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Database design tools
List of tools that allow for the design of a database.
Database design is a set of activities aimed at improving the development, implementation, and maintenance of an enterprise data management system. Its main goal is to reflect the outline of the database system into real models: physical and logical. Database designers determine what data is to be stored inside the database, and how objects are to be related to each other.
ModelSphere
Open ModelSphere is a complete data modeling tool covering conceptual, logical, and physical modeling. With its reverse engineering functionality, it allows graphical visualization of your relational database's architecture, thus making modifications easy. Open ModelSphere allows the generation of SQL scripts to create a database from your model as well.
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Software Ideas Modeler
Software Ideas Modeler is a lightweight and powerful CASE tool. It helps to create different diagrams, such as UML diagrams and ERDs. ERDs can be exported to SQL to create the database. It also provides database reverse engineering support.
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WinA&D
WinA&D is a comprehensive tool for system analysis, requirements management, structured analysis and design, object-oriented modeling with UML, and data modeling of information systems.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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SQL Power Architect
SQL Power Architect data modeling tool has many unique features geared specifically for the data warehouse architect. It allows users to reverse-engineer existing databases, perform data profiling on source databases and auto-generate ETL metadata.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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ERD Concepts
ERD Concepts is a database designer and SQL query tool for all major databases. It helps to create a professional and visual attractive Entity Relationship Diagram with domains, tables, foreign keys, views, stored procedures, and more. Your base ERD design is alternatively used to generate DDL scripts to create the actual database.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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KeepTool
KeepTool contains tools designed to streamline design, administration, and program development. It includes functionality for making ERDs, viewing tables, writing queries, comparing databases, and debugging PL/SQL code. KeepTool includes the following tools: Hora, SQL Editor, HTML Documentation Generator, Reverse DDL Engineer, ER Diagrammer, PL/SQL Debugger, and DB Compare.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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SQL Server Management Studio
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is an integrated environment for managing any SQL infrastructure, from SQL Server to Azure SQL Database. SSMS provides tools to configure, monitor, and administer instances of SQL Server and databases. SSMS is used to deploy, monitor, and upgrade the data-tier components used by your applications, and build queries and scripts.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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SQLyog
SQLyog is the most powerful manager, admin and GUI tool for MySQL, combining the features of MySQL Query Browser, Administrator, phpMyAdmin and other MySQL Front Ends and MySQL GUI tools in a single intuitive interface. It provides you with powerful means to manage your MySQL databases.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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SQuirreL SQL
SQuirreL SQL Client is a graphical Java program that will allow you to view the structure of a JDBC compliant database, browse the data in tables, issue SQL commands, etc.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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Enterprise Architect
Enterprise Architect is a fully featured database modeling platform that enables the user to work with their Physical Data models at all stages, from design right through to the implementation of the live database, for a wide range of database management systems such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL and MySQL.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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WWW SQL Designer
WWW SQL Designer allows users to create database designs, which can be saved/loaded and exported to SQL scripts.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Cloud |
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MagicDraw
MagicDraw is the award-winning business process, architecture, software and system modeling tool with teamwork support. With Cameo Data Modeler plugin, data-related modeling can be peroformed on MagicDraw. It includes entity-relationship diagram, SQL database modeling/diagramming and DDL script generation/reverse features.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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IBM InfoSphere Data Architect
Data Architect allows you to create models for DB2, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and Teradata source systems. Elements from logical and physical data models can be visually represented in diagrams using Information Engineering (IE) notation.
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ConceptDraw DIAGRAM
ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software gives the ability to describe a database using the Entity-Relationship model. The Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution of ConceptDraw contains all libraries, templates, and samples you may need for professional ERD drawing.
| Desktop/Cloud: | Desktop |
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dbConstructor
dbConstructor is a database design tool that speeds up and eases the database creation and maintenance process by means of an extremely user-friendly interface. It also lets you do change management and schema verification.
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The database design process can be very complicated. The more complex the system, the more sophisticated the tool is needed. Their functionality can vary greatly, however, core features include:
• creating and editing database objects,
• database architecture modeling,
• visualization of a database schema,
• tracking relationships between entities,
• grouping logically related objects into clusters,
• diagrams overview.
Database designer tools enable building graphical models and generating DDL scripts on their basis. The script describes data and relations between entities in the designed database. Furthermore, the tools enable reverse engineering (visualization of the model from the SQL script).
Key factors of creating a reliable and well-organized database are:
• a properly designed data structure,
• establishing what data should be stored in particular objects,
• how objects should be related to each other.
All of them can be improved by using the relevant Database design tool. Additionally, some of them allow the visual representation of data using ERD, makes it easier to visualize even more complex schemas.
Without proper software, development is based on raw code. This increases the risk of errors at the initial stage. The tools allow users to edit the visual layout using simple drag-and-drop functions. With a user-friendly interface, browsing the structure is possible even for non-IT people.
We have created a list of tools that support the process of creating database structure and its content. Our list includes free database design tools as well as advanced, more professional data management tools.