When comparing Navicat for MySQL vs HeidiSQL, the Slant community recommends Navicat for MySQL for most people. In the question“What are the best MySQL GUI clients for OS X?” Navicat for MySQL is ranked 2nd while HeidiSQL is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose Navicat for MySQL is:
Navicat can easily import data from ODBC, Excel, Access, DBF, TXT, CSV, XML, JSON etc and export to Excel, Access, DBF, TXT, CSV, XML, JSON etc.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Excellent choice of import/export options
Navicat can easily import data from ODBC, Excel, Access, DBF, TXT, CSV, XML, JSON etc and export to Excel, Access, DBF, TXT, CSV, XML, JSON etc.
Pro HTTP/SSH tunnel
Navicat can upload a PHP script to enable HTTP tunneling or choose a SSH tunnel instead.
Pro Easy to use
Navicat manages an intuitive, easy to use UI without sacrificing functionality.
Pro Unicode support
Navicat has full unicode support.
Pro Data and structure synchronization
Navicat can compare and synchronize your data and structure between local and remote databases.
Pro User management
Navicat allows for simple user and access management.
Pro Light-weighted
Pro Cross-platform
Originally released on Windows, it has been ported to OS X and Linux.
Pro SQL code completion
Navicat supports auto-complete for SQL queries.
Pro Server monitoring
Allows you to monitor your server for inefficient queries, etc.
Pro Batch job scheduling
Navicat can schedule things like backups, restores, data transfers or report building.
Pro Visual query builder
Create and edit queries without writing SQL.
Pro Visual report builder
Navicat can build reports in a visual way. Once set up, the process can be scheduled.
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
Cons
Con Buggy
Navicat tends to release builds that have some problems, but they usually release a patched version soon after. Also have had issues with import/export and tunneling.
Con Still buggy, not getting better with updates
This software is way to buggy for a premium priced product. Have done many payed upgrades but I will not do a next payed upgrade. I am done with all the crashing and me losing time with this piece of software. Looking for an alternative.
Con Cost
The cost of a license ranges from $119-$299.
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.