SQLlySQLly vs Querious
Querious is one of the most polished MySQL clients ever made for the Mac: a fast, genuinely native app from Araelium with editors for everything from triggers to the event scheduler. SQLly is native on the Mac too, but goes wider - more engines, more platforms, and script-first DBA tooling. If your world is MySQL on a Mac, this is a genuinely close call. Here’s the honest breakdown.
Last reviewed: September 2026
At a glance
Native on the Mac, and beyond it
Rust and Metal on Apple Silicon Macs, with supported-beta builds for Windows and Linux. MySQL and MariaDB plus SQL Server, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and hosted variants - 30 engines in all. Free for hobbyists; Annual and Lifetime licenses for everyone else.
The crafted Mac MySQL client
Proprietary, made exclusively for macOS (12 or later), on Intel and Apple Silicon. MySQL and compatible databases like MariaDB, plus experimental SQLite. A free trial, then a $50 one-time purchase with a year of updates; $29 renewals, never auto-charged.
Feature by feature
SQLly’s column uses the same honest status badges as the features page and the docs. For Querious we list what Araelium states on its own site.
| Capability | SQLly | Querious |
|---|---|---|
| Native Mac app | YesMetal and Core Text. How it works | YesMade exclusively for macOS. |
| Apple Silicon Macs | YesSigned and notarized. | Yes |
| Intel Macs | NoThe macOS build targets Apple Silicon. | Yes |
| Windows & Linux | YesSupported beta. Download | No |
| Price & license | Free tier + licensesPricing | $50 onceIncludes a year of updates; $29 renewals. Not a subscription. Free trial. |
| Open source | NoLifetime licenses carry a source-escrow promise if SQLly is ever discontinued. | No |
| MySQL & MariaDB | YesMySQL and MariaDB, plus Aurora, RDS, Azure, Cloud SQL, PlanetScale, TiDB. Databases | YesIts whole focus, including RDS and Aurora. |
| PostgreSQL, SQL Server & more | YesPostgreSQL, SQL Server, SQLite, DuckDB, Redis, and more. | NoSQLite support is experimental; PostgreSQL is a “register your interest” signup. |
| Autocomplete | YesData-aware: real column values, joins from actual foreign keys, live GROUP BY check. IntelliSense |
YesContext-sensitive, asynchronous fuzzy completion. |
| Edit table data | YesA row editor generated from the table’s own metadata. Row editor | YesJSON with validation, binary, checkbox booleans, and a vertical form editor. |
| Object editors | YesStructure editing with a live change diff. Structure editing | YesGUI editors for columns, indexes, keys, triggers, events, functions, and procedures. |
| ER diagrams | YesExport to SVG, Mermaid, or DBML. Relationship Graph | YesRelationship graph with artificial keys; exports to PDF. |
| Schema compare | YesAcross connections and engines, with rollback scripts. Schema Compare | YesStructure comparison and synchronization, with presets. |
| Data compare | YesRow-level diff between connections. Tools | - |
| Import & export data | YesCSV, JSON, Excel, SQL, and more. Export | YesSQL, CSV, and Tab with gzip, presets, and whole-server dumps. Plus a CSV/Tab file editor. |
| Copy data between servers | YesCopy tables between connections - even across engines. | YesDuplicates objects and whole databases, data included, between servers. |
| DBA tools | YesServer Dashboard, Activity Monitor, backup/restore, user and privilege editing. Tools | YesProcesses, users and privileges, server variables, event scheduler, error and slow-query logs, InnoDB status. |
| SSH tunnels & TLS | YesSSH, SOCKS, and HTTP proxy; TLS modes with client certificates. TLS | YesSSH tunnels, including remote Unix sockets; SSL options. |
| Execution plans | In progressQuery plans | - |
A dash means we couldn’t confirm it from Araelium’s own materials - check Querious’s documentation for the current state.
Where SQLly is different
Querious is deep on MySQL for the Mac. SQLly is for when the estate - or the team - is bigger than that.
More than MySQL
When a PostgreSQL or SQL Server database turns up, you don’t need a second client. Actions like “view top 1000 rows” speak each engine’s dialect.
Databases →Windows and Linux too
Querious is Mac-only by design. SQLly ships the same workbench as a supported beta on Windows and Linux, so mixed-OS teams can standardize on one tool.
Download →Guardrails for production
Environment colors, read-only connections, confirmation before data changes, and a hard stop on DELETE with no WHERE.
IntelliSense that reads your data
Suggestions from real column values, joins from actual foreign keys, and a live GROUP BY check.
When Querious is the better choice
Querious earns its reputation. Pick it if:
- You’re on an Intel Mac. SQLly’s Mac build targets Apple Silicon; Querious runs on both architectures.
- You live in MySQL GUI editors. Querious has crafted interfaces for triggers, events, functions, and procedures, including calling routines without writing a query. SQLly’s admin tools are deliberately script-first.
- You clean up CSV and Tab files by hand. Querious’s built-in data file editor can split, join, de-duplicate, and regex-replace columns before import.
- You want a pay-once license. $50 buys Querious outright with a year of updates, and the app keeps working forever; SQLly’s free tier caps saved servers at two and isn’t available inside organizations with more than 100 employees.
- You duplicate whole databases between servers often. Querious makes that a single guided action, data included.
Questions
Is Querious free?
No. Querious offers a free trial, then a $50 one-time purchase that includes one year of updates; renewing another year of updates costs $29, and it is not an auto-renewing subscription. SQLly has a free tier for hobbyists and side projects, with Annual and Lifetime licenses for everyone else.
Does Querious support PostgreSQL?
No. Querious works with MySQL and compatible databases such as MariaDB, plus experimental SQLite support in version 4. Araelium is collecting interest in PostgreSQL but does not support it today. SQLly connects to PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MySQL, SQLite, and 26 more engines.
Does Querious run on Windows or Linux?
No. Querious is made exclusively for macOS (12 or later), and runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. SQLly is Apple Silicon only on the Mac, but also ships supported-beta builds for Windows and Linux.
Other comparisons
One pig, thirty engines
Free to download for Apple Silicon Macs, Windows, and Linux, no account required.