Having a good GUI client would save us a lot of time working with databases. In this post, we are going to have a quick review of three database tools: Sequel Pro, DBeaver, and TablePlus; along with pros and cons of each tool to see which is the one that matches your needs for database management tasks.

1. Sequel Pro

Sequel Pro had been long known for being one of the best GUI tools for MySQL, only until recently when it has compatibility issues with MySQL 8 and macOS Mojave.

  • Supported Platforms: Sequel Pro is available on macOS only.

  • Supported Drivers: Sequel Pro only supports MySQL. It works well with MySQL up to 5.7. Since the recent MySQL 8.0 came out, it’s reported that Sequel Pro can’t connect to MySQL 8.0, it’s not working properly or just crashing.

  • Pricing: Sequel Pro is free and open source. It also accepts donation.

Sequel Pro

Pros:

  • Very clean and simple interface. It’s easy for newbies to get started.
  • It runs fast.
  • Easy to import/export databases.
  • Connections over SSH
  • Full user management, credentials, and roles
  • Filtering/Sorting data based on single constraint including equal to/in/like/between etc.
  • Sanity check or data integrity check.
  • It’s free

Cons:

  • Crashes very often and randomly. This is a big problem in the current (2016 to present) version of Sequel Pro.
  • Available for Mac only. The development is stopped now.

2. DBeaver

DBeaver provides a powerful database client for multiple drivers, but it’s a little bit overwhelming.

  • Supported Platforms: DBeaver used to work on all platforms supported by Eclipse framework (Windows, Linux, MacOS, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX). Starting from version 4.2, it limited its support to Windows, MacOS and Linux only.

  • Supported Drivers: DBeaver community version supports any databases that use JDBC driver (which means a lot of databases): MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle, to DB2, SQL Server, Sybase, MS Access, Teradata, Firebird, Derby, etc. The enterprise adds support for non-JDBC datasources (WMI, MongoDB, Cassandra, Redis).

  • Pricing: DBeaver has a free and open source community version (DBeaver CE). It has an enterprise edition (DBeaver EE) with more driver support, more advanced features and dedicated customer support for enterprises.

DBeaver

Pros:

  • It’s cross-platform. If you work on multiple operating systems, you can have a consistent experience across all systems.
  • It supports a lot of databases.
  • Entity-relationship diagrams are supported.
  • Good built-in reformat SQL

Cons:

  • It runs on a Java virtual machine, it consumes a lot of memory usage while running.
  • Confusing and unintuitive icon design. You might not know where to look for the function you need.
  • The autocomplete feature in query editor is slow and not so smart.

3. TablePlus

With a native build and a lightweight size, TablePlus is a very handy tool for managing multiple databases.

  • Supported platforms: TablePlus is built native for each platform. It started out with a native version for Mac, then another version for Windows, and a version for Linux was introduced recently as an alpha release. It also has an iOS version.

  • Supported Drivers: TablePlus supports a handful of relational databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon Redshift, MariaDB, CockroachDB, Vertica, Oracle; and two popular NoSQL databases: Cassandra and Redis.

  • Pricing: TablePlus has a free version with full set of features which you can download and use forever, but there are some usage limitations. If you use it heavily, the license costs $59 to remove all those limitations.

TablePlus

Pros:

  • Native build for each platform so it’s fast, lightweight, and stable.
  • Clean and simple interface.
  • Multiple drivers support
  • Multiple conditions data filter
  • Queries history and keyword binding favorite.
  • Streaming results and async loading to show queries results faster and doesn’t block the UI.
  • Very quick inline editing for table data and structure, you also can edit query results directly.
  • Smart query editor with highlight syntax, instant autocomplete, SQL reformat.
  • A plugin system to extend the app.
  • Quick support. TablePlus releases new updates regularly and responds to users’ requests almost immediately.

Cons:

It currently lacks of some advanced features such as ER Diagram, database compare tool to Diff and Sync, etc.

4. Conclusion

Go with DBeaver if you:

  • Need an all-in-one tool that supports many databases
  • Need to get the job done an don’t mind the slugginess

Go with Sequel Pro if you:

  • Um. It’s dead. Just move on.

Go with TablePlus if you:

  • Are a fan of native experience
  • Work with multiple databases
  • Want a modern design with better usability
  • Want quick support & development cycle.