IBM Db2 Database vs SAP IQ comparison

IBM and SAP are both solutions in the Relational Databases Tools category. IBM is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4, while SAP is ranked #24 with an average rating of 6.8. IBM holds a 6.6% mindshare in SQL, compared to SAP’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of SAP users who would recommend it.

IBM Db2 Database

Read 75 IBM Db2 Database reviews

3,607 Views
3,463 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

SAP IQ

Read 23 SAP IQ reviews

1,362 Views
640 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

IBM Db2 Database

SAP IQ

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database vs. SAP IQ

December 2025

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

6.6

IBM Db2 Database offers high ROI with enhanced efficiency and performance, despite initial costs, supporting seamless business projects.

Sentiment score

6.2

SAP IQ boasts high ROI with substantial hardware savings, low maintenance costs, though some users lack authorization to confirm it.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

6.5

IBM Db2 support is generally reliable yet requires speed improvements; users find response times and expertise occasionally lacking.

Sentiment score

5.6

Customer service is 24/7 but varies in quality; technical support lacks experts, causing slow escalation and limited advanced assistance.

We normally receive substantial discounts on the price.

reviewer2708292

Associate Director, Data Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report

It seems very difficult to get proper advanced assistance on advanced or complicated problems.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The quality of support from SAP is very good; if it's a known problem, they will have a knowledge base, so we will get immediate assistance.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.1

IBM Db2 excels in scalability for large companies but faces challenges with horizontal scaling and increasing costs.

Sentiment score

7.4

SAP IQ offers scalable solutions with Simplex and Multiplex architectures, accommodating vast data volumes across PCs or servers.

No quotes available

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We can span the read and write load into multiple nodes, and that scalability is there.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

If we wanted to add more servers into this entire setup, that would be fairly easy, so it's rather good when it comes to scalability.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.7

IBM Db2 Database is highly rated for stability and reliability, though performance can dip with significant data growth.

Sentiment score

6.0

SAP IQ is stable, effectively managing complex transactions despite occasional issues, making it a reliable choice for implementations.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report

It's usually something external, such as lack of disk space or problems arising from the integration to other systems.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Room For Improvement

IBM Db2 Database needs usability, integration, and cloud improvements, plus better licensing, analytics, security, and standardization tools.

SAP IQ faces challenges with high costs, inadequate training, stability issues, and integration limitations, impacting performance and adoption.

It might be slightly slower than other database vendors, but it works well since banks typically do not move quickly with leading-edge technology.

reviewer2708292

Associate Director, Data Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report

If the CPU utilization is very high, there is no direct way we can find out which query is taking the most CPU.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

When there is an issue, the error messaging we get is not always sufficient to do a fast and solid fix.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Setup Cost

IBM Db2 pricing is complex and expensive, especially in Africa and the Middle East, but offers robust features.

SAP IQ is cost-effective with various licensing models, though price understanding and negotiation are essential for optimal implementation.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the IBM Db2 Database report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Valuable Features

IBM Db2 Database offers SQL, Java integration, scalability, security, and seamless IBM integration for flexible, reliable enterprise applications.

SAP IQ features column-based architecture, high compression, rapid queries, large-scale data handling, and integration with SAP BusinessObjects.

IBM Db2 Database, because of enterprise performance and support, is why banks still maintain their relationship with it.

reviewer2708292

Associate Director, Data Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

The IBM Db2 Database is trusted, and IT effort is less than any other product.

Mona Mohamed

Network Administrator at GAEB

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We can get historical data quickly, and you can fetch information very quickly because every column is indexed.

Akhilesh Narayanan

Tech Lead, Database Section. at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

The most valuable feature of SAP IQ for us is that it works very effectively with the SAP BusinessObjects which we use it with.

Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SAP IQ report

Categories and Ranking

IBM Db2 Database

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SAP IQ

Ranking in Relational Databases Tools

24th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Warehouse (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Db2 Database is 6.6%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SAP IQ is 1.5%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Relational Databases Tools Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Db2 Database	6.6%
SAP IQ	1.5%
Other	91.9%

Relational Databases Tools

Featured Reviews

reviewer2708292

Associate Director, Data Architecture at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Support improves setup and maintenance while pricing influences decision

If you have a similar use case and the same deal with IBM as our company, it is definitely a good option and choice. The company I work with has more than 50,000 people and more than 500 support staff. We are not locked into one database vendor. We typically work with multiple database vendors simultaneously, selecting the top choice based on the deals we make and other considerations. We do not use IBM Db2 Database related to AI at this moment because our AI project PLC is still very small scale. We may consider it in the future if we have enough scale. Overall rating for IBM Db2 Database is 8.5 out of 10.

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Reviewer302462

Tech Director at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Works well with existing platform integration but could improve error messaging and technical support

I do not use SAP IQ's machine learning capabilities. I cannot assess the benefit of SAP IQ's distributed query processing for complex queries, as I am a non-technical operator. I am not sure if we use SAP IQ's data compression features. I think the compression we are doing is on the data storage level and not on the database level. I believe we do not use it, but I'm not certain. We do not utilize SAP IQ's support for unstructured data, as we do not have unstructured data. I do not have any strong opinions on SAP IQ's security features such as data encryption. It's not been something that has been much in focus, neither in our choice of the platform, nor in our daily operations. I guess they're satisfactory as they have not been a problem. I am not aware of the pricing and licensing of SAP IQ, as it's part of a bigger agreement, and I'm not the owner of that agreement. My impression is that SAP IQ is a rather expensive tool in terms of value for money. On a scale of 1-10, I rate SAP IQ a 7.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

36%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	48

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	16

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 IBM Db2 Database is a good solution, but now there is a high maintenance charge. The IBM Db2 Database needs improved support, and there are many difficulties in using it. We tend to use the clo...

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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?

When it comes to SAP IQ, the areas that could be improved or enhanced include the error messaging and the locking capabilities, as that's where we often encounter problems. When there is an issue, ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SAP IQ?

Our usual use cases for SAP IQ is that we have a Software-as-a-Service architecture where this database is the foundation for our SAP BusinessObjects platform. This is where it's getting its data f...

See all answers

Comparisons

SQL Server vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 37% of the time

Oracle Database vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 17% of the time

Teradata vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 11% of the time

SAP HANA vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 11% of the time

Apache Derby vs IBM Db2 Database

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM Db2 Database Competitors

SQL Server vs SAP IQ

Compared 13% of the time

SAP HANA vs SAP IQ

Compared 12% of the time

Snowflake vs SAP IQ

Compared 11% of the time

Oracle Database vs SAP IQ

Compared 9% of the time

Oracle Exadata vs SAP IQ

Compared 5% of the time

More SAP IQ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Db2 Database

December 2025

Download IBM Db2 Database product report

Buyer's Guide

SAP IQ

December 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

December 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: December 2025.

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