How to Compare Database Schemas Before Deploying
A step-by-step workflow for catching schema drift between staging and production.
Paste two pg_dump --schema-only outputs. Spot every table, column, index, and constraint change instantly. Get ready-to-run ALTER TABLE scripts for PostgreSQL — all in your browser.
No account required. No data leaves your device.
SchemaLens understands PostgreSQL-specific syntax that generic diff tools miss.
Correctly detects SERIAL, BIGSERIAL, and GENERATED ALWAYS AS IDENTITY changes across schema versions.
Diffs CREATE TYPE ... AS ENUM statements. Catches added or removed enum values before they break your app.
Primary keys, unique constraints, foreign keys, CHECK constraints, and partial indexes — all compared semantically, not by raw text.
Handles double-quoted identifiers ("User") and mixed-case table names exactly like PostgreSQL does.
Recognizes INTEGER[], TEXT[], JSONB, and warns when these advanced types appear so nothing slips through.
Your schema never leaves the browser. Compare production schemas safely without uploading sensitive table structures to a third-party server.
Run pg_dump --schema-only --no-owner --no-privileges old_db > old.sql on both databases.
Copy the SQL into the two editor panes. Dialect is automatically set to PostgreSQL.
See added tables, dropped columns, type changes, and constraint modifications highlighted in color.
Export ALTER TABLE scripts, save as Markdown, PDF, or raw SQL. Run in staging, then production.
SchemaLens generates production-ready ALTER TABLE scripts for every change it detects.
ALTER TABLE "users"
ALTER COLUMN "bio" TYPE VARCHAR(500);
ALTER TABLE "orders"
ADD COLUMN "shipped_at" TIMESTAMP;
ALTER TABLE "comments"
ADD CONSTRAINT "fk_comments_post"
FOREIGN KEY ("post_id") REFERENCES "posts"("id");
ALTER TABLE "tasks"
ALTER COLUMN "status" SET DEFAULT 'pending';
A step-by-step workflow for catching schema drift between staging and production.
8 practical differences that trip up developers switching between the two databases.
Learn how to catch dropped columns, missing indexes, and type changes before they cause incidents.
Join thousands of developers who use SchemaLens to catch schema changes before they hit production.
Start Comparing FreeFree for up to 10 tables. Pro starts at $12/mo.