iWaka vs Forge Database Manager
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iWaka
View your programming metrics from WakaTime on your iPhone. Track daily and historical stats for projects, languages, and editors. See recent commits and time spent on tasks.
- View today's top projects, languages, and editors
- Track current day and past date range stats
- Detailed summary of task categories, editors, and languages
- See time worked on separate projects
- Check recent commits of linked projects
- Supports light/dark mode
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WakaTime is an open source platform with open source plugins for metrics about your programming. This 3rd party client app is to see your programming metrics on your iPhone. Currently this app supports to display * Today's top project, language and editor * Stats for current day and past date ranges * Detailed summary of task categories, editors and languages * All projects linked with WakaTime * Check recent commits of linked projects * See time worked on separate projects * View task categories, editors used and languages used for programming on a particular project * View primary details of profile * Supports light/dark mode * Send feedback There are more features and UI/UX improvements to come in future. A new tab is coming soon with Insights! Stay tuned with iWaka!
Forge Database Manager
A native macOS, iOS, and iPadOS application that consolidates access to numerous SQL, NoSQL, and file-based data stores. It offers features like inline editing, schema comparison, and AI integration for querying data in plain English.
- Supports 19 database engines
- Manages CSV, JSON, and SQL dump files
- Inline cell editing and data import
- AI integration for natural language querying
- Scheduled universal backups
- Schema comparison and SSH tunneling
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Stop paying for four tools. Forge opens SQL servers, cloud warehouses, NoSQL clusters, federated query engines, file dumps, and key/value stores in one native app — no Electron, no subscriptions. Built with SwiftUI for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. One purchase, every Apple device. NINETEEN DATABASE ENGINES • PostgreSQL family — Postgres, CockroachDB, TimescaleDB, Amazon Redshift • MySQL family — MySQL, MariaDB • SQLite, libSQL, Turso (remote libSQL over Hrana HTTPS) • Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL — pure Swift TDS, no driver • Oracle — pure Swift, no Instant Client • Snowflake — SQL API v2, key-pair JWT auth • Google BigQuery — service account JWT • Trino / Presto — federated queries • Apache Cassandra, ScyllaDB • DuckDB — embedded analytics over Parquet, CSV, JSON • Redis — browse keys by type as tables • ClickHouse — analytics via native HTTP • Elasticsearch — indexes as SQL tables THREE FILE FORMATS AS DATABASES • CSV — auto-detected separators, quoted fields, duplicate headers handled • JSON, NDJSON, JSON Lines — arrays and streaming • SQL Dump — open mysqldump or pg_dump files and browse without executing a statement DRY RESTORE — UNIQUE TO FORGE Inspect any SQL dump as if it were a live database. Browse a 400 MB backup in seconds. No risk, no server, no restore. AI BRIDGE — UNIQUE TO FORGE Run a local MCP server that exposes your databases as tools to Claude Desktop, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible assistant. List tables, inspect schemas, run queries — in plain English, on every supported engine. Read-only by default. Credentials never leave your Mac. LIVE DATA WITH DIFF HIGHLIGHT Toggle auto-refresh on any table to watch data change in real time. New rows light up green, changed cells light up yellow. Pauses automatically when you're editing. EDIT IN PLACE Double-click a cell to edit. Save many cells across rows in one transaction. Schema-aware INSERT and DELETE. Import CSV/JSON straight into a SQL table. Every SQL engine, Oracle included. QUERY EDITOR Syntax highlighting and context-aware autocomplete — keywords, table names, column names. SQL formatter and Find & Replace built in. Reusable queries with {{var}} placeholders. Snippet library: type `:name` and the template inserts. SMART DATA GRID Sort, filter, and export results as CSV, JSON, or SQL INSERT — on every engine. SCHEMA COMPARE Diff tables and columns between two connections. Catch drift before it bites in production. UNIVERSAL BACKUP Scheduled backups for every engine: SQL dump for SQL, JSON for Redis. Cron expressions, retention, gzip. Runs in the background. SSH TUNNEL Reach databases behind a bastion host. Password or private-key auth (ed25519, RSA, with passphrase). Pure Swift, no openssh dependency. PORTABLE & SECURE Export connections as a single encrypted bundle (ChaCha20-Poly1305 + PBKDF2-SHA256), import elsewhere with a passphrase. Drag a .sqlite/.csv/.json/.sql.gz file onto the sidebar to open it. Passwords in Apple Keychain. SSL/TLS for remote connections. No telemetry, no cloud dependency. SMALL & FAST Around 50 MB installed on iPhone, even smaller on Mac. Native Swift code, no Electron runtime, instant cold start. NATIVE APPLE Spotlight indexes your saved queries and connections — search them from anywhere on macOS or iOS. Run saved queries with Siri or the Shortcuts app. Keyboard shortcuts everywhere. Multi-window on Mac with shared engine cache. Twenty-two data sources. One app. Zero Electron.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: iWaka at Free against Forge Database Manager's $19.99. iWaka also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Forge Database Manager's advantage is update cadence (every 8 days vs every 2 weeks). On rating, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
iWaka is free to download; Forge Database Manager costs $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for iWaka against 5.0 for Forge Database Manager. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 1 respectively.
iWaka ships an update every 2 weeks, Forge Database Manager every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | iWaka | Forge Database Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $19.99 |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 58 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pramodya Abeysinghe | Marco Tini |
Customer experience
iWaka
Forge Database Manager
In-app purchases
iWaka
No in-app purchases
Forge Database Manager
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iWaka free?
Is Forge Database Manager free?
Which has better reviews, iWaka or Forge Database Manager?
Do iWaka or Forge Database Manager have ads?
Which is updated more often, iWaka or Forge Database Manager?
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