drawDB vs DB Designer

drawDB9.0Visit DB Designer8.8Visit

Higher score drawDB #4 in Database Design Tools 9.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit drawDB

vs

DB Designer #6 in Database Design Tools 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit DB Designer

• drawDB fits best

  Open-source teams wanting self-hosted ER modeling

• DB Designer fits best

  Affordable collaborative web modeling

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Side by side

Feature	drawDB 9.0/10 Visit ↗	DB Designer 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.0	8.8
Ranking	#4 in Database Design Tools	#6 in Database Design Tools
Best for	Open-source teams wanting self-hosted ER modeling	Affordable collaborative web modeling
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	—	—
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Email, Community, Docs	Email, Tickets, Live chat, Phone, Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features drawDB 5/5 · DB Designer 5/5
Reverse engineering	✓	✓
Forward engineering	✓	✓
SQL export	✓	✓
Team collaboration	✓	✓
Version history	✓	✓
Specs
Supported databases	MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, generic dialect	MySQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite
Deployment	Web	Web
Our review
Pros	Open-source with Docker self-hosting for infrastructure control Imports DDL and exports SQL, DBML, JSON, and images Supports collaboration, versioning, migrations, and AI assistance	Free plan plus monthly tiers starting at $9 Visual modeling with reverse and forward engineering Collaboration includes roles, comments, chat, and version restore
Cons	Free diagrams are stored locally in the browser Cloud sync and collaboration require a paid tier The feature set may exceed the needs of simple schema sketches	Starter limits users to 2 models and 10 tables per model Reverse engineering is documented for only three databases Web-only deployment may not suit desktop-first teams
Our verdict	drawDB is a browser-based database schema and entity-relationship diagram tool for developers, database administrators, and teams designing or documenting relational structures. Its visual editor supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite,… Read the review →	DB Designer is a browser-based tool for creating, importing, editing, sharing, and exporting database schemas. It is aimed at developers, database administrators, engineers, educators, freelancers, and organizations that need visual… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• drawDB — where it wins

  • Open-source with Docker self-hosting for infrastructure control
  • Imports DDL and exports SQL, DBML, JSON, and images
  • Supports collaboration, versioning, migrations, and AI assistance

  Where it doesn't

  • Free diagrams are stored locally in the browser
  • Cloud sync and collaboration require a paid tier
  • The feature set may exceed the needs of simple schema sketches

• DB Designer — where it wins

  • Free plan plus monthly tiers starting at $9
  • Visual modeling with reverse and forward engineering
  • Collaboration includes roles, comments, chat, and version restore

  Where it doesn't

  • Starter limits users to 2 models and 10 tables per model
  • Reverse engineering is documented for only three databases
  • Web-only deployment may not suit desktop-first teams

• drawDB9.0/10 · Free plan

  A capable ER modeling tool for open-source teams that need local control and flexible exports.

  Visit drawDBFull verdict →
• DB Designer8.8/10 · Free plan

  Affordable web-based modeling with collaboration, version history, and SQL workflows.

  Visit DB DesignerFull verdict →