Best GUI Clients for PostgreSQL on Ubuntu
Written in C, PostgreSQL which is also known as Postgres is one of the most popular relational database management systems. macOS server has it as default database and is also available for other operating systems such as Windows, FreeBCD, OpenBCD and Linux. As PostgreSQL is one of the most used database management systems in the world, it is used as the backbone of many small to large applications and software’s.
Even though I feel working in command-line is best way to learn anything in the world of application and software development, there are some limitations while working with databases in command-line. It requires great experience of working in command-line or it could get really messy for newbies as well as for professionals.
- Coding can be messy and confusing through command-line.
- Managing and browsing through databases and tables could be difficult to handle.
- Not everyone likes command-line window and finds it difficult to work on.
But GUI clients overcome these shortcomings of working in command-line and in addition to that offers some really great features which makes whole task of handling databases easier. Easy to use user interface, shortcut keys, easy access to files and databases are one of the key features that make GUI clients popular over command-line methods. So in this article I’m going to give you 5 best GUI clients for PostgreSQL which you can download and install on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.
pgAdmin
pgAdmin is one of the most popular and feature-rich database administration and development platform especially developed for PostgreSQL. It is free and open-source GUI client and available for Ubuntu including Windows and Mac OS X.
pgAdmin is a feature-rich PostgreSQL client which supports multiple PostgreSQL versions, color syntax highlighting, procedural language debugger, create, view and edit all most widely used PostgreSQL objects such as database, columns, triggers, indexes and many more.
Apart from that it offers graphical query planning tool, a dashboard to monitor all the activities, highly customizable user interface, and ability to access remotely, etc.
To install pgAdmin on Ubuntu, run the following commands one-by-one in Terminal. Follow the instructions as prompted.
$ wget —quiet -O — https: // www.postgresql.org / media / keys / ACCC4CF8.asc |
sudo apt-key add —
sudo sh -c ‘echo «deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt/
`lsb_release -cs`-pgdg main» >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list’
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install pgadmin4 pgadmin4-apache2 -y
Navicat
Devloped by PremiumSoft CyberTech Ltd, Navicat is graphical database management and development software for popular database languages like PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle and many more. It is feature-rich database management tool which comes with intuitive user interface.
It is powerful and yet easy to use database management tool which you will definitely love to work on. It is comes with dedicated SQL editor and builder which helps you perform the database programming with ease. Also you can assign the scheduled jobs to navicat and you will get email notification when it performs assigned job.
Yes it is not free unlike others but you can always try its free version and then decide whether to buy it or not. One thing that might lure you to use different PosgreSQL tool is that you need to buy separate license for PosgreSQL and MySQL platforms.
DataGrip
DataGrip is a multi-platform database administration tool developed. Devloped by JetBrains which is popular for producing excellent development tools for software programmers and developers. It ships-in with various popular database management tools such as Amazon Redshift, Apache Hive, Azure SQL Database, Microsoft SQL Server and includes PostgreSQL.
When it comes to features, it sports very friendly user interface which you will find very easy to use, context-sensitive code compilation, automatic bug detection, and version control integration. Apart from that it has powerful text editor which is very smart and advance, light and dark themes, highly customizable interface and import/export support.
DataGrip has everything a database administrator needs, but there is one thing that might lure you to use other clients and i.e. it is not free and slightly on expensive side.
OmniDB
OmniDB is an open-source web tools which offers graphical environment for Database Management. Till the time of writing this supports PosgreSQL 11 and older versions, Oracle, MySQL, MariaDB, and Firebird. It is a lightweight yet powerful browser based Database Management tool.
Despite not having dedicated interface its browser based user interface is quite responsive and easy to navigate. Smart SQL editor is one of the pros of this database tool which is highly configurable and offers contextual query compilation. As it has multi-user supports, developers have made safety a priority with encrypted personal information support.
This tool makes the task of database management quite easy with interactive and responsive tables. All-in-all it is quite a package of database management tool.
DBeaver
DBeaver is a free and cross-platform PostgreSQL client and database administration tool. It is developed by open-source community especially for developers, database administrators, and analysts.
Apart from PostgreSQL, it supports other widely used database management tools such as SQL, SQLite, Firebird, Oracle and many others. It comes with simple yet attractive user interface which is very easy to use. Talking about the features, it offers connection to various data sources, visual query builder, metadata browser, ER diagrams, data and metadata search.
Beekeeper Studio
Beekeeper Studio is an open source database GUI with great PostgreSQL support. It supports a range of other SQL databases, and works well in Linux as the core maintainer is a full-time Linux desktop user.
Beekeeper has a clean and modern UI and lets you execute SQL queries and edit table data across multiple open tabs quickly and easily.
Beekeeper is a no nonsense PostgreSQL GUI that is perfect for software engineers and analysts who need to work with PostgreSQL and want a database UI that doesn’t get in the way. If you are a hard-core database user performing performance analysis and profiling, Beekeeper Studio is probably not for you (yet).
Beekeeper Studio Connect Screen
Beekeeper Studio SQL Editor
So these are the Best GUI clients for PostgreSQL which you can download and use on Ubuntu. Feel free to share your views and queries at @LinuxHint and @SwapTirthakar.
About the author
Swapnil Tirthakar
A Software Engineer who loves football and passionate about traveling. I often spend my free time playing with gadgets and exploring new possibilities in tech world. I am Linux enthusiast and have about 6 years of experience in web development. I have good command on Python, Java, SQL and system security.
Top 3 Best (FREE) GUIs for PostgreSQL in 2022
PostgreSQL is one of the most popular database systems in use today. GUIs make working with data in PostgreSQL simpler for beginners – here are the best free GUIs you can use on Linux in 2022.
What is PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) for storing structured data. It provides a networked database server that can be used as the backend for your mobile apps, APIs, and webapps. It is also used for storing data for processing in analytics and data science.
It’s free to use and open source, and is fast becoming one of the most popular database systems. It is supported by most major programming languages and frameworks, including JavaScript, PHP, and Python.
DBeaver
DBeaver is probably my favorite of the lot.
DBeaver is a cross-platform database GUI that supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, and other niche database servers. It has a visual query builder, and can even generate data for use in testing.
The Good
- Desktop application that you can just download and run
- Fake data generator makes generating test data easy (no more trying to think up fake names)
- Supports a huge number of databases, one tool to rule them all
The Bad
pgAdmin
pgAdmin is a desktop application that provides a web based application for administering PostgreSQL. As it’s browser based, you can set it up and administer your databases servers remotely without having to install anything locally or open your database directly to the outside world.
The Good
- Web based, so it can be installed and run from your web or database server
- A desktop version is also now available, so you don’t have to deploy a web server for local development
- Built for PostgreSQL specifically
The Bad
- Nothing, really. Some people disliked having to run a web server locally, but that is less of an issue with the new desktop bundle
- Only supports PostgreSQL
HeidiSQL
Like DBeaver, HeidiSQL supports the most popular databases – MariaDB, MySQL, Microsoft SQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite. It provides a desktop database GUI that is easy to use.
HeidiSQL is easy to use and popular, but there’s one big drawback – it’s only written for Windows. This doesn’t you from running it on Linux, however – it runs perfectly well under Linux’s WINE compatibility layer, and has even been packaged in the Snap Store with WINE for easy install.
The Good
- Supports the most popular databases
- Easy to use, so popular with developers who aren’t looking to get too far into the weeds database wise and just want a simple tool
The Bad
Choose the One That Works for You
If you’re working only with PostgreSQL, otherwise, one of the other solutions that supports multiple database servers might be a better fit. You should also consider whether you’ll be working on other operating systems – choosing a PostgreSQL GUI with cross-platform support may be preferable if you will be switching to other environments (for example, for work, of if you are collaborating with others and might want to share configurations or scripts).
Try them out, see which you like, and build a workflow around it.