Free · No sign-up · Private by default

DrawSQL alternative — 50 tables free, nothing public

DrawSQL's free plan stops at 15 tables per diagram and keeps diagrams public. ERD Tools renders up to 50 tables per diagram, free, from your SQL as written — and your schema never leaves the render request.

SQL input — CREATE TABLE · DDL · dumpauto-detect

CREATE TABLE customers (
  id int unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  email varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  full_name varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  created_at timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
  PRIMARY KEY (id),
  UNIQUE KEY customers_email_unique (email)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

CREATE TABLE products (
  id int unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  sku varchar(64) NOT NULL,
  name varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  price_cents int unsigned NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (id),
  UNIQUE KEY products_sku_unique (sku)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

CREATE TABLE orders (
  id int unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  customer_id int unsigned NOT NULL,
  status enum('cart','paid','shipped','refunded') NOT NULL DEFAULT 'cart',
  PRIMARY KEY (id),
  KEY orders_customer_id_idx (customer_id),
  CONSTRAINT orders_customer_fk FOREIGN KEY (customer_id)
    REFERENCES customers (id) ON DELETE RESTRICT
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

CREATE TABLE order_items (
  order_id int unsigned NOT NULL,
  product_id int unsigned NOT NULL,
  quantity int unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT 1,
  PRIMARY KEY (order_id, product_id),
  CONSTRAINT order_items_order_fk FOREIGN KEY (order_id)
    REFERENCES orders (id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
  CONSTRAINT order_items_product_fk FOREIGN KEY (product_id)
    REFERENCES products (id) ON DELETE CASCADE
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

Sample: · · · · ·

Diagram—

Your diagram renders here.

Side by side

The differences, stated plainly

	ERD Tools	DrawSQL
Tables per diagram, free	50	15 — then 50 on Starter ($19/mo), 100 on Growth ($59/mo)
Diagram privacy	Nothing stored — the diagram renders in your browser from your paste	Free diagrams are public — private diagrams are a paid feature
Workflow	Paste your SQL as written — DDL from migrations, backups, or mysqldump	Build in the visual editor, tables and relations drawn by hand
Export	SVG · PNG · Mermaid text	Images · SQL
If you outgrow free	Pro $9/mo — 500 tables, clean exports	Starter $19/mo — 50 tables, private diagrams

DrawSQL facts from its official pricing page, linked below; checked November 2026.

Fair hearing

Where DrawSQL shines

DrawSQL is built for teams who want a living, shared visual reference of their schema — a workspace the whole team edits and points newcomers at. If your diagram is small enough for the free tier, public is a feature rather than a cost: it doubles as documentation anyone on the internet can read.

The fit

When ERD Tools is the better pick

More than 15 tables — 50 per diagram here, free, no account behind it
The schema shouldn't be public — nothing is stored at all; a paste renders and is gone
The SQL already exists — paste a dump or migration instead of redrawing every table by hand
Mermaid for your README — a text export that diffs in PRs, not just an image attachment

FAQ

Questions, answered

What are DrawSQL's free-tier limits?

Per DrawSQL's own pricing page: 15 tables per diagram on the free plan, and free diagrams are public. Private diagrams and 50 tables arrive with the Starter plan at $19/mo.

Is my schema public on ERD Tools?

No. Your paste goes to the parser, the diagram renders in your browser, and nothing is stored — there is no schema database. Share links, when you use them, encode the schema in the URL itself and are visible only to whoever holds the link.

Can I move a DrawSQL diagram to ERD Tools?

If you have the SQL the diagram models, paste it. ERD Tools reads MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server, BigQuery and Snowflake DDL, including full mysqldump output with its SET preamble and LOCK TABLES noise.

Which one handles bigger schemas?

On DrawSQL you cap out at 15 tables free, then 50 ($19/mo) or 100 ($59/mo) as you pay. On ERD Tools every diagram is free up to 50 tables; Pro ($9/mo) lifts the ceiling to 500.

Sources & related

Check the numbers yourself

DrawSQL pricing
dbdiagram.io alternative — no DBML to learn
Best free ER diagram tools — the full roundup
MySQL to ER Diagram — the dialect the sample above uses