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What is the best database client for Mac?

There is no single best client; it depends on your databases and budget. Quay is a newer option for developers who want PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite and 17 other SQL engines free, and MongoDB, Redis and 13 more engines in a paid plan, in one app. The macOS build is for Apple Silicon.

As of 28 Oct 2026

Who Quay fits

  • You work with PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, SQL Server, DuckDB or ClickHouse and want them free, with no time limit.
  • You mix SQL with MongoDB, Redis or cloud warehouses and want one app (Pro).
  • You use Supabase, Neon or CockroachDB: they work as PostgreSQL-wire presets in Free.

Who should pick something else

  • You need an Intel Mac build: Quay does not have one yet.
  • You need a long-established tool: TablePlus, DataGrip and DBeaver Community have years of production use. DBeaver Community is free and open source.
  • You need a one-time licence: Quay Pro is a subscription and has no lifetime plan.

Engines: Free vs Pro

PlanEngines
Free (20 SQL)PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite, SQL Server, DuckDB, ClickHouse; presets: CockroachDB, YugabyteDB, Neon, Supabase, TimescaleDB, Redshift, Aurora PostgreSQL, Greenplum, Citus, TiDB, PlanetScale, Aurora MySQL, Vitess
Pro adds 15MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra/Scylla, Memcached, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB, Neo4j, DynamoDB, Firestore, Qdrant, Weaviate, Pinecone

Production safety (Pro)

  • Edit-as-draft buffer
  • Prod-tag confirmations
  • Restore preview with DROP/TRUNCATE warnings
  • FK-aware backup
  • Schema diff
  • EXPLAIN in plain language
  • Encrypted backups (AES-256-GCM + Argon2id)

One-time purchase

Quay Pro is a subscription ($15/month or $150/year); there is no lifetime plan. For comparison, TablePlus lists a Basic licence at $99 (1 device) on its pricing page, as of 28 Oct 2026.

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