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VERDICT

Should I use Flyway Community: Database Migration Tool by Redgate?

Flyway Community is the open-source edition of Redgate Flyway. Automate database migrations with version control. Download and get started in minutes. - flywaydb.org

Worth it. Individual developers, students, and solo projects should use it — it's free, proven, and starts in minutes. Teams needing drift detection, policy-as-code, or cross-database moves will get pushed into Redgate's paid tiers.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 14+ public sources: official Redgate/GitHub pages, Reddit threads, TrustRadius, G2, Stack Overflow, Wikipedia.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo community support evidence found
  • Security postureNo vulnerability evidence reviewed

Pricing

Free

Community

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
TeamsPaid (unpublished)
EnterpriseQuote-based

Best for

  • Solo developers
  • Students and educators
  • Java/Docker shops
  • Git-based SQL workflows

Not for

  • Teams wanting drift detection or policy-as-code — that's Enterprise
  • Anyone migrating data between two different databases
  • Buyers who resent open-core paywalls
  • Large estates needing governed, auditable change

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Open-core model: features free in rival tools sit behind paid Teams/Enterprise tiers

medium

Redgate paid tiers described as expensive or prohibitive in user discussions

medium

Community edition is officially for individuals and education, not teams

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and open source under Apache 2.0
  • Simple, focused migrations; running in minutes
  • Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker, Java
  • Tracks which migration scripts are applied across instances
  • Huge installed base: 11.5M downloads by 2018

Cons

  • Users say basics are paywalled that are free elsewhere
  • Community edition officially targets individual developers and education
  • Cannot migrate data/schemas between two different databases
  • Drift detection and policy-as-code require paid Enterprise
  • Redgate pricing called prohibitive by some users

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 14 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x4review x7security x1news x2

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free and open source, Apache 2.0
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Simple, focused; start in minutes
  • Feature depth: 2/5. Advanced features sit in paid tiers
  • Support quality. No community support evidence found
  • Security posture. No vulnerability evidence reviewed
  • 4.5/5 Redgate rating 124 ratings
  • 9/10 TrustRadius rating 17 reviews
  • Free Starting price Community edition, Apache 2.0
  • 11.5M Downloads in 2018 (Wikipedia)

Pricing

Community

Free

  • Individual developers and education
  • Core SQL migrations
  • Apache 2.0 licensed

Teams

Paid (unpublished)

  • Team migration workflows
  • Used by Desjardins across multi-database estate

Enterprise

Quote-based

  • Policy-as-code, drift detection
  • CI/CD: GitHub, Azure DevOps, Jenkins

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Users rate Flyway 4.5/5 on Redgate and 9/10 on TrustRadius, praising simple reliable migrations while criticizing paywalled basics.

“Yes it is viable, but I don't really like it very much because it paywalls stuff that is free literally anywhere else you look”
Reddit, r/java
“From our side we pull the scripts from the repo and execute them with flyway. The only thing flyway does is that it keeps track of which scripts”
Reddit, r/SQL
“So far I think this product is pretty good, sometimes we have bump, but in general it is a good product”
TrustRadius review

Alternatives

Compare Flyway Community: Database Migration Tool by Redgate with each alternative.

  • Liquibase

    Open-source migrations rival; similar versioned-changelog model

  • Plain SQL scripts + version control

    Ordered SQL scripts from your repo; DIY applied-script tracking

  • AWS Database Migration Service

    AWS-native option when moving data between different databases

Companies that use it

  • Desjardins13
Full analysis

Based on 14+ public sources: official Redgate/GitHub pages, Reddit threads, TrustRadius, G2, Stack Overflow, Wikipedia.

Free, proven migrations tool for solo devs; teams hit paywalls fast — basics free elsewhere sit behind Redgate's paid tiers.

Methodology

Based on 14+ public sources: official Redgate/GitHub pages, Reddit threads, TrustRadius, G2, Stack Overflow, Wikipedia.

Sources

  1. Flyway Community product page — Redgatered-gate.com
    official
  2. Redgate Flyway overviewred-gate.com
    official
  3. Flyway Enterprise pagered-gate.com
    official
  4. Flyway on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  5. Flyway (software) — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    news
  6. Flyway in 2024? — Reddit r/javareddit.com
    review
  7. Flyway became closed source? — Reddit r/javareddit.com
    review
  8. A question about Flyway by Redgate — Reddit r/SQLreddit.com
    review
  9. Looking for Impressions on Redgate Flyway — Reddit r/SQLreddit.com
    review
  10. Redgate Flyway Reviews — TrustRadiustrustradius.com
    review
  11. Redgate Flyway Reviews — G2g2.com
    review
  12. Cross-database migration question — Stack Overflowstackoverflow.com
    review
  13. Desjardins Flyway Teams case study — Redgate blogred-gate.com
    news
  14. Product security page — Flywayflywaydb.org
    security

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