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Amazon Aurora vs IBM Db2 Database comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

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

Amazon Aurora
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Db2 Database
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
73
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of Amazon Aurora is 3.3%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Db2 Database is 7.0%, up from 6.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Rajitha Jatothu - PeerSpot reviewer
Achieve high performance with fault-tolerant and highly available database management
Aurora is a key pillar for us, offering performance and availability. It is faster than RDS and supports multi-region clusters and scalability. One feature we value is Aurora's ability to provide a reader endpoint, allowing applications to connect without tracking replicas. It supports auto-scaling and offers several options for monitoring and optimizing database performance. Aurora's fault tolerance and ability to handle multiple replicas contribute to its reliability and high performance.
SimonHiggins - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We had better control over the parameters that we could tweak in terms of intermediate storage and better indexing capabilities."
"One of the most valuable features is storage scaling."
"Amazon Aurora stands out for its ease of use in a managed environment, inbuilt security, continuous backups, numerous read replicas, multi-region automated replication, and seamless integration with other AWS services."
"The most valuable features of Amazon Aurora include the global instance with the global writer endpoint, which allows failovers and instance switches without requiring changes in my code, thanks to the default global Route 53 endpoint."
"Aurora's features that I find the most beneficial include its database backup strategy, performance options, and input-output operations."
"One of the standout features of Amazon Aurora is that we do not need to maintain disaster recovery or manage availability zones."
"The most valuable feature is that the maintainability is offloaded to the service provider. I don't have to maintain a database or do any administrative tasks, which comes in handy."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to do multiple-read and single-write. These are the kinds of features that we were interested in, and Aurora takes care of that natively."
"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 easy to install and simple to maintain. The most valuable aspect of the solution is its general user-friendliness for users of all kinds."
"Its functionality and availability are valuable. Its availability is great. It is available 99.99% of the time."
"The solution's security is very tough and impenetrable."
"The most valuable feature of the IBM Db2 Database is security."
"The most valuable features of this solution are security and stability."
"The solution has many beneficial features, such as security, support, and stability."
"It's the best solution in terms of security, performance, and availability because the system is available 24/7."
 

Cons

"The product's distributed query process for MySQL needs improvement."
"There are tuning challenges."
"There is improvement needed to have more developer focus. Additionally, it would be helpful to have a stand-alone solution outside of Amazon. Amazon has a tendency to favor developing web-based clients, which may not always provide the fastest or most responsive solution as desired."
"It would have been helpful if they had provided some benchmarking numbers."
"It is a bit costly. The features are quite good, and I wouldn't say it requires any technical improvements. But from a cost perspective, some clients wouldn't go for Aurora because of that."
"The pricing could improve. It should be reduced."
"I would like to see performance insights on the database based on the queries. Currently, we use SolarWinds as the monitoring tool. I would like to leverage SolarWinds’ performance insights in AWS services. SolarWinds gives larger insights when we run performance issues."
"In Oracle, tools like Veridata allow for comparing databases and certifying data accuracy, even offering repair capabilities, which are missing in Aurora. There should be a similar comparison tool in Aurora."
"There could be more user-friendly tools with features such as drag-and-drop functionality, visual basics, and low-code capabilities."
"The solution's data retrieval speed could be improved, especially for heavy queries. Better optimization or indexing might also be involved."
"IBM Db2 Database is not ACID compliant, which would improve it. Db2 lacks Isolation, so when two people are trying to update the same field at the same time it can become stuck. Other newer databases do not have this issue, such as Microsoft SQL, Oracle DB, PostgreSQL, and SAP HANA."
"Do not use support. Freely available documentation is a bit weak.​"
"Some of the internal rearrangement in the administration is not as straightforward as it is in competing products."
"The ease of use, or ease of management, could be improved."
"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."
"​Not very solid compared to its competitors' products.​"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price could be lower compared to its competitors."
"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."
"It is an expensive solution."
"There is no need to buy a license for the product. We can pay as per the use case."
"It is quite expensive."
"The tool’s pricing depends on the instance type. For cost optimization purposes, we use the result instance category."
"It is expensive. The price depends on the size of the machine on which you are installing the Db2 and the features you are using. It also depends on the country. IBM has different policies and different options for payment for this product."
"We normally handle large size businesses and as far as I am aware, the license is negotiable based on the number of users and the quantitative data."
"Db2 is less expensive than Oracle."
"There is a license for this solution and we pay every three years."
"The solution costs less than other products."
"They are competitive and honest (compared to how peer firms approach licensing conversations). ​"
"We did not buy it. It came with our hardware without any complimentary maintenance. If I compare Db2 Database with Oracle Database, its price is lower than Oracle Database."
"The solution's pricing is fine."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Educational Organization
62%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Aurora?
Aurora's compatibility with MySQL or PostgreSQL benefited our database management. The migration from on-premise MySQL to Aurora was similar, so we didn't need to change our source code.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Aurora?
AWS is costlier than self-managed solutions, but this includes the managed service experience. Their pricing is fair and reflects the managed service and additional features AWS offers.
What needs improvement with Amazon Aurora?
AWS RDS doesn't provide an option to apply one-off patches, which can be critical for business due to unexpected product bugs. While self-managed systems allow immediate patch application, RDS has ...
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.
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.
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
DB2
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dow Jones, Arizona State University, Verizon, Capital One, United Nations, Nielsen, Autodesk, Fanduel
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Aurora vs. IBM Db2 Database and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
841,302 professionals have used our research since 2012.