
Sequel Pro – Open source macOS native MySQL GUI client - atrudeau
https://www.sequelpro.com/
======
alpb
Projects like these should be celebrated through donations and this project
makes it easy. When’s the last time you’ve seen freeware developer tool for
macOS that’s not from a corporation with money to spare?

I personally can’t think of anything beyond iTerm (utility), Homebrew
(utility), ...aaand that's where my list ends.

~~~
masklinn
cyberduck, iina, adium, notational velocity, divvy, hex fiend, keka, xee,
unicodechecker, textual, …

That's just a subset of what I saw scanning my /Applications, and I don't
specifically look out for replacing existing software with free (whether
freedom or beer) applications.

~~~
akfanta
> divvy, textual

Neither of these are freeware?

~~~
als0
Textual is open source [https://github.com/Codeux-
Software/Textual](https://github.com/Codeux-Software/Textual)

------
angott
It hasn't been updated in a very long time. Constant crashes on Mojave. I have
transitioned away to TablePlus and DataGrip. Too bad because it was a very
good tool for quick edits.

~~~
kar1181
I had a lot of trouble with Mojave and the crashing you are reporting is
annoying. I’ve been using their test builds the past couple months with zero
problems though.

[https://sequelpro.com/test-builds](https://sequelpro.com/test-builds)

~~~
stephen123
That bug is so annoying. Push a release!

~~~
mproud
What bug specifically? What is the symptom?

~~~
tazard
Not sure which the parent was referring to, but everytime I close it, it
crashes.

~~~
danaris
In my experience, it's specifically every time you try to disconnect from a
server. (I have connections set up for dev and production for a small project,
and I try to keep the production connection open only when I need it...but if
I open it, I need to keep it open or it crashes the whole app.)

Will try the test build.

------
rahilsondhi
I loved Sequel Pro and was disappointed when I switched companies and couldn't
use it with Postgres. Plug: it's one of the reasons why I built PopSQL
([https://popsql.io](https://popsql.io))

~~~
disiplus
sequel Pro is better then pgadmin for me, but pgadmin is very usable

~~~
Milner08
Sequel Pro doesn't support PG though... Unless I have missed something? If you
can tell me how to use it with PG I will be very happy :P

------
barkerja
I'm personally a big fan of TablePlus:
[https://tableplus.io](https://tableplus.io)

~~~
reaperducer
I looked into Table Plus when I found that Sequel Pro crashes more than NASCAR
on a Sunday. But it’s pricing model doesn’t work for the way I work. I’m just
one person, but use multiple computers simultaneously, making per-computer
licensing prohibitive.

Obviously phpMyAdmin is a tire fire.

I’m still looking for a good macOS-native client similar to Sequel Pro. Bonus
points if it has a usable iPad version.

~~~
bennyp101
I use it on multiple computers - jsut not at the same time.

"If you want to use TablePlus on multiple devices you need to add more seats
to your license. The number of seats is the number of devices you can log in
to at the same time" [https://tableplus.io/order/extend-
seats](https://tableplus.io/order/extend-seats)

So I took that to mean that I can have it on multiple machines, I just can't
use them at the same time - which is fine, I can use my laptop or desktop
depending on where I am.

~~~
reaperducer
Thanks for the clarification. I'll have to take a second look at it, since
I'll only use it on one machine at a time.

------
nojvek
SequelPro is amazing and I used it for many many years.

Now I’m using TablePlus which is a great paid client ($50 I think) and I love
it.

I really hope in the new era, we can have paid open source tools with some
bounties for important bug fixes and UX improvements.

That seems to be a very sustainable way to develop great software.

~~~
mschaef
> SequelPro is amazing and I used it for many many years.

Seconded.

I inherited an old MySQL/Java system and SequelPro was invaluable to
understanding how it worked and keeping it running. At least until I added a
view to the schema, the export/import facility was also very effective at
taking and restoring snapshots of the database state. I could connect it to
production, pull down an exported SQL script and then restore exactly that
state to another environment. (Including local.)

(And given that it ran in OSX, it also had a plausible subset of Emacs
keybidings too. :-) )

------
wiradikusuma
This is my favorite DB tool, but unfortunately it doesn't support MySQL 8 —
[https://github.com/sequelpro/sequelpro/issues/2699](https://github.com/sequelpro/sequelpro/issues/2699)

~~~
haydenkshaw
I ran into the same issue here too. They've fixed it in their nightly builds
which I've found pretty useable: [https://sequelpro.com/test-
builds](https://sequelpro.com/test-builds)

------
yani
As others have mentioned, it has not received much love recently from the
developer. My guess is that it is due to the pricing model and accepting
donations. I have donated $200 back in 2014 but I did not see many supporters
back then and none now. There is no incentive for the developer to keep
maintaining and enhancing the product. Everyone who used this tool in the past
and liked itshould consider supporting it if not with money then with their
time and knowledge on github.

~~~
h1d
Can they not just turn into subscription model for something like $10/mo or
even $5/mo and get things done instead of floating with nightlies?

I'm sure people cry and scream for going paid but seeing this disappear with
lack of recent MySQL version support and likely never support any other DB
looks pretty sad too.

------
Reedx
Interesting... did something happen today that there are 3 posts for db
clients at the top of HN?

~~~
threeseed
It's a SQL client miracle !

And I'm guessing it was more than DBeaver became popular and everyone felt
like it was worth getting some free traffic to help boost sales.

~~~
DonHopkins
Doesn't everybody always up and downvote stories just so related ones are next
to each other? It sure seems like it.

~~~
h1d
I thought you can't downvote a story but just ignore it.

------
gerardnll
I thought they had released the new version... :( crashes on mojave are
usual... I know they have fixed them in new builds, but I'm waiting for a
stable release.

Such a great client!!!

------
zpe
Me and my colleagues have benefitted greatly from Sequel Pro over the years.
Recent Mojave complaints aside it's been close to perfect. It's eye opening to
think we have paid nothing. Maybe companies should look into implementing 1%
turnover to OSS. I'm guessing having bi-annual company votes about how to
distribute the funding, and communicating this in the recruitment process
might offset some/all of the cost.

------
mtnGoat
I have an up to date version running on an up to date macbook pro and it
crashes every time I close a tab. Pretty annoying.

~~~
gouggoug
I do to. The latest Beta build does not have this issue though.

~~~
digitalboss
Ditto. Tab issue in prod release, Not nightly. I love the app but it’s made me
look for diff options. I close tabs all day, it’s a big bug in my head that
should’ve forced an update. Otherwise monster fan.

------
skunkworker
Is this project still alive? they haven't had an official release since 2016
though the commit history shows some recent but unreleased work.

That coupled with a lack of other RDBMS support has forced me to transition to
other tools like DataGrip.

~~~
reaperducer
I liked the DataGrip tour, but I don’t believe in subscribing to software. Any
other recommendations?

~~~
wishinghand
Someone else in the comments said that Sequel Pro inspired them to make a
Postgres compatible clone.

edit: oh I derped there. I didn't follow the link before I commented and once
I did I noticed they're subscription based :\

------
darkstar_16
3 SQL GUI tools (Sequel Pro, Dbeaver, HeidiSQL) on the front page at the same
time. Has this happened before?

~~~
pjmlp
And none of them Electron based!

~~~
kowdermeister
You know, Electron is perfect for these use cases:

A table view, a tree view, few buttons, some dialogs.

~~~
pjmlp
Until you try to actually use more than demo data and need to resort to tricks
to sort out unresponsive rendering.

I have no love for Electron. Still remember Active Desktop, MSHTML, XUL and
Symbian Web Runtime.

As someone that does both native and Web fullstack, the place for Web
technologies is on the browser, with approaches like PWAs.

~~~
jimmy1
Sequel Pro's query dialog grinds to a screeching halt on my 2018 model MBP
when there is more than 1500 lines of text in the box.

~~~
pjmlp
Naturally being native does not sort out everything if not coded properly.

The difference being that native solutions have better tooling to handle such
cases, one just needs to actually learn how to use them.

In a future where Worklets and WebComponents with virtual tables are a
standard browser feature, similar approaches can be done in the browser as
well.

------
enahs-sf
Great product. Switched from MySQL workbench and it was amazing. Haven’t
upgraded to Mojave though. Apple hasn’t been the same since they switched to
one year OS release cycles.

~~~
SyneRyder
Yep, just wanted to add that I haven't seen any of the crashes with Sequel Pro
that others have mentioned. But I'm still on High Sierra with HFS+ file system
though.

(Though I've since bought a Windows laptop & I haven't found a Sequel Pro
equivalent for Windows yet.)

~~~
u02sgb
Not sure if it's feature equivalent but HeidiSQL was pretty good on Windows

------
pweezy
I used and loved Sequel Pro for years, but interface limitations and crashes
finally set me off looking for a replacement after some stressful production
debugging sessions.

After trying a few like MySQL Workbench and Navicat, I landed on Querious and
haven't looked back since. It's not free in either sense of the word but well
worth the ~$50 USD license IMO.

Interface-wise I found it to be easier/more familiar to switch to from Sequel
Pro, as compared to some of the alternatives mentioned above - more on the
light and nimble side, less on the heavy interface enterprisey-feeling side if
that makes sense.

It's Mac native, performant, and very stable. Some very basic features that
felt like a big upgrade from Sequel Pro:

\- Arbitrary WHERE clause support in the data view, so you don't need to
switch to a full manual query as soon as you need slightly more complex
conditions

\- Multiple query tabs - I used to spawn multiple Sequel Pro instances because
this was so hard to live without. There's also good management of query
history and saved queries.

\- Robust and performant import/export tools

No affiliation with the developer, just wanted to give a shout-out to a high
quality piece of software that I've really appreciated using.

~~~
h1d
I tried it years ago but is this still being developed actively?

~~~
apple4ever
Yes it is. They just released an update as recently as December.

------
jmull
This is a really nicely done client.

I've mainly used it from a "let's go in and see what's going on in the
database" perspective, and it's been great for that.

I wish I had the same thing for Oracle and sql server.

It crashes on Mojave, but only when closing it so it's more an annoyance than
a problem (and the fix is in the works).

------
mavfly
It is nice it is true. But some time ago SequelPro was crashed on my Mac.
Since then I moved to TablePluse. It is much more convinent for me. Contain
everyting what I need and I can use for manage another types of database
(Redis, Postgres, Mongo..). I highly recomend TablePlus.

~~~
fragebogen
Is it open source as well?

~~~
mavfly
Unfortunately not. But it is worth the price. You can try with free version
but it is limited.

------
cyberferret
This is a nice client.

I had used Navicat for years on my old iMac, but when I got my new MacBook Pro
as my secondary development machine and went to get another licence for it, I
was shocked at the current pricing. I am certain I only paid about $50 for a
licence years back. When I downloaded the latest version it was something like
25x the price!!

Don't get me wrong - Navicat is a great MySQL/MariaDB client, but I wasn't
going to stretch to that price. I hunted around and found Sequel Pro, which
meets my needs to a 't' and probably has a slicker interface.

------
dep_b
It has the best application icon ever. Just everything is right about it.

~~~
whywhywhywhy
So glad they haven't changed it, beautiful execution and the humor of it has
made it instantly memorable even for a product that has a completely generic
(but clear) name, googling "sql pancake icon" even gets you to the product.

This is how you brand something.

------
nkkollaw
Sequel Pro is by far the best SQL client I've ever used. It's really sad that
it's available only for Mac. It's the only app I miss after having moved to
Linux.

------
ogtifs
After a brief period working with macOS, I missed Sequel Pro when moving back
to Linux. In the end I wrote Sequel Joe:

[https://github.com/ohwgiles/sequeljoe](https://github.com/ohwgiles/sequeljoe)

Still, it's light years behind Sequel Pro in terms of
features/completeness/quality and probably always will be :)

------
juddlyon
Seriously grateful for the app, I’ve used it (and maybe taken it for granted)
for years. Does what it says on the tin.

------
rcarmo
This looks amazing, and I wish I had something similar for Postgres (which is
what I use for my own projects). Kudos!

~~~
creativityhurts
Check out Postico
[https://eggerapps.at/postico/](https://eggerapps.at/postico/)

------
dna_polymerase
Sequel Pro is the single app that makes me come back to OSX every now and then
to work with my databases. This app for Linux would be so great. The official
Oracle MySQL application for Linux is so unstable, it's mostly unusable for
large databases. Never experienced such problems with Sequel.

------
pikzel
It's ok. I mean, it's great that you put in all this time to give it away for
free, but this is not where open source shines. This is lightyears behind
professional SQL clients like SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) - even
compared to what SSMS was 10 years ago!

~~~
dagaci
Can't comment on Sequel Pro yet, but even SSMS is in need of improvement.

------
donatj
It's a paid and rather expensive product but I've used Navicat happily for
something like ten years.

The latest release was a rewrite and they're still sorting out problems but
every incremental update brings it closer to how great the previous version
was.

~~~
mnm1
I used to love Navicat and have a copy but the UI was so unbearably slow, the
only thing I use it for is user permissions. Maybe it's only on OS X, but the
app was completely unusable compared to something like SQL Pro and I realized
I was only using it because I had paid for it and it should have been not only
usable but better. It really isn't. The UI slowness is so bad, the team that
maintains it should be ashamed of themselves, especially for charging money.
It's a native app after all! They can't even blame electron or whatever fw of
the day for this, afaik.

------
uberswe
It's a great program and I have used it for years. I highly recommend it to
everyone and the developers have done a great job. Currently it has a small
bug which can be bit annoying where it crashes when opening and closing
connections.

------
wink
Sequel Pro is one of the few reasons why I used to be really, really envious
about Mac users, as a Linux user (now I don't work with MySQL anymore). I've
never seen any SQL GUI even come close.

~~~
amiga-workbench
I put up with mySQL workbench, its java based, clunky and unstable but very
well featured.

------
hammerton
Honestly, I really enjoyed using Sequel Pro but I __had__ to switch to DBeaver
because it constantly kept crashing for me. Maybe I'll have to give it another
shot.

------
freakynit
Been using this for years now. Im hooked to it. That simplicity and
functionality. Wow!!! Way better than than MySQL Workbench for most of the
daily needs.

------
anhthang
It's my favorite MySQL/MariaDB GUI. I have to build by myself to use with the
latest commit for a long time.

------
risfriend
Have been using this one for years. A rare for a mac only app being leaps
better than non-mac apps for similar use.

------
sameera_sy
Great GUI for the DB! Far better than softwares like MySQL Workbench! It's
simple and people totally like it!

------
aphpdev
FYI, doesn't play nice with exporting/importing virtual columns. Had to switch
to MySqlWorkBench.

------
Pezmc
Thank you for reminding me to appreciate this tool I've been using for years,
just donated!

------
eikeland
Which crashes every time you close a tab... Otherwise it's an awesome mysql
client.

------
gdemers
Great tool, would be nice to have INSERT / UPDATE table sql script generator.

------
jmagaro88
Great app even though it crashes every time I close a window on Mojave.

~~~
dylan604
I have the exact same issue with MySQL Workbench. Since upgrading to Mojave,
lots of Workbench is just unstable. Probably crashes 6-8 times a day. I spend
most of time in CLI now since it doesn't crash. It has helped me understand
the SQL much better since I have to bang it out rather than just "confirming"
what the UI decided to do for me.

------
kowdermeister
Is this DB GUI day on HN? :) 3 clients on the front page is amusing.

------
nvahalik
I used Sequel Pro for years but just recently switched to Querious.

------
mproud
Hasn’t been updated in forever, has me very concerned.

------
antoniotajuelo
Great tool I have been using for many years!

------
dasanman
This is a great tool, I use it every day

------
gdemers
:love:

