Db2 database product editions and deployment options

You can choose from several Db2 product editions that are designed to scale to your ongoing business needs. For more information about entitlement, rights, and obligations, see the license agreement for your product or offering.

Details of the features that are included in each Db2 database product edition are covered in Functionality in Db2 product editions.

Common code base

With Db2, all editions have the same code base. The technical differences among editions are resource limitations and advanced features or tool sets. In this way, applications that are written for any Db2 edition can easily be moved to any other Db2 edition on any operating system platform that is supported by Db2.

Table 1. New Db2 editions and their corresponding older editions
New editions	Previous editions
Db2 Community Edition	Express-C Edition, Developer Community Edition
Db2 Starter Edition	NA
Db2 Standard Edition	Advanced Workgroup Server Edition, Workgroup Server Edition, Direct Standard Edition
Db2 Advanced Edition	Advanced Enterprise Server Edition¹, Enterprise Server Edition², Developer Edition, Direct Advanced Edition

Db2 Advanced Edition: Db2 Advanced Edition is designed for enterprises that demand unparalleled performance and reliability for their mission-critical workloads. With no compute or memory limits and no feature restrictions, it delivers a comprehensive database solution for both transactional and analytical workloads. Experience high performance, continuous availability, and robust workload management across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments.; Db2 Advanced Edition can be deployed on Linux®, UNIX, or Windows servers of any size, from one processor to hundreds of processors, and on both physical and virtual servers.; Db2 Advanced Edition pricing is based on a per Virtual Processor Core (VPC) charge metric for both production and non-production environments (like development and testing), while also offering an Authorized User (AU) charge metric exclusively for non-production settings. It is available as a perpetual license, a subscription for Cloud Pak for Data deployment, or a monthly license with premium IBM support included.

Db2 Standard Edition: Db2 Standard Edition is designed for businesses demanding high transactional performance for their production-ready, business-critical applications. It includes all features found in Db2 Advanced Edition, except for Db2 pureScale³ and Data Partitioning Feature (DPF)³. Furthermore, it is subject to capacity restrictions of up to 16 cores and 128 GB of memory per physical or virtual server. Experience high performance, continuous availability, and robust workload management across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments.; Db2 Standard Edition pricing is based on a per Virtual Processor Core (VPC) charge metric for both production and non-production environments (like development and testing), while also offering an Authorized User (AU) charge metric exclusively for non-production settings. It is available as a perpetual license, a subscription for Cloud Pak for Data deployment, or a monthly license with premium IBM support included.

Db2 Starter Edition (New for 12.1): Db2 Starter Edition is designed for users needing core data management capabilities for new applications and services. To access advanced functionality, customers can seamlessly upgrade to the higher Db2 editions. Db2 Starter Edition is subject to capacity restrictions of up to 4 cores and 16 GB of memory per physical or virtual server. Furthermore, it restricts advanced functionality including High Availability Disaster Recovery (HADR), Native Encryption and Audit Logging, Federation, Backup & Restore (Point-in-time recovery), Db2 pureScale, and Database Partitioning Feature (DPF). Experience robust performance, and workload management across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments.; Db2 Starter Edition pricing is based on a per Virtual Processor Core (VPC) charge metric for both production and non-production environments. It is available as a perpetual license, a subscription for Cloud Pak for Data deployment, or a monthly license with premium IBM support included.

Db2 Community Edition

Db2 Community Edition is a free entry-level database solution providing essential capabilities of Db2 for developer and partner communities.

Db2 Community Edition is easy to use and embed, includes self-management features, and embodies all the core capabilities of Db2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows. Db2 Community Edition is subject to capacity restrictions of up to 4 cores and 8 GB of memory per physical or virtual server. Usage is restricted to non-production environments.

Db2 Community Edition can be downloaded from the IBM Db2 website. Db2 Community Edition is refreshed and updated for free at major release milestones, but does not come with enterprise-level support. However, there is a robust online community where you can post questions and learn from peers. Community support is available through the IBM Db2 Community site or with peers on social media.

You can upgrade Db2 Community Edition database to a more scalable edition by applying an activation key to your database image. The database is upgraded immediately, enabling Db2 to use additional virtual processors and instance memory.

Note: Db2 Community Edition is also available as a stand-alone Docker image. For more information, see Db2 Community Edition for Docker.

Db2 deployment options

The Db2 engine serves as the core for all deployment choices.

Table 2. Db2 deployment options
Deployment option	Products	Highlights
Db2 SaaS	Transactional workloads Db2 on IBM Cloud Db2 on AWS through RDS Analytics workloads Db2 Warehouse on IBM Cloud and AWS	Fully managed solutions that can be deployed on AWS and the IBM Cloud
Db2 Software	Transactional workloads Db2 Advanced Edition⁴ Db2 Standard Edition⁵ Db2 Starter Edition⁶ Db2 Community Edition Analytics workloads Db2 Warehouse⁷	Traditional and containerized installations that can be deployed across on-premises and hybrid cloud environments.

Db2 for containerized deployments

All Db2 editions (Community, Starter, Standard, Advanced, and Warehouse) can be deployed on Red Hat® OpenShift® clusters, native Kubernetes clusters, and managed container platforms like EKS and ROSA on AWS, and AKS and ARO on Microsoft Azure .

Db2 on IBM Cloud Pak for Data (CP4D)

Db2 Advanced Edition, Db2 Standard Edition, Db2 Starter Edition, and Db2 Warehouse are available as a Cartridge to facilitate deployment on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Note:

¹ All license metrics for Db2 Advanced Enterprise Server Edition, except for the Processor Value Unit (PVU) metric, were replaced by Db2 Advanced Edition. Db2 Advanced Enterprise Server Edition continues to be available in Db2 12.1 and Db2 11.5, based on the PVU metric.

² All license metrics for Db2 Enterprise Server Edition, except for the Processor Value Unit (PVU) metric and Authorized User Single Install metric, were replaced by Db2 Advanced Edition. Db2 Enterprise Server Edition continues to be available in Db2 12.1 and Db2 11.5, based on the PVU metric and Authorized User Single Install metric.

³ With the release of Db2 12.1, Db2 pureScale® and Database Partitioning Feature (DPF) capabilities are restricted for Db2 Standard Edition. Customers using these features in Db2 11.5 retain their access rights in Db2 12.1.

^{4, 5, 6, 7} These editions are also available as cartridges, to facilitate deployment on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.