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IBM Informix vs MariaDB 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

IBM Informix
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
23rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (9th)
MariaDB
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Informix is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MariaDB is 6.9%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Relational Databases Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Nazzareno Maria Rezzini - PeerSpot reviewer
Supports multiple business intelligence tools, but the technical support services need improvement
IBM Informix is a central database solution across various environments, supporting multiple applications and business intelligence tools The key areas for improvement revolve around understanding the current customer trends and demands, particularly in software and database requirements. The…
KumarManish - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to deploy, cost-effective, and integrates seamlessly with other products
We had planned for an RDBMS version and not NoSQL. We use MariaDB Galera Cluster. It's a good product. It is cheap, scalable, performs well, and is efficient. We use GCP’s BigQuery for machine learning. We must follow the best practices of the tool. We missed some best practices like the storage engine and InnoDB. It was very difficult to identify why we were having performance issues. Then, we realized that some of our tables were still on MyISAM, the default storage engine. When we switched it back to the InnoDB, it was very smooth. InnoDB is the recommended one. We must follow the best practices given in the documentation during the initial setup. Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Every version is faster than the previous."
"The scalability is very good."
"The most valuable feature is concurrency and locking because my customers usually use databases in OLTP mode. So, for a large number of competitive users. Other features that are well valued are quick large-scale data types. It is better than Oracle."
"It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools."
"The stability is incredible. I have customers with uptimes of several years."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"So far, we do not have a lot of issues. It's pretty problem-free."
"The solution's stability, performance, enhanced functionality, and replication are all great features."
"The solution is very stable. It was originally built under MySQL. It has a similar level of stability."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is a relational database, which is fairly reliable...It is a stable solution."
"The most valuable feature of MariaDB is the replication mode."
"MariaDB can solve things better than MySQL. Maria DB has better performance than MySQL."
"It's open source."
"It is a scalable solution. It easily scales up and scales down."
"The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that it is a cloud-based tool, so it is pretty fast."
"Visual Studio offers unit testing integration and extensive searching capabilities."
 

Cons

"The pricing is a bit expensive."
"Continue extending the SQL language for compatibility with the competition's language, including Stored Procedure Language."
"There should be more intelligence surrounding discovering data to be able to automatically create indexes."
"This solution is in need of more current tools."
"The technical support services need substantial improvement."
"I really would love to have a QT plugin."
"In my opinion, the packages could be improved. The version I use doesn't allow for packages. I can do some general procedures, but no packages like in Oracle. So, develop separate modules in SQL language. This would be most beneficial for me."
"It would be helpful to have IBM salespeople know that Informix exists, and sell it. Currently, it is completely ignored by IBM."
"The GUI could be improved a bit. The user interface needs to be improved."
"The license should be cheaper and closer to that offered by MySQL, Oracle and other products."
"It would be helpful if I could specify multiple drives for the database storage."
"The maintenance and performance could be a bit better."
"Lacks time series data and additional driving support would be helpful."
"The solution should do some fine-tuning on maybe the transaction per second so that users can get more than they can on the Microsoft SQL Server."
"I would like to see a better user interface which would make the tool less complex."
"Data continuity could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For me, it's always too expensive."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
"The free edition can be enough to handle moderate-size implementations, but you may want a pay for edition to benefit from more functionality, such as replication."
"The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license."
"There is a monthly subscription to use MariaDB."
"The solution is free, but if you want the enterprise version you will need to pay for some licenses but the cost is less than other solutions, such as Oracle."
"MariaDB is an open-source software, meaning I don't need to pay for the product."
"MariaDB is open-source and self-hosted."
"MariaDB is available for free."
"It is an open-source solution."
"The price could be less expensive."
"My company uses the free version of the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
61%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
5%
Retailer
4%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Informix?
It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Informix?
The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license.
What needs improvement with IBM Informix?
The key areas for improvement revolve around understanding the current customer trends and demands, particularly in software and database requirements. The product's performance could be better com...
What do you like most about MariaDB?
The integration with other products is seamless.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for MariaDB?
I have found the price of commercial MariaDB to be pretty steep, although not as high as Oracle. Customers often prefer the Community Edition because it's free.
What needs improvement with MariaDB?
The only potential area for improvement could be the pricing model, which might benefit from being more flexible or a bit cheaper.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Informix
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Shaspa, Hildebrand, Kaifa, Ranhill Powertron, Federaci‹ Farmacutica (FedeFarma), Camden Council, The German Aerospace Center (DLR), Myers, Votorantim Group, Doosan Infracore, GreenIvory
Google, Wikipedia, Tencent, Verizon, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Telefónica, Huatai Securities
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Informix vs. MariaDB and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.