# DB2

13 Hacker News commenters recommended DB2 and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People praise DB2 as a well-regarded, excellent database, especially for banking and mainframe work. Critics say IBM has mishandled it and that it can be quirky.

## Why people recommend it

- Well-regarded, excellent database overall (3 comments): "DB2 was (still is) an excellent database that IBM has completely fumbled." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47589730)) "Db2, for example, is a well-respected database." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46206357)) "DB/2 and Informix were also regarded as good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47589909))
- Strong for mainframe and banking work (3 comments): "Given the option, I would go with DB 2 on z/OS instead of COBOL, for example." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49165972)) "use a set of well-developed tools and frameworks like DB2 and CICS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46210000)) "I still like DB2, but only for banking/finance core stuff" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50324721))

## What people warn about

- IBM mishandled it and pushed sales (3 comments): "DB2 was (still is) an excellent database that IBM has completely fumbled." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47589730)) "they openly told me that they just wanted to sell DB2" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46199377)) "they extract money from companies trapped on Db2" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49458967))
- Hard to justify for new projects (3 comments): "There's very little technical reason to use any of those at this point." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46216427)) "I wouldn't ever advocate for standing up a new Oracle or DB2 machine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48733965)) "Vercel is similar to adopting Oracle, MS SQL Server, DB2" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47971254))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [PostgreSQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/postgresql.md): 816 recommend
- [MySQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mysql.md): 124 recommend
- [Microsoft SQL Server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-sql-server.md): 73 recommend
- [Microsoft Access](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-access.md): 62 recommend
- [Turso](https://hackerapproved.com/p/turso.md): 53 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.ibm.com/products/db2)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "DB2", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ibm-db2/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).