SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is one of the most proven database administration and management tools. Whether you use SQL Server Management Studio for Database Administrators or just for database development, it’s a proven tool. We want to increase our capabilities, adapting this tool to our specific needs. For this, we use a range of SSMS add-ins and extensions.
We’ll discuss two productivity-focused add-ins that help us achieve more in less time. They’re a great way to extend the functionality of the SSMS. They make it more flexible and enhance our SQL codings with autocompletion, snippets, and refactoring.
These are SSMS Tools Pack and dbForge SQL Complete. Let’s first take a brief overview of both products, then look at features that might interest you. It helps you decide whether SQL Complete is better than SQL Server Management Studio.
The Overview of dbForge SQL Complete
We start with dbForge SQL Complete, available for SSMS and Microsoft Visual Studio. It offers IntelliSense-like context-based code completion, SQL formatting, and smart refactoring with auto-correction of references. This makes coding up to four times faster.
It’s suitable for your own use, but it helps to form and unify SQL standards for corporate teamwork. This tool has a powerful T-SQL debugger, tab coloring, and document outline. SQL Complete has many features, and a clean interface — all of that make your work more convenient.
Pricing: DBForge SQL Complete is available in three editions: Free Basic (Express), Standard, and Professional. The Express edition is a unique offering that comes completely free of charge. There is no other way to extend the code completion functionality in SSMS for free.
SQL Complete can also be purchased in a package called dbForge SQL Tools, which includes fifteen essential products that cover nearly any aspect of SQL Server development, management, and administration.
The Overview of SSMS Tools Pack
While the second contender, SSMS Tools Pack, doesn’t come close to being as versatile and powerful as the first contender, it does offer quite a bit of functionality. It is a SQL Server Management Studio plugin that was created to boost the user’s productivity. It’s easy to use and delivers a handy SQL editor, CRUD procedure generation, snippets, formatting, convenient search with filtering, and SQL execution history. Like SQL Complete, it also includes features that aren’t essential yet, like tab coloring and the ability to export to Excel spreadsheets.
Pricing: SSMS Tools Pack is a commercial product with licenses available in Small, Large, and Enterprise team packages. A free version is available for one computer for sixty days.
Feature Comparison of dbForge SQL Complete and SSMS Tools Pack
To make this comparison, we used the latest versions of tools — SQL Complete v6.12.8 and SSMS Tools Pack v5.5.2. Read the feature descriptions carefully. Some may be far more critical for your particular goals than others.
Feature | dbForge SQL Complete | SSMS Tools Pack |
Compatibility | ||
SSMS integration | Yes | Yes |
Visual Studio integration | Yes | No |
Improved code quality | ||
Find invalid objects | Yes | No |
CRUD procedure generation | Yes | Yes |
Generation of the CREATE/ALTER script for server objects | Yes | No |
Execution Plan Analyzer | No | Yes |
Renaming of objects, variables, and aliases | Yes | No |
T-SQL Debugger | Yes | No |
Run on multiple targets | Yes | Yes |
Safe work with document environment and databases | ||
Various options for executing statements | Yes | Yes |
Execution warnings | Yes | Yes |
Execution notifications | Yes | No |
Transaction reminder | Yes | Yes |
Run At Status Bar Element | No | Yes |
Tab coloring | Yes | Yes |
Custom SSMS main window title | Yes | Yes |
Execution history of SQL statements | Yes | Yes |
Tab management | Yes | Yes |
Quick Connect Active SQL Editor Window | No | Yes |
Document sessions | Yes | No |
Operations with data in the SSMS data grid | ||
Results Grid data visualizers | Yes | No |
Copy Data As from the SSMS grid to XML, CSV, HTML, and JSON | Yes | No |
Copy Results Grid headers (column names + types) | Yes | No |
Export to Excel from the SSMS Results Grid | No | Yes |
Grid aggregates | Yes | Yes |
Find in Results Grid | Yes | Yes |
Generate Script As from the SSMS data grid | Yes | Yes |
Increased coding productivity | ||
Context-sensitive suggestion of object names and keywords | Yes | No |
Expand SELECT * | Yes | Yes |
Object information | Yes | No |
Parameter information | Yes | No |
SQL snippets | Yes | Yes |
New query template | No | Yes |
‘Go to definition’ for database objects | Yes | Yes |
Highlighted occurrences of identifiers | Yes | No |
Named regions | Yes | Yes |
Document Outline window | Yes | No |
Unified SQL standards | ||
SQL formatting | Yes | Yes |
Multiple predefined formatting profiles | Yes | No |
Preservation of the original formatting for any selected piece of code | Yes | No |
Command-line interface | Yes | No |
Settings | ||
Import/Export Settings Wizard | Yes | Yes |
Quick search for options | Yes | No |
Releases | ||
Initial release | v1.0 (November 19, 2010) | v1.0 (May 1, 2008) |
Latest release (as of September 2021) | v6.12 (September 12, 2022) | v5.5 (July 1, 2020) |
Total quantity of releases | 133 | 41 |
The Verdict of Comparison of dbForge SQL Complete and SSMS Tools Pack
We saw that dbForge SQL Complete has more features than SSMS Tools Pack. It offers more to improve productivity, provides a much wider range of data operations, has noticeably more advanced formatting, and supports a command line interface. You should also be aware that SQL Complete is updated more frequently.
If you’re looking for an SSMS Tools Pack alternative, then SQL Complete is the best solution for you. It’s compatible with both Microsoft Visual Studio and SQL Server Management Studio. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to see how effective it is.
