Master DBeaver: Free Open-Source Database Management Tool Tutorial

Hello, I'm Su San. To quickly manage databases we often choose a handy tool; Navicat and DataGrip are good but paid. Today I share a free, powerful database management tool DBeaver that can operate almost all databases.

DBeaver Overview

DBeaver is an open‑source database management tool with over 41K+ stars on GitHub. It supports up to 100 databases, both relational and non‑relational.

Download & Installation

Download the zip version, unzip, and run.

Download zip from

https://dbeaver.io/download/

After extraction, double‑click dbeaver.exe to run. The default creates a test SQLite database; the UI resembles Eclipse because DBeaver is built on Eclipse.

Usage

Mall Project Example

We use the mall project (a SpringBoot + Vue e‑commerce system) as a sample database.

Theme Settings

DBeaver supports classic, light, and dark themes.

Set dark theme via Window → Preferences → Appearance → Dark.

Create Data Source

To operate a database you first create a data source.

Select the plus icon → MySQL to create a MySQL data source.

Enter connection details; the first connection may prompt to download the JDBC driver.

After successful connection, the left pane shows databases, tables, views, indexes, etc.

Table Management

After the connection is created you can operate tables.

Double‑click a table and select the Properties tab to view column attributes.

Choose Properties → DDL to see the CREATE statement.

Select the Data tab to view table data with pagination.

Enter a WHERE clause in the filter box to filter rows.

Hide columns by clicking the filter button and toggling the [v] flag.

Right‑click the left pane to Create Table, add fields, set primary key auto‑increment, etc.

SQL Operations

Open the SQL editor to run queries.

Click the SQL button and choose SQL Editor to open the SQL interface.

DBeaver provides autocomplete for keywords, functions, tables, and columns.

To generate an INSERT statement for all fields, right‑click a record and choose Generate SQL.

Other Database Support

Although DBeaver lists 100 databases, the community edition lacks some.

Redis and MongoDB require the PRO version.

Elasticsearch via JDBC needs an Elasticsearch Platinum license.

Conclusion

DBeaver is an excellent open‑source database management tool with comprehensive features; for relational databases it is more than sufficient.