Inlet vs Sequel Ace

In short

Sequel Ace is a free, open-source Mac app for MySQL and MariaDB. It describes itself as the “sequel” to Sequel Pro, the long-time Mac MySQL client, and has been developed in the open since 2020. It’s on the Mac App Store and runs on macOS 13.5 or later.

Inlet is also a free native Mac app. It works with MySQL and MariaDB, and with PostgreSQL, SQLite and MongoDB too. It’s new (version 0.1), isn’t open source, and needs macOS 26 Tahoe or later. If you’re looking for a Sequel Ace alternative for Mac because you also use PostgreSQL or MongoDB, or want staged edits and read-only production connections, Inlet is worth trying. If MySQL is all you use and Sequel Ace does what you need, there’s no pressing reason to switch.

At a glance

As of October 2026, from Sequel Ace’s website, GitHub repository and App Store page.

Where Sequel Ace is stronger

• Open source. Sequel Ace’s code is on GitHub under the MIT licence, with regular releases. Inlet isn’t open source.
• Older Macs. Sequel Ace runs on macOS 13.5 or later, and older releases cover macOS versions back to OS X 10.10. Inlet needs macOS 26 Tahoe.
• Track record. Sequel Ace carries on from Sequel Pro and has been in development since 2020, with a migration guide for Sequel Pro favourites. Inlet is at version 0.1.
• More ways to sign in to MySQL. AWS IAM authentication and HashiCorp Vault’s OIDC flow, alongside passwords, TLS and SSH.
• The Mac App Store. You can install and update it from the App Store (or with mas), and there’s a community-maintained Homebrew cask.
• An MCP server for AI agents. Tools such as Claude Code and Cursor can query your databases through Sequel Ace’s saved connections. It’s off by default, listens only on localhost, and is read-only unless you change that.

Where Inlet is stronger

• More than MySQL. PostgreSQL, SQLite and MongoDB in the same app, so one client covers a Rails app on PostgreSQL, a WordPress site on MySQL and a local SQLite file.
• Edits you review before they run. Sequel Ace writes each row when you finish editing it. Inlet stages changes until you commit (⌘S), in one transaction, and Review shows the exact SQL first. Each update checks the row is still what you loaded; if someone changed it, nothing is saved and Inlet shows their version beside yours.
• Read-only production connections. Tag a connection production and it opens read-only: the server refuses writes until you unlock it, for ten minutes. On protected connections, DROP, TRUNCATE, and DELETE or UPDATE without WHERE ask you to type the table’s name. Sequel Ace’s documentation describes a read-only setting only for its MCP server.
• No telemetry. Inlet sends no usage or diagnostics data.

Moving from Sequel Ace

Inlet doesn’t read Sequel Ace’s favourites. For each one:

1. Note the host, port, user and database from the favourite in Sequel Ace.
2. In Inlet, choose Connect from URL and paste a URL such as mysql://<user>@<host>:3306/<database>, or fill in New Connection. Inlet fills the form from the URL.
3. If the favourite used an SSH tunnel, add it in the connection form. Inlet runs tunnels through the system ssh, so host aliases in ~/.ssh/config, the SSH agent and the 1Password agent all work.
4. For TLS, Inlet takes a custom CA file and a client certificate and key.

Passwords can be saved in the Keychain or asked for every time. Inlet has no AWS IAM or Vault sign-in, so keep Sequel Ace for connections that use them.

Which to choose

Choose Sequel Ace if MySQL and MariaDB are all you use, you want open-source software, you’re on macOS 13.5 to 15, or you sign in with AWS IAM or Vault. It’s free, mature and focused.

Choose Inlet if you’re on macOS 26 and also work with PostgreSQL, SQLite or MongoDB, or you want grid edits you review as SQL before committing and production connections that open read-only. Both are free, so you can run them side by side.