When comparing MySQL Workbench vs SQL Workbench/J, the Slant community recommends MySQL Workbench for most people. In the question“What are the best SQL clients for Linux?” MySQL Workbench is ranked 8th while SQL Workbench/J is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose MySQL Workbench is:
Actions can be directly carried out on tables. The software prepares the relevant query for approval before execution.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy to use
Actions can be directly carried out on tables. The software prepares the relevant query for approval before execution.
Pro Community version
There is a community edition available that is free and open source; licensed under GPL.
Pro EER diagramming
MySQL Workbench has enhanced entity–relationship modeling support.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on Windows, Linux, OS X.
Pro Database synchronization
Forward & reverse engeneering

Pro Allows you to edit changes before they are executed.
Any changes to the database generate SQL statements that you can review and edit before running.

Pro Works with almost any SQL database
Can work with any database with a jdbc driver.

Pro Can edit data in table mode.
Easy to make changes when viewing data.
Cons
Con Unintuitive UI
Workbench's user interface is regarded by a lot of users as unintuitive and hard to use.
It seems cluttered and hard to get used to. The left side of the application has several sections (which you get to choose which to open) with several tools for each. A lot of features are hidden behind menus and need some getting used to find them.
Con Freezes constantly
Running any kind of query with more than a thousand records or even just opening a file and other actions crashes the application. You are unable to actually stop a query. You have to kill from Windows Task Manager every single time.
