Comparison of the Top 4 SQL AI Tools in 2024
Introduction
For those who regularly use SQL in their work for:
- Gaining business insights.
- Creating data visualizations.
- Designing database schema & migration.
Did you know that with AI’s power, you can now chat directly with your databases without writing SQL?
In this article, we’ve explored some of the most popular AI SQL tools available, examining their pros and cons. Different tools have advantages in various use cases.
By reading this, you may find the most suitable AI SQL tools for your specific needs.
We’ve identified two main categories of SQL AI tools:
- Text-to-SQL converters. — Text2SQL.AI, SQLAI.ai.
- Database chatbots. — AskYourDatabase, Insightbase.
The first category suits simple use cases, where you input your description of the query and schema, receive the translated SQL, and execute it yourself.
The second, “Chatbot” category, focuses on providing a ChatGPT-like experience, enabling you to chat with your database. These tools often understand your schema and attempt to fetch & explain the data for you. Some can even perform advanced data analysis & visualization.
Database Chatbot
Database chatbots offer a more sophisticated approach compared to basic text-to-SQL converters. These tools often include additional features such as dashboard creation, data visualization, and analysis.
We’ve identified the top two database chatbots that excel in these areas:
AskYourDatabase
AskYourDatabase is an AI native database client, provides ChatGPT like experience, you can see it as the “ChatGPT for databases”.
You don’t have to manually copy & paste your schema anywhere, just by connecting to your database, and you are ready to go:
AskYourDatabase will automatically understand your schema, and you can even add your custom training data like database documentation, SQL examples to significantly improve the SQL generation accuracy right within the app:
Another big difference is AYD (AskYourDatabase) will not just give you the SQL code letting you to copy and run it, it will run it right within the app, after then AI will remember and explain the results to you.
Additionally, it can perform data analysis by running Python code and allows exporting data in multiple formats, including Excel and CSV.
Furthermore, it supports built-in visualization:
It even can generate Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) images for you:
You can use it for database schema prototyping and facilitate schema migration with ease, making it particularly useful for early-stage engineering teams to quickly build things:
Despite its capabilities, AskYourDatabase has some limitations:
- Limited Database Support: It currently supports only four database types — MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and MongoDB. Users of other database systems might need alternative solutions.
- Lack of Team Collaboration Features: While it allows for chart creation, there isn’t an online, drag-and-drop dashboard builder for real-time team collaboration and visualization.
- Pricing: It’s not as affordable as Text2SQL tools. The pricing is $23 for unlimited use of GPT-3.5 and $39 for access to both GPT-3.5 and GPT-4.
Typically they recommend you to use GPT-4 to unleash its full potential.
For CEOs and CTOs of small to mid-sized companies who need quick insights without involving developers, AskYourDatabase is the best choice.
Insightbase
Insightbase excels in dashboard creation and visualization, focusing primarily on AI-driven business intelligence.
Their pricing is notably higher than the text-to-SQL converters mentioned earlier, starting at $97 for the basic plan and reaching $300 for the professional tier.
Insightbase offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop dashboard builder:
Insightbase allows users to create charts and arrange them into comprehensive dashboards using plain English, making it ideal for team-oriented, online dashboard applications.
However, a notable limitation of Insightbase is for asking questions and fetch datab, it operates similarly to SQLAI.ai, where users input questions and show results in table. It cannot continue answer your question based on the results, let alone further data analysis:
Insightbase shines in visualization and dashboard creation, making it a viable alternative to some BI tools like PowerBI for these specific functions.
However, it falls short in facilitating interactive conversations with data and lacks proficiency in advanced data handling and analysis.
Text to SQL Tools
TEXT2SQL.AI
TEXT2SQL.ai interface — manually input your question and schema, get the SQL
Text2SQL.ai, is a well-known text-to-SQL tool. It’s capable of generating SQL, as well as formulas and regex.
The primary advantage of Text2SQL.ai is its user-friendly web interface; simply open a browser to start. It offers an affordable plan at $4 per month for 300 requests.
However, it has its limitations:
- It doesn’t automatically understand your table schema. You need to manually copy and paste your schema into their interface.
- It may generate incorrect SQL and lacks the ability to self-correct. Additionally, it doesn’t offer data explanation, analysis, or visualization capabilities.
- Text2SQL.ai is suitable for writing simple SQL queries with AI assistance, but it has limited utility for more advanced data analytics tasks.
SQLAI.ai
SQLAI.ai is another well-known SQL AI generator, slightly pricier than Text2SQL.ai, with three plans: $5, $9, and $19.
A key advantage of SQLAI.ai is its compatibility with almost all common database types, including SQL, NoSQL, and GraphQL, making it a viable option for databases like Redshift and Dynamo, often unsupported by other tools.
However, unlike Text2SQL.ai, it does not support formula and regex generation.
SQLAI.ai allows direct database connections, enabling automatic schema understanding. But this requires sharing database credentials with their web platform, posing potential security risks.
Caution is advised when providing production database credentials to online platforms. Ensure the platform’s reliability and security measures to protect your data.
Our Perspective
Tools like Text2SQL specialize in converting text to SQL, suitable for simple tasks and limited budgets.
Platforms like Insightbase are primarily for Business Intelligence, offering robust dashboard-building capabilities.
Chatbot tools like AskYourDatabase offer an intelligent conversation based chatbot, capable of handling complex tasks like analysis and charting, and are highly intuitive to use.
Select the tool that best aligns with your specific needs and budget constraints.
