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Oracle SQL Developer vs dbForge Studio for SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

dbForge Studio for SQL Server
Ranking in IDE
11th
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle SQL Developer
Ranking in IDE
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the IDE category, the mindshare of dbForge Studio for SQL Server is 3.6%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SQL Developer is 4.1%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IDE Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle SQL Developer4.1%
dbForge Studio for SQL Server3.6%
Other92.3%
IDE
 

Featured Reviews

Lucas Dreyer - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable, scalable solution with excellent administration
The initial setup is straightforward. It's quite easy to create databases, administrate databases, and set up a backup. It's quite easy to install and to manage. Deployment can take up to three hours if you are installing the full SQL server. Setting up just the database is a couple of minutes. I haven't set up a full backup, or any of that myself. I've set up backups to local disks, however, and that's quite easy to do. Setting up jobs, or maintenance jobs that are running statistics on variables, shrinking, translating locked files, etc., only take a few minutes to set up. A full configuration would take two hours maximum.
Vikram_Kumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved development efficiency through reusable components and intuitive programming features
When errors occur while programming, they are very generic. Even when searching the internet, the errors remain generic and it takes considerable time to understand the fix. This was predominantly felt because we were mostly working on writing code and developing features. Error handling needs to be improved. The patches and upgrade process is very long. In the last year and a half, I haven't upgraded, so we don't know if latest features have arrived. Another issue is with sessions. If we were working on code and then switch off our laptop for two to three days, the session would keep running. This consumes many resources and flags to the team that a user has been continuously using Oracle SQL Developer. There should be a timeout period for inactive sessions.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's quite easy to install and use from a local machine or laptop, as well as on a server."
"I like the ease of use and quick data usage."
"The newer version has a lot of new features. It generates output and scripts for your Ultrix. It can generate JSON, XML, etc."
"The most valuable features of Oracle SQL Developer that I use. However, I do not use all of them"
"You do not have to install it, just dump it on the OS, then use it."
"Using execution plan, I am able to do lots of query tuning."
"It allows us to implement a form of test driven development (TDD) for database-resident code."
"I have a lot of flexibility with it."
"I like it because it's very similar in output to SQL *Plus, and it has many convenience features that make it easier to read the data and use the basic reporting features it provides."
"Ability to analyze performance, using Explain Plan statement."
 

Cons

"The only issue that I have is that it depends on hardware resources, it takes a lot, that is the only set back with the solution."
"The lock files and login are two features we've had issues with. As far as I can see, there's no way to switch off the login in SQL Servers. If there could be a way to switch off the login, for transactions, or in operations, or tables, that'd be great."
"Oracle SQL Developer could improve the speed, it is a bit slow."
"I would like it to support background processes better."
"There is room for improvement in the Real Time SQL Monitoring."
"I think it would be great to have an overview over the sessions it opens so that we could easily see and control which connections to the database we want to keep open, which ones are hanging; and it would be great to make them independent from each other."
"It would be nice to have the ability to access DBs than Oracle."
"The initial setup is always a problem, it cannot find the Java SDK."
"There are occasional runtime issues that are easily worked around, especially on a Windows deployment."
"The competing products have more features."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Because it's 2012 version, it's a one-off enterprise license that we have never had to upgrade."
"It is basically free."
"It's a no-cost license and it offers outstanding functionality on that basis."
"It has the advantage that it's free. The next best competitor would cost several thousand dollars."
"It's a free tool."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
23%
Insurance Company
12%
Computer Software Company
10%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise19
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle SQL Developer?
The pricing of Oracle SQL Developer depends on the size of the company and the project. I cannot use Oracle or other solutions if I am just starting. If I start with MySQL, it depends on the size o...
What needs improvement with Oracle SQL Developer?
The downsides of Oracle SQL Developer include hard typing. It is not similar to another relational database such as MySQL. I need to define the object that I will receive even when I create a store...
What is your primary use case for Oracle SQL Developer?
I have been using it for about five years, but it has not been continuous. Sometimes I have projects that are developed in SQL Server, MySQL, and even more relational databases such as MongoDB. It ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Boeing, Sony, Honda, Oracle, BMW, Samsung
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Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle SQL Developer vs. dbForge Studio for SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,778 professionals have used our research since 2012.