3 ms·

How do you differentiate from, say, dbeaver, or any similar database management software? What's the main reason to get Mathesar instead of DBeaver?

sixdimensional 2y ago
I'm not related to the author or developers, but this appears almost like an Airtable-like (or Nocodb) UI on top of postgres, so it's really quite a different experience than a full database manager tool/IDE like DBeaver or DataGrip. I love it personally and it looks pretty good so far. Also, amazing that the team started it as an open source project under a 501c3 nonprofit as well. Having a more "spreadsheet" (or I would say, MS Access-like) UI is quite cool for certain use cases (e.g. low/no-code but backed by the full power of regular old Postgres). Can allow pretty agile development, although - it can get out of control if not managed with care... but nice to see the access controls/permissions there to help a bit. All interesting choices, looks cool!
- Imustaskforhelp 2y ago
  Yes this definitely feels like MS access but open source and based on postgres which is awesome!
thomasfromcdnjs 2y ago
I'd be more curious about how it differs to Metabase?
- kgodey 2y ago
  Metabase is a BI tool focused on querying, reporting, and visualization, but it’s read-only. Mathesar is closer to Airtable, you get a spreadsheet-like UI, you can view and query data like Metabase, but you can also add and edit data or even modify the data model (if the permissions allow it). Unlike Metabase, Mathesar also lets you create a database from scratch rather than just connecting to an existing one. Metabase adds an abstraction layer with concepts like questions, segments, and metrics, while Mathesar works directly with Postgres tables, schemas, and permissions. Mathesar is deeply integrated with Postgres, so it supports Postgres-native features like role and privilege based access control, which aren’t possible in products designed for multiple database backends. I hope that helps!
kgodey 2y ago
sixdimensional covered this pretty well, but just to reiterate, I believe DBeaver is primarily a desktop app aimed at a technical audience. Mathesar is web-based and designed to have an intuitive, collaborative, spreadsheet-like UI for non-technical users who know anything about SQL or DB concepts. Also, Mathesar has deep integration with Postgres features e.g. you can configure roles and privileges through the UI.
- zokier 2y ago
  What about tools like LibreOffice Base and KDEs Kexi?
  - anonym29 2y ago
    Far too technical for the target audience, who has never heard of a "linux" and doesn't care about cost, software freedom, the petite tyranny happily imposed by corporations, etc, they just want it to "just work" on their smartphone browser.
  - kgodey 2y ago
    I think they're pretty different use cases. LibreOffice Base and Kexi are desktop database frontends focused on local databases, while Mathesar is web-based, self-hosted, can be connected to a remote database, and built for multi-user collaboration.
  - philkrylov 2y ago
    The main problem with them is they are not working yet and there are not enough people working on improving that.
- irq-1 2y ago
  > ... spreadsheet-like UI for non-technical users who know anything about SQL or DB concepts. All the language is DB: it's tables not spreadsheets, records not rows, etc... It also doesn't hide things like 'schema' button or metadata like table description. Maybe this project could do things like integrations with web services, easy actions on groups (like paste a list of ids and do something to all those records), and publicly available web pages (surveys, donations, pretty event pages.)

sixdimensional 2y ago

I'm not related to the author or developers, but this appears almost like an Airtable-like (or Nocodb) UI on top of postgres, so it's really quite a different experience than a full database manager tool/IDE like DBeaver or DataGrip. I love it personally and it looks pretty good so far. Also, amazing that the team started it as an open source project under a 501c3 nonprofit as well. Having a more "spreadsheet" (or I would say, MS Access-like) UI is quite cool for certain use cases (e.g. low/no-code but backed by the full power of regular old Postgres). Can allow pretty agile development, although - it can get out of control if not managed with care... but nice to see the access controls/permissions there to help a bit. All interesting choices, looks cool!

Imustaskforhelp 2y ago
Yes this definitely feels like MS access but open source and based on postgres which is awesome!

thomasfromcdnjs 2y ago

I'd be more curious about how it differs to Metabase?

kgodey 2y ago
Metabase is a BI tool focused on querying, reporting, and visualization, but it’s read-only. Mathesar is closer to Airtable, you get a spreadsheet-like UI, you can view and query data like Metabase, but you can also add and edit data or even modify the data model (if the permissions allow it). Unlike Metabase, Mathesar also lets you create a database from scratch rather than just connecting to an existing one. Metabase adds an abstraction layer with concepts like questions, segments, and metrics, while Mathesar works directly with Postgres tables, schemas, and permissions. Mathesar is deeply integrated with Postgres, so it supports Postgres-native features like role and privilege based access control, which aren’t possible in products designed for multiple database backends. I hope that helps!

kgodey 2y ago

sixdimensional covered this pretty well, but just to reiterate, I believe DBeaver is primarily a desktop app aimed at a technical audience. Mathesar is web-based and designed to have an intuitive, collaborative, spreadsheet-like UI for non-technical users who know anything about SQL or DB concepts. Also, Mathesar has deep integration with Postgres features e.g. you can configure roles and privileges through the UI.

zokier 2y ago
What about tools like LibreOffice Base and KDEs Kexi?
- anonym29 2y ago
  Far too technical for the target audience, who has never heard of a "linux" and doesn't care about cost, software freedom, the petite tyranny happily imposed by corporations, etc, they just want it to "just work" on their smartphone browser.
- kgodey 2y ago
  I think they're pretty different use cases. LibreOffice Base and Kexi are desktop database frontends focused on local databases, while Mathesar is web-based, self-hosted, can be connected to a remote database, and built for multi-user collaboration.
- philkrylov 2y ago
  The main problem with them is they are not working yet and there are not enough people working on improving that.
irq-1 2y ago
> ... spreadsheet-like UI for non-technical users who know anything about SQL or DB concepts. All the language is DB: it's tables not spreadsheets, records not rows, etc... It also doesn't hide things like 'schema' button or metadata like table description. Maybe this project could do things like integrations with web services, easy actions on groups (like paste a list of ids and do something to all those records), and publicly available web pages (surveys, donations, pretty event pages.)