Item: Toad Database Developer Tools
Rating: 6
Author: Maurice Samuels

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Toad was used comparably to Oracle SQL Developer. It's a good graphical interface to Oracle RDBMS and provides a bridge for non-native SQL developers and analysts. It's primarily used by the business analysts and database administrators. The demo version is feature-rich and provides limited support to database hardware monitoring.

Pros and Cons

Easy to install interface to Oracle RDBMS.
Ability to export data to many different spreadsheet software formats.
Converts common query language to standard ANSI SQL.

Toad is high-cost.
Not all tools are easy to navigate nor understand.
Error handling isn't as accurate as it should be.

Return on Investment

Demo version is free and can be used for an extended period.
Full licensing is expensive and cost prohibitive.
Matches SQL Developer on ease and toolsets.
Support documentation is not as robust as SQL Developer.

Alternatives Considered

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.

Support Rating

Support costs extra. Online documentation is not well written and in-tool help is not useful. Support incidents are not quickly resolved (time zone issues). It is often difficult to determine if performance issues are due to the database or Toad. When Toad freezes, a complete recycle of the running workstation is required, which is very problematic.

Key Insights

Do you think Toad Database Developer Tools delivers good value for the price?

Are you happy with Toad Database Developer Tools's feature set?

Yes

Did Toad Database Developer Tools live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Toad Database Developer Tools go as expected?

Would you buy Toad Database Developer Tools again?

Other Software Used

Oracle SQL Developer, Sequel Pro, Navicat Premium

Likelihood to Recommend

Accessing Oracle RDBMS
Exporting database data into spreadsheet format
Cross-database implementations (connecting different database software, i.e. bridging Microsoft SQL server to Oracle RDBMS)
Real-time database session monitoring
Visibility into database metadata without requiring explicit knowledge of data dictionary
Easy to install on common workstation operating systems
Access to RDBMS procedural code outside of non-graphical interfaces (i.e. ability to call dbms_datapump)

Toad is not better than SQL Developer

Overall Satisfaction with Toad for Oracle