BroadSQLWhy is BroadSQL free?
Short, factual answers.
Why is BroadSQL free?
BroadSQL is a personal side project, not a company product. It was built because its author needed it, and it is shared because other people who work across many databases may need it too. It is not sold, and it has no paid tier, subscription, or license fee. See About & Contact for who is behind it.
Is an account required?
No. You download it and run it. There is nothing to register, and no sign-in.
Is telemetry collected?
No. BroadSQL does not send usage data, statistics, or crash reports anywhere. The only network traffic it produces is what you ask for: the database connections you configure and the API calls you run. The website does not use cookies or tracking either; see Privacy. Because the source is public, you can check this yourself.
What does the license permit?
The published source is licensed under Apache-2.0: you may use, modify, and redistribute it, including commercially, as long as you keep the license and copyright notices. Details are on the License page.
Why is the project public?
BroadSQL connects to your databases, so you should be able to see what it does. Publishing the code lets anyone read it, build it, and run its test suite.