When comparing HeidiSQL vs DbSchema, the Slant community recommends HeidiSQL for most people. In the question“What are the best MySQL GUI clients for OS X?” HeidiSQL is ranked 6th while DbSchema is ranked 12th. 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 Graphical Diagram Editor
Includes the possibility to edit tables and data directly in the diagram without writing SQL statements.
Pro Multi-platform
Runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Pro Virtual Foreign Keys
If the Database schema is missing real foreign keys, it is possible to create virtual ones to be used within the tool.
Pro Generator for Random Data
Includes the possibility to generate random numerical data or fetch random entries from a text file to populate the database.
Pro Generate schema from existing database
Includes the possibility to generate an ER diagram from an existing database.
Pro SQL editor with syntax highlighting
Includes an SQL editor with syntax highlighting and code completion feature.
Pro Graphical Query Editor
Includes a visual query editor capable of using different join types, filters as well as the 'group by' clause.
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.