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Top 9 Database Documentation Tools of 2024 — Free and Paid Options Unwrapped

May 13, 2024

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Database documentation tools usually aren’t the priority for the teams working on small projects. When coping with routine development tasks, it’s easy to overlook the importance of creating comprehensive database documentation since there are always more urgent tasks. However, when you become the only person who knows how things work, collaboration and making the data usable will eventually pose a real challenge. According to the 2023 Developer Survey by Stackoverflow, over 70% of developers encounter knowledge silos at work at least 1-2 times a week, needing assistance from their team members or colleagues outside of their teams. As a result, productivity frictions happen.

Moreover, even to the developers in charge, the database structure may become unclear. Human memory has limitations, and creating clear database documentation is as essential as providing software documentation or adding concise comments within one’s code. It’s a way of making a database readable and easy to understand for everyone.

In this article, we will compare nine database documentation tools available in 2024 to determine which are most helpful without requiring much integration effort.

Evaluation Criteria for Database Documentation Tools

It’s easy to get lost in the wide range of paid and free database documentation tools that support different DBMSs and boast many features needed for specific tasks. Nevertheless, only some tools can handle certain tasks you have in mind. That’s why we have prepared a list of evaluation criteria to provide unbiased insight into how these tools perform against one another.

Let’s look at the most common criteria affecting the choice of database documentation tools.

Supported DBMS

Database documentation tools can either be used only with a specific DBMS or cover a range of database management systems. Naturally, you might have to pay attention to these criteria and narrow down your choice to Oracle database documentation tools only if you use Oracle or MySQL database documentation tools if you use MySQL.

Documentation format

If your team is used to working with a certain documentation format, it makes sense to choose a database documenter tool that creates similar documentation, be it a PDF file or an HTML page with clear navigation.

Ease of use

Database documentation should make your team’s collaboration easier. Unfortunately, for some teams, it’s just a formality, and the documents aren’t frequently updated. That’s why it’s essential to pay attention to the ease of use of the database documentation tools: their ability to be integrated in CI/CD, the ways to automate regular updates and organize everything in a concise way.

To provide an unbiased evaluation of ease of use, we advise you to consider the following criteria:

Documentation generation via GUI
Documentation generation via command line
Integration with CI/CD processes
Potential automation

Thus, the Ease-of-use score might range from 0 to 4 based on the number of satisfied criteria.

Customization options

Using corporate styles is a way of making every document look professional and precise, highlighting that it belongs to a particular company. However, not all database documenter tools provide you with an option to change a logo or customize typography settings. Moreover, only the best database documentation tools let you use WYSIWYG-based templates to visually adjust the content or define which tables and objects should be excluded.

To evaluate customization options, we have listed the following features:

Theme selection for documentation
Customization of cover page appearance
Selection of objects for documentation
Export and import of settings from pre-saved configurations

The Customization score might range from 0 to 4 based on the number of satisfied criteria.

Licensing terms

Some of the free database documentation tools can be used only with the GPL-licensed products, while in other cases, you must get a license to use the tool. The license terms are different for each of the database documentation tools. Some of them require purchasing a separate license for each installation or user.

Trial period and pricing

You cannot be sure you have found the right database documentation tool unless you give it a go. That’s why having a trial version showcasing the tool’s full potential is the best way to ensure the tool is worth buying.

Database Documentation Tools Comparison Chart

Now that we have listed the most important evaluation criteria, let’s move on to the tools that assist teams in creating concise documentation. Our chart comprises nine paid and free database documentation tools ranked based on the most important factors you have to consider when making a choice.

Tool/Criteria	Supported DBMS	Documentation format	Ease of use (max. 4)	Customization options (max. 4)	Pricing starts from
dbForge Edge	SQL Server, MariaDB, MySQL, Oracle	HTML, PDF, Markdown	4	4	$699.95/yr. per license
dbdocs	MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server	Cloud-based	3	3	$720/yr. per 3 paid projects
Dataedo	SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB	Web catalog, HTML, PDF, Excel	4	4	$18000/yr. per 3 users
ApexSQL Doc	SQL Server databases, SSAS models, SSIS packages	CHM, HTML, DOC, Markdown, PDF	4	4	$729.47/yr. per instance
Redgate SQL Doc	SQL Server	HTML, PDF, DOC, Markdown	4	4	$279/yr. per user
SchemaSpy	SQL, can be adjusted for PostgreSQL	HTML	1	0	Free
Database Note Taker	SQL Server, MySQL	HTML, XML	1	1	Free
dbdesc	SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft Access, Firebird	HTML, RTF, DOC, PDF	3	4	$99 per license
TechWriter for databases	Access, MySQL, Oracle, SAS, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, DB2	PDF, CHM, RTF, HTML, XPS and XML	3	3	$600/yr. per license

Certainly, the database documentation tools listed above require installation for you to evaluate them, as not all features are immediately apparent. It’s clear that it might take days, if not weeks, to test them all and decide which solution is optimal. That’s why we have come up with detailed descriptions that you can check to get a general idea of what each tool is capable of.

dbForge Edge

Check the tool >
30-day free trial >
Supported DBMS: SQL Server, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
Documentation format: HTML, PDF, Markdown

dbForge Edge is an all-in-one secure IDE for database development, design, management, administration, and testing, that comes with an intuitive and easy-to-use database documenter tool for automated documentation generation. This ultimate solution possesses a full set of features for visualization, customization, integration into CI/CD, and robust templates one can tweak according to their needs and branding styles. With dbForge Edge, you get everything you need to master databases at once, never having to use separate tools for different tasks again.

Ease of use:

Documentation generation via GUI
Documentation generation via command line
Integration with CI/CD processes
Potential automation

Customization:

Theme selection for documentation
Customization of cover page appearance
Selection of objects for documentation
Export and import of settings from pre-saved configurations

Interface

Tutorials: available
Used by: software and database developers, architects, managers, and analysts

Licensing terms:

Yearly recurrent subscription or perpetual license
Special offers for enterprise clients
Free licensing for MVPs

Trial: 30 days
Pricing: from $699.95/yr. per license

Check pricing options >

dbdocs

Check the tool >
Live demo >
Supported DBMS: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
Documentation format: Cloud-based

dbdocs is a simple SQL and MySQL database documentation tool launched from the command line that uses DBML language to define and describe schemas and generates cloud-based documentation where one can browse and check relationships between tables and fields.