MySQL Workbench 26.7.0 524 (July 2026) is a new program under an old name: an Electron 20,509 application built on MySQL Shell 524 that replaces Workbench 8.0 (last release 8.0.47) and adds SQL notebooks mixing queries, results and notes. It supports MySQL 8.4 524 and later, and it is young: a September 2026 forum report has it failing to connect to MariaDB 3,681 where 8.0.47 worked.
| Client | Version (Sep 2026) | License | Runs on | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MySQL Workbench | 26.7.0 | GPLv2 | Win, macOS, Linux | Oracle's own tooling, notebooks |
| DBeaver 47,288 Community | 26.2.1 | Apache-2.0 | Win, macOS, Linux | Many databases in one tool |
| HeidiSQL 123,234 | 12.21 | GPL-2.0 | Win, Linux, macOS | Fast, light, Windows-first |
| Beekeeper Studio 346,462 | 6.1.2 | GPLv3 core | Win, macOS, Linux | Clean UI; paid extras |
| phpMyAdmin 5,104 | 5.2.3 | GPL-2.0 | Web (PHP) | Shared hosting, browser access |
| Adminer 21,590 | 6.1.0 | Apache-2.0 or GPL-2.0 | Web (one PHP file) | Quick access, easy to delete |
Reach a remote server through an SSH tunnel (Port Forwarding and Tunnels), not an open port 3306. The web tools are PHP applications on your server, and so attack surface at predictable URLs such as /phpmyadmin: put one behind authentication and an IP rule (Authentication and Access), or upload Adminer's single file for a task and delete it afterwards. Commercial clients (DataGrip 856 , TablePlus 77,450 , Navicat 97,953 ) add polish for a license fee; this book needs none.