head to head · open source
DBeaver vs mycli
DBeaver has 52,273 GitHub stars, 4,442 forks, 3,334 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mycli has 11,991 stars, 699 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. DBeaver leads on adoption by 336% (52,273 vs 11,991 stars). DBeaver is written in Java under Apache-2.0; mycli is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. DBeaver has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, mycli 6%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| DBeaver | mycli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 12K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Java | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 699 |
| 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 mycli if
- You want the mycli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and mycli fits your workflow better
About DBeaver
DBeaver Free multi platform database tool for developers, SQL programmers, database administrators and analysts. Has a lot of features including schema editor, SQL editor, data editor, AI chat, ER diagrams, data export/import/migration, SQL execution plans, database administration tools, database dashboards, Spatial data viewer, proxy and SSH tunnelling, custom database drivers editor, etc. Out of the box supports more than 100 database drivers . Supports any database which has JDBC or ODBC driver (basically almost all existing databases). Integrates AI tools for work with data, SQL and database structure…
read the full DBeaver overview →
About mycli
mycli Rich MySQL terminal client with auto completion, syntax highlighting, and dataframes. Homepage: Documentation: Mycli is known to be compatible with MySQL MariaDB Percona TiDB Apache Doris Postgres equivalent pgcli Release 2.x Release 2.0.0 has breaking changes! Quick Start If you already know how to install Python packages, then you can install mycli via pip . This package is always up to date. You might need sudo on Linux. or, on macOS ( pygments is optional but recommended): or, on Debian or Ubuntu ( fzf and pygments are optional but recommended): Usage See Features Auto completion as you type for SQL…
read the full mycli overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Databases projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Databases field.
Frequently asked questions
Is DBeaver or mycli more popular?
DBeaver has 52,273 GitHub stars and mycli has 11,991. DBeaver has the larger community by that measure.
Are DBeaver and mycli free?
Both are open source. DBeaver is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mycli under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between DBeaver and mycli?
DBeaver is written in Java and mycli in Python. 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 mycli?
Choose DBeaver if you want the larger community (52,273 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mycli if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.