I’ve recently started a job where I’m working with multiple database systems. Before, I’ve worked primarily with SQL Server, so I’ve always had SSMS to use for a querying and maintenance tool. I used Azure Data Studio for a while to query SQL Server and Postgres, but it’s still very lean on features, and it is missing things in order to work with Postgres effectively. I was hoping to find one tool to query all the database systems that I work with.

I came across the DBeaver database tool and was impressed with all of the features that it delivers. There are a few different versions, but I tried out the free Community edition as well as the paid Enterprise edition.

The Community edition includes the ability to connect to multiple relational database systems (including SQL Server and Postgres), including creating and querying objects. The free tier also includes a good ER Diagram tool. You can also import data from CSV files, and export data to several formats (including CSV, text and JSON). The export can also script data to a SQL script, which I’ve found very useful.

The Enterprise edition includes the ability to connect to selected NoSQL databases. I work with MongoDB, so this allowed me to access any database system that I worked with. Another useful feature was the schema comparison tool, which I’ve used with Postgres. There are additional features included, like data comparison and mock data generation, but I haven’t made use of those features yet.

I’ve been using DBeaver Enterprise at work, and I definitely would recommend this tool. It’s been a bit of a learning curve to learn my way around and learn a whole new set of keyboard shortcuts (I miss being able to run a query with F5, instead of of the two key Control + Enter in DBeaver), but I like being able to manage any database at work from one tool.