VERDICT
Should I use Dbadash?
DBA Dash - dbadash.com
Worth it. Buy if you run SQL Server and will trade your own time for a free, well-regarded monitoring tool. Skip if you need polished alerting, vendor SLAs, or non-SQL-Server coverage.
New check
Categories
Confidence
Medium. Based on 20+ public sources (official docs, GitHub, Reddit, LinkedIn)
Ratings
Pricing
$0
Open Source
ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Best for
- SQL Server DBAs doing daily checks
- Budget-limited teams avoiding pricey Redgate
- Performance troubleshooting and capacity tracking
Not for
- Teams needing robust alerting out of the box
- Multi-database shops (Postgres, MySQL, NoSQL)
- Buyers wanting vendor support SLAs
- Anyone unwilling to host a repository database
Gotchas - check before you buy
high
Alerting is a known gap; one user looks elsewhere for it
medium
Free but not free to run: the FAQ says the only cost is your time and infrastructure
medium
Service account and config file permissions need careful setup per security docs
medium
Open-source project: roadmap and fixes depend on maintainer bandwidth, not a contract
Pros and cons
Pros
- Completely free and open source — no licensing cost
- Covers daily checks, performance metrics, running queries, table sizes
- Widely praised by SQL Server community on Reddit
- Helped a DBA prove rogue queries hurt performance
- Active maintainer; docs, GitHub discussions, and community Slack channel
Cons
- Users report missing proper alerting
- Requires hosting a repository database, service account, and infrastructure
- No vendor SLA; support is community-based
- You invest your own setup and maintenance time
Sources & method
official x4review x4security x1news x1
Key stats
Value for money: 5/5
Rating
$0
Starting price
10
Sources
Analyzed
- Value for money: 5/5. Free; only costs are time and infrastructure
- Ease of use: 4/5. Quick-start docs and deployable GUI
- Feature depth: 3/5. Strong SQL metrics, but alerting gaps reported
- Support quality: 3/5. Active maintainer; community-only support, no SLA
- Security posture: 3/5. Security docs exist; no public CVEs found
- $0 Price Free, open source
- Yes Free tier Whole product is free
- 300+ GitHub stars Per maintainer announcement
Pricing
Open Source
$0
- All monitoring features included
- Only cost is your time and infrastructure
- Community support via GitHub and Slack
Security
No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
What users say
Reddit DBAs consistently call DBA Dash genuinely useful for daily SQL Server monitoring, with missing alerting the most common complaint.
“+1 for DBA Dash, using it everyday.”
“I use DBAdash. It's free but it is missing (proper) alerting, so i look on”
“DBADash is gooood! But no alerting yet...”
Alternatives
Compare Dbadash with each alternative.
Redgate SQL Monitor
Commercial SQL Server monitoring; one user called it sophisticated but pricey
Dbadash vs Redgate SQL MonitorSQLWATCH
Free open-source SQL Server monitoring alternative in the same category
Dbadash vs SQLWATCHSSMS + Query Store
Built-in, zero-cost option for basic SQL Server performance checks
Full analysis
Based on 20+ public sources (official docs, GitHub, Reddit, LinkedIn)
Free, open-source SQL Server monitoring DBAs genuinely like — you pay with setup time, not money, and alerting is thin.
Methodology
Based on 20+ public sources (official docs, GitHub, Reddit, LinkedIn)
Sources
- DBA Dash homepagedbadash.comofficial
- DBA Dash FAQdbadash.comofficial
- Quick Startdbadash.comofficial
- Security docsdbadash.comsecurity
- GitHub: trimble-oss/dba-dashgithub.comofficial
- Reddit: Looking for monitoring toolreddit.comreview
- review
- Reddit: SQL Monitoring toolsreddit.comreview
- TechEarth: Exploring DBA Dashtechearth.xyzreview
- LinkedIn: DBA Dash reaches 300 starslinkedin.comnews
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