Oracle SQL Developer vs. Toad Database Developer Tools

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
SQL Developer
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Oracle SQL Developer is an integrated development environment (IDE) which provides editors for working with SQL, PL/SQL, Stored Java Procedures, and XML in Oracle databases.N/A
Toad Database Developer Tools
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Toad by Quest is a database management toolset that database developers, administrators and data analysts use to simplify workflows, create code free from defects, automate frequent or repetitive processes, and minimize risks. Editions include Toad for Oracle, which automates administration tasks and helps proactively manage databases while embracing performance optimization and risk mitigation. Similar editions exist for IBM DB2, SQL Server, SAP, or MySQL and Postgres environments (Toad Edge).
$229
per year
Pricing
Oracle SQL DeveloperToad Database Developer Tools
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Toad Edge For MySQL
$229
per year
Toad Edge For Postgres
$229
per year
Toad for SQL - Pro Edition
$437
per year
Toad for Oracle - Base Edition
$550
per year
Toad for DB2 z/OS - Base Edition
$636
per year
Toad for SAP - Base Edition
$636
per year
Toad for SQL - Xpert Edition
$763
per year
Toad for Oracle - Professional Edition
$829
per year
Toad for SQL - Dev Edition
$930
per year
Toad for DB2 z/OS - Pro Edition
$996
per year
Toad for Oracle - Professional DB Admin Edition
$1,370
per year
Toad for DB2 z/OS - Xpert Edition
$1,529
per year
Toad for SAP - Xpert Edition
$1530
per year
Toad for Oracle - Xpert Plus Edition
$1,753
per year
Toad for DB2 z/OS - Dev Edition
$1,861
per year
Toad for SAP - Dev Edition
$1863
per year
Toad for SAP - Xpert+ Edition
$2099
per year
Toad for SAP - DBA Edition
$3661
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
SQL DeveloperToad Database Developer Tools
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Oracle SQL DeveloperToad Database Developer Tools
Considered Both Products
SQL Developer
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
They do almost the same things, but I particularly I prefer TOAD, maybe because when I started programming with Oracle Database it was the first tool that I used and I think it's easier to use too.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Having used both TOAD and PL/SQL Developer, I believe SQL Developer from Oracle is a most than acceptable alternative, maybe not as powerful and complete as them but being free has a very positive impact. Most development profiles can work perfectly using SQL Developer while …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
[The] developer's user interface is very handy and simple to use. [W]e can see full query [executions] and optimize the query data import and export, [which] is very easy. [Easy] [installation] and setup [of the] debugging [process] is easy.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
In addition to Oracle SQL Developer I have used Microsoft SQL Server management studio, Toad for Oracle, SAS, and other third party SQL tools. I have found Oracle SQL Developer to be one of the best all around tools for accessing Oracle databases, as well as interfacing with …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Oracle SQL Developer is neck and neck with other tools. It offers all the required features and is much more reliable than many other vendors. Since it’s developed by Oracle, it works well with Oracle. It’s ultimately down to individual selection but Oracle SQL Developer offers …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Toad from Dell is a licensed product. We are just using it for using queries using GUI, so SQL Developer was a good option for us.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
This SQL Developer product stacks up well against TOAD, in that it has most of the functionality that TOAD has and allows better organization for me. It also allows me to make connections within new folders of the same database with different users. The best thing about SQL …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Oracle SQL Developer, in comparison to Toad for Oracle, works very similarly. Toad for Oracle is very useful for complex data management, and this includes monitoring queries and managing permissions. Oracle SQL Developer is great as a simple tool for developers. It has …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
SQL Developer is a very simple tool that is user-friendly and easy to understand for beginners as well. As SQL Developer is Oracle's own product, the Oracle product support is better when it is mentioned about the use of SQL Developer in Service Requests. The area of …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Oracle SQL Developer has a much simpler, novice-friendly interface than TOAD or Sequel Pro. Less clutter and fewer buttons makes it easier for a non-expert/non-DBA to navigate and query. Having a product supported by Oracle itself is also a draw. If an issue is being …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
I believe SQL Developer is easier to use than TOAD is many ways and easier.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
We use both tools. It's partially a user preference-based decision but TOAD's ability to allow more than 1 query to be run at a time gives it an edge over SQL Developer in some users' opinions. I think if that capability were added to the product, most if not all of our users …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Toad is really useful for all the many features it offers. When I was a new hire it was daunting to use and I didn't use half the features since it was so complex. Our data scientist team uses it and that is one of the software they are in all day. When I ended up changing …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
I have started to use Toad for Oracle recently because it is easier to sort and filter results, due to their memory sort feature that puts the results from your query in memory so that you don't have to rerun your query. I have used SQL Developer to easily update records in …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
I have only had limited experience with Toad since that product requires you to purchase licenses. The companies I have worked for have generally opted to use SQL Developer because it is free. That being said, I believe SQL Developer is a very close match in all aspects to Toad.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
SQL Developer is free, and it is providing more and more functions.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
It was less expensive to provide than Toad, and more useful than SQL Plus.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Toad and SQL developer are often compared and we considered both at the beginning. Arguably, Toad outperforms SQL developer in terms of many functionalities. The biggest reason we encouraged our engineers to use SQL developer was cost. Although it is not enriched like Toad, it …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
In the past you needed to use TOAD for many needs, but now I can do almost everything I ever need in SQL Developer. It is a cost savings and has become much more useful through the updates. Oracle products are never pretty, but they are workhorses and this is definitely the …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
I use many tools hand in hand. As an analyst I cannot rely on Toad, but I rely more on SQL developer. Moreover, SQL developer has many featues like easy reporting, any kind of queries and more. But mostly, I use SQL Developer for it's features to free cost ratio.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
I think that Toad may be a better tool for actual developers but not for analysts. Notepad++ is great, and I use it and SQL Developer hand in hand with each other.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
The products are pretty comparable as far as functionality goes. We preferred the user interface of SQL Developer over competing products. They are all free so price was not a consideration. We did try Toad but decided SQL Developer suited us better.
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
SQL Developer is good with PL/SQL development and running SQL. SD has comparable features to all of the Oracle development GUI's I've seen and used. The Toad products have query builder...a nice SQL builder for the novice. The Toad products also have more code snippets and …
Chose Oracle SQL Developer
Oracle SQL Developer delivers a friendly, clean graphical interface that fits the user's different levels of knowledge. The left side of the main window allows you to easily select the objects that populate the databases, while the right part provides the details of the …
Toad Database Developer Tools
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
SQL Developer has been used significantly by the development team for their sql designing and development.
RedGate is primarily used for ms sql and for CICD pipeline. We also use liquibase for our change deployment to automate the cicd. Toad is better to compared the both these …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
SQL Developer is perfect for non-Oracle developers. It's lean and powerful. Except that Toad is even more powerful. Especially navigating through package definitions, packages body's, schema's and scripts is as if you're driving a Porsche in the fast lane with Toad, whereas SQL …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
Toad for Oracle is a better product, but the other products are free, so they do have that going for them.
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
Toad for Oracle is a better tool in that it has more advanced features. With Toad, altering tables is very user friendly. You can also see specific sql scripts for the table modifications you have made. Also, with Toad for Oracle, you can monitor packages running in specific …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
Toad is much better than Tableau query writer. Tableau is not intuitive and requires knowledge of proprietary database language to fully implement. Tableau does not perform as quickly and accurately as Toad. Toad is very easy and slim to install. Additional hardware is often …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
It has a lot more functionality and is easier to use for end-users. But overall, it is quite pricey
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
We didn't make a decision of choosing one and dropping the other. Our database guys have their own preference of tools. Since SQL Developer is a free-to-use tool and light weighted tool, we used it for education materials. For those who need advanced functions, database …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
I have used SQL Developer and XML spy. Both tools have their strengths but do not have as many options for interacting with data. I have also used SQL*Plus but it is not as user friendly for quick interaction with the data. I have not utilized any other tools to interact …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
Code quality, application performance, code maintainability, team collaboration, and productivity are the pillars exposed by Toad against the other vendors. We encourage these points and we can attest to their usefulness.
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
Toad has far more templates than SQL Developer. You can customize Toad. Toad is far more flexible with its options and setup features. Toad is much better at SQL Performance Tuning than what is available in SQL Developer. SQL Developer is free and is a good tool …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
I have used some SQL clients like Squirrel SQL or Dbeever before and they are good but do not have all the options and flexibility Toad offers: help on code, data tables browsing, errors reporting, filters, different visualization modes for data, optimization, etc.
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
Toad is much better than other two. Thus for simple work PLSQL developer will work (it's a little lighter). SQL Developer is a Java application and not one of my preferred tools.
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
I have used SQL Developer for Oracle 11g, which does a decent job, but when it comes to selecting a tool, I would choose TOAD. It has a better GUI, and it consumes much less memory as compared to SQL Developer. It's easy to learn and get up to speed while working with SQL.
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
The one big difference in the area of usability is the Object Browser in Toad for Oracle. It's very easy to navigate between different database objects at different schema levels without hassle. This is not true with SQL Developer.

The ability to code and execute different …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
DBArtisan has an easier to understand interface. It may not have all the features that Toad has. However, those differences are small and shouldn't impact the work or productivity of average DBA work.

SQL Developer is also good and free from Oracle. But it's entirely …
Chose Toad Database Developer Tools
I believe PL/SQL Developer is better for debugging a script as I stated earlier Toad for Oracle tends to crash when debugging. For features and layout, I would put Toad for Oracle in front of the other two. I do not recall much about SQL Navigator as I used it many years ago.
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
Oracle SQL DeveloperToad Database Developer Tools
Database Development
Comparison of Database Development features of Product A and Product B
Oracle SQL Developer
-
Ratings
Toad Database Developer Tools
8.5
32 Ratings
0% below category average
Version control tools00 Ratings8.918 Ratings
Test data generation00 Ratings6.025 Ratings
Performance optimization tools00 Ratings9.030 Ratings
Schema maintenance00 Ratings9.029 Ratings
Database change management00 Ratings9.528 Ratings
Database Administration
Comparison of Database Administration features of Product A and Product B
Oracle SQL Developer
-
Ratings
Toad Database Developer Tools
9.1
32 Ratings
6% above category average
User management00 Ratings9.030 Ratings
Database security00 Ratings9.028 Ratings
Database status reporting00 Ratings9.529 Ratings
Change management00 Ratings9.022 Ratings
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Oracle SQL DeveloperToad Database Developer Tools
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User Ratings
Oracle SQL DeveloperToad Database Developer Tools
Likelihood to Recommend
7.5
(72 ratings)
9.5
(34 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(2 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(2 ratings)
8.2
(7 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.2
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Oracle SQL DeveloperToad Database Developer Tools
Likelihood to Recommend
Oracle
Almost all development activities (the tool is called "SQL Developer", not "DBA Toolset") can be done easily and quick with [Oracle] SQL Developer. From data model creation (tables, views) to development (creation of procedures, functions, packages) and then testing (SQL Developer includes an easy to use debugger), all tasks can be performed in a single tool.
It may not be as complete as other solutions for DBA tasks like instance monitoring, but it is usually OK for development and testing environments if you want to do some basic troubleshooting.
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Quest
Toad for Oracle is very well suited for all Oracle implementations, be it single instance or RAC. It is best suited for use of Oracle DBA, Developer and Database Engineers. I don't recommend Toad for Oracle for Project Managers or Solution Architects. This can be a pricier choice for these people. They can do fine with free options like SQL Developer.
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Pros
Oracle
  • Object Browser in SQL Developer allows you to explore the contents of your database using the connection tree.
  • The SQL Worksheet is an editor that allows for execution of SQL statements, scripts, and PL/SQL anonymous blocks. SELECT statements can be executed to return results in a spreadsheet-like 'grid' or can be executed as a script such to emulate SQL*Plus behavior and output
  • DBA Console allows users with administrative privileges to access DBA features such as database init file configuration, RMAN backup, storage, etc.
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Quest
  • Toad is a de-facto standard tool for data developers and analysts. Generally speaking it provides almost every function needed to manage data in EDW with great performance and stability.
  • The nature of clinical data is big-sized: one table may have billions of rows. Toad provides critical functions to manage SQLs, e.g. Top SQL that can monitor and manage SQLs using CPU power and network bandwidth, so that EDW administrator can optimize ETL operations in the best efficiency.
  • Many of our data analysts are not computer science backgrounded (having clinical / nursing background). Toad provides great auditing tools such as Tuning Lab or SQL Scanner, so that data analysts can train themselves with guidance of the tool.
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Cons
Oracle
  • Inability to run multiple queries on the same database. You can only run one query on a given database.
  • Analytical models created from complex tables isn't accurate, and needs work.
  • Inability to view multiple tables of a database side-by-side. When trying to find correlations between tables, it would help to be able to see them at once on the same page.
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Quest
  • The power and control it gives is at the same time kind of a negative thing. There's too many options available, even when you don't need them. For simple database operations it's sometimes easier to just use SQL Developer since navigation is way more intuitive and easy.
  • Related with the above: there is a steep learning curve. However, since this is the main tool for any Oracle developer, this is not that much of a problem.
  • If I remember well, Toad used to be free, some 20 years ago. Or at least had a free version. It would be nice to have a free version. The dedicated Oracle developers and DBA's won't use the free version, but all the rest of us developers might use it instead of SQL Developer. It would make communications between everybody somewhat easier.
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Likelihood to Renew
Oracle
We had already thought of changing to TOAD, but we decided to stick with Oracle SQL Developer until the end.
Read full review
Quest
It is the preferred tool for our organization.
Read full review
Usability
Oracle
At times, Oracle SQL Developer may experience freezing issues. However, despite this occasional inconvenience, the tool offers valuable features such as the ability to integrate plugins like utPLSQL, which greatly assists in debugging and testing our packages. Additionally, the usage of breakpoints and the flexibility to format text according to individual configurations enhance the debugging process.
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Quest
I give is an 8 because nothing is a 10 and there is always room for improvement. I believe the user who is not as technologically inclined would be better suited with an easier way to identify the options for setting the layout up for Toad's GUI. To some it is very cumbersome and confusing.
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Support Rating
Oracle
Large user community support
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Quest
I give the overall support for Toad for Oracle a 10/10. This is because whenever there has been an issue with this software, our team has got an immediate response. The same can not be said for similar software. The most recent example of this is when we needed to renew our licenses. Some employees were unable to log in to code with the given license key. Support was able to resolve the issue quickly.
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Implementation Rating
Oracle
Just download and uncompress!
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Quest
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Oracle
I have started to use Toad for Oracle recently because it is easier to sort and filter results, due to their memory sort feature that puts the results from your query in memory so that you don't have to rerun your query. I have used SQL Developer to easily update records in tables that I need to fix. I haven't found an easy way to do this in Toad other than writing SQL insert statements.
Read full review
Quest
Toad is much better than Tableau query writer. Tableau is not intuitive and requires knowledge of proprietary database language to fully implement. Tableau does not perform as quickly and accurately as Toad. Toad is very easy and slim to install. Additional hardware is often required to run Tableau smoothly. Support for Tableau is even more expensive than Toad support.
Read full review
Return on Investment
Oracle
  • It gives 100% return on investment as it is free of cost.
  • No need to have multiple tools for each database
  • Considering the employee training, so one can save money on training, as it is not very hard to use so still savings.
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Quest
  • Quick and easy query development helps reduce man-hours in a project which converts to real dollars.
  • Query analysis and tuning result in low database overhead and low latency, thus translating into real dollars because a system can thus handle more requests from customers.
  • Ease of use makes it easy to deploy greenhorns in projects with minimal training, thus helping save money. Otherwise menial and simple jobs would have required experienced DBAs.
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