“We're managing to release up to 95 times per day. It's vastly improved from 1 every 6 weeks.”
How can teams, whether in DevOps, platform engineering, application development or database administration, choose which tool is right for them?
Liquibase was first released as an open source migrations tool in 2006, and in 2012 Liquibase was acquired by Datical. Datical DB rebranded to Liquibase in 2023. Today, Liquibase offers both an Open Source and Pro edition on its website.
Flyway was created in 2010 by Axel Fontaine, and became a highly popular open-source migrations tool. Redgate acquired Flyway in 2019, bringing decades of DevOps experience and empowering Redgate Flyway with advanced, enterprise-grade capabilities and integrating with the proven migrations-based approach of Redgate Flyway.
| Database deployment approaches | Liquibase Pro | Redgate Flyway Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| State-based deployment* | ||
| Migrations-based deployment | ||
| Ways of working | ||
| Command-line interface (CLI) | ||
| Works end-to-end with plain SQL | ||
| Graphical User Interface (GUI) to manage migrations | ||
| Development | ||
| Versioning of database migration scripts | ||
| Auto-generation of migration scripts | (Limited object type support) | |
| Object-level versioning* | ||
| Static data versioning** | ||
| Schema comparison GUI* | ||
| Cherry pick | ||
| Programmatically skip or batch changes by creating a subset of changes to apply | Alternative approach recommended | |
| Deployment controls | ||
| Code analysis | ||
| Built-in SQLFluff checks | ||
| Dry run script | ||
| Dependency ordering* | (Limited object type support) | |
| Run undo migration scripts | ||
| Preconditions to control the execution of an update based on the state of the database | Not required (uses end-to-end plain SQL) | |
| Checks and compliance | ||
| Out-of-the-box deployment insights dashboard | ||
| Drift detection* | (Limited object type support) | |
| Object-level difference report* | ||
| Secrets management integration | (Limited object type support) | |
| Find invalid objects** | ||
Information in comparison table is reviewed as of 29-01-2025
*Available for databases with advanced capabilities (MS SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, and their variants)
**MS SQL Server and Oracle only
Discover why Redgate Flyway Enterprise is trusted by teams worldwide for accelerating software delivery and ensuring quality code.
Redgate offers end-to-end Database DevOps to help organizations streamline software development and get value from their data faster. With seven global offices, our industry-leading products include Redgate Flyway, Redgate Monitor and Redgate Test Data Manager, and help teams accelerate automated software delivery, increase productivity, and improve release quality while staying compliant and reducing risk.
Liquibase Pro offers just a migrations-based deployment approach - unlike Redgate Flyway Enterprise which offers teams the flexibility to adopt a state-based or a migrations-based deployment approach to best fit their needs. Liquibase's approach also requires users to be confident with XML, JSON or YAML to maintain and order database changes. This, together with limited functionality in key pipeline processes, such as the versioning of database migration scripts and its granularity, means that users may require a longer learning curve to feel confident.
Redgate Flyway is an enterprise-grade solution that excels in automating database changes across multiple platforms while offering version control and dependency ordering, ensuring migrations are applied in the correct sequence. Redgate Flyway’s user-friendly approach, combined with its full object-level version control, allows teams to quickly adapt and scale their database environments with minimal complexity, making it ideal for both smaller and larger teams seeking a straightforward database DevOps solution with enterprise-level features.
The actual approach that a database change management solution takes to version, deploy and track changes is just as important, if not more so, when it comes to making the right choice for your database environments, teams and business.
30% of respondents in the State of the Database Landscape survey in 2024* noted that integrating database DevOps with existing software lifecycle processes in addition to standardization and alignment are two of the key challenges when implementing Database DevOps across multiple teams. This shows that while features matter, the way in which a database change management tool helps teams to integrate and standardize database DevOps with existing processes is also important.
Find out more about Redgate Flyway and request a demo with our sales and solution engineers to get started.
