# Alternatives to Beekeeper Studio

Friendly open source SQL editor.

Beekeeper Studio ranks #1 of 9 in Database GUIs, with an Alt Score of 86. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, freemium from $18/month (Indie; $9/mo billed annually) and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 9 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/beekeeper-studio/
Category: Database GUIs

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Developers, DBAs, and technical teams who work directly with SQL and NoSQL databases and want a fast, cross-platform GUI instead of the command line or heavier legacy tools.
- **What you get**: A SQL editor with syntax highlighting and autocomplete, a spreadsheet-like view for browsing and editing table data directly, and schema/table builders that don't require writing SQL by hand. It supports 25+ databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, SQL Server, MongoDB, Oracle, Snowflake, BigQuery, Redis, and others), CSV/JSON/SQL import and export, and connection security via SSL and SSH tunneling. It's open-source, runs fully offline, and works across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- **How it works**: You create a saved connection to a database (with optional SSL/SSH settings), then write and run queries in tabs or browse/edit data and schema directly through the UI, with results displayed in a spreadsheet-style grid.

## Profile

- **License**: GPL-3.0 (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: $18/month (Indie; $9/mo billed annually) (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [DbGate](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/dbgate.md) | 82 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| 2 | [TablePlus](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/tableplus.md) | 82 | Proprietary | macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS |
| 3 | [pgAdmin](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pgadmin.md) | 78 | PostgreSQL License | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| 4 | [DataGrip](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/datagrip.md) | 68 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 5 | [DBeaver](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/dbeaver.md) | 64 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 6 | [HeidiSQL](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/heidisql.md) | 64 | GPL-2.0 | Windows |
| 7 | [phpMyAdmin](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/phpmyadmin.md) | 46 | GPL-2.0 | Web |
| 8 | [Sequel Ace](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/sequel-ace.md) | 32 | MIT | macOS |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Database GUIs checklist | Beekeeper Studio | DbGate | TablePlus | pgAdmin | DataGrip | DBeaver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | One-time | Free | Subscription | Freemium |
| Starts at | $18/month (Indie; $9/mo billed annually) | $12/month (Premium; $120/year) | $99 (Basic, 1 device) | ? | €10.90/month (personal) | ? |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | PostgreSQL License | Proprietary | Apache-2.0 |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web | macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Databases supported | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Query editor & autocomplete | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ER diagrams | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data editing safety | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| SSH tunneling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import / export formats | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| One-time purchase option | Partial | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? |
| Team sharing of connections | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Partial | ? |
| Performance on large tables | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |

## Sources

Sources for Beekeeper Studio. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://www.beekeeperstudio.io/pricing> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “A limited version of Beekeeper Studio. Perfect for hobbyists, students, or folks trying out the app.”
- **License**: GPL-3.0 — <https://github.com/beekeeper-studio/beekeeper-studio/blob/master/LICENSE.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License,”
- **Starts at**: $18/month (Indie; $9/mo billed annually) — <https://www.beekeeperstudio.io/pricing> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “$18 / month”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://github.com/beekeeper-studio/beekeeper-studio/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “We publish binaries for MacOS, Windows, and Linux.”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/beekeeper-studio/beekeeper-studio/releases/latest> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “v5.9.2”
- **Databases supported**: Yes — <https://github.com/beekeeper-studio/beekeeper-studio/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Supported Databases”
- **Query editor & autocomplete**: Yes — <https://github.com/beekeeper-studio/beekeeper-studio/blob/master/README.md> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Autocomplete SQL query editor with syntax highlighting”
- **ER diagrams**: Yes — <https://docs.beekeeperstudio.io/user_guide/entity-relationship-diagrams-erd/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “To visualize your database schema, Beekeeper Studio provides Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD).”
- **Data editing safety**: Yes — <https://docs.beekeeperstudio.io/user_guide/editing-data/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “We never want Beekeeper Studio to be the reason you update the wrong row in a production database.”
- **SSH tunneling**: Yes — <https://docs.beekeeperstudio.io/user_guide/connecting/connecting/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Beekeeper supports tunneling your connection via SSH.”
- **Import / export formats**: Yes — <https://docs.beekeeperstudio.io/user_guide/data-export/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “CSV, SQL (insert), JSON, Newline delimited JSON (JSONL)”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://docs.beekeeperstudio.io/support/open-source/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “A significant portion of Beekeeper Studio's source code is available on GitHub under the GPLv3 license (which helps keep all forks open source too).”
- **One-time purchase option**: Partial — <https://www.beekeeperstudio.io/pricing> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Perpetual-use-after-12-months, not a classic one-time license.
  - Quote: “Pay for 12 months and you can use the paid features forever, even if you cancel your subscription.”
- **Team sharing of connections**: Yes — <https://docs.beekeeperstudio.io/user_guide/cloud-storage-team-workspaces/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Workspaces make it easy to work on multiple computers by storing data (connections and queries) in the cloud, and allow multiple people to work from the same set of data collaboratively.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/