Best alternative to phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is one of those go-to solutions that are always guaranteed to make it to nearly every list of top database tools dealing with the management and administration of MySQL and MariaDB databases. It is free, well-documented, and while limited in features, it has a stable and flexible code base and a huge community around the world.

But what if, despite being part of that community, you're seeking to expand your toolset to match your growing skills? What if you start working on complex projects and face a broader set of tasks? What if you want to save your precious time and automate the tedious part of managing MySQL and MariaDB databases? Then go no further, we've got something for you. It's an IDE called dbForge Studio for MySQL, and it most probably has everything you've been looking for. And below, you will find a feature-by-feature comparison of phpMyAdmin and dbForge Studio that might help you see whether it's worth switching from the former to the latter.

Database comparison and synchronization

dbForge Studio helps you easily find, inspect, and analyze differences in database schemas and table data. Moreover, you can synchronize source databases to target ones with handy autogenerated scripts.

• Locate and analyze table data differences
• View data differences per record
• Save and load comparison settings
• Generate data synchronization scripts
• Create comparison reports in several formats
• Automate comparison and synchronization tasks from the command line

MySQL version control

One of the Studio's killer features is Source Control, which delivers integration with all major version control systems, including Azure DevOps Server (previously known as Team Foundation Server), Apache Subversion (SVN), TFVC, Git (including GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket), Mercurial (Hg), Perforce (P4), and SourceGear Vault.

• Version-control schemas and static table data
• Manage database versioning under the dedicated or shared development model
• Commit and revert changes with dependency awareness
• Perform fast comparison of database versions
• View conflicts and resolve inconsistencies visually
• View the history of changes

Test data generation

The Studio packs quite a few advanced features such as Data Generator, which helps you get any volumes of realistic, column-intelligent test data in just a few clicks.

• Create test data with a variety of customizable generators
• Maintain the consistency of your data across multiple tables
• Preserve inter-column data dependencies
• Customize and share generators with other users
• Populate your databases with test data
• Automate recurring tasks from the command line

User and database administration

Finally, dbForge Studio for MySQL is a good choice for DBAs owing to its built-in administration tools that help keep full control over databases in the most effortless way.

• Manage user accounts and privileges
• Migrate databases between different environments
• Perform table maintenance
• Keep an eye on server sessions with Session Manager
• Administer several MySQL servers using Service Control