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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Rick's Rules of Thumb for MySQL

Here are 170+ tips, tricks and suggestions for MySQL.

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Rick's Rules of Thumb for MySQL launched in 2019; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Stop treating the database as dumb storage and use its extended features. There's a lot you can use.

    2022 · sqlfordevs.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Learn MySQL with 64 videos for application developers

    2023 · planetscale.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3
    DBngin▲133

    Free all-in-one database version management tool 🛠️

    2018 · dbngin.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    Hi everyone — thanks for your interest in PRQL — let us know any questions or feedback! We're excited to be releasing 0.2[1], the first version of PRQL you can use in your own projects. It wouldn't exist without the feedback we got from HackerNews when we originally posted the proposal. [1]: https://github.com/prql/prql/releases/tag/0.2.0

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Powerful online SQL sandbox

    2024 · sqlplayground.app · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    learn mysql

    2023 · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    Collection of 200+ database diagram templates for developers

    2020 · drawsql.app · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    Search for files using a fun query language. Contribute to kashav/fsql development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    I created a web page to compare different analytical databases (both self-managed and services, open-source and proprietary) on a realistic dataset. It contains 20+ databases, each with installation and data loading scripts. And they can be compared to each other on a set of 43 queries, by data load time or by storage size. There are switches to select different types of databases for comparison - for example, only MySQL compatible or PostgreSQL compatible. If you play with the switches, many interesting details will be uncovered. Full description:…

    2022 · benchmark.clickhouse.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Up to 1,000× faster database queries with just a few clicks

    2023 · planetscale.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Hey! I'm Andrei. I got frustrated by how people tend to build overcomplicated backend systems, being "motivated" by big tech case studies and popular books. So, I started exploring lean architecture, and building my digital garden of ideas, approaches and data that align with this direction. Here I want to present one of the tools – Sizing tool for PostgreSQL. I've benchmarked PostgreSQL on different EC2 instances and disks, with different initial data sets to see performance that these instances can give you. And I've built a tool to visualize this data, which I welcome you to explore. So,…

    Jul 2026 · postgres.saneengineer.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Expert tips and tutorials to optimize your online forms

    2023 · formtips.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Hi everyone. Over the past year, I've built a MySQL Proxy that supports Online DDL. I'm not sure if there are other proxies out there with this feature, but I found it fascinating and thought it was worth sharing. Of course, this proxy also supports many other features, such as Read Write Split, Read After Write Consistency, Load Balancing, and Transparent Failover. I didn't build this database from the bottom up; instead, I forked Vitess and put a lot of effort into overhauling its architecture and SQL Engine Layer. Moving forward, I hope to introduce more developer-friendly features into…

    2023 · github.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    An explained SQL output visualized for easier understanding

    2024 · mysqlexplain.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15IB

    upscaledb - a blazingly fast embedded key-value store with analytical functions

    2016 · upscaledb.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16MA
  17. 17

    Entertaining way to learn SQL

    2015 · alexpineda.gumroad.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Which Database is Ideal for Your Business Need?

    2019 · cmarix.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    I was always confused when trying to optimize a slow MySQL query as the output of the EXPLAIN command is so cryptic and totally useless. And there wasn't any tool that could help visualize what a query does - compared to PostgreSQL which has multiple... So, I started developing such a tool for MySQL. But boy, I didn't expect how complicated this is in reality. There were so many things hiding in tiny information pieces that I had to understand. But it also confirmed me in that a tool should try to understand the EXPLAIN output and not a human as it is too easy to oversee something. After…

    2024 · mysqlexplain.com · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    I built DDL to Data after repeatedly pushing back on "just use production data and mask it" requests. Teams needed populated databases for testing, but pulling prod meant security reviews, PII scrubbing, and DevOps tickets. Hand-written seed scripts were the alternative slow, fragile, and out of sync the moment schemas changed. Paste your CREATE TABLE statements, get realistic test data back. It parses your schema, preserves foreign key relationships, and generates data that looks real, emails look like emails, timestamps are reasonable, uniqueness constraints are honored. No setup, no…

    Jan 2026 · ddltodata.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    xmysql is now https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb. Contribute to o1lab/xmysql development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    SQL Query Optimisation Tool

    2019 · eversql.com · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    LinkedQL is a new SQL client that supports live queries over any Postgres, MySQL, and MariaDB database. You get result sets that self-update differentially as rows change in your database – via inserts, updates, deletes. Works with no extra tooling/ORM layer or GraphQL servers. You opt into live mode simply with a flag: client.query('SELECT ...', { live: true }). More at: https://linked-ql.netlify.app/capabilities/live-queries LinkedQL is written in JavaScript and runs in both client and server environments. GitHub + docs:…

    Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    Learn how to guard against accidents and server failures

    2019 · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →