drawDB review
A capable ER modeling tool for open-source teams that need local control and flexible exports.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, and generic SQL dialects. Users can start without an account, work with local diagrams, import DDL to reverse-engineer existing schemas, and generate SQL or migration scripts from their models. Open-source distribution and Docker self-hosting make it a strong fit for teams that want control over deployment and data handling.
The Free plan costs $0 USD per month and includes local diagrams, all SQL dialects, and import and export for SQL, DBML, and JSON. Solo adds cloud storage and synchronization, public sharing, an AI assistant, an MCP server, version history and restore, and GitHub integration. Team includes those cloud-oriented capabilities along with live collaboration and diagram permissions. This structure gives individual users a way to model locally before moving to managed sharing or team workflows. Buyers comparing tiers should focus on whether they need synchronized storage, revision recovery, GitHub connectivity, or shared editing.
Its ecosystem fit is broad for a schema design tool: drawDB works on the web, can be self-hosted, imports DDL, and exchanges models through SQL, DBML, JSON, and image formats. Versioning, migration generation, and reverse engineering connect diagram work with ongoing database changes rather than limiting the product to static documentation. Teams that need real-time collaboration, permissions, or cloud synchronization should choose a paid tier, while users who prefer local browser-based modeling can stay on Free. It is less suitable for buyers seeking only a minimal diagramming surface without database workflow features.
drawDB pros and cons
- 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
drawDB fact sheet, pricing and score →
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