Alternatives to Toad

Having done 3 years in one job using TOAD, and now 5 years in current job using PL/SQL Developer, I would say overall TOAD is a better tool, but if you are specifically developing stored procedures in PL/SQL, PL/SQL Developer is better.

Don't forget get to set up the context sensitive help (under Help - HTML Manuals)

You could also use [sqltools,][1] which some of my colleagues prefer. I never got used to it, but looks powerful.


[1]:

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I second the SQL Developer comments. FWIW, the newer versions of Toad are much more stable than the golden oldies were. I'm using Toad 9.7 and it's quite good.

[TOra][1] is an another good option. I used the pre GPL version for years. It's a good simple SQL tool for Oracle.

It supports schema browsing, analyse plan, limited debugging plus all the stuff you'd expect.




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I use PL/SQL Developer for running multiple queries and stored procedure development, as it's rock solid, and you can kill the process via Task Manager, and get back all your windows upon starting up again.
I use TOAD for browsing, as that functionality can't be beat. But it's flaky on me, hanging, etc, although that is probably my computer..
I would buy both. I have both open now.

For accessing odd sources (OSISoft PI, JDE on AS400, 4D, Access, Excel), I use [Advanced Query Tool][1]. It's great to be able to use SQL against an Excel sheet of a proposed table, to create your DDL.


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I've been using Golden from Benthic Software as a SQL*Plus replacement for a long time and love it.

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I'm using **PL/SQL Developer**, which I think one of the best oracle database tools, it's lite and fast, I have one copy in my USB flash to allow me to use it in any pc(you just copy it from the program files folder and place it in the flash and it will work fine).

Also I bought **OraDeveloper** from DevArt three months ago, it's has some good features, but it's slower than PL/SQL Developer and require .Net framekwork. but the good thing that it has direct connection to Oracle, so you can use it from any PC without requiring Oracle client to be installed.

Another tools is **EMS SQL Management Studio** for Oracle, which looks nice, and have some nice features specially with import/export from other format.

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and for free one you can use **AnySQL Maestro**, which has support for Oracle/MySql/Sql server and offer AnySql Maestro for free

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After trying other products for some months, I'm back to Toad.<br/>
And I have to admit that (IMHO, and for the type of use that I'm doing of it): **I've found no alternative to Toad**.

The indispensable features that are missing in other products are:

1. Speed. Toad is blazingly fast; SQL Developer starts to crawl if you open more than 2 or 3 connections. When you have to operate with time constraints, you really can't wait SQL Developer to open.

2. The "open a new window until commit" functionality (a new window is opened after an insert or update statement, and you are forced to commit or rollback). Really handy to avoid pending commits.

3. The "execute current statement" functionality (shift-F9). SQL Developer doesn't have it, or you are forced to select the query you want to execute.

I love Toad. I had to switch to Embarcadero's Rapid SQL for two months and it damn near killed me. So while I don't know of any products that are *better* than Toad, I can say without reservation that Rapid SQL is wholly inadequate.

I've tried most of the tools suggested above, and found that I prefer this one over all of them (including TOAD):
[SQLDetective][1]


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