head to head · open source
drawDB vs HeidiSQL
drawDB has 40,237 GitHub stars, 3,352 forks, 241 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. HeidiSQL has 6,315 stars, 600 forks, 324 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. drawDB leads on adoption by 537% (40,237 vs 6,315 stars). drawDB is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; HeidiSQL is written in Pascal under GPL-2.0. drawDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, HeidiSQL 10%. HeidiSQL was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (mariadb), 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
| drawDB | HeidiSQL | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Pascal |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 600 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick drawDB if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick HeidiSQL if
- You want the HeidiSQL feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Pascal
- You evaluated both and HeidiSQL fits your workflow better
About drawDB
drawDB Free, simple, and intuitive database schema editor and SQL generator. DrawDB is a robust and user friendly database entity relationship diagram (ERD) editor right in your browser. Build diagrams with a few clicks, export and import SQL scripts, generate migrations, customize your editor, and more without creating an account. See the full set of features on here. Getting Started Local Development Build Docker Build If you want to enable sharing, set up the server and environment variables according to .env.sample . This is optional unless you need to share files. Contributing Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for…
read the full drawDB overview →
About HeidiSQL
HeidiSQL HeidiSQL is a graphical interface for managing MariaDB or MySQL servers, Microsoft SQL databases, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Interbase or Firebird. "Heidi" lets you browse and edit data, create and edit tables, views, procedures, triggers and scheduled events. Also, you can export structure and data, either to SQL file, clipboard or to other servers. Read about features or see some screenshots. Need help? Look at the online help page to learn how to use HeidiSQL. The forum is meant to ask questions. The issue tracker is the place to report bugs or request new features. Building For compiling on platforms other…
read the full HeidiSQL overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is drawDB or HeidiSQL more popular?
drawDB has 40,237 GitHub stars and HeidiSQL has 6,315. drawDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are drawDB and HeidiSQL free?
Both are open source. drawDB is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and HeidiSQL under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between drawDB and HeidiSQL?
drawDB is written in JavaScript and HeidiSQL in Pascal. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, drawDB or HeidiSQL?
Choose drawDB if you want the larger community (40,237 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose HeidiSQL if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.