Base
Dev tools
database editor
SHOW HN2025
693points
181comments
#40of 3,837 in 2025
Top 2%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
31 positive, 33 neutral or asking, 7 mixed, 14 critical, out of 85 comments about the project. Thread score +0.22.
Design: 7 for, 1 againstPricing: 4 for, 3 againstIdea: 5 for, 1 againstExecution: 2 for, 0 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Native Mac look and feel, polished UI
From 3 comments
A nicer user interface. Personally I use datagrip but I want to encourage real native Mac software so will likely buy this anyway.
jen20 on HNPolish and decent UI...
vsl on HNThis is so nice. This feels like Postico for sqlite. Definitely switching from TablePlus to this.
barefootford on HN
Long-time reliable user, best SQLite editor on macOS
From 2 comments
I've been using Base for [checks... considers retirement] about 15 years!? It's ALWAYS been great, AND has improved over time.
thomasqbrady on HNHappy Base user for almost ten years now. Hands down the best SQLite editor on macOS.
janten on HN
Focused, not bloated
From 1 comment
The goal of this app is to provide a comfortable native GUI for SQLite, without it turning into a massive IDE-style app. As an aside, feature bloat is a massive problem with…
reaperducer on HN
Objections
Mac only, no Linux or Windows
From 2 comments
Why is it MacOS only though? Surely this can cross-compile for Linux and Windows perfectly fine?
TheRealPomax on HNWhat does this offer over sqlitebrowser? https://sqlitebrowser.org/
packetlost on HN
Requires macOS Sequoia, older versions unsupported
From 2 comments
Why does it need Sequoia? That’s a no-go for me.
tempodox on HNDisappointed to see it's built with macOS 15.0 as minimum target.
daneel_w on HN
Price too high
From 2 comments
40 USD is way too expensive for this
nikolayasdf123 on HNIt's crazy how expensive these small utilities are. And worse, because they're paid you don't even get the source code to fix issues yourself :/
aaomidi on HN
Requests
DuckDB support
From 2 comments
It would be super duper cool if it can connect to DuckDB as well.
didip on HNCan somebody recommend a similar tool that works with DuckDB files?
benhurmarcel on HN
Display and edit UUIDs stored as blobs
From 1 comment
It would be amazing if it could display UUIDs. SQlite doesn't support them natively, but many people store them as binary blobs. Jetbrains products realize that these binary…
earthnail on HN
Automatic foreign key enabling
From 1 comment
I've just tried it out, looks nice! I've been using TablePlus a lot, but there are some SQLite-specific features I'd really like to have in an app: - Foreign keys enabled by…
markusw on HN
Questions
How does it differ from sqlitebrowser
From 1 comment
What does this offer over sqlitebrowser? https://sqlitebrowser.org/
packetlost on HN
Use cases for a GUI on SQLite
From 2 comments
> Create and modify tables with ease using Base's visual table editor. No need to write complex CREATE or ALTER statements. I'm trying to understand who your target audience is?…
gwbas1c on HNcan someone tell me what are some common use cases of such a tool? may be i'm not the intended customer base, but am curious to know what others are using it for.
borg16 on HN
Alternatives named
sqlitebrowser
From 1 comment
What does this offer over sqlitebrowser? https://sqlitebrowser.org/
packetlost on HN
DBeaver
From 2 comments
This looks great, installing now. I've been using DBeaver, but it's not optimized for SQLite. Common issue with DBeaver is having to refresh the global connection to see changes.…
nodesocket on HNWait doesnt DBeaver work on MacOS aswell?
mastermage on HN
TablePlus
From 2 comments
I've just tried it out, looks nice! I've been using TablePlus a lot, but there are some SQLite-specific features I'd really like to have in an app: - Foreign keys enabled by…
markusw on HNThis is so nice. This feels like Postico for sqlite. Definitely switching from TablePlus to this.
barefootford on HN
Sequel Ace
From 1 comment
The goal of this app is to provide a comfortable native GUI for SQLite, without it turning into a massive IDE-style app. As an aside, feature bloat is a massive problem with…
reaperducer on HN
Postico
From 1 comment
I use Base everyday but it's leaps and bounds behind Postico for Postgres in terms of UX. Copy pastes, duplicate rows, sorting and filtering. Sadly postico does not do SQLite.…
keyle on HN