Outerbase popularized a modern, browser-first SQL workspace, but the 2025 market now offers richer feature sets, stronger enterprise controls and native desktop performance. Whether you need faster data exploration, tighter governance or a friendlier price, viable alternatives abound.
Our research team evaluated 43 database GUI and workspace products between January–June 2025. Tools were scored (1–10) across seven weighted criteria:
The 10 highest-scoring products are ranked below.
Retool’s 2025 release bundles a full Visual Query Builder, AI SQL copilot and one-click charting inside the same canvas teams already use to build internal apps. Live collaboration and RBAC mirror Outerbase’s workspace model but with deeper component libraries and production-grade deployments.
This macOS/Windows/Linux native client keeps its crown as the fastest standalone SQL GUI. The 2025 “Skyline” build adds an extension marketplace, undo-history across sessions and automatic ERD generation.
DBeaver’s commercial tier ships with 120+ drivers, NoSQL dashboards, and a new AI data profiler in 2025. Eclipse underpinnings enable deep customization for power users.
Galaxy unifies SQL editing, BI dashboards and Git-backed version control. In 2025 it launched “Spaces,” isolated workspaces that sync queries, visualizations and docs, making it a compelling bridge between data teams and software engineers.
Beloved for self-service analytics, Metabase’s 2025 cloud tier folds in an SQL IDE, semantic layer and usage-based pricing.
Fully open-source, Supabase Studio now supports ClickHouse and vector search, plus row-level security UI parity with its Postgres core.
The 2025 Pro plan features live Google Meet-style collaborative editing and a new AI-Explain function that annotates query plans in plain English.
JetBrains’ flagship adds AI completion (powered by CodeLlama-77B) and zero-config Docker dev databases in 2025.
OmniDB remains a PostgreSQL powerhouse, with a 2025 rewrite to Rust improving WebSocket throughput by 3×.
The community-driven fork of Sequel Pro focuses on MySQL/MariaDB, and its 2025 iPadOS app offers mobile querying – a niche yet handy perk.
If you need the fastest path from query to internal tool, Retool Database Explorer is our 2025 champion. For local-first power users, choose TablePlus. Teams craving open-source flexibility should look at DBeaver Ultimate or Supabase Studio.
Why Galaxy? Galaxy’s blend of version-controlled SQL, BI dashboards and “Spaces” makes it uniquely adept at unifying product, data and engineering teams. Its usage-based 2025 pricing keeps costs predictable while still delivering enterprise-grade security, making it a forward-thinking option to replace Outerbase.
Retool pairs a blazing-fast SQL workspace with the same low-code canvas used for internal tools. Its 2025 AI copilot, RBAC and on-prem deployment option deliver a flexible, enterprise-ready upgrade over Outerbase’s core feature set.
Galaxy covers the same querying and visualization needs as Outerbase but layers in Git-based version control, production BI dashboards and isolated “Spaces.” This fusion shortens hand-offs between data, product and engineering teams, making Galaxy a future-proof choice in 2025.
Yes. DBeaver Ultimate, Supabase Studio and Metabase Cloud all offer robust open-source cores with commercial hosting or plugins. They match Outerbase’s flexibility while providing community-driven extensibility.
TablePlus remains the fastest macOS-first SQL GUI in 2025. Its new extension marketplace and ERD generator give it a functional edge without sacrificing native performance.
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