IBM Informix vs. MySQL

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Informix
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Informix is an embedded relational database offering from IBM.N/A
MySQL
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
MySQL is a popular open-source relational and embedded database, now owned by Oracle.N/A
Pricing
IBM InformixMySQL
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM InformixMySQL
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM InformixMySQL
Considered Both Products
IBM Informix
Chose IBM Informix
As a DB Team Leader I have been looking after other platforms (SQLSvr, MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL), supporting application changes, and driving their platforms enhancements through lots of projects over many years. The more I have learnt from other platforms, the more I found …
Chose IBM Informix
IBM Informix creates effective solutions for big data extraction and data transportation functionalities across the entire Cloud services and the Automation ability is the best. The security that IBM Informix provides for all our business data and other project information and …
Chose IBM Informix
You could use any other relational database, but they will be either expensive to maintain or won't scale as much.
MySQL

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
IBM InformixMySQL
Small Businesses
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Redis™*
Redis™*
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Redis™*
Redis™*
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
SQLite
SQLite
Score 9.0 out of 10
Redis™*
Redis™*
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM InformixMySQL
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(7 ratings)
8.2
(134 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.9
(4 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(6 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.6
(2 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM InformixMySQL
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
IBM Informix creates an effective and secure channel for easy and quick data management and transfer across other major Cloud platforms and other data storage systems. The analytical ability is also the best and most effective visual functionalities and the encryption and the data archiving functionalities are great and easy on reporting.
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Oracle
From my own perspective and the tasks that I perform on a daily basis, MySQL is perfect. It has a reasonable footprint, is fast enough and offers the security and flexibility I need. Everyone has their preferred applications and, no doubt, for larger data warehouses or more intensive applications, MySQL may have its limits, but for the area that I operate in, it's a great match.
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Pros
IBM
  • Industry leading OLTP performance.
  • Excellent Data Warehouse performance from the basic engine. Outstanding Data Warehouse performance from the Informix Warehouse Accelerator module.
  • Best embedability among major RDBMS systems.
  • Scalable from the smallest Raspberry PI up to the largest monolithic systems and out to dozens of distributed nodes.
  • Hybrid data capabilities to merge relational data with time seriesv, geospacial data, JSON data and other non-traditional data types with performance comparable or better than systems dedicated to those data types.
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Oracle
  • Security: is embedded at each level in MySQL. Authentication mechanisms are in place for configuring user access and even service account access to applications. MySQL is secure enough under the hood to store your sensitive information. Also, additional plugins are available that sit on top of MySQL for even tighter security.
  • Widely adopted: MySQL is used across the industry and is trusted the most. Therefore, if you face any problems, simply Google it and you shall land in plenty of forums. This is a great relief as when you are in a need of help, you can find it right in your browser.
  • Lightweight application: MySQL is not a heavy application. However, the data you store in the database can get heavy with time, but as in the configuration and MySql application files, those are not very heavy and can easily be installed on legacy systems as well.
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Cons
IBM
  • It is very difficult to find a missing functionality in Informix, technically is great. I will again criticize the business side and how it has been managed over the past, I hope this could be improved with HCL's help. I know they are working hard, but we need to start letting the world know and revert their concept about its existence and that it is one of the best competitors within the data treatment, in the market. We need to start telling the world about success cases and stories showing this and backing up its strong technology.
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Oracle
  • Although you can add the data you require as more and more data is added, the fixity of it becomes more critical.
  • As the demand, size, and use of the system increase, you may also need to change or acquire more equipment on your servers, although this is an internal inconvenience for the company.
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Likelihood to Renew
IBM
Informix is the best RDBMS on the market. Period.
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Oracle
For teaching Databases and SQL, I would definitely continue to use MySQL. It provides a good, solid foundation to learn about databases. Also to learn about the SQL language and how it works with the creation, insertion, deletion, updating, and manipulation of data, tables, and databases. This SQL language is a foundation and can be used to learn many other database related concepts.
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Usability
IBM
Server management is easy enough to be able to embed the engine in a device and let it run for years without maintenance.
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Oracle
I give MySQL a 9/10 overall because I really like it but I feel like there are a lot of tech people who would hate it if I gave it a 10/10. I've never had any problems with it or reached any of its limitations but I know a few people who have so I can't give it a 10/10 based on those complaints.
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Support Rating
IBM
The Informix product support team has won awards and is appreciated by the entire Informix user community.
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Oracle
The support staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient. I only had to get part way through my explanations before they had a solution. They will walk you through a fix or actually connect in and fix the problem for you--or would if you can allow it. I've done it both ways with them. They are always forthcoming with 'how to do this if it happens again' information. I love working with MySQL support.
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Implementation Rating
IBM
No answers on this topic
Oracle
1. Estimate your data size. 2. Test, test, and test.
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Alternatives Considered
IBM
IBM Informix creates effective solutions for big data extraction and data transportation functionalities across the entire Cloud services and the Automation ability is the best. The security that IBM Informix provides for all our business data and other project information and contacts is effective and the reports are very clean and easy to understand.
Read full review
Oracle
MongoDB has a dynamic schema for how data is stored in 'documents' whereas MySQL is more structured with tables, columns, and rows. MongoDB was built for high availability whereas MySQL can be a challenge when it comes to replication of the data and making everything redundant in the event of a DR or outage.
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Return on Investment
IBM
  • Although I do not own nor have visibility on my company's figures:
  • Informix generates consistent savings on DBA staffing, no need for many DBAs as other DBMS require.
  • The replication architecture allowed consistent savings in the infrastructure as well as developments and maintenance, the job is already done, no need to develop complex and costly solutions, it's just a matter of configuring it.
  • The advantages of hybrid development (i.e mixing SQL and NoSQL in the same database) is not just a marketing hype: it allowed us to solve with a brilliant solution, in one afternoon of coding, a functional problem we have been having for more than 10 years!
  • The biggest drawback is that IBM pricing may be constraining, it has too important gaps between the mid range and highrange in terms of pricing
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Oracle
  • As it is an open source solution through community solution, we can use it in a multitude of projects without cost license
  • The acquisition by Oracle makes you need to contract support for the enterprise version
  • If you have knowledge about oracle databases, you can get more out of the enterprise version
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