Three Free Tools That Seamlessly Replace Navicat
If you need a cost‑free replacement for Navicat, this article compares three MySQL client tools—DBeaver, MySQL Workbench, and HeidiSQL—detailing their installation steps, supported databases, key features such as monitoring and ER diagrams, and practical usage tips.
DBeaver
DBeaver is a universal database client that supports almost every database type. The community edition can be downloaded from https://dbeaver.io/download/; after selecting the appropriate version for your operating system, the installation proceeds with a simple wizard. If the installer defaults to English, the language can be switched to Simplified Chinese after installation. The author highlights its extensive database support as the main advantage.
MySQL Workbench
MySQL Workbench is the official client from Oracle. It can be obtained from https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/. The current download is the 8.x series, which works with any MySQL server version. After downloading, run the installer; the UI is English only. The author points out two major benefits: built‑in database monitoring and an integrated ER‑diagram editor, both of which are free and useful for performance testing and DBA tasks.
HeidiSQL
HeidiSQL is a lightweight, free client that supports MariaDB, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL and SQLite. The installer (≈40 MB) is available at https://www.heidisql.com/ and the source code is hosted on GitHub. After installation the interface automatically appears in Chinese on Chinese systems, and the language can also be changed via Tools > Preferences > Language. The author notes its small footprint and multi‑database support as key strengths.
Overall, the three tools provide viable, cost‑free alternatives to Navicat, each with its own trade‑offs: DBeaver offers the broadest database coverage, MySQL Workbench adds monitoring and ER‑diagram capabilities, and HeidiSQL combines a tiny installer with support for several popular databases.
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