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Devart:SSMS Tools Pack vs dbForge SQL Complete: A Clash of SSMS Add-ins

latest update:2021/12/20 Views:641
Undoubtedly, SSMS is a proven database management and administration tool that does its job well. Yet we all tend to expand our capabilities as much as we can, tailoring this tool to our specific needs. That’s how we get a wide range of SSMS add-ins and extensions at our service.

Undoubtedly, SSMS is a proven database management and administration tool that does its job well. Yet we all tend to expand our capabilities as much as we can, tailoring this tool to our specific needs. That’s how we get a wide range of SSMS add-ins and extensions at our service.

In this article, we will be dealing with two productivity-focused add-ins that help us deliver results faster. They fill the gaps in the SSMS functionality, they make it more flexible, and—last but not least—they enhance our SQL coding with numerous useful tricks, such as autocompletion, snippets, and refactoring. These are dbForge SQL Complete and SSMS Tools Pack. First, we will briefly overview both of them, and then we will scrutinize and compare them feature by feature to help you see whether SQL Complete is a superior SSMS Tools Pack alternative or vice versa.

 

dbForge SQL Complete: A Brief Overview

Let’s start with dbForge SQL Complete, available as an add-in for both SSMS and Microsoft Visual Studio. Its IntelliSense-like context-based code completion capabilities, SQL formatting, and smart refactoring with auto-correction of references can make daily coding up to 4 times faster. It is perfectly suitable for individual use, yet just as well it helps form and unify SQL standards for corporate teamwork. It offers a powerful T-SQL debugger and has all those little touches—such as tab coloring and document outline—that make your work more convenient. With all of its features, SQL Complete has a clean interface that never feels overloaded.

SQL Complete can also be purchased as part of dbForge SQL Tools, a collection of 15 essential products covering nearly any aspect of SQL Server development, management, and administration.

 

 

 

SSMS Tools Pack: A Brief Overview

The second contender, SSMS Tools Pack, is no slouch either. It is an SSMS plugin that was designed to dramatically increase the user’s productivity with easy-to-use features. It delivers a handy SQL editor, CRUD procedure generation, snippets, formatting, convenient search with filtering, and SQL execution history. Like SQL Complete, it offers features that are not essential yet still pleasant to have, such as tab coloring and export to Excel spreadsheets.

SSMS Tools Pack vs dbForge SQL Complete: Feature Comparison

Now let’s proceed to the comparison. Check the features carefully, because some may turn out to be far more crucial for your particular goals than others. For this comparison, we used SQL Complete v6.8.20 and SSMS Tools Pack v5.5.2, which are (at the time of writing) the latest and most advanced versions, presenting both SSMS plugins at their peak.

 

Feature

dbForge
SQL Complete

SSMS
Tools Pack

Compatibility

SSMS integration

Yes

Yes

Visual Studio integration

Yes

No

Improved code quality

Find invalid objects

Yes

No

CRUD procedure generation

Yes

Yes

Generation of the CREATE/ALTER script for server objects

Yes

No

Execution Plan Analyzer

No

Yes

Renaming of objects, variables, and aliases

Yes

No

T-SQL Debugger

Yes

No

Run on multiple targets

Yes

Yes

Safe work with document environment and databases

Various options for executing statements

Yes

Yes

Execution warnings

Yes

Yes

Execution notifications

Yes

No

Transaction reminder

Yes

Yes

Run At Status Bar Element

No

Yes

Tab coloring

Yes

Yes

Custom SSMS main window title

Yes

Yes

Execution history of SQL statements

Yes

Yes

Tab management

Yes

Yes

Quick Connect Active SQL Editor Window

No

Yes

Document sessions

Yes

No

Operations with data in the SSMS data grid

Results Grid data visualizers

Yes

No

Copy Data As from the SSMS grid to XML, CSV, HTML, and JSON

Yes

No

Copy Results Grid headers (column names + types)

Yes

No

Export to Excel from the SSMS Results Grid

No

Yes

Grid aggregates

Yes

No

Find in Results Grid

Yes

Yes

Generate Script As from the SSMS data grid

Yes

No

Increased coding productivity

Context-sensitive suggestion of object names and keywords

Yes

No

Expand SELECT *

Yes

Yes

Object information

Yes

No

Parameter information

Yes

No

SQL snippets

Yes

Yes

New query template

No

Yes

‘Go to definition’ for database objects

Yes

Yes

Highlighted occurrences of identifiers

Yes

No

Named regions

Yes

Yes

Document Outline window

Yes

No

Unified SQL standards

SQL formatting

Yes

Yes

Multiple predefined formatting profiles

Yes

No

Preservation of the original formatting for any selected piece of code

Yes

No

Command-line interface

Yes

No

Settings

Import/Export Settings Wizard

Yes

Yes

Quick search for options

Yes

No

Releases

Initial release

v1.0 (November 19, 2010)

v1.0 (May 1, 2008)

Latest release (as of September 2021)

v6.8 (August 12, 2021)

v5.5 (July 1, 2020)

Total quantity of releases

125

40

 

dbForge SQL Complete vs SSMS Tools Pack: The Verdict

 

As you could see above, dbForge SQL Complete gains the upper hand here, being more packed with features than SSMS Tools Pack. It offers more ways to increase your productivity, enables a much broader range of operations with data, has notably more advanced formatting, and supports CLI. It is also worth noting that SQL Complete is updated more frequently.

 

 

Finally, if you are looking for an SSMS Tools Pack alternative that would also be seamlessly compatible with Microsoft Visual Studio, SQL Complete is your best bet. And it doesn’t take much effort to see all of its capabilities in action. Simply download a 30-day trial of its most advanced Professional edition and give it a go.

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