Comparison

SwiftyTerminal vs Forge Database Manager

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

SwiftyTerminal

Features
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Learn Linux commands on your iPhone or iPad. SwiftyTerminal is a pocket shell where you can practice ls, grep, sed, awk, pipes and redirects, plus ping, nslookup and SSH. When you get stuck, ask the Command Copilot in plain English: describe what you want to do and get a real command you can run. Type ? followed by a task, like "? show hidden files", and the answer lands in the input line, ready to run or edit. Type explain before any command line and it is broken down piece by piece, so you learn as you go. On devices with Apple Intelligence the copilot runs on the on-device model. Everywhere else it answers from a built-in offline guide. Nothing you type leaves your device. COMMAND COPILOT - Plain English to a runnable command, checked against the commands this app actually has - Type explain before a command to decode pipes, options and redirects - Commands that delete or overwrite data are never run for you: they wait in the input line - Recent answers are saved so you can run them again - A searchable reference of every built-in command, with examples ASK FROM ANYWHERE - Shortcuts: Explain a Terminal Command, Suggest a Terminal Command, Run in Terminal, Open Command Copilot - Say "Explain grep in SwiftyTerminal" or "Ask SwiftyTerminal for a command" - Every command is searchable from Spotlight FILES AND TEXT List, create, copy, move and delete files and folders with ls, cd, mkdir, touch, cp, mv, rm and cat. Inspect with file, wc, head and tail. Search and process text with find, grep (-i -v -n -c), sort, uniq, sed and awk, plus pipes, redirects and glob patterns. NETWORK TOOLS ping, nslookup, curl, netcat and port scans for hosts you own, plus SSH sessions with remote commands and file transfer. SYSTEM AND SCRIPTING date, cal, uptime, df, uname, environment variables, aliases and history. A built-in mini Python and Lua interpreter for quick math and variables. A FRESH LOOK A hand-drawn design with living "thinking orb" animations, a Liquid Glass input bar, four terminal themes and adjustable text size. Reduce Motion calms every animation. SwiftyTerminal is a simulated terminal that runs entirely inside the app sandbox. It does not download or run external code. Who it's for: developers, students learning the command line, IT and network folks, and anyone curious about Unix commands.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
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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

SwiftyTerminal4 screens
Forge Database Manager4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: SwiftyTerminal at $0.99 against Forge Database Manager's $19.99. Forge Database Manager's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

SwiftyTerminal costs $0.99 and Forge Database Manager $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SwiftyTerminal ships an update every 5 days, Forge Database Manager every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
SwiftyTerminal versus Forge Database Manager: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSwiftyTerminalForge Database Manager
Price$0.99 — better$19.99
Rating—5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 8 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Paid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB58 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHemal ModiMarco Tini

In-app purchases

None

SwiftyTerminal

No in-app purchases

None

Forge Database Manager

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SwiftyTerminal free?
SwiftyTerminal costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Forge Database Manager free?
Forge Database Manager costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do SwiftyTerminal or Forge Database Manager have ads?
Neither SwiftyTerminal nor Forge Database Manager shows ads.
Which is updated more often, SwiftyTerminal or Forge Database Manager?
SwiftyTerminal ships an update every 5 days, and Forge Database Manager every 8 days. Most recently, SwiftyTerminal was updated on October 19, 2026 and Forge Database Manager on October 22, 2026.

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