No. 4 of 19 ·Database Schema Comparison Tools

sqldef

Windows · Mac · Linux · Self-hosted

Freedom report

Three barsScore 6.5

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely3 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

sqldef is ranked #4 of 19 in database schema comparison tools on Freedom251. It runs on Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Windows. There is a free plan.

sqldef plans and pricing

All plans

sqldef Free Open-source CLI tool · MIT license (parser is Apache 2.0) github.com · 30 Sept 2026

Compared on database schema comparison tools

Free plan: Yes
Migration scripts: Yes
Database scope: multi-engine
CI/CD integration: Yes
Supported platforms: cross-platform

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The record

Purpose: sqldef is a CLI tool for diffing SQL schemas and managing relational database migrations with regular SQL DDLs.
Databases: The project lists support for MySQL, MariaDB, TiDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and SQLite3.
Declarative schemas: Users maintain a SQL file with the complete desired schema, which sqldef compares with the current schema to generate and apply DDL changes.
Idempotence: The README says operations are safe to run multiple times and repeated runs show no changes when the database already matches the desired schema.
Preview and export: The command workflow includes exporting the current schema and using dry-run to preview migrations without executing them.
Offline mode: sqldef can compare two SQL files without connecting to a database, for schema validation, CI/CD, and migration script generation.
Rename support: The README documents renaming tables, columns, indexes, and ENUM values using an @renamed annotation.
Build and dependencies: The project says each database tool is distributed as a single binary with no dependencies.
Integrations: The project links to Docker images on Docker Hub and a GitHub Action that previews database schema changes.
Linux availability: The README provides prebuilt Linux binaries and Docker images and says Debian packages are not currently available.
macOS availability: The README says a Homebrew tap is available for mysqldef, psqldef, sqlite3def, and mssqldef.
Security and provenance: The release page marks the release commit as signed with GitHub’s verified signature and displays a release attestation asset.
License: The repository says source files are distributed under the MIT License, with the parser under Apache License 2.0.
Support and community: The README directs feature requests to pull requests or GitHub Discussions.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Database Schema Comparison Tools in 2026#4 of 19

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Sources

sqldef.github.io· checked 30 Sept 2026
github.com/sqldef/sqldef· checked 30 Sept 2026
github.com/sqldef/sqldef/releases· checked 30 Sept 2026