[opensourcedex]

DBeaver is a free, open source databases project written in Java and released under Apache-2.0. It has 51,791 GitHub stars, 4,371 forks and 3,334 open issues, and was last pushed 5 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #5 of 81 tracked projects in Databases, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 55 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

What is DBeaver?

What it is

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.

It solves the problem of fragmented database tooling by providing a single, universal client that supports over 100 database drivers out of the box—including relational (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server), data warehouse (Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery), NoSQL (Elasticsearch), and新兴 databases (DuckDB, Trino, CockroachDB)—and extends to any JDBC or ODBC-compliant system. Its open architecture avoids vendor lock-in and removes reliance on proprietary clients.

Key capabilities

  • Schema editor with visual ER diagram generation and reverse-engineering
  • SQL editor with syntax highlighting, auto-completion, execution plan visualization, and AI-assisted query drafting
  • Data editor for browsing, filtering, editing, and bulk importing/exporting records in tabular format
  • SSH tunneling and proxy support for secure remote database access
  • Database dashboards with customizable widgets and real-time metrics
  • Spatial data viewer for geometry and geography types
  • Custom driver editor to register proprietary or non-standard JDBC/ODBC drivers

Who uses it and how

Developers use DBeaver to prototype queries, inspect schemas, and debug applications against local or remote databases. Database administrators run routine maintenance tasks, monitor performance, and manage permissions across heterogeneous systems. Analysts import data from CSV/DBF files, export query results to Excel or JSON, and visualize query execution plans for optimization. Teams integrating with cloud services (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery, Azure SQL) rely on its built-in drivers and secure connection options.

Getting started

Prebuilt binaries are available from dbeaver.io or GitHub releases; installation requires no Java setup as OpenJDK 25 is bundled. Run via installer, desktop icon, or dbeaver CLI command. Community version is free; CloudBeaver (web-based counterpart) is separate.

When to use it — and when not to

Use DBeaver when needing a free, cross-platform, feature-rich client for diverse databases without licensing costs. Avoid if requiring enterprise SLAs, dedicated support, or strict air-gapped environments where internet access is needed for driver downloads. Self-hosting demands no additional infrastructure beyond Java runtime, but advanced features like AI chat require optional cloud integration. It trades some performance for flexibility—large-scale migrations or high-concurrency workloads may favor native tools.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Twitter URL Codacy Badge Apache 2.0 Tickets in review

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

Download

You can download prebuilt binaries from official website or directly from GitHub releases.
You can also download Early Access version. We publish daily.

Running

Just run an installer and then click on app icon. Or unzip an archive and run dbeaver from command line.

Note: DBeaver needs Java to run. OpenJDK 25 is included in all DBeaver distributions. You can change default JDK version by replacing directory jre in dbeaver installation folder.

Documentation

Architecture

  • DBeaver is written mostly on Java. However, it also uses a set of native OS-specific components for desktop UI, high performance database drivers and networking.
  • Basic frameworks:
    • OSGI platform for plugins and dependency management. Community version consists of 130+ plugins.
    • Eclipse RCP platform for rich user interface build.
    • JDBC for basic database connectivity API.
    • JSQLParser and Antlr4 for SQL grammar and semantic parser.
  • For networking and additional functionality we use wide range of open source libraries such as SSHJ, Apache POI, JFreeChart, JTS, Apache JEXL etc.
  • We separate model plugins from desktop UI plugins. This allows us to use the same set of "back-end" plugins in both DBeaver and CloudBeaver.
  • Dependencies: being an OSGI application we use P2 repositories for third party dependencies. For additional Maven dependencies we use our own DBeaver P2 repo.

Supported databases

Community version

Out of the box DBeaver supports following database drivers: MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, DB2, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Sybase, Apache Hive, Drill, Presto, Trino, Phoenix, Exasol, Informix, Teradata, Vertica, Netezza, Firebird, Derby, H2, H2GIS, WMI, Snowflake, Greenplum, Redshift, Athena, SAP HANA, MaxDB, NuoDB, MS Access, SQLite, CSV, DBF, Firebird, TimescaleDB, Yellowbrick, CockroachDB, OrientDB, MonetDB, Google BigQuery, Google Spanner, Apache Hive/Impala/Spark, Apache Ignite, MapD, Azure SQL, CrateDB, Elasticsearch, Ocient, Ingres, OmniSci, Yugabyte, IRIS, Data Virtuality, Denodo, Virtuoso, Machbase, DuckDB, Babelfish, OceanBase, Salesforce, EnterpriseDB, Apache Druid, Apache Kylin, Databricks, OpenSearch, TiDB, TDEngine, Materialize, JDBCX, Dameng, Altibase, StarRocks, CUBRID, GaussDB, DolphinDB, LibSQL, GBase 8s, Databend, Cloudberry, Teiid, Kingbase, GreptimeDB.

PRO versions

Commercial versions extends functionality of many popular drivers and also support non-JDBC datasources such as: ODBC, MongoDB, Cassandra, Couchbase, CouchDB, Redis, InfluxDB, Firestore, BigTable, DynamoDB, Kafka KSQL, Neo4j, AWS Neptune, AWS Timestream, Azure CosmosDB, Yugabyte, Salesforce, etc.
Also, we support flat files as databases: CSV, XLSX, Json, XML, Parquet.
You can find the list of all databases supported in commercial versions here.

AI integration

  • All DBeaver products contain AI Chat view similar to classic LLM chats.
  • You can generate/analyse/optimize your SQL queries, work with database structure or even work with databases with a very little knowledge of SQL.
  • We use smart chat context which provides LLMs details about database structure, SQL dialect, etc.
  • LLM integration uses context-dependent dynamic tools and is very efficient from token consumption point of view.
  • AI providers in Community version:
    • OpenAI (allows to configure most of existing LLMs with custom endpoint)
    • Copilot
  • Pro versions provide additional AI tools + native support of Anthropic/Grok/Azure/Bedrock/Gemini/Ollama providers.

Feedback

Contribution: help the Beaver!

Hooray, we have reached 50k+ stars on GitHub and continue to grow!
That's really cool, and we are glad that you like DBeaver.

  • We are actively looking for new source code contributors. We have added labels “Good first issue” and “Help wanted” to some tickets. If you want to be a part of our development team, just be brave and take a ticket. We are happy to reward our most active contributors every major sprint.
  • You can buy one of our commercial versions. They include NoSQL databases support, additional extensions, and official online support. Also, licensed users have priorities in bug fixes and the development of new features.

Thank you!

Our other open-source products:

  • CloudBeaver - web-based database management tool built on the DBeaver platform.
    Runs as server (docker) and provides rich web interface (SPA).
  • dbvr - CLI database management tool. Useful in CI/CD pipelines and all sort of automations.

Frequently asked questions

Is DBeaver free to use?

DBeaver is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does DBeaver do?

Free database manager for SQL databases and beyond

What is DBeaver written in?

DBeaver is primarily written in Java. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/dbeaver/dbeaver, and it has 51,791 GitHub stars.