression, high load rates and high query performance."

"The column-based technologies (basically all the database for ITP) are used for SAP IQ. It is used as a column-based solution."

"The primary benefit of SAP IQ is its ability to limit the expansion of the costly SAP HANA database, which has limited storage capacity. This necessitates a form of data management that involves moving data from SAP HANA to SAP NLS, which is essentially archiving. This allows us to retain access to the data via a link whenever it is required."

"Valuable features for us include the compression, speed, fast response time, and easy object maintenance."

"IQ is a very high-performance and high-transaction database."

More SAP IQ pros

Cons

"The only drawback that we see in Db2 Database is the crash recovery. When there is a crash and somebody has to do the recovery, Db2 Database first stops, and then it does any crash recovery. In Oracle Database, crash recovery happens within the database. The database is not shut down."

"The tool is not easy to use. It needs to improve scale computing so that the tool can be scaled vertically. The product needs to enhance pre-engine optimization and it needs to be more efficient in completing queries. The documentation should be updated to include different scenarios of deployment."

"The queries can be difficult for beginners because there are so many. I would like to see more use cases for flow analysis that enable us to correlate the flow with events. Adding this feature in a QI format would be good for beginners."

"I would like to see some artificial intelligence brought into the solution."

"The solution could be more modern and have updated database technology."

"The technical support can be faster."

"The ease of use, or ease of management, could be improved."

"IBM Db2 Database could improve in the steps it takes for upgrades. It is not an easy process. The process of upgrading the version is lengthy and requires a lot of time. To make it more efficient, I suggest implementing some automation on the solution side. This will greatly reduce the time required for the upgrade."

More IBM Db2 Database cons

"The tool gets stuck sometimes."

"I think the universe should be part of the Sybase IQ tool set."

"The organization who owns the product does not support it well and appears not to be doing significant development for the future."

"The only negative aspect of IQ is the cost, which can be challenging for companies in Peru."

"The room for improvement would be the marketing of the product, because this product is much better than advertised."

"The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru."

"There is very little documentation available."

"Multiplex is very problematic. There are consistency problems in the metadata, meaning it is possible to lose metadata consistency. You should make sure you have healthy backups."

More SAP IQ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is fine."

"We purchase the product's yearly license."

"The total cost of the solution depends upon the PVU licensing"

"If I consider the price of IBM Db2 Database, I would say there are cheaper products in the market."

"We don't see what the specific price of the DB2 license is because we pay for the backup license as a package."

"They are competitive and honest (compared to how peer firms approach licensing conversations). "

"Compared to Oracle, it is so much cheaper."

"The solution costs less than other products."

More IBM Db2 Database pricing and cost advice

"It's not that costly. So, the pricing is cheap."

"Negotiate based on the features required."

"The only costs after standard licensing fees are for add-ons and upgrades."

"Negotiation is very important."

"Evaluate all options; check to see if you need expensive add-ons."

"The cost of implementation is about $3,000."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Relational Databases Tools solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

61%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

44%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Db2 Database?

Db2 database scalability and performance capabilities match our database needs. It covers pretty much everything a database administrator or engineer might need.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Db2 Database?

IBM Db2 is an expensive solution. While I am not heavily involved with pricing, additional companies provide capabilities or products like those from BMC, which many installations might also purchase.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Db2 Database?

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SAP IQ?

IQ implementation costs about three thousand dollars. It's less expensive compared to alternatives like Teradata Base in terms of transactional efficiency.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SAP IQ?

The primary negative aspect is the cost, which can be a challenge due to the economic conditions in Peru.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP IQ?

I worked on implementing new databases, migration data in production, and developer environments with SAP IQ.

See all answers

Comparisons

SQL Server vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 33% of the time

Oracle Database vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 19% of the time

SAP HANA vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 17% of the time

Teradata vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 14% of the time

MySQL vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM Db2 Database Competitors

Snowflake vs SAP IQ

Compared 32% of the time

SAP HANA vs SAP IQ

Compared 15% of the time

Apache Hadoop vs SAP IQ

Compared 12% of the time

SQL Server vs SAP IQ

Compared 12% of the time

SAP BW4HANA vs SAP IQ

Compared 9% of the time

More SAP IQ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database

March 2025

Download IBM Db2 Database product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP IQ

March 2025

Download SAP IQ product report

Also Known As

DB2

Sybase IQ

Overview

DB2 Enterprise for Linux, UNIX, and Windows is the ideal data server for the most demanding workloads. New XML support is designed to help firms minimize the time and effort it takes to persist and use their XML data reducing development costs and improving business agility.

IBM

SAP® IQ software delivers speed and power for extreme-scale enterprise data warehousing and analytics. Its column-oriented, grid-based massively parallel processing (MPP) architecture and patented data compression and indexing technologies enable companies to exploit the value of huge amounts of data at the speed of business.

SAP

Sample Customers

Knorr-Bremse, Mizuho Bank Ltd., Australian Government Department of Defence, SCHWENK Zement, Friedhelm Loh Group, YAZAKI Europe Limited, Ekornes ASA, Baldor Electric, VSN Systemen BV, Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC, PLANSEE Group, TE Connectivity, Hansgrohe SE, Openmatics, University of Toronto

ASR Group, Citrix, State of Indiana, PocketCard Co. Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP IQ

February 2025

Free Report: IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP IQ

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP IQ and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP IQ report.

See our list of best Relational Databases Tools vendors.

We monitor all Relational Databases Tools reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.