TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Redgate SQL Toolbelt Essentials

    Score9.6 out of 10
    N/ARedgate's SQL Toolbelt Essentials includes industry-standard tools for SQL Server development & deployment, enabling users to include SQL Server databases in agile processes and enabilng developers to embed robust and scalable development practices.

    $1,209

    per year per user (1-4 users)

    Spotlight

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ASpotlight from Quest Software is a database performance monitoring option.N/A
    Pricing
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt EssentialsSpotlight
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt EssentialsSpotlight
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt EssentialsSpotlight
    Considered Both Products
    Redgate
    No answer on this topic
    Quest Software
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    8 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt EssentialsSpotlight
    SQL Performance Monitoring
    Comparison of SQL Performance Monitoring features of Redgate SQL Toolbelt Essentials and Spotlight
    Feature
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt Essentials
    -
    Ratings
    Spotlight
    7.7
    3 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Performance dashboard00 Ratings8.83 Ratings
    Intelligent alerting00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Top SQL00 Ratings6.62 Ratings
    Historical trend data00 Ratings8.02 Ratings
    Virtualization support00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt EssentialsSpotlight
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds SQL Sentry
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Oracle SQL Developer
    Score8.1 out of 10
    SolarWinds SQL Sentry
    Score10 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt EssentialsSpotlight
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (14 ratings)
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.6
    (5 ratings)
    8.8
    (2 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Redgate SQL Toolbelt EssentialsSpotlight
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Redgate
    We use SQL Compare to troubleshoot performance problems quite a bit since our data model is more like a template and not everything is 100% in sync and customization occurs between different client databases. We continually get pulled into performance issues and the developers will say Client A is performing different than Client B, why? Using SQL Compare, we usually find that one client was tuned and had indexes altered or added that weren't deployed to all clients or other objects weren't deployed correctly during the release. On the other hand, since our data model practices allow client databases to drift I tried to create a new golden image by trying to compare multiple databases based on the same data model and found it to be a very difficult process to complete using SQL Compare. SQL Compare gave me too much information and doesn't allow enough filtering to eliminate a lot of the noise.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    Spotlight’s ability to consolidate data from various entities and provide insightful reports is highly beneficial. It streamlines financial reporting, allowing professionals to focus on advisory services and strategic decision-making.Small businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that need regular board packs or executive summaries find Spotlight useful. Less Appropriate: Certain industries (e.g., specialized manufacturing, healthcare, or research) have unique reporting needs. Spotlight’s generic templates may not cover all industry-specific metrics or compliance requirements.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Redgate
    • Simple and easy comparison of database schemas and data. Differences can be copied or synced from one database to another with a click of a button.
    • You can save "projects" so that you can easily rerun a previous comparison whenever you need to.
    • It has a very simple, easy to learn interface. I've never needed to read any documentation or watch any tutorials in order to figure out how to do something.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    • Great SQL server monitoring
    • Rewind and playback of previous times
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Redgate
    • Pricing.... I wish there was an inexpensive developer version I could buy for myself.
    • Portability.... I would like to use it from a flash drive so I can use it where ever I am asked to work.
    • Unbundled.... This may be available already but I dont' recall I can buy it cheaply as a stand-alone product. Its only part of the bundle - cost effectively.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    • My only complaint was the cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Redgate
    It's a good tool to have, but becomes expensive to buy a user license for each developer.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    the platform offers a clean, easy to use interface. You can customize reports and dashboard. Integration is also pretty good, you can integrate to Xero, QBO and MYOB and excel spreadsheets. It also offers very broad supporting documents and webinars. There are only two downside of Spotlight; learning curve (it could be a bit difficult at the beginning to learn the system) and price point (For small businesses, Spotlight Reporting can be seen as relatively expensive compared to other reporting tools)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Redgate
    They have a great community website where you can search for answers but are also very responsive when it comes to direct support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    I've never had to contact support, as of yet I have had no issues or problems with the tool. This is after 5 years of use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Redgate
    I've used Visual Studio Database Projects for this type of work in the past with some success, but Redgate SQL Compare is faster, more transparent, and simply easier to use. Faster is self explanatory. More transparent, means that it's much easier to set up your desired options for schema change deployment scripts. Easier to use, It's really dead simple. Start a project, connect your source, connect destination, click compare.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    I think Dell is better with its dashboard and ease of use, but SQL Sentry is better at customization. We used Spotlight at my previous company, and SQLSentry at my current company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Redgate
    • Makes deployment fairly simple. Cutting our deployment time down.
    • With the SDK, we can customize our deployment process very quickly and easily.
    • History is not great, it does create scripts you can go back and see but it would be nice to have a quicker version view by object to save time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Quest Software
    • Spotlight is reasonably inexpensive, and any one of the multiple things we use it for more than justifies the cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots