DB Designer review
Affordable web-based modeling with collaboration, version history, and SQL workflows.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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 database modeling with SQL generation. The service supports MySQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQLite for SQL generation, while its documented reverse-engineering workflows cover MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle. Teams can assign owner, editor, and viewer access, add comments and chat, and share models publicly.
The pricing structure starts with a free Starter plan covering 2 database models and 10 tables per model. Basic costs $9 per month and raises the limits to 5 models and 25 tables per model. Unlimited costs $17 per month and includes unlimited models and tables. Academic, Non-Profit, and Open Source plans also include unlimited models and tables for current students and educators, non-profit organizations, and contributors to open source projects, respectively. The published plans show monthly pricing, making the paid options straightforward for teams that prefer predictable monthly access.
Its strongest fit is a collaborative web workflow that connects visual design with engineering tasks. Automatic layout, sorting, validation, navigation, PNG and PDF exports, version history, one-click restore, and public sharing support both ongoing design work and review. AI features add a schema advisor and natural-language schema editing. DB Designer suits teams that want shared browser access and a broad set of modeling functions without moving to a desktop application. Teams requiring desktop deployment, or reverse engineering beyond MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle, should consider whether its platform and database coverage match their workflow.
DB Designer pros and cons
- 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
DB Designer fact sheet, pricing and score →
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