Db2 vs. Google Cloud Spanner

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Db2
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
DB2 is a family of relational database software solutions offered by IBM. It includes standard Db2 and Db2 Warehouse editions, either deployable on-cloud, or on-premise.
$0
Google Cloud Spanner
Score 5.9 out of 10
N/A
Google Cloud Spanner is a cloud database-as-a-service product offered as a service on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).N/A
Pricing
Db2Google Cloud Spanner
Editions & Modules
Db2 on Cloud Lite
$0
Db2 on Cloud Standard
$99
per month
Db2 Warehouse on Cloud Flex One
$898
per month
Db2 on Cloud Enterprise
$946
per month
Db2 Warehouse on Cloud Flex for AWS
2,957
per month
Db2 Warehouse on Cloud Flex
$3,451
per month
Db2 Warehouse on Cloud Flex Performance
13,651
per month
Db2 Warehouse on Cloud Flex Performance for AWS
13,651
per month
Db2 Standard Edition
Contact Sales
Db2 Advanced Edition
Contact Sales
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Db2Google Cloud Spanner
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Db2Google Cloud Spanner
Considered Both Products
Db2
Google Cloud Spanner

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Db2Google Cloud Spanner
Database-as-a-Service
Comparison of Database-as-a-Service features of Product A and Product B
Db2
-
Ratings
Google Cloud Spanner
7.8
2 Ratings
11% below category average
Automatic software patching00 Ratings8.82 Ratings
Database scalability00 Ratings8.82 Ratings
Automated backups00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
Database security provisions00 Ratings5.82 Ratings
Monitoring and metrics00 Ratings5.82 Ratings
Automatic host deployment00 Ratings7.62 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Db2Google Cloud Spanner
Small Businesses
Google Cloud SQL
Google Cloud SQL
Score 8.8 out of 10
IBM Cloudant
IBM Cloudant
Score 7.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Snowflake
Snowflake
Score 8.9 out of 10
IBM Cloudant
IBM Cloudant
Score 7.7 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP IQ
SAP IQ
Score 10.0 out of 10
IBM Cloudant
IBM Cloudant
Score 7.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Db2Google Cloud Spanner
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(90 ratings)
7.4
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.8
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.5
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.8
(64 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(12 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(6 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.2
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.5
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.7
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.7
(64 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.7
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.7
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Db2Google Cloud Spanner
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
I have primarily used it as the basis for a SIS - but I have migrated more than a few systems from there database systems to DB2 (Filemaker, MySQL, etc.). DB2 does have a better structural approach, as opposed to Filemaker, which allows for more data consistency, but this can also lead to an inflexibility that can sometimes be counterintuitive when attempting to compensate for the flexibility of the work environment as Schools tend to have an all in one approach.
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Google
Google Cloud Spanner is suited for limitless horizontal scaling while maintaining strong consistency which needs to support ACID. NoSQL databases work in scaling but no ACID support. RDBMS support ACID, but horizontal scaling is not as great. The API it provides result in some limitations to related areas of the code, such as connection pools or database linking framework. So high # of connection pools can vary.
Read full review
Pros
IBM
  • While we query a large set of data, the results are generally available within a minute or so.
  • Always reliable - I have never experienced an application going down.
  • It is easy to write queries and find tables and columns.
  • We can log in smoothly without any headaches.
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Google
  • Super high availability
  • Scales automatically
  • High standard SLA
Read full review
Cons
IBM
  • Learning curve for DB resources - Improvements to UI or native command line built-ins can help with increasing efficiencies for DB resources
  • Better resource utilization monitoring and recommendations
  • Continue to adopt support for modern frameworks and languages making it easier for organizations to see making Db2 the easy first choice
Read full review
Google
  • Support for Views
  • Support for more databases (schemas).
  • More index types that can be supported (Functional)
  • Backups (ie table/data backup) if data is deleted or truncate by accident.
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Likelihood to Renew
IBM
The DB2 database is a solid option for our school. We have been on this journey now for 3-4 years so we are still adapting to what it can do. We will renew our use of DB2 because we don’t see. Major need to change. Also, changing a main database in a school environment is a major project, so we’ll avoid that if possible.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Usability
IBM
You have to be well versed in using the technology, not only from a GUI interface but from a command line interface to successfully use this software to its fullest.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
IBM
I have never had DB2 go down unexpectedly. It just works solidly every day. When I look at the logs, sometimes DB2 has figured out there was a need to build an index. Instead of waiting for me to do it, the database automatically created the index for me. At my current company, we have had zero issues for the past 8 years. We have upgrade the server 3 times and upgraded the OS each time and the only thing we saw was that DB2 got better and faster. It is simply amazing.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Performance
IBM
The performances are exceptional if you take care to maintain the database. It is a very powerful tool and at the same time very easy to use. In our installation, we expect a DB machine on the mainframe with access to the database through ODBC connectors directly from branch servers, with fabulous end users experience.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
IBM
Easily the best product support team. :) Whenever we have questions, they have answered those in a timely manner and we like how they go above and beyond to help.
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Google
No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
IBM
the material was very clear and all subjects have been handled
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Google
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
IBM
db2 work well with the application, also the replication tool can keep it up
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Google
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
IBM
DB2 was more scalable and easily configurable than other products we evaluated and short listed in terms of functionality and pricing. IBM also had a good demo on premise and provided us a sandbox experience to test out and play with the product and DB2 at that time came out better than other similar products.
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Google
At that point, we were looking at something [that] can hold our relational database, [...] provide stable connection, and maintain high ACID transition. BigTable is for nonrelational database so it was out of our [sight] very quickly. BigQuery is a data warehouse that can hold huge amount of data but not ideal for transition. AWS RDS is [...] similar to Spanner but because most of our services are already on GCP, so we went with Spanner.
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Scalability
IBM
By
using DB2 only to support my IzPCA activities, my knowledge here
is somewhat limited.

Anyway,
from what I was able to understand, DB2 is extremely scallable.

Maybe the information below could serve as an example of scalability.
Customer have an huge mainframe environment, 13x z15 CECs, around
80 LPARs, and maybe more than 50 Sysplexes (I am not totally sure about this
last figure...)

Today
we have 7 IzPCA
databases, each one in a distinct Syplex.

Plans
are underway to have, at the end, an small LPAR, with only one DB2 sub-system,
and with only one database, then transmit the data from a lot of other LPARs,
and then process all the data in this only one database.



The
IzPCA collect process (read the data received, manipulate it, and insert rows
in the tables) today is a huge process, demanding many elapsed
hours, and lots of CPU.

Almost
100% of the tables are PBR type, insert jobs run in parallel, but in 4 of the 7
database, it is a really a huge and long process.



Combining
the INSERTs loads from the 7 databases in only one will be impossible.......,,,,



But,
IzPCA recently introduced a new feature, called "Continuous
Collector"
.
By
using that feature, small amounts of data will be transmited to the central
LPAR at every 5 minutes (or even less), processed immediately,in
a short period of time, and with small use of CPU,
instead of one or two transmissions by day, of very large amounts of data and
the corresponding collect jobs occurring only once or twice a day, with long
elapsed times, and huge comsumption of CPU



I
suspect the total CPU seconds consumed will be more or less the same in
both cases, but in the new method it will occur in small bursts
many times a day!!
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Google
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
IBM
  • There is great value the solution brings when it comes to building stored procedures and ongoing tasks that allows our team to streamlines processes.
  • The platform has allowed us to see value by providing a solution for data structuring and data hygiene which prevents deduplication of data and lowers costs
  • With the integration capabilities it allows our analytics team to more seamlessly create highly visible dashboards that see directly into the data and pinpoint areas that need attention.
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Google
  • Backups specifically if transactional data is deleted. Restoring made us lose time.
  • Sharding on Horizontal level was quick and easy. Deployment and increasing nodes is easy
  • Large dataset handling.
  • ACID compliance
Read full review
ScreenShots

Db2 Screenshots

Screenshot of Db2 - Data sharingScreenshot of Db2 - Machine LearningScreenshot of Db2 - Real time insights