When comparing HeidiSQL vs Postico, the Slant community recommends HeidiSQL for most people. In the question“What are the best GUI tools for PostgreSQL on Windows?” HeidiSQL is ranked 5th while Postico is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose HeidiSQL is:
Licensed under GNU GPL.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Free
Licensed under GNU GPL.
Pro Portable
Alongside the possibility of downloading the installer and sourcecode, a portable version of the software is available.
Pro Great UI and ease of use
HeidiSQL has a comprehensive and intuitive interface.
Pro Syntax completion
Pro Lightweight
Pro Great user management
The user manager of HeidiSQL can easily set privileges on a per-database level or give access to only certain commands.
Pro Data synchronization
HeidiSQL can compare and synchronize your data and structure between local and remote databases.
Pro SSH tunnel
HeidiSQL allows connecting to your MySQL database via SSH tunnel.
Pro Connect to servers via command line
You can use command line parameters to automate connections.
Pro Works fine with Wine under Linux
Pro Native experience and clean user interface
Postico is a native OS X app which is available through Mac App Store. The UI is fast, responsive and integrates seamlessly with the OS.
Pro Created by an experienced developer in the field
Postico is the successor of PG Commander, an older Mac Posgres GUI tool which is also widely used. They are both maintained by the same person.
Cons
Con Can be buggy
HeidiSQL is known to have some bugs that results in crashes.
Con Intellisense is not intelligent
No intellisense for columns unless table name is aliased.
Con UI design is very bad
Generic windows form
Con No session backup
You cannot recover your session after close or even worse crash.
Con Works under Linux only with Wine
It works quite well under Wine with Linux, but you must always take notice if the last version of HeidiSQL has been tested, for it may not run at all. There are some bugs in the Wine version that can be annoying and you have to kill the program and restart it. A native Linux version would be great.
Con No built-in debugger included
Con No multiple query tabs in the free trial version
To be fair, multiple windows / tabs IS a feature. It's just part of the paid version.
Con Commercial
Postico is a commercial app, with a one-time fee of $35. There is a free trial available.