A modern Sequel Ace alternative for macOS
Sequel Ace kept Sequel Pro alive as a free native Mac client, and it's still a great starting point. If you've hit its limits, SSH connection quirks, no backups, thin tooling, Flanders is a native Mac app that picks up where it leaves off.
What people like about Sequel Ace
It's free, open-source, native to macOS, and familiar to anyone who used Sequel Pro. For straightforward browse-and-query work it does the job.
Where Flanders is different
Flanders adds the things people outgrow Sequel Ace for: verified backups, a visual query builder and ER diagrams, schema and data sync, an AI assistant, and production write guards. SSH tunnelling is built in with host-key pinning, and connection issues get a real setup path rather than a stale GitHub thread.
| Flanders | Sequel Ace | |
|---|---|---|
| Native macOS | Yes | Yes |
| SSH tunnel + host-key pinning | Yes | Yes (SSH quirks reported) |
| Visual query builder | Yes | No |
| ER diagrams | Yes | No |
| Verified backups | Yes | No |
| Schema & data sync | Yes | No |
| AI assistant | Yes, BYO key | No |
| Production write guards | Yes | No |
| Actively developed | Yes | Community |
Sequel Ace is a fine free tool, this is about where Flanders adds more. Details reflect our understanding at time of writing.
Frequently asked
Sequel Ace won't connect over SSH, what's a good alternative?
SSH tunnelling in Flanders is built in with host-key pinning (trust-on-first-use, like OpenSSH). If Sequel Ace's SSH tunnel is failing, a recurring, often-unresolved issue in its tracker, Flanders is a native Mac alternative worth trying with the same credentials.
Is there a maintained replacement for Sequel Pro?
Sequel Ace is the community fork of Sequel Pro. Flanders is a separate, actively-developed native Mac client that goes further: backups, ER diagrams, query builder, schema sync and an AI assistant.
Does Flanders run on Apple Silicon?
Yes, it ships as a universal binary (Apple Silicon and Intel), Developer ID signed and notarised by Apple.
Is Flanders free like Sequel Ace?
Free while in beta. At 1.0 it becomes a one-time perpetual licence (no subscription); Sequel Ace remains free and open-source.
Try Flanders free
Native macOS · Apple Silicon & Intel · MySQL & MariaDB · no subscription
⬇ Download for macOS