ApexSQL Compare

Learn more about minimum Windows permissions required to install and use ApexSQL Compare on this link.

The minimum permissions required to compare SQL objects are:

1. Public role membership on SQL Server instances
2. Connect
3. View definition, and
4. Select on databases object that you want to compare

ApexSQL Compare can compare all SQL Server database objects. With a right-click on any SQL Server object, you can initiate a new comparison and set the selected object as left or right in the comparison window.

Yes. You can ignore specific attributes in the comparison such as: ansi options, authorization, collation, comments, constraint names, filegroups, indexes lock escalation, permissions, and with encryption. These ignore options are available from the Options window, under the Script tab and if any of these options is checked the corresponding part of the script won’t be shown in the comparison window.

There are three types of comparison in ApexSQL Compare:

1. Direct SQL Server objects comparison from SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio
2. File comparison
3. Folder comparison

There are three types of comparison modes in ApexSQL Compare:

1. Char-by-char comparison
2. Line-by-line comparison
3. Block-by-block comparison

By default, the Line-by-line comparison is used, but you can change it by switching between these three under the Script tab in the Options window.

Yes. You can change colors for difference highlighting under the General tab in the Options window. Colors can be changed for background and highlighting of left and right differences.

There are 4 types of merging in ApexSQL Compare and merged script can contain:

1. Only differences found on the left side
2. Only differences found on the right side
3. Differences found on the left side and then the ones from right side
4. Differences found on the right side and then the ones from left side

Currently you cannot edit loaded SQL files, but Integrated editor will be implemented in our future releases and you can check our Roadmap for more information.

Yes. When the New project is initiated, you can choose the comparison type to compare folders.

By default, add-in automatically checks for new updates, but you can do it manually by navigating to ApexSQL menu -> ApexSQL Compare -> Resources-> Get updates. Check out more from article about how to tell if I have the latest version of ApexSQL software.

Check out article on how to turn off the ApexSQL auto-updater.

ApexSQL Compare integrates into Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio versions 2012 and higher.

Note: You can use full-featured SQL Server Management Studio for free. Check out more here.

ApexSQL Compare integrates into Visual Studio versions 2010 and higher.

Yes. During the installation of ApexSQL Compare you can choose whether to integrate it into all available SQL Server Management Studio and Visual Studio versions or just into a desired one(s).

Yes. It can be used alongside any other ApexSQL add-ins.

Yes. ApexSQL Compare supports Azure SQL Database and SQL Server on Amazon RDS