dbForge Studio for SQL Server Reviews & Product Details

First of all, dbForge ships with a dark theme. That's huge already, but the features I absolutely love are:

Powerful and intuitive SQL formatting and code completion - I don't need to go searching for column names as dbForge suggests and can even insert them automatically.

The table designer and database diagrams are nice, though not necessarily unique among products. They still help me visualize and understand the database.

The killer feature for me is the ability to compare my database with another database and generate a highly customizable change script to get the other database's schema to match my own. This lets me just make changes to one database, then script them out and have the tool worry about the differences. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Honestly, the main thing I dislike right now is my own lack of knowledge of all of dbForge's features. I don't have time to go through all the tutorials and documentation devart offers, so it's just a time limitation on my part in exploring all the ways that dbForge can help me. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ability to perform DIFFS/compare scripts, databases, or individual database objects (views, tables, stored procs, functions) against different versions. Easy to use and exceptionally valuable if you frequently manage multiple versions of databases. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some features that would work fine in SQL Svr Mgt Studio may have bugs in dbForge after updates. Although infrequent, it can be quite vexing to encounter. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Quality of the included toolset to manage SQL databases and the development environment is top notch. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The only downside is that it is for Windows only. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

well organized interface, great tools intelligently grouped Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

nothing to complain about the application Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have been using the tool for about a year and, in general, am very pleased with how it works. Firstly, I like its code completion and navigation features. Very handy. Initially, you took them for granted, but all the difference is felt only when you return to SSMS. Secondly, the solution has almost everything I need, like a Swiss knife - schema and data synchronization, database comparison, backup and restoration. And thirdly, the tool supports many data formats, for example, you can format cell content as JSON, XML, HTML, and if it contains an image, you can see the image in the data viewer window. Again, very handy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I think it’s a bit overpriced for a small team Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It gives you all the differences between schemas and synchronize them along with analysis and customized reports. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I am disappointed not to have a mac version. Although everything works well for windows. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's a complete solution. I don't need anything else.

Data comparison feature is excellent. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There could be some improvements on high DPI outputs, like TVs in conference rooms. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

dbForge provides an easy to use interface for managing SQL Database connections. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Forced upgrades. My version of Dbforge is not compatible with the current version of SQL on our database. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I started getting frustrated with SSMS and its wonky IntelliSense/Server connections, so I started searching for alternatives to it. There were other sql editors to choose from, but I ended up ranking this one the best of the group. I’ll list what features I liked the most below.

Starting with opening up dbForge Studio for Sql Server (I’ll call it DBFS from now on), you are presented with an intuitive interface that has recently accessed files and a tabbed gui menu near the top of the start page that will help you to get to what you need to work on immediately.

As soon as you start typing a new query you will notice that the code completion works on sql keywords as well tables and columns. I found that most of the time the “suggestions” were exactly what I was looking for and near the top of the list. There are even checkboxes that you can click instead of manually typing out the columns needed if there are many. It also offer suggested columns to join if you are attempting to do that. DBFS also highlights query blocks which makes it easier to see where a query starts and ends.

Instead of creating queries manually, there is an option to use the graphical query builder. This feature allows you to build a query graphically by dragging tables onto it and performing joins, where conditions, group by, having, and order by with the gui, which may be helpful to newbies or for creating complex queries.

The output windows has additional functionality being able to sort columns by clicking on their name, filtering by a condition to show only those rows within the output results, show only certain columns, generate scripts from the results, export data, and even modify the table data right within the cell without having to write t-sql.

The export data feature is especially good as it allows you to export to every major file type (XML, JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML, PDF and more) right out of the box. You can also change what column to export along with changing the format of the data such as specific date time, float, and currency requirements. You can also specify what rows to export such as 5 to 50.

The output window will also show what data type the column is using (E.g. the DepartmentID is a smallint) which is handy when you are trying to work with it in a query and you don’t need to look it up in the Object Explorer.

Another feature I found very helpful was the ability to format the sql document. It moves around your code and code blocks to standardize things such as tabs, spaces, indents, case, and overall structure. I know as I start coding my queries can get kinda messy, but this feature solves that and makes the code look professional and uniform across the document. You can even setup a custom profile if your org has a different, but standard in-house of wanting it to look.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is the fact that DBFS has a dark theme. I don’t know why SSMS dosnt have this yet as users have been asking for it for years, but it is here and it is great. The dark theme allows your eyes to focus on the code you are writing (or debugging) rather than the background and saves you from having eye strain and a headache from the glaring white of the background.

All in all I could probably make this review go on forever with all the additional and improved features that this product offers, but it would be easier for you to just visit the dbForge website to see a complete list.

TLDR: This is a much better SQL editor that SSMS and I would recommend it to anyone who has to write T-SQL daily and is looking for a better tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Currently I am working with XML data and I do miss the collapsible code tags with XML data where SSMS has this built in.

While not being the most expensive Sql Server editor I did find it was on the expensive side at full price, but it does offer better stability, ease of use, and more features than similar products. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AS a developer dbForge studio is really helpful for quickly check date in our SQL databases. My favorite feature is code completion that works much better than in ssms. really helpful are ability to sort and filter results. In edit mode for columns containing foreign key you can select value from referenced table that is shown as popup in query result. Many data formats are also supported, you can format cell content as json, xml, html if it contains image you can watch this image in data viewer window.

In professional and enterprise versions is included really helpful schema compare tool that can compare not only two database but also backups and snapshots created by dbforge studio.

Table editor is also very good, it's much easier to modify table than in ssms. In editor you can find such feature as sql script that generate table and all related objects and tab with data that contains table.

Connections can be categorized by by color and shape of mark.

One of my favorite feature is also schema diagram witch is much more readable than that builtin to ssms.

For developers nice feature is also data generator that can generate good data for test environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

DbForge studio is not so good for most of administration tasks, it contains only basic administration tools. One of biggest issue for me is lack support for AD groups in security manager.

Graph database is also not supported for now, and it will be really helpful to see this feature.

When you have many connections it will be easier to find something if it will be ability to organize everything in tree view instead of flat view with categories. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Any one who has used Sql Server Management Studio extensively knows the pain of it frequently crashing, forgetting login and server details, not to mention the flaky intellisense which seems to never work when you need it

dbForge Studio for SQL Server in stalk contrast has never crashed on me, forgotten my logins and has some of the best intellisense I have ever used.

It orders its suggestions in such a way that what you want is almost always in the first 3 suggestions.

You can easily preview tables without leaving tSQL if you need to quickly see a column's name, datatype...

It has never once forgotten my sever logins, handles seamlessly switching between servers or having multiple server connections open at once

The output window for queries is amazing as you can sort, filter, export AND simply create tSQL scripts from the selected data

The query profiling is also great as it keeps track of changes and previous runs ensuring you can visually see changes as you optimize or alter a given query which is simply fantastic

On top of all that this product has a dark theme as well - which is a fantastic added bonus especially for late night rollouts or coding sessions Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

At the time of writing this there is no way to run or monitor SQL Server Agent Jobs which means I still require SSMS to do that - with any luck this functionality will arrive in the future making dbForge Studio for SQL Server a complete replacement for SSMS Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

it assists with query prediction, making queries and scripting more faster and efficiently reducing chances of returned queries Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

it only works where there is already an installed MS SQL server, it is very difficult to have it working as a standalone database Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The best features? There are so many, so where do I start?

Robust - that's probably the the number one feature, it's rock solid and very, very flexible.

The exportation options are second to none, any one of multiple formats all respecting the data and formatting options (where applicable).

Data editing is so easy and you are able to filter, sort and customise the visible columns.

Changing the schema is as easy as editing data, quick and easy.

For the analysts there's the Pivot Tables (Excels Dynamic Tables) that make analysing data very easy and very fast.

Data Pump is much easier to use than others I seen, and synchronizing both data and schemas are available.

There art also many more options I have yet to discover, as the product has many, many options.

It's fully configurable and the LookAndFeel is configurable to meet the needs of the most demanding user.

Finally, you can connect to multiple servers on just one screen - try that with other products!

Basically, everything a serious developer would need! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There really aren't many features I don't like.

I tend to find myself using Management Studio to restore databases as it just seems easier to me, maybe there is room for improvement here, but that's it! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Database compare tool is the best one in dbForge. I usually used to compare the 2 different database and move the tables ,functions,Stored procedures structures.

Data compare tool is also good tool to use it for moving large date from one table to another

Search tool is also used to find the procedure easily Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like all the features they have. I don't dislike anything in dbforge.It gives the script to moving the data it would be great to have the auto schedule to data transfer or Structure transfer from one db to another. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ability to manipulate data with a simple interface. So many other interfaces are either still in the 90’s or so embedddd with options you would have take 2 weekends to learn it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

You know SQL is a basic programming language widely used in many places in the US. Building interfaces and filtering around that is great. In the end - I’m an Apple woman. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

By far the best tool for querying and working with results.

Database import / export and comparison has save hundreds of hours of work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Not having an automatic start transaction as a default is my biggest problem.

The screen sometimes behaves weird, especially when moving from 1 monitor to 2 (or just laptop).

And code completion is a bit wild, would be much more useful if more focused. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

dbForge Studio for SQL Server is a powerful IDE for SQL Server management, administration, development, data reporting, analysis, and a lot more. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

dbForge Studio for SQL Server a bit overprice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Great set of addition of features, like Unit tests, Query builder, T-SQL, schema compareC data compare etc, which comes very handy Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Few lf the UI element not much user friendly and make you looking for some features Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.