21 Feb 2013

SQL Server Table / Database Compare Utility

A quick note if you're looking for a good SQL Server DB Diff / Comparison utility. I've used RedGate SQL Compare before which was good but a little slow.

Today I tried DBComparer which is free. Did a decent job but with the task I had, there were many Collation disparities which I could not find a way to filter out. So looking for the "real" differences was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

I tried some free TableDiff.exe based scripts but they generally sucked or fell over due to schema / collation problems.

Finally I used SQLDelta which costs about 200 quid (330 dollars) but has a 14-day trial. I was very impressed. It was fast, allowed me to filter out the collation conflicts, showed all changes between my DBs (table / user / sproc diffs), and automatically built an update script which synced my DBs in no time. Worth buying for the time it will save you.
If I helped you out today, you can buy me a beer below. Cheers!