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IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics 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

IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
16th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Azure Synapse Ana...
Ranking in Cloud Data Warehouse
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
98
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Cloud Data Warehouse category, the mindshare of IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud is 2.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is 5.8%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Data Warehouse Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics5.8%
IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud2.0%
Other92.2%
Cloud Data Warehouse
 

Featured Reviews

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…
AnandTiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at New Turn Technologies
Has consistently supported integration across diverse environments and streamlined deployment processes
Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics could improve their pricing structure. They currently have two separate pricing tiers: full log and partial log. I suggest they implement a single price and reduce charges on logs. They could implement a cap with some free tier or price tier based on the GBs of log collected. This would help customers use Azure more effectively. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is an excellent product because it includes both SIEM and orchestration capabilities with playbooks, but the log management part is very costly. Regarding future improvements, I would appreciate more application connectors for integration, particularly for on-premise based solutions. Many customers still maintain on-premise infrastructure, so having more integration possibilities for these environments would be beneficial.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the most amazing features of dashDB is how it uses compression to get results in lighting speed."
"The way that it scales will help a lot of customers that are stuck with Netezza boxes that can't grow any larger.​"
"It will be MPP, so performance should improve."
"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."
"It is stable when there is support from IBM."
"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."
"Since my company is an IBM partner, it has enabled us to offer cloud data warehouse solutions on a 100% IBM stack."
"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."
"I think the most valuable component is that pipelines are built into it and then the feature that you can mirror a cosmos BB for analytics."
"I like how Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics integrates with other Microsoft solutions."
"It's quite quick for querying, even with large datasets, and it's scalable. It's also flexible to use, so it's easy to update and get data quickly without wasting time."
"The MPP (Massively Parallel Processing) architecture helps to make things a lot faster."
"The best thing about it is that it has integration at multiple places. It can talk to more than 90 types of data sources, which is one good thing about it."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics are the user experience because it is easy to make analyses, load different databases, and different resources. Our end users can do the analysis by themselves without IT supervising. This is a great aspect of the solution, it's better for our environment."
"If you are using Microsoft products, such as Office 365, then this solution is good because it can take the data from multiple sources."
"Its scalability and ease of use are valuable; it is fairly simple for a tool that's that powerful, and if you have a background in Microsoft SQL Server, it is a very easy-to-transition path."
 

Cons

"Ultimately, the product itself has challenges and we are not currently satisfied with the support, either."
"With dashDB, scalability and uptime need more improvement."
"There are some limitations in adding data files to table spaces, and improvements are needed for regional support."
"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."
"Tech support for dashDB is awful. We usually have tickets open for three to four weeks."
"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."
"Containers get corrupted very easily. Restoring them using GPFS can result in a lot of issues."
"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."
"More integration is needed to improve the product for the future. There needs to be more flexibility when developing applications with this product."
"If I'm looking for something good in the cloud, I would want it to have better standard connectors."
"An area for improvement in Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is its user interface. You can use it for analytical purposes, but its platform should be a little bit more user-friendly."
"I don't have a direct relationship with the technical support when I have a problem. They aren't very good."
"I'd like to see part of the service de-coupled."
"In Azure, when you do the scaling up, it is not totally simple. It takes time to scale up."
"It would be ideal if the solution could be better used intuitively by the staff without having a great deal of training."
"Its stability is an issue because they're still upgrading the Synapse Analytics workspace."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If your going to go with warehouse DB/dashDB, use the cloud or Sailfish version."
"It's very difficult to price unless you know exactly how the customer is using it."
"It goes by the usage, and there are some limits. Synapse goes by particular pricing, and it is expensive. Both Azure Synapse Analytics and Snowflake are pretty expensive. They don't have standard pricing. They deal with each customer differently."
"The solution could improve by having better costing information."
"The licensing fees for this solution are on a pay-per-use basis, and not very expensive."
"We have a licensing cost to pay."
"It requires a less expensive version because currently, not every customer is able to buy it. If it could have a smaller setup that doesn't require so many resources, it would be helpful, and we would be able to use it in more cases. We are a small country, and most of our customers are quite small businesses."
"I would rate the ROI a nine out of ten, where one is zero value and ten is 100% value."
"The computer and storage costs are totally separate which allows you to work independently or manage costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise59
 

Questions from the Community

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.
How does Amazon Redshift compare with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
Amazon Redshift is very fast, has a very good response time, and is very user-friendly. The initial setup is very straightforward. This solution can merge and integrate well with many different dat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
I think the licensing cost for Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics is very high, but I have a local system to support that, so I don't consider that in the near future.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics?
I am hoping that in the future Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics may have AI support.
 

Also Known As

IBM dashDB
Azure Synapse Analytics, Microsoft Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Microsoft Azure SQL DW, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, MS Azure Synapse Analytics
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Copenhagen Business School, BPM Northwest, GameStop
Toshiba, Carnival, LG Electronics, Jet.com, Adobe, 
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Db2 Warehouse on Cloud vs. Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.