NetBeans vs Oracle SQL Developer comparison

Apache and Oracle are both solutions in the IDE category. Apache is ranked #8, while Oracle is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.8. Apache holds a 4.4% mindshare in IDE, compared to Oracle’s 6.1% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of Apache users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Oracle users who would recommend it.

NetBeans

Read 8 NetBeans reviews

636 Views
636 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Oracle SQL Developer

Read 35 Oracle SQL Developer reviews

1,292 Views
1,085 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

NetBeans

Oracle SQL Developer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between NetBeans and Oracle SQL Developer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two IDE solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed NetBeans vs. Oracle SQL Developer Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

NetBeans vs. Oracle SQL Developer

March 2026

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Helped 884,873 peers since 2012

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

NetBeans

Ranking in IDE

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

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

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the IDE category, the mindshare of NetBeans is 4.4%, up from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle SQL Developer is 6.1%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IDE Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Oracle SQL Developer	6.1%
NetBeans	4.4%
Other	89.5%

IDE

Featured Reviews

Dragan Bjedov

Java Developer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

Some of the valuable features are Java development, RCP support and support for various other languages.

* Java development support. (The Java editor is one of the best Java IMHO editors. Java projects support Ant and Maven.) * RCP support * GUI editor for Java windows * RCP support: An easy way to create your own app using NetBeans base. There is a lot of documentation for RCP creation. * Plugins can be easy created. Also there is support for other languages as C/C++, HTLM5, Javascript, Groovy, PHP... There is a lot of plugins that can be easily installed.

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Vikram_Kumar

Data Architect at Ontario Power Generation

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Server Support"

"It comes out of package fully-loaded with a lot of great features for web development."

"The learning curve is easy and fast because the interface is simple and intuitive, enabling us to easily train developers who are not expert in metrics."

"C++ 11 support (for a long time)"

"Large scale of projects, templates, and coding support."

"One of the most important features is that Apache Maven supports it."

"When you have to develop in Java, this IDE is ideal because it has many plugins that make your life easier... For example, when working with Hibernate or with JPA, creating entities is very easy through a graphical interface."

"It is easy to deploy, manage servers, and ORMS resources."

"It has done everything that I needed it to do, and it doesn't cost you anything."

"Since Oracle SQL Developer is free, we no longer incurred the cost of the previous tool."

"The most valuable features of Oracle SQL Developer that I use. However, I do not use all of them"

"You can install it on every platform. It just works. The other thing is that it's free. And Oracle is committed to the development of the tool, so it has been improving."

"SQL Developer has reached a maturity level where it offers pretty much the same essential functionality (and much more) that you can find in other solutions, with the benefit of being free."

"You do not have to install it, just dump it on the OS, then use it."

"It's easy to deploy, I can copy it onto the system and run it without having to install it and this makes it a very good solution for quick use."

"Customer service has been most excellent."

More Oracle SQL Developer pros

Cons

"I would like there to be better integration with Git, as there are IDEs such as Eclipse that offer this integration in a much more elegant way than NetBeans."

"The debugging mechanize could be improved compared to IntelliJ, for example."

"t is a very heavy load on the computer, especially when you compare with Sublime Text Limited plugins and themes."

"One of main areas that the tool can improve is performance."

"Debugging: Watches, Evaluate Expression, and data inspection are limited."

"There are always rooms for improvement for any product. The good thing with NetBeans is that since it is Open Source, you can just go ahead and contribute whatever you want to change yourself."

"Background scanning of sources on demand, disallowed by Options (processor usage, build cannot be deleted by the old version build)."

"It's more stable sometimes and less stable other times. I have used it in Windows, Mac, and Linux. It's variable, it's not the same stability. I think that can be improved on."

"The interface could be friendlier for the DBA by having the dashboard show real-time statistics from the database engine."

"Even though it installs easy, there is a lot of Java behind the tool. It seems like some of the Java is more memory-intensive."

"If they had something on the Web then you wouldn't need to install it, just query, like Enterprise Manager."

"SQL Developer only shows a snapshot of the execution statistics and performance metrics at the moment you request the report."

"The stability depends on what version you're using. There are more successful versions and are less successful versions. For example, 17.3 is less successful. There were many bugs. Now, we are trying to pull all the developers to upgrade to 17.4."

"Versioning is there, check. But it sucks a lot, double check."

"There is room for improvement in the Real Time SQL Monitoring."

More Oracle SQL Developer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"NetBeans is free and open source."

"It is an open source and free tool, with no changes, and the licensing allows me even to change source code, if I need."

"I am sad that CLion is not free. Currently, it has no support for Linux makefiles, only cmake, and this is a big mess."

"It is basically free."

"It's a free tool."

"It has the advantage that it's free. The next best competitor would cost several thousand dollars."

"It's a no-cost license and it offers outstanding functionality on that basis."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

Insurance Company

Educational Organization

University

Financial Services Firm

16%

Marketing Services Firm

16%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	19

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...

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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...

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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 ...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IDE

March 2026

Download NetBeans product report

Buyer's Guide

Oracle SQL Developer

March 2026

Download Oracle SQL Developer product report

Overview

NetBeans IDE. The Smarter and Faster Way to Code. Quickly and easily develop desktop, mobile and web applications with Java, PHP, C/C++ and more. NetBeans IDE is FREE, open source, and has a worldwide community of users and developers.

Apache

Oracle SQL Developer is a free integrated development environment that simplifies the development and management of Oracle Database in both traditional and Cloud deployments. SQL Developer offers complete end-to-end development of your PL/SQL applications, a worksheet for running queries and scripts, a DBA console for managing the database, a reports interface, a complete data modeling solution, and a migration platform for moving your 3rd party databases to Oracle.

For more information on Oracle SQL Developer, visit Oracle.com

Oracle

Sample Customers

Weyco Group Inc.

Prinova

Buyer's Guide

NetBeans vs. Oracle SQL Developer

March 2026

Free Report: NetBeans vs. Oracle SQL Developer

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