When comparing SQLGate vs SchemaSpy, the Slant community recommends SQLGate for most people. In the question“What are the best database design programs?” SQLGate is ranked 2nd while SchemaSpy is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose SQLGate is:
Functions; filter, sort and group on grid / Copy, past, sum and statistics functions like excel.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Quick data analysis
Functions; filter, sort and group on grid / Copy, past, sum and statistics functions like excel.
Pro Saves time with autocomplete & template functions
Pro Fast processing and easy customization
They put out weekly updates, so there are new and impressive functions being added pretty consistently.
Pro Supports cloud-based DB such as AWS & Azure
Pro Includes PL/SQL editor and debugger
Pro ER diagrams
Entity Relationship database diagrams limitations are: only supports reverse engineering, and can not export to formats other than .erd
Pro Entity Relationship Digramming for nearly any JDBC-compliant database
SchemaSpy can analyze database metadata in order to reverse engineer ER (Entity Relationship) diagrams for any JDBC-compliant database which includes Oracle, MySQL, Sql-Server and Postgres among others.
Pro Has a GUI option available
SchemaSpy is a CLI tool. For people who prefer GUI-based tools there's one available from a different maintainer which stands on top of the CLI version.
Cons
Con Logon
The logon process after starting up the application is rather long winded (tested with PostgreSQL, no defaults shown for e.g. port number).
Con Free version is limited
e.g. only 10 tables allowed in ERD designer.
Con Does not work with schema dumpfiles
SchemaSpy has no methods for dealing with when you only have a schema generated via something like (mysqldump --no-data [options] >schema-only_dump.sql
) , and do not currently have access to a live database to connect with.
Con GUI option is a separate download by a different maintainer
Since the GUI version is from a different maintainer, it may be abandoned and eventually break if SchemaSpy development continues beyond that. Or it may implement new features much later than the CLI version.
Con Project may be dead or dying
The codebase on sourceforge hasn't seen an update since 2010.