What is a free tool to compare two SQL Server Databases?

What is a free tool to compare two Sql Server tables (data and schema).

It would be great if the tool can script the differences found.

I also went through some older posts. The closest I have seen is SQLDBDiff but I would love to try more options.

TableDiff.exe should have everything you need. It is one of the hidden gems in SQL Server 2005. So you don't have to download anything.

• Table Difference tool allows you to discover and reconcile differences between a source and destination table or a view. Tablediff Utility can report differences on schema and data. The most popular feature of tablediff is the fact that it can generate a script that you can run on the destination that will reconcile differences between the tables. TableDiff.exe takes 2 sets of input; • Connectivity - Provide source and destination objects and connectivity information.

• Compare Options - Select one of the compare options • Compare schemas: Regular or Strict

• Compare using Rowcounts, Hashes or Column comparisons

• Generate difference scripts with I/U/D statements to synchronize destination to the source. TableDiff was intended for replication but can easily apply to any scenario where you need to compare data and schema. You can find more information about command line utilities and the Tablediff Utility in Books Online for SQL Server 2005.

Even though this has been answered years ago a new comer which works really well is Data Compare within Visual Studio. It is part of Visual Studio 2010 and is part of the Database Professionals GDR update to Visual Studio 2008. This works great when you want to compare the same tables in 2 different databases.

If you need to compare 2 tables with the same schema that are in the same database or with different names TableDiff (mentioned earlier) is a great option.

DBComparer is free and works well for MS SQL Server

Atlantis Interactiv, now owned by Pragmatic Works has two free tools called Schema Inspector and Data Inspector that works very much like the Red Gates tools.

We can recommend you a our reliable solutions for data and schema comparison for SQL Server: dbForge Schema Compare for SQL Server and dbForge Data Compare for SQL Server.

Their main advantages are high speed (up to 3 times quicker than most competitors) and extreme reliability.

Those tools are not free, but you can use 30-days trial for free and you have an opportunity to get a free license for both of the products - please refer to our free license conditions page.

Try CompareData from Zidsoft. It's free for comparing table/view data and has 30-trial for metadata comparisons

A SQL Server specific database table diff tool is Volpet's Table Diff