Best 10 Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Alternatives (2026)

• For SQL Server, KeeperDB connects to Azure SQL, AWS RDS and on-premises instances, with Windows, SQL Server or Microsoft Entra ID sign-in
• The live monitor shows each process with its user, database, current SQL and elapsed time, maps blocking chains and locks, and lets you kill a session
• Secrets Manager passes credentials from the Keeper Vault to the desktop app, which keeps them in memory only while the session lasts
• Each session gets its own audit log of every query action
• KeeperPAM lets users request ephemeral, time-limited accounts, with approvals handled in Slack, Jira, ServiceNow or Teams
• KeeperPAM captures a full recording of each database session, including every keystroke and visual interaction
• Through KeeperPAM’s Tunnel feature, users can connect with a locally installed database application, and admins can end a contractor’s access by revoking the vault share

We think KeeperDB is a good fit for SQL Server teams that need secure, recorded and time-limited access to production databases, particularly if they also plan to deploy an enterprise PAM solution which Keeper offers via KeeperPAM.

You don’t need a Keeper account to use the free desktop app, and it handles day-to-day SQL Server work by itself. For credential injection, session recording, read-only permissions and time-limited access, you’ll need KeeperPAM, and Keeper provides pricing for it on request.

Keeper’s wider platform includes a popular, easy-to-use password manager and an enterprise PAM solution, used by more than 100,000 organizations worldwide. If your team also needs enterprise password management or PAM, KeeperDB brings database access into the same platform.

KeeperDB doesn’t manage Agent jobs, run backups and restores or include a profiler, so if your DBAs rely on those, we recommend you keep SSMS for that work.

• The Agent Manager also covers SQL Server Agent alerts and operators
• Backup devices can be viewed, created, and dropped from the IDE
• AI Assist shares metadata only if you opt in, Idera says database data is never shared, and administrators can disable it during installation
• Aqua Data Studio integrates with Active Directory, LDAP, and single sign-on providers
• Credentials in connection profiles are encrypted, and teams share connection configurations without seeing the underlying secrets
• SQL history tracking and logging record which user ran which query, and when
• The Ultimate edition adds task scheduling, synthetic data generation, and JSON import and export with MongoDB

We think Aqua Data Studio is a strong option for analysts and developers who work across SQL Server and other database platforms. It’s a strong choice if you want query, modeling, compare, and charting tools in one IDE.

If you’re moving from SSMS to macOS or Linux, Aqua Data Studio runs there and still covers backup and restore and Agent jobs.

Standard costs $499 per user and Ultimate costs $699 per user, both on annual licensing. There’s no free edition; the 14-day trial covers Ultimate features except import and export.

• Professional and Business plans include cloud workspaces, where your team shares connections and saved queries in a shared folder
• Workspaces assign Member, Admin, and Owner roles, and per-item permissions let you share queries with different teams
• Saved connection passwords are encrypted, and database credentials stay on your device and are never sent to Beekeeper Studio
• Strict encryption for SQL Server connections is supported on SQL Server 2022 and newer
• Paid editions support AWS IAM passwordless connections and plugin admin controls with allowlists and lockdown
• Folders and read-only mode are available in the free edition

We think Beekeeper Studio is a strong option for developers who query SQL Server from macOS, Linux, or Windows and want a free, open-source client.

If you’re moving from SSMS, note that Beekeeper Studio describes itself as an SSMS alternative for developers who use SQL Server, and says it doesn’t replace SSMS for Agent management, replication or server tuning.

Paid plans cost $9, $14, or $18 per user per month, billed yearly, with a commitment-free 14-day trial.

• JetBrains AI Assistant writes SQL from natural language with your database context
• You can run agents such as Junie, Claude, Codex, GitHub Copilot, or Gemini CLI from the model picker, and review their work in a result comparison tool before it lands
• Local History and Git integration track changes to your scripts
• Project data source definitions can be stored in version control for your team, and the shared file excludes passwords
• DataGrip keeps no password store of its own; it uses your operating system’s password manager or KeePass
• JetBrains AI comes in AI Free, AI Pro, AI Ultimate, and AI Enterprise tiers, and AI Pro is included with the All Products Pack

We think DataGrip is a strong option for developers who want IDE-grade T-SQL editing and AI agents in a database tool, on any operating system.

If you’re moving from SSMS, JetBrains itself says some SSMS functionality is still missing in DataGrip, including SQL Server Agent jobs and schedules. DataGrip also only restores SQL Server table data through the external bcp utility.

DataGrip is free for non-commercial use, and commercial licenses come with a 30-day trial.

• Stores connection credentials in external secret managers, such as Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault, and CyberArk
• A master password protects saved credentials in PRO editions
• DBeaver can route queries through a central server, so passwords stay hidden and queries are logged
• Team Edition’s audit logging panel records API activity, and Team Edition and CloudBeaver keep query history for all users
• By default, the AI Assistant asks you to confirm before it runs a query that modifies data or schema
• The dbvr standalone CLI runs database operations from the command line

We think DBeaver PRO is a strong option for teams that manage SQL Server and other engines, with a free Community Edition to start from. If you’re moving from SSMS, DBeaver covers Agent jobs, logins and sessions on all three desktop operating systems, but SQL Server isn’t in its backup and restore tools, so we recommend you keep SSMS for backups.

Pricing is per named user per year: Lite costs $113, Enterprise $255 and Ultimate $510, with a 14-day trial. Features depend on the edition, so check which one your team needs before you buy.

• The Studio creates, schedules and monitors SQL Server Agent jobs visually, though Devart doesn’t say which edition includes this
• Event Profiler captures events on a SQL Server instance and traces server activity
• The dbForge AI Assistant generates, explains, optimizes, and troubleshoots SQL using models from OpenAI and Anthropic
• The AI Assistant sees only your database metadata, never the data itself, and it’s switched off by default
• A free Express AI tier includes 200,000 tokens a month, and the paid AI tier costs $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year
• Connection passwords are saved by default, and you can turn this off

We think dbForge Studio for SQL Server is a strong option for Windows-based DBAs who want SQL Server development and administration in one IDE, with compare, profiling, and test data tools built in.

If you’re moving from SSMS, the Studio covers backup and restore, Agent jobs, logins, and server monitoring alongside its query and design tools. The Express edition is free, and paid editions cost $249.95, $399.95, or $549.95 per year for Standard, Professional, and Enterprise.

dbForge Studio for SQL Server works only with SQL Server and SQL Server-based services, so if your team also runs other engines, we recommend you pair it with a multi-engine client.

• References graphs in the Free edition render every primary and foreign key mapping
• Pro teams share database connections by mounting an external connections folder
• Client-side audit logging in Pro records executed SQL statements, database metadata calls, and connection state changes
• Administrators can enforce global audit policies
• Saved passwords are encrypted with an auto-generated key, and an optional master password encrypts all passwords and passphrases instead
• Git integration supports three-way merges
• You can disable AI at the client level

We think DbVisualizer is a strong option for cross-platform teams that want a simple per-user license and a free edition to start with.

If you’re moving from SSMS, DbVisualizer handles Agent jobs and process management on any desktop operating system.

DbVisualizer lacks advanced SQL Server administration tools, including in-depth SQL Agent editors and maintenance plan designers, so the vendor recommends keeping SSMS for full administration.

Pro costs $199 per user for the first year and $89 a year after that, and every subscription includes a perpetual license for the version you have. There’s also a 21-day trial available.

• Every edition includes code completion with live error checking, plus SSH, HTTP, and SSL/TLS connections
• Data masking supports substitution, variance, shuffling, hashing, and nulling
• Navicat Cloud and the self-hosted Navicat On-Prem Server let you assign a role to each coworker for each project
• On-Prem Server applies access rights to local users or external LDAP and Active Directory users, and logs collaboration activity
• Saved database passwords are encrypted, and Navicat Cloud doesn’t store your database passwords or data
• Navicat also sells Navicat for SQL Server, a single-engine edition

We think Navicat Premium is a strong option for teams that want one client for SQL Server and their other relational and NoSQL databases.

If you’re moving from SSMS, Navicat Premium covers SQL Server backup and restore, server monitoring, and user management on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Navicat’s documentation doesn’t show SQL Server Agent job management, so we recommend you keep SSMS for that work.

The Enterprise Edition costs $1,999 per user as a perpetual license with a year of maintenance, and paid editions come with a 14-day trial. Navicat Premium Lite is free for up to five users per organization.

• The AI assistant asks for your approval before running anything other than a read query, and Safe Mode still applies after you approve
• Query results the AI assistant reads, including data rows, are sent to your chosen provider
• On macOS, the TablePlus MCP server issues read-only tokens that reject anything other than read queries, and accepts connections only from your own Mac by default
• Database and SSH passwords are saved in your Mac’s Keychain
• Teams share connections through a synced folder, and passwords stay in each computer’s Keychain

We think TablePlus is a strong option for developers who want a native client with a one-time license, particularly on macOS.

If you’re moving from SSMS, TablePlus is a native app for querying and editing SQL Server data on a Mac. Its backup and restore and user management tools cover PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB, not SQL Server, so we recommend you keep SSMS or scripts for SQL Server administration.

A Basic license costs $99 for one device plus two iOS devices, with a year of updates, and you keep using the app without limits after that year. Team seats cost $79 each, with a minimum of three.

• Toad Chat, the integrated AI assistant, explains SQL, suggests tuning changes and checks your code for errors before you run it
• AI features are available to Toad for SQL Server subscription users
• Automations can be built once, scheduled and shared with your team
• Toad offers the same features on Azure SQL as on an on-premises SQL Server, except the Job Manager
• Subscriptions can be activated offline

We think Toad for SQL Server is a strong option for DBAs who want tuning, comparison, and job management in one SQL Server tool.

If you’re moving from SSMS and want to stay on Windows, Toad for SQL Server covers job management and maintenance plan backups alongside query tuning, one-to-many schema compare and transaction log reading.

Quest does not publish public pricing for Toad, but there is a with 30- trials of both the subscription and non-subscription versions. It runs on Windows only and covers SQL Server and Azure SQL, so if your team works across other engines, we recommend you pair it with a multi-engine client.