head to head · open source
DBeaver vs dbmate
DBeaver has 51,797 GitHub stars, 4,372 forks, 3,334 open issues and last shipped today. dbmate has 7,391 stars, 379 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DBeaver leads on adoption by 601% (51,797 vs 7,391 stars). DBeaver is written in Java under Apache-2.0; dbmate is written in Go under MIT. DBeaver has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, dbmate 5%. DBeaver was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (database, mysql), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| DBeaver | dbmate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 7.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Java | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 379 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick DBeaver if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dbmate if
- You want the dbmate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dbmate fits your workflow better
About DBeaver
DBeaver is a free, multi platform database management tool built in Java, designed for developers, SQL programmers, database administrators, and analysts. It operates across Windows, macOS, and Linux and integrates with the Eclipse based plugin ecosystem via OSGi and Eclipse RCP frameworks.
read the full DBeaver overview →
About dbmate
Dbmate is a standalone, MIT licensed command line database migration tool written in Go that keeps database schema in sync across multiple developers and production servers, aimed at teams building database backed applications in any language or framework.
read the full dbmate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is DBeaver or dbmate more popular?
DBeaver has 51,797 GitHub stars and dbmate has 7,391. DBeaver has the larger community by that measure.
Are DBeaver and dbmate free?
Both are open source. DBeaver is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dbmate under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between DBeaver and dbmate?
DBeaver is written in Java and dbmate in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, DBeaver or dbmate?
Choose DBeaver if you want the larger community (51,797 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dbmate if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.