SQL Developer, the best gui tool for Oracle
October 24, 2017
SQL Developer, the best gui tool for Oracle
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Oracle SQL Developer
SQL Developer is used by our ERP Development team and our DBA team. It also is used on occasion by security and system administration folks. Programmers are looking at tables constantly. Having a graphic tool to do that makes the process quicker and easier. In the past some folks have used TOAD (which is a great tool), but over time SQL Developer has won out as Oracle has continued to add features. We just cannot beat the cost since it is free. Security and system administrators occasionally need to run scripts and SQL Developer provides a nice visual interface to do so. I am comfortable using the SQL*Plus command line. However when I am working with databases that I don't use very often, I appreciate the visual display of database objects as well as the easy way to get query results and put them into Excel.
- The cost versus features factor cannot be beat since SQL Developer is free.
- SQL Developer can automatically keep itself updated. This is great especially when working with different versions of the database. You can be sure it will be able to use all of the new features of any new release that comes out.
- SQL Developer has reports built in for Oracle databases. I can write SQL, but having them there and easily available is a great time-saver for a DBA.
- SQL Developer has attachment points for Git and SubVersion and access to native Oracle database tools such as export. These are great features for developers.
- SQL Developer can be used to connect to non-Oracle databases, but they don't make it easy. Drivers must be downloaded and configured to make connections. Including these things and having a clickable select for the database type would be nice.
- SQL Developer also has a Data Modeler. I used to use Oracle Designer 2000 and it had so many more features. Oracle promised that we could use Data Modeler instead but it does not have near the features that Designer did. It was really easy to design database tables before and Data Modeler is harder to use.
- SQL Developer is not a "you get what you pay for" product. Using it can cut out an entire line from your budget, so there is no comparison in that regard. We now only buy a few licenses for other similar tools and only when the user can prove SQL Developer doesn't meet the need.
- SQL Developer is just a standard tool. It's almost like a pen or pencil. It is just there. It is more in the background and that is ideal because we don't have to worry about it.
- In some cases, new programmers come in that are not familiar with SQL Developer. People tend to like what is familiar, so there is some initial time spent learning the tool. But that is balanced out because it really is pretty intuitive.
- Toad for Oracle and SQLNavigator
Now days it seems like most tools in these categories have all of the same features. They typically have niches where they are better at one thing than another tool in that category. SQL Developer's niche is obviously connecting to Oracle databases. That plus the fact that it is free makes it a no-brainer choice, especially if you work for a non-profit.