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Oracle SQL Developer

Oracle SQL Developer is an Integrated development environment (IDE) for working with SQL in Oracle databases. Oracle Corporation provides this product free; it uses the Java Development Kit.

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Jul 12, 2026
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Oracle SQL Developer
DeveloperOracle Corporation
Release2005 (2005)1
Stable release(s) [±]
VS Code extension26.1.2 / May 14, 2026 (2026-05-14)2
Standalone (discontinued)24.3.1.347.1826 / December 16, 2024 (2024-12-16)3
Written inJava
PlatformJava SE
TypeSQL Integrated development environment
LicenseProprietary4
Websitewww.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer/

Oracle SQL Developer is an Integrated development environment (IDE) for working with SQL in Oracle databases. Oracle Corporation provides this product free; it uses the Java Development Kit.

History

The SQL Developer product was initially created in response to a large invoice sent from Quest Software to Oracle Corporation over the use of Quest's TOAD product within Oracle's consulting group - Quest claimed that Oracle used the tool far more extensively than their license allowed for.

Larry Ellison personally called the lead developer during lunch early in 2006, stating that the payment just made to Quest in response to this (per Oracle's view) unwarranted license charge would be the last time Oracle paid the company for TOAD, and the developer was instructed to build a product that could replace it.5

The initial release of SQL Developer was quickly put together, and released to Oracle internally immediately.

Features

Oracle SQL Developer supports Oracle products. In the past a variety of third-party plugins were supported which users were able to deploy to connect to non-Oracle databases. Oracle SQL Developer worked with IBM Db2, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Sybase Adaptive Server, Amazon Redshift and Teradata databases.6

Oracle SQL Developer supports automatic tabs, code insight, bracket matching and syntax coloring for PL/SQL.

Future versions of Oracle SQL Developer will use Visual Studio Code.1

Components

Oracle SQL Developer product components include the OWA (Oracle Web Agent or MOD_PLSQL), an extension module for the Apache web server, and helps in setting up dynamic web-pages from PL/SQL within Oracle SQL Developer.7

Extensions

In addition to the extensions provided by Oracle, third parties have written extensions to add new features to SQL Developer and to integrate with other products:8

Integration with other Oracle products
  • SQL Developer Data Modeler operates with and models metadata.9 Prior to SQL Developer version 3, it constituted a separate (but integrated) free10 counterpart of SQL Developer. As of SQL Developer version 3 modeling became an integrated part of the overall tool. "Data Modeler" can produce (among other outputs) .dmd files.11
  • Data Miner12

History

Oracle SQL Developer versions13
Version Release date Description
Releases prior to 1.0 Prior to version 1.0, Oracle Corporation labeled the product "Raptor"
1.0 March 2006 The first release
1.1 December 2006
1.2.1 August 2007
1.5 April 2008
1.5.1 June 2008
1.5.3 December 2008
1.5.4 March 2009
1.5.5 July 2009
2.1 RC1 December 2009
2.1 Patch 1 March 2010
3.0 March 2011
3.1 February 2012
3.2 August 2012 APEX listener administration; UI enhancements; 12c database support; bug fixes14
4.0 December 2013
4.0.1 February 2014
4.0.2 May 2014
4.0.3 September 2014
4.1.1 June 2015
4.1.2 October 2015 Requires Java 8
4.1.3 December 2015
4.1.5 September 201615
4.2.0 April 201716
17.2 July 201717 New version numbering system with year.quarter used.17
17.4 Dec 201718
18.1 April 201819
18.2 July 201820
18.3 October 201821
18.4 January 201922
19.1 April 201923
19.2 August 201924
19.4 December 201925
20.2 June 202026
20.4 January 202127
20.4.1 February 202128
21.2 August 202129
21.4 December 202130
21.4.2 January 202231
22.2 June 202232 Requires Oracle Java 11
22.2.1 September 202233
23.1 April 202334
24.3 October 202435 Requires Oracle Java 17
24.3.1 December 202436
See also

See also

References

References

  1. Smith, Jeff (24 October 2022). "What's Next for Oracle SQL Developer? A quick, sneek-peek". That Jeff Smith. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  2. "Oracle SQL Developer Extension for VSCode". VisualStudio Marketplace. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  3. "Oracle SQL Developer Downloads". Oracle. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  4. OTN SQL Developer License
  5. This was witnessed personally by the group of Oracle employees that were sitting at the table, including myself.
  6. "Oracle SQL Developer certifications". Oracle Corporation. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  7. Murray, Chuck (September 2007). "1 SQL Developer Concepts and Usage: OWA Output Pane". Oracle Database SQL Developer User's Guide Release 1.1. Oracle Corporation. Retrieved 2009-02-04. OWA (Oracle Web Agent) or MOD_PLSQL is an Apache (Web Server) extension module.
  8. "Oracle SQL Developer - Extensions Exchange". oracle.com. July 2013. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  9. Chuck, Murray (June 2009). "Data Modeler Concepts and Usage" (PDF). Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler User’s Guide Release 2.0. Oracle Corporation. p. 1-1. Retrieved 2010-03-12. SQL Developer Data Modeler is a data modeling and database design tool that provides an environment for capturing, modeling, managing, and exploiting metadata.[...] SQL Developer Data Modeler is a for-cost option of SQL Developer that requires a separate license. However, a free viewer (read-only) version is also available [...]
  10. "Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler: Pricing FAQ". Oracle Corpopration. September 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-10. Is Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler free? - Yes.
  11. Murray, Chuck (February 2011). "SQL Developer Data Modeler User's Guide". docs.oracle.com. Oracle. Retrieved 2014-12-11. When you save a database design, the structural information is stored in an XML file (with the extension .dmd)
  12. "Oracle Data Miner".
  13. "Oracle SQL Developer". Oracle Corporation. 2008-07-18. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  14. "SQL Developer 3.2 New Features". Oracle Technology Network. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
  15. "SQL Developer Release Notes 4.1.5". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  16. "SQL Developer Release Notes 4.2". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  17. [1] Oracle SQL Developer 17.2 Release Notes
  18. "SQL Developer Release Notes 17.4". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  19. "SQL Developer Release Notes 18.1". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  20. "SQL Developer Release Notes 18.2". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2018-07-12.
  21. "SQL Developer Release Notes 18.3". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  22. "SQL Developer Release Notes 18.4". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  23. "SQL Developer Release Notes 19.1". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  24. "SQL Developer Release Notes 19.2". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  25. "SQL Developer Release Notes 19.4". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  26. "SQL Developer 20.2 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  27. "SQL Developer 20.4 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  28. "SQL Developer 20.4.1 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  29. "SQL Developer 21.2 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2021-08-23.
  30. "SQL Developer 21.4 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
  31. "SQL Developer 21.4.2 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
  32. "SQL Developer 22.2 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  33. "SQL Developer 22.2.1 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  34. "SQL Developer 23.1 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  35. "SQL Developer 24.3 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  36. "SQL Developer 24.3.1 Release Notes". www.oracle.com. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
Bibliography

Bibliography

External links