As a PHP and Laravel developer, I’ve been using Homebrew for a long time to install MySQL and other databases on my Mac. I still prefer Homebrew installations of databases in many ways:
It gives me transparency into what’s being installed. And it just feels a bit closer to what I’d experience on a server. That muscle memory from using the terminal, editing config files, and restarting services translates well when I’m working on actual servers using tools like yum or apt.
But lately, I’ve started enjoying DBngin on macOS. A few reasons:
- In the DBngin UI, I can see all my Homebrew services in one place, not just databases.
- I can quickly spin up multiple databases, including MySQL, Redis, and Postgres, in various versions.
- It makes jumping between databases easier when testing projects locally.
Multiple Versions of MySQL
One thing Homebrew does not do well: running multiple versions of MySQL. If you try to juggle versions, things get messy fast. You can technically build MySQL from source using cmake as the official MySQL docs show, but now you’ve opened the door to needing to do the same for Postgres or whatever else you’re using. That’s just not worth it. DBngin makes this whole process easy: click, version, go.
Why DBngin Over Other Apps?
There are other apps like DBngin out there, but a few things make this one stand out:
- While DBngin can sometimes be a bit slow to add new database versions to its options list, they eventually appear (other apps can be much slower to adopt). As of this writing, for example, MySQL 9.4 was released on 2025-07-22, and 9.5 on 2025-10-21, and are still not supported by DBngin as of 2025-11-20. But they are working on adding more versions.
- DBngin is supported by TablePlus, a company with a solid business model and a good track record. That means the app is likely to stick around, get updates, and not disappear in a year.
I still use Homebrew to install most of my packages, but for now, DBngin can handle databases.
It’s free and actively maintained. If you’re curious, here’s the link:
https://dbngin.com
Use what fits your workflow. DBngin just happens to fit mine lately, and I thought it was worth sharing.
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