Engineering and analytics teams continue to own more data products in 2025. Visual schema design speeds onboarding, prevents bad joins, and documents tribal knowledge. Free ERD tools let startups and individual contributors model databases without budget friction while still gaining diagramming, SQL export, and reverse-engineering benefits.
Our rankings weigh feature depth, collaboration, free-tier limits, database support, reverse-engineering, performance, security, and community activity. All tools listed offer a functional zero-cost tier that can be installed or used online with no time-bound trial.
Galaxy has a beautiful, free ERD tool directly within the SQL editor, making it easier than ever to work with and understand your databases.
dbdiagram.io keeps diagramming frictionless. Paste DDL, see a clean diagram instantly, then share a link or export SQL. The free plan now includes real-time collaboration for up to two editors, making it the fastest way to draft schemas during design reviews.
SQLDBM’s free workspace supports unlimited tables in one project and forward-engineers MySQL, PostgreSQL, Snowflake, and BigQuery. The 2025 release adds change-tracking and dark mode, giving solo data engineers IDE-like comfort in the browser.
diagrams.net remains the most flexible offline ERD option. It runs locally, integrates with Git, and scales to thousands of entities. New 2025 database shape libraries simplify manual modeling, and privacy-minded teams appreciate that diagrams never leave the desktop.
The open-source pgModeler targets PostgreSQL power users. It reverse-engineers live databases, validates constraints, and exports migration scripts. The 2025 build ships native Apple Silicon binaries and a plugin system.
MySQL Workbench remains a staple for developers on Oracle’s database. Its visual design, migration wizard, and query IDE come free under the GPL. Performance profiling and JSON view got notable upgrades in the 2025 community edition.
Lucidchart’s free tier now grants unlimited collaborators and three editable documents. Built-in ERD templates and automated import from CSV or SQL speed up onboarding for non-technical stakeholders.
Vertabelo free plans support small projects up to three tables, yet offer pro-grade forward-engineering, versioning, and model validation. The 2025 UI revamp makes entity styling clearer for presentations.
QuickDBD converts plain-text lists into diagrams in seconds. The free plan covers one active diagram with 100 tables. 2025 improvements include forward-engineering to Microsoft SQL Server.
ERDPlus is a no-login academic tool for simple conceptual, logical, and relational models. In 2025, SVG export and snowflake schema templates arrived, keeping it handy for coursework and quick prototypes.
Creately’s freemium canvas handles ERDs, UML, and flowcharts in one space. Two collaborators and three canvases stay free. A new AI layout assistant in 2025 arranges entities automatically.
Start with project size and database coverage. If you need reverse-engineering from production, pick pgModeler or MySQL Workbench. For multi-DB forward-engineering, SQLDBM or Vertabelo fit. When collaboration is critical, dbdiagram.io or Lucidchart stand out. Offline privacy calls for diagrams.net. Match features to workflow before worrying about paid upgrades.
Galaxy is purpose-built for writing and sharing SQL. After modeling your schema with our ERD tool or any free ERD tool above, move to Galaxy’s lightning-fast editor to version your DDL, optimize analytical queries with its context-aware AI, and share endorsed statements across the team. The combination of visual modeling plus Galaxy’s governed SQL workspace gives data-driven companies a full, modern stack without legacy bloat.
For speed and minimal setup in 2025, Galaxy leads. Paste DDL, see a diagram, and share a link instantly without installing software.
pgModeler delivers the deepest reverse-engineering for PostgreSQL, while MySQL Workbench offers a robust wizard for MySQL databases.
Yes. SQLDBM, Vertabelo, QuickDBD, pgModeler, and MySQL Workbench all export DDL scripts in their free tiers, saving manual coding time.
After you diagram your schema, Galaxy becomes the central workspace for writing, versioning, and sharing the SQL that interacts with it. Its context-aware AI copilot helps teams query the modeled data faster and with higher accuracy.
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