MySQL still runs a large share of the web, from small WordPress installs to sharded fleets on Amazon Aurora and Google Cloud SQL. The hard part is knowing why a query that took 40 milliseconds last week now takes four seconds, which replica has drifted, and who changed a configuration variable on Friday night. That is the job of MySQL monitoring tools, and the related job of day-to-day administration falls to MySQL management tools: the GUIs and consoles where people write queries, compare schemas and manage users.
This list covers both, because most teams need both. We ranked them on how well they help a team find and fix MySQL problems, how much MySQL depth they offer compared with generic database coverage, and how practical they are to deploy and pay for. If you are hiring outside help to tune or rebuild a database layer, our roundup of top SQL development companies and developers is a useful companion, and our piece on disaster recovery in the database world covers the backup side that monitoring alone will not solve.
One change worth knowing before you read on: Oracle retired MySQL Enterprise Monitor. Its end-of-life notice took effect on January 1, 2025, and Oracle now points customers to Enterprise Manager for MySQL or the OCI Database Management service. We left it off the list for that reason.
MySQL Monitoring And Management Tools At A Glance
Tool
Best For
Deployment
Pricing Model
Percona Monitoring and Management
Open source query analytics across MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB
Self-hosted server (Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, AWS Marketplace) plus client agents
Free, open source; paid Percona support optional
Datadog Database Monitoring
Teams that want query metrics next to APM traces and infrastructure data
SaaS
Per database host, per month
SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
Wait-time analysis in mixed estates of MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle and others
Cloud or on-premises
Subscription or volume licensing, quote-based; 14-day trial
Webyog MONyog
Agentless MySQL and MariaDB monitoring with prebuilt advisors
Self-hosted, connects over MySQL or SSH
Annual per-server license; 14-day trial
MySQL Workbench
Official free GUI for development, administration and performance reports
Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux)
Free Community edition (GPL)
dbForge Studio for MySQL
Windows-first IDE with profiling, schema compare and data compare
Desktop (Windows native; macOS and Linux via compatibility layer)
Free Express edition; paid tiers monthly or yearly
Navicat for MySQL and Navicat Monitor
Cross-platform GUI plus a separate web-based monitor
Desktop and self-hosted web server
Perpetual or subscription licenses
Severalnines ClusterControl
Deploying and operating replicated and Galera clusters
Self-hosted on Linux
Free Community tier; per-node paid tiers
DBeaver
Universal SQL client for teams working across many databases
Desktop; CloudBeaver for browser access
Free Community edition; paid commercial editions
phpMyAdmin
Browser-based administration on shared hosting and small servers
Self-hosted PHP web app
Free, open source
Best MySQL Monitoring And Management Tools In 2027
Percona Monitoring and Management (PMM) is Percona’s open source observability platform for MySQL and its relatives. It covers Oracle MySQL, Percona Server, Percona XtraDB Cluster, MariaDB, Amazon RDS for MySQL and Aurora MySQL, and it also handles PostgreSQL, MongoDB and ProxySQL.
The centerpiece is Query Analytics, which ranks queries by load and shows explain plans so you can see which statements are consuming the server. Percona Advisors run automated checks for security gaps, misconfigurations and performance problems, and Percona Alerting can push notifications to more than 15 channels. PMM also includes hot, incremental, physical and logical backups with point-in-time recovery for MySQL and MongoDB, which few monitoring tools attempt.
PMM uses a server and client model. The server runs in Docker or Podman, on a virtual machine (including through AWS Marketplace) or on Kubernetes via Helm charts, and clients install from packages, binaries, Docker or Kubernetes. The software is free; Percona sells support, managed services and consulting separately. The trade-off is ownership: you host, upgrade and scale the PMM server yourself, and the engine-specific dashboards take some learning before they feel quick.
Best for: Engineering teams comfortable running their own tooling who want deep MySQL query visibility without a per-host bill.
Datadog Database Monitoring (DBM) adds database-level visibility to the wider Datadog platform. It supports MySQL, Amazon RDS and Amazon Aurora, along with Postgres, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, Google Cloud SQL, Azure databases, Supabase and ClickHouse. For MySQL users, the useful part is the context: query metrics sit in the same place as application traces and infrastructure data.
DBM tracks average latency, total execution time and rows queried over time, shows node-level explain plans alongside distributed traces, and offers wait event load analysis.
It is delivered as SaaS and priced per database host per month. Teams already paying for Datadog infrastructure and APM get the most out of it. The limitation is cost at scale: per-host pricing across many replicas adds up, and DBM is an add-on to a broader Datadog subscription rather than a standalone MySQL tool.
Best for: Organizations already standardized on Datadog that want database performance data inside the same incident workflow.
SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) is built around wait-time analysis. It reports where queries spend their time waiting, including longest I/O waits and peak wait periods across the day.
DPA supports MySQL and MariaDB alongside Oracle, SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, PostgreSQL and SAP HANA, and SolarWinds lists Percona, Google Cloud SQL, Amazon RDS and Amazon EC2 among covered environments.
It runs in cloud or on-premises environments and is sold through subscription and volume licensing, with a fully functional 14-day trial and quote-based pricing. The trade-off is focus: DPA is a performance analysis product, not a management GUI, so you will still need a separate tool for schema changes, user management and everyday queries.
Best for: DBA teams responsible for several database platforms who want a consistent way to explain slow queries.
4. Webyog MONyog — Agentless MySQL And MariaDB Monitoring With 600+ Advisors
MONyog is Webyog’s dedicated MySQL monitoring product (Webyog is an Idera company, and Idera has also sold this product as SQL Diagnostic Manager for MySQL). It connects over MySQL or SSH, so nothing is installed on the database servers, and it tracks sessions, locks, queries and replication in real time.
Its main strength is the library of more than 600 customizable monitors and advisors based on MySQL best practices. It also tracks MySQL configuration changes, flags locked and long-running queries, sends alerts and SNMP traps, and lets users build custom dashboards around only the metrics they care about. Supported targets include self-managed MySQL and MariaDB, Galera, Amazon RDS for MySQL and MariaDB, Amazon Aurora, Azure Database for MySQL, Google Cloud SQL for MySQL and MySQL on cloud VMs.
Webyog publishes annual per-server pricing and offers a 14-day trial with no credit card. Webyog also sells SQLyog Ultimate, a MySQL GUI with schema and data sync, a query profiler and scheduled backups, for teams that want monitoring and management from one vendor. The trade-off is scope: MONyog covers only MySQL and MariaDB, so teams with PostgreSQL or SQL Server in the mix will need another tool for those engines.
Best for: MySQL-focused teams that want agentless monitoring with ready-made checks and predictable per-server pricing.
5. MySQL Workbench — Oracle’s Free GUI With Visual Explain And Performance Reports
MySQL Workbench is Oracle’s official visual tool for MySQL developers, DBAs and architects. The current generation is built on the MySQL Shell foundation and replaces earlier Workbench releases as well as the discontinued MySQL Shell for VS Code. The Community edition is free under the GPL, and Oracle offers downloads for Windows, macOS and Linux.
For performance work, Workbench includes Performance Reports covering slow queries, statement execution-time distribution, table sizes, memory use and waits, plus Visual Explain and Visual Explain Analyze for comparing a query’s plan with how it actually ran. On the management side it handles server status and configuration, users and grants, and client connections.
The limitation is that it is a client, not a monitoring service: it shows you the state of a server when you look, but it does not collect history or raise alerts around the clock.
Best for: Developers and DBAs who want the vendor’s own free tool for queries, administration and ad hoc tuning.
dbForge Studio for MySQL from Devart is a full IDE for MySQL and MariaDB that also supports Percona, HeatWave, Galera Cluster and managed services including Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora, Azure Database for MySQL, Google Cloud Platform, Alibaba Cloud and DigitalOcean.
The product is sold in four editions. Express is free and includes the formatter, visual editors, Database Designer, import and export, Security Manager and Session Manager. Standard adds the debugger, Query Profiler, backup and recovery and a visual query builder. Professional adds schema and data comparison, CLI automation and reports, and Enterprise adds source control, a data generator, a documenter and Copy Database. Paid editions are billed monthly or yearly.
For monitoring, the Session Manager tracks sessions and running queries and the Query Profiler helps with tuning, but there is no persistent alerting. The other trade-off is platform: dbForge is natively a Windows application, and Devart’s own FAQ says macOS and Linux use runs through CrossOver or Wine.
Best for: Windows-based developers who want profiling, comparison and deployment tooling in one paid IDE.
7. Navicat for MySQL — Cross-Platform GUI Paired With A Separate Web-Based Monitor
Navicat for MySQL is a long-running GUI for MySQL and MariaDB with native builds for Windows, macOS and Linux. It covers object design, data editing, an SQL builder with code completion, data and structure synchronization, data generation, backup and restore, data masking and automation, along with SSH and HTTP tunneling.
Monitoring lives in a separate product, Navicat Monitor. It is agentless, collects metrics over SSH and SNMP, and runs as a server you open in a browser, installable on Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker or FreeBSD. It supports MySQL 5.6 and later, MariaDB 10.0 and later, PostgreSQL and SQL Server, and includes a Query Analyzer for slow queries and deadlocks, a SQL profiler with trace capture, replication topology diagrams and alerts by email, SMS, SNMP or Slack.
Navicat sells both perpetual and subscription licenses, and both products offer trials. The trade-off is that you are buying two products to get management and monitoring, and the bundle can cost more than single-purpose alternatives on this list.
Best for: Mixed Mac and Windows teams that want a polished desktop client and are willing to add a separate monitor.
ClusterControl is an operations platform more than a monitoring tool. It deploys high-availability MySQL, MariaDB and Galera clusters with load balancers, then handles backup, failover, scaling, upgrades and patching. It also supports PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis and several other engines.
Monitoring includes dashboards, alarms and notifications, performance advisors and query monitoring for MySQL and Galera. ClusterControl installs on a Linux host you run, connects to existing databases over SSH without changing those installations and exposes a CLI, API and Terraform provider.
The Community tier is free and covers deployment, monitoring and performance advisors. Paid tiers add failover, backup and recovery, load balancers and enterprise security features, with self-serve pricing per node and custom quotes for larger estates. The trade-off is weight: if you only need query visibility on a single primary, ClusterControl brings more machinery than you need.
Best for: Teams running replicated or Galera clusters on their own infrastructure who want automated failover and backups alongside monitoring.
9. DBeaver — Universal SQL Client Covering 100+ Data Sources
DBeaver is a universal database client. The Community edition is free and open source under the Apache license, and it connects to MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server and many others. DBeaver Corp also sells commercial editions (Lite, Enterprise, Ultimate and Team Edition) and CloudBeaver Enterprise for browser access, with support for more than 100 data sources.
For MySQL users, DBeaver handles query editing, data browsing and schema navigation in the same interface they use for every other database.
The limitation is depth. DBeaver is a client, not a MySQL monitoring product, and it lacks the query analytics, advisors and alerting found higher on this list. Pair it with a dedicated monitor.
Best for: Developers and analysts who want one free client for MySQL and every other database they touch.
10. phpMyAdmin — Free Browser-Based Administration For Hosted MySQL And MariaDB
phpMyAdmin is a free, open source PHP application for administering MySQL and MariaDB through a web browser. It is translated into 98 languages and is a member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy. The latest release at the time of writing is 5.2.3, announced in October 2025.
It covers everyday tasks: tables, views and indexes, SQL execution, user accounts and privileges, stored procedures and triggers, and import and export in formats including CSV, SQL and XML.
The trade-offs are clear. phpMyAdmin offers no performance history, alerting or query analytics, and because it is a web app with database credentials behind it, it needs careful hardening if exposed to the internet. It earns its place for simple administration, not for monitoring.
Best for: Small sites and hosting environments that need quick browser access to MySQL without installing a desktop client.
How To Choose A MySQL Monitoring And Management Tool
Do You Need Monitoring, Management, Or Both?
Start by separating the two jobs. MySQL performance monitoring means collecting metrics continuously, keeping history and alerting when something drifts. Management means a MySQL GUI where people write queries, change schemas and manage users. PMM, Datadog, DPA, MONyog and Navicat Monitor are monitors. Workbench, dbForge, Navicat for MySQL, DBeaver and phpMyAdmin are management clients.
Which Engines And Hosting Models Do You Run?
If you run only MySQL and MariaDB, a dedicated tool such as MONyog gives you MySQL-specific checks without paying for coverage you will never use. If PostgreSQL, MongoDB or SQL Server sit next to MySQL, PMM, Datadog or DPA avoid running separate monitors per engine. Confirm support for your managed services too.
How Much Query-Level Detail Do You Need?
If slow queries are your main pain point, prioritize tools with query ranking, explain plans and wait analysis, such as PMM’s Query Analytics, Datadog’s explain plans or DPA’s wait-time views, over tools that only graph CPU and connections.
Can You Run Agents, Or Do You Need Agentless?
Some environments, especially regulated ones or managed database services, make installing agents difficult. Agentless tools such as MONyog and Navicat Monitor connect over the MySQL protocol, SSH or SNMP. Agent-based tools need deployment and upgrades on every server.
What Is Your Budget Model?
Per-host SaaS pricing is easy to start and can grow quickly as replicas multiply. Self-hosted open source tools such as PMM and the ClusterControl Community tier cost nothing to license but need someone to run them. Annual per-server licenses from vendors like Webyog sit in between and are easy to forecast.
Conclusion
There is no single best tool here, because MySQL teams need visibility and control, and few products do both well. For most self-managed fleets, Percona Monitoring and Management is the strongest free starting point. Datadog makes sense if your observability already lives there, DPA suits multi-engine DBA teams, and Webyog’s MONyog is a focused, agentless option for MySQL-only shops. Round that out with a management client: MySQL Workbench or DBeaver if you want free, dbForge or Navicat if you want more polish and are happy to pay.
Whichever MySQL monitoring tools you pick, run a trial against a real workload, including a replica and a managed instance if you have them, before committing.
