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IBM Informix vs MySQL 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
25th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Embedded Database (9th)
MySQL
Ranking in Relational Databases Tools
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
148
Ranking in other categories
Open Source Databases (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Relational Databases Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Informix is 1.8%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of MySQL is 8.5%, down from 8.8% 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…
Muzzamil  Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
Native encryption ensures secure data management with a simple deployment
The most valuable feature is the on-premises data encryption facilities. By default, we can provide encryption, and this feature in MySQL is why we prefer it over other databases. The native encryption in MySQL encourages us to use this database model more frequently compared to Oracle and other databases. With Oracle, we have to buy another solution for encryption and masking, but MySQL supports native encryption, which enhances our return on investment. It perfectly supports our ROI, and we have no issues with its functionality.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's stability, performance, enhanced functionality, and replication are all great features."
"It supports multiple applications and business intelligence tools."
"It supports in-house-built applications in .NET and VB6"
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"The scalability is very good."
"Replication is a valuable feature and easy to use."
"IBM Informix benefits users with high availability and good integration capabilities."
"Every version is faster than the previous."
"The most valuable feature of MySQL is its reliability and performance."
"​The most valuable feature of MySQL is the informative error outputs of command line interface.​"
"I like MySQL's feature that helps to automate things."
"It has a remote access feature to manage the database from a remote location. This enables in-work collaboration."
"MySQL's clustering features are very strong, and you can automate scripting, so that helps. We wrote a Terraform script and ran it."
"MySQL is open-source. There are a lot of open-source communities trying to come up with their own patches, and to come up with their own features, which help MySQL develop faster than traditional databases like Oracle, which is closed source."
"A lot of the software components have been trialed and tested for often more than 10 years."
"MySQL is an open-source product and has good community support. If you encounter any problem, you can easily ask other members of the community to help. They help you a lot. On top of being free, MySQL is a cross-platform database, meaning it can work on both Windows and Linux. It is very good for us."
 

Cons

"The support team could include local engineers to establish efficient communication. It will help us speed up the escalation process."
"There should be more intelligence surrounding discovering data to be able to automatically create indexes."
"It would be helpful to have IBM salespeople know that Informix exists, and sell it. Currently, it is completely ignored by IBM."
"This solution is in need of more current tools."
"This product could be made easier to use for beginners."
"The solution really doesn't add new features very often."
"The pricing is a bit expensive."
"The solution lacks some functionality."
"The analytics features are in need of improvement."
"This solution needs to be improved when it comes to working with desktop applications on the developer side."
"MySQL could be improved by adding more automation."
"I would like to have the ability to cancel a query in SQL Developer."
"The only service which could be improved is its usability. The entire user experience needs to be revamped to meet the 2018 design standards."
"Could use some additional JSON query support in the solution."
"The licensing of the solution is on the expensive side."
"Some problems with big table operations, and a struggle to keep the servers responding in peak situations."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I am not aware of the licensing costs or terms."
"The product has reasonable pricing. We purchase its yearly license."
"For me, it's always too expensive."
"MySQL is very cheap. It could be free. It also has a yearly licensing option."
"Can range from free to quite expensive, depending on the environments and requirements, so better to really set goals ahead of setting it up."
"It's free."
"We do have a couple of clients who choose to use the paid, enterprise version of the solution and who take full advantage of it."
"MySQL is a free and open-source solution."
"Microsoft licensing for SQL Server is probably ten times more expensive. I used to work for the government, and I remember when we were looking into upgrading to the enterprise version of SQL Server 2019, the licensing was going to cost 350,000. To get the equivalent in the cloud, it was going to be about four grand to get the same processing power and everything else. With MySQL, it was going to be about 300 for the same licensing. Cost-wise, for sure, there is a huge difference. Would you prefer to pay 300 a month or 3,000 to have the same amount of data resources? You might lose a few options that you need, but it isn't worth the price difference."
"For the on-premise version, no license is required."
"MySQL is a cheap solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
66%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Computer Software Company
4%
Government
3%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
 

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...
Why are MySQL connections encrypted and what is the biggest benefit of this?
MySQL encrypts connections to protect your data and the biggest benefit from this is that nobody can corrupt it. If you move information over a network without encryption, you are endangering it, m...
Considering that there is a free version of MySQL, would you invest in one of the paid editions?
I may be considered a MySQL veteran since I have been using it since before Oracle bought it and created paid versions. So back in my day, it was all free, it was open-source and the best among sim...
What is one thing you would improve with MySQL?
One thing I would improve related to MySQL is not within the product itself, but with the guides to it. Before, when it was free, everyone was on their own, seeking tutorials and how-to videos onli...
 

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
Facebook, Tumblr, Scholastic, MTV Networks, Wikipedia, Verizon Wireless, Sage Group, Glassfish Open Message Queue, and RightNow Technologies.
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Informix vs. MySQL and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
842,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.