18 Free and Open-source SQL Query Builders and SQL Generators for PHP, JavaScript, Golang, Java and Swift

SQL Query Builders and SQL Generators are incredibly useful tools for developers, especially when dealing with heavy SQL applications. They help construct, manipulate, and manage SQL queries efficiently and effectively.

A SQL Query Builder is a tool that aids developers in creating SQL queries. It provides a convenient, often graphical interface, that allows for the formation of queries by selecting tables, fields, and clauses. This abstraction makes it easier to build complex queries without deep SQL expertise, thus enhancing productivity and reducing the likelihood of errors.

On the other hand, an SQL Generator is a software that automatically creates SQL scripts. These scripts can be used to create tables, views, procedures, and other database objects. SQL Generators help streamline the development process by reducing the time and effort spent writing SQL scripts.

The advantages of using SQL Query Builders and Generators are manifold. They can significantly enhance developer productivity by automating and simplifying the process of creating SQL queries and scripts. They offer speed, as constructing a query or script manually can be time-consuming, particularly for complex queries.

These tools also promote consistency in coding standards across a team or a project, as they generate code based on predefined templates or styles. They are particularly beneficial for developers who are not fluent in SQL, as they abstract away the complexities of SQL syntax.

SQL Query Builders and Generators are available in many programming languages, making them accessible for a wide range of developers. Whether you're working with Java, PHP, Go, or any other language, there's likely an SQL tool out there to meet your needs.

In conclusion, SQL Query Builders and Generators are invaluable tools for developers working with SQL. They save time, boost productivity, and can greatly simplify the process of working with databases. So, whether you're a seasoned SQL expert or a beginner, consider incorporating these tools into your workflow to reap their many benefits.

In this post, you will find a collection of the best open-source sql query builders, and sql generators.

1. Knex (JS)

Knex.js is a flexible, portable SQL query builder for Node.js that supports multiple dialects. It offers features such as transactions, connection pooling, streaming queries, and both a promise and callback API. It supports Node.js versions 12 and above. Additional resources include a full documentation, a list of plugins and tools, a recipes wiki, and a migration guide for upgrading from older versions.

2. Java SQL Generator

The java-sql-generator is a framework built to generate syntactically correct SQL statements using Java. It offers a uniform, type-safe, and straightforward method to create complex SQL clauses. The APIs were designed based on SQL 99 BNF, but with modifications to ensure simplicity and usability.

Although the project is old and hasn't been updated for years, it continues to be used by many Java developers worldwide.

3. Dialect (PHP, Python, JavaScript)

Dialect is a cross-vendor and cross-platform SQL query builder designed for PHP, Python, and JavaScript. It supports multiple DB vendors and can be easily extended to new DBs. It offers a lightweight, fast, and flexible solution with an intuitive API for creating SQL queries.

Dialect uses the concept of grammar templates, similar to SQL's grammar documentation format, to configure an SQL dialect. This allows for the production of SQL code specific to a particular SQL dialect.

Dialect supports the definition of SQL clauses through grammar templates, which are polymorphic, enabling the creation of SQL code for any SQL vendor easily and intuitively. Dialect also supports native SQL functions defined per DB vendor. It allows multiple variations of the same SQL clause, which increases its flexibility. For example, a main DELETE clause for SQLite with LIMIT emulation and another variation when SQLite is configured to allow LIMIT clauses in DELETE clauses.

Dialect has an experimental feature of defining custom soft views, which can be used almost like the usual SQL views. This feature is beneficial in cases where the DB provider does not support views by default, or the user does not have access to create views in the DB. Soft views are particularly useful for SELECT clauses, offering more concise, modular, safer, and cleaner code.

4. Quebee (PHP)

The QueBee, also referred to as QB, is a lightweight PHP package designed for building MySQL queries. This tool simplifies the construction of SQL queries through an object-oriented approach, making it more convenient to create, modify, and execute SQL statements in PHP applications.

QueBee can be installed using Composer, a PHP dependency manager, and requires the inclusion of Composer's autoloader in your project's PHP files.

QueBee offers various features for working with MySQL. It provides a Query class for SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE queries and a Table class for the creation of tables along with the Col class for columns.

The Col class supports a variety of datatypes such as INT, VARCHAR, DATETIME, and more, enabling users to create columns as per their requirements. Additionally, it offers the Stmt class for various statements including UNION, UNION ALL, CUBE, SET, and GROUPING SETS. It also supports foreign key constraints, unique keys, primary keys, indexing, and grouping.

5. Goqu (Golang)

Goqu is a SQL builder and executor with features such as query building, parameter interpolation, and support for multiple dialects. It can handle insertions, updates, and deletions, and can scan rows into structures or primitive values.

However, it's not intended to be used as an ORM. Goqu aims to make SQL generation easy and enjoyable, provide a DSL that catches common SQL errors at compile time, and gives developers the flexibility to use SQL as needed and easily scan results.

6. Jet (Golang)

Jet is a high performance database access solution, offering type-safe SQL builder with code generation and automatic query result mapping. It supports various databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, CockroachDB, MariaDB, and SQLite.

Jet is not an ORM, but provides auto-generated type-safe SQL Builder and Data Model types. It allows complex type-safe SQL queries to be written as Go code and maps database query results into complex object compositions.

7. Laravel Query Builder

The laravel-query-builder package allows you to filter, sort, and include Eloquent relations based on a request, extending Laravel's default Eloquent builder. It supports various filtering features and allows for the inclusion of relations based on a request.

8. GoSQL Builder (Golang)

The sqlbuilder package for Go is a flexible and powerful SQL string concatenation builder, designed to optimize the performance of building SQL and reduce memory consumption.

It's independent of specific database drivers and business logic, meeting the needs of enterprise-level scenarios requiring various customized database drivers, special operation and maintenance standards, heterogeneous systems, and non-standard SQL in complex situations.

It's been tested in large enterprise-level application scenarios, demonstrating good performance and scalability. The package doesn't bind to any specific database driver or automatically connect to any database, making it suitable for any application scenario that constructs SQL-like statements.

9. SQL parser (PHP)

The SQL Parser is a validating SQL lexer and query parser with a focus on the MySQL dialect. It can be installed using Composer with the command 'composer require phpmyadmin/sql-parser'.

Note that it is not an ORM nor a query builder.

10. SQLBuilder (PHP)

SQLBuilder is a toolset for PHP that generates cross-platform SQL queries. It is not an ORM system, but a standalone library with no dependencies. It offers a simple API, custom parameter marker support, a configurable quote handler, and is fast and powerful.

11. SqExpress (C#)

SqExpress is a library that provides a generic SQL syntax tree, with export to MS T-SQL, PostgreSQL, and MySQL. It includes builders and operators for complex SQL expressions and a data access mechanism that wraps ADO.Net DbConnection.

SqExpress supports both "Code First" and "Database First" concepts, allowing SQL tables to be declared as C# classes and generating recreation scripts for target platforms. It also includes a utility for code modification and generating flexible DTO classes with database mappings.

12. GRDB (Swift)

GRDB is a toolkit for SQLite databases, designed for application development. It offers SQL generation, database observation, robust concurrency for multi-threaded applications, and migration tools.

It supports advanced SQLite features, allowing developers to leverage their SQL and SQLite skills. It requires iOS 11.0+, macOS 10.13+, tvOS 11.0+, watchOS 4.0+, SQLite 3.19.3+, Swift 5.7+, and Xcode 14+.

13. Gqb (Golang)

The Query Builder (gqb) generates a query builder and migration using a YAML configuration. It accepts flags for migration, database, model, package, and driver. The configuration file sets up tables, fields, and constraints. The gqb can be installed using 'go get' and has future plans for configuration reader, SQL generator, and NiseVoid/qb generator.

14. SQL Query Builder (C#)

SqlKata Query Builder is a powerful SQL Query Builder written in C#, inspired by top Query Builders like Laravel Query Builder and Knex. It offers a clean, expressive API similar to SQL syntax, allowing for complex queries and compatibility with multiple databases.

It currently has built-in compilers for SqlServer, MySql, PostgreSQL, and Firebird, and uses Dapper to submit queries to the database.

15. Sqlify (JavaScript)

Sqlify is a SQL query builder that acts as a wrapper around the squel module, making it more user-friendly. It aids in building dynamic SQL queries, especially useful when handling POST requests to insert data into a SQL database. However, it's crucial not to pass queries generated on the client side to the web server for execution.

16. Query Builder (PHP)

QueryBuilder is a PHP tool that generates SQL queries, offering benefits such as speed, precision, simplicity, and security against SQL injection. It is similar to Laravel and supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLServer query types.

Queries can be generated for different database systems, and it also supports parameterized queries for added security.

17. Suilder (C# and .NET)

Suilder is a SQL query builder for .NET, focusing on the use of alias objects to reference tables and column names. It allows dynamic queries to be built by combining smaller query fragments.

However, it only serves as a query builder and needs to be combined with another library to execute queries and map results. It offers different types of aliases, supports translation of names, and requires the use of alias objects for table or column name references.

18. SuperSQL

SuperSQL is a powerful SQL query builder for SQLite and MySQL, requiring PHP 5.6+ and PDO SQLite/MySQL driver. The setup involves downloading the ssql.php file and including it in the project.