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Windsurf vs dbForge Studio for SQL Server comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

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
Windsurf
Ranking in IDE
4th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
AI Code Assistants (4th), AI Software Development (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the IDE category, the mindshare of dbForge Studio for SQL Server is 4.4%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Windsurf is 8.6%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IDE Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Windsurf8.6%
dbForge Studio for SQL Server4.4%
Other87.0%
IDE
 

Featured Reviews

AM
Head BI SBU at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Easy to use, quick data usage, and a helpful knowledge base
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. What we are using is fine for now. I believe that the newer versions 2016 or 2018 SQL have improved a lot and have all of the features available. It would be useful to have some form of self-service capabilities or some form an AI to provide a summary and to be able to tell you what has happened. Also, the inclusion of some integration tools would be helpful. In the next release, I would like to see some form of artificial intelligence with some form of summaries telling you what has happened without having to get into a complex query to get that information.
reviewer2748786 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founding BackEnd Engineer
Enhancing productivity with advanced code generation and low-cost accessibility
What they can do further and venture into next is to provide a CLI environment, similar to the command-line interface environment that Cursor offers. It allows for running a cursor agent from the command line to make changes, review pull requests, or access certain other capabilities. These capabilities are currently not in Windsurf. Windsurf focuses on the productivity and the ID/editor part. I would rather look for the inclusion of pull request reviews or a kind of a TRD or technical requirement general documentation generation, or system diagram generation directly from the codebase in Windsurf itself. These should be the next obvious features they launch for developers. In our team, there are certain people who use Windsurf regularly and appreciate using it. However, it is not a collaborative tool where someone is going to use the same tool and interact in the same IDE. Everyone does their local development, pushes it to different Git branches, someone reviews the PR, and then merges the branch. It is very localized in that sense.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I like the ease of use and quick data usage."
"It's quite easy to install and use from a local machine or laptop, as well as on a server."
"As we're experimenting with different AI IDEs, Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by providing options."
"As we're experimenting with different AI IDEs, Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by providing options."
"I have seen a return on investment with Windsurf because I have saved time and money and needed fewer resources since using it."
"Windsurf has positively impacted my organization by increasing productivity, because during a one-week hackathon we were able to build a product from scratch that would have taken at least two to three weeks, making the time savings substantial."
 

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."
"I chose 7 out of 10 because I've used Cursor as well, and sometimes I feel Cursor hallucinates less compared to Windsurf."
"Since using Windsurf, I notice more errors, but we deliver approximately twice as fast."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Because it's 2012 version, it's a one-off enterprise license that we have never had to upgrade."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Windsurf?
My experience with Windsurf's pricing, setup cost, and licensing was positive. I received a discount because I joined early, so the license cost or monthly rental of Windsurf has been reasonably pr...
What needs improvement with Windsurf?
I have no suggestions at the moment for how Windsurf can be improved. I would not add more about the needed improvements, even small things that could make my experience better.
What is your primary use case for Windsurf?
I have been using Windsurf off and on for the last year. My main use case for Windsurf is for software development. Currently, we're working on an API, and Windsurf will help us develop a particula...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Boeing, Sony, Honda, Oracle, BMW, Samsung
Dell, Anduril, MongoDB, Zillow, Atlassian
Find out what your peers are saying about Windsurf vs. dbForge Studio for SQL Server and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
880,745 professionals have used our research since 2012.