ChartDB
ChartDB is a bootstrapped, two-person developer-tools company that builds a web-based database schema visualization and ER diagram editor supporting 10+ databases, with AI-assisted diagram generation, real-time collaboration, and embeddable diagrams for software developers and product teams.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2024
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What ChartDB does
ChartDB is a developer-tools company that builds a web-based database schema visualization and ER diagram editor. Its core product lets developers import a database schema via a single query, render an interactive ER diagram in roughly 15 seconds without granting database access credentials, and edit, export, or share that diagram. The platform supports ten-plus relational, analytical, and cloud-warehouse databases — PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite, MariaDB, ClickHouse, CockroachDB, Oracle, Snowflake, and BigQuery — and includes AI-assisted diagram generation and an AI Agent for schema tasks, both delivered through OpenAI as the AI service provider. Real-time multi-user collaboration, programmatic schema-to-diagram synchronization via API and webhooks, and embeddable live diagrams (Notion, Confluence, Miro) extend the product from a single-developer tool into team and platform infrastructure.
The product is offered in two forms: a free open-source self-hosted version distributed through GitHub (which has accumulated 20k+ stars) and a hosted ChartDB Cloud SaaS product with subscriptions starting at $12.5 per user per month. The go-to-market is product-led and community-led: the project hit the Hacker News front page within 72 hours of its August 2024 launch, and adoption has since been driven through GitHub discovery, a Discord community, technical blog content, and the founders' personal brands. The company discloses named usage by engineers at Brinks, ByteDance, ASUS, Bosch, SingleStore, WSC Sports, Mott MacDonald, Singlewire, and EDL, alongside a sub-brand desktop application called Buckle.
ChartDB is a privately held, fully bootstrapped Delaware C Corporation founded in August 2024 by co-founders Jonathan Fishner (CEO, formerly of Fiverr) and Guy Ben-Aharon (CTO, formerly of Wix and a cybersecurity startup). It has taken no outside funding, operates with just two co-founders, surpassed $1K then $5K in collected revenue by May 2025, and earns revenue primarily through Cloud subscription billing. Its commercial posture combines self-serve PLG, an enterprise 'Book a demo' motion, and a free open-source tier that continues to anchor the top of the funnel.
ChartDB firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ChartDB
- Legal name
- ChartDB, Inc.
- Website
- https://chartdb.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2024
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- ChartDB is a bootstrapped, two-person developer-tools company that builds a web-based database schema visualization and ER diagram editor supporting 10+ databases, with AI-assisted diagram generation, real-time collaboration, and embeddable diagrams for software developers and product teams.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ChartDB industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Database Schema Visualization & ER Diagram Software
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Metadata, Catalog & Semantic Layer for Data Platforms (HDAEABAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- GraphQL, gRPC & Modern API Protocols (BPAMAOAK)
Keywords
Where ChartDB is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
ChartDB business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- ChartDB Cloud SaaS Subscription: Cloud-hosted SaaS version with subscription tiers starting from $12.5/month per user. Revenue is subscription-based with monthly/annual billing options. First paying users acquired May 2025.
- Open Source (Free Self-Hosted): Open-source self-hosted version available for free. Users can deploy and maintain their own instances with complete data control.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier with basic features |
| Subscription | Monthly | Cloud subscription from $12.5/month per person |
| Freemium | Monthly | Self-hosted open source (free) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
ChartDB product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ChartDB is a database schema visualization and ER diagram editor that lets developers import database structures via a single query (without credentials), edit and collaborate on the resulting ER diagrams in real time, and export back to SQL/DBML. It is offered as both a cloud-hosted SaaS product (ChartDB Cloud) and a free open-source self-hosted version, with AI-powered diagram generation from natural language and programmatic schema synchronization for CI/CD pipelines.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Buckle: A Desktop Application - database diagram visualization tool that allows developers and data analysts to generate ER diagrams from their database schemas.
Products and services
- ChartDB Cloud Cloud-hosted SaaS version of ChartDB's database schema visualization and ER diagram editor, accessed via browser at app.chartdb.io. Enables instant schema import in 15 seconds without database credentials, real-time team collaboration, AI-powered diagram generation, automatic synchronization with live databases, and export to SQL/DBML.
- ChartDB (Self-Hosted Open Source) Free, open-source self-hosted version of ChartDB for database design, available on GitHub at github.com/chartdb/chartdb. Provides the same schema visualization and ER diagram editing capabilities as ChartDB Cloud with the added benefit of complete data control for security-conscious teams.
- Buckle Desktop application (sub-brand of ChartDB) that allows developers and data analysts to generate ER diagrams from their database schemas locally on their machines.
- SQL Syntax Checker Free online tool for checking SQL syntax validity across multiple database dialects, provided as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
- SQL Formatter Free online tool for formatting SQL code with customizable styling options, offered as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
- Text To SQL Free online tool that converts natural language descriptions into SQL queries, offered as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
- SQL Minifier Free online tool for minifying SQL code to reduce file size, offered as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
- SQL Compare Free online tool for comparing two SQL schemas and identifying differences between them, offered as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
- DBML to SQL Free online tool for converting DBML (Database Markup Language) files into SQL DDL statements, offered as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
- SQL Query Explainer Free online tool for analyzing and explaining SQL query execution plans, offered as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
- Dialect Converter Free online tool for converting SQL between different database dialects including PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, SQLite, MariaDB, and others, offered as a standalone utility on the ChartDB website.
Quantifiable outcome
- Get a database diagram in 15 seconds
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use ChartDB
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
ChartDB technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
AI capability3 records
Feature6 records
ChartDB partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- OpenAIcoreChartDB uses OpenAI as an AI Service Provider for its AI-powered features including the AI ER diagram generator. User inputs and outputs may be shared with OpenAI for processing. This is a key technology partnership enabling ChartDB's AI capabilities.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
ChartDB competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- DbVisualizer: Universal database tool with schema browsing and ER diagram generation across many database engines. Comparable in supporting broad database types and providing visual schema exploration for developers and DBAs.
- DBeaver: Open-source universal database tool supporting 80+ databases with ER diagram visualization, SQL editing, and a community/enterprise edition split. Comparable as a multi-database developer tool with schema visualization capabilities, though heavier than ChartDB.
- SqlDBM: Online database modeling and ER diagramming tool with reverse engineering and team collaboration. Competes directly for the same developer/architect persona focused on visualizing and collaborating on schemas.
- Dataedo: Data catalog and database documentation platform with schema visualization, metadata management, and collaboration features. Comparable as a schema-aware documentation/catalog product targeting similar data architects and engineers.
- dbdiagram.io: Direct competitor offering a web-based database schema design and ER diagram tool with DBML support, freemium cloud pricing, and a self-hosted/community version. Highly comparable in product, target user (developers), and go-to-market model.
Broad incumbents
- Alation: Enterprise data catalog with schema discovery, documentation, and collaboration across many data sources. Comparable as a metadata layer for databases, but positioned at large enterprise scale with a heavier, governance-led product.
- Atlan: Modern data catalog/collaboration platform with metadata, lineage, and schema discovery. Comparable at the metadata/catalog layer that sits above databases, but with a much wider data-governance scope and venture funding.
- JetBrains DataGrip: Commercial database IDE by JetBrains with schema browsing and ER diagrams across many databases. Comparable in multi-database schema inspection but embedded in a paid IDE workflow rather than a cloud collaboration product.
- Lucidchart: Established general-purpose diagramming platform with ER diagram shapes/templates and team collaboration. Competes for the same diagram-creation workflow but as part of a much broader diagramming suite rather than a database-specialized tool.
Emerging players
- draw.io (JGraph): Free, widely used general diagramming tool with entity-relationship shapes and integrations into Confluence/Notion. Comparable as an embed-friendly diagramming alternative, though not specialized for live database schemas.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ChartDB social profiles
Digital presenceChartDB financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ChartDB leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
ChartDB funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ChartDB M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ChartDB
What does ChartDB do?
ChartDB is a database schema visualization and ER diagram editor that lets developers import database structures via a single query (without credentials), edit and collaborate on the resulting ER diagrams in real time, and export back to SQL/DBML. It is offered as both a cloud-hosted SaaS product (ChartDB Cloud) and a free open-source self-hosted version, with AI-powered diagram generation from natural language and programmatic schema synchronization for CI/CD pipelines.
Is ChartDB a public or private company?
ChartDB is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ChartDB founded?
ChartDB was founded in 2024. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is ChartDB based?
ChartDB is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does ChartDB make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. ChartDB Cloud SaaS Subscription is the primary driver. The others are open Source (Free Self-Hosted).
Who are ChartDB's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are DbVisualizer, DBeaver, SqlDBM, Dataedo and dbdiagram.io. Broad incumbents are Alation, Atlan, JetBrains DataGrip and Lucidchart. draw.io (JGraph) is listed as an emerging player.
Does ChartDB have an API?
Yes. ChartDB provides API endpoints for programmatic diagram updates, enabling users to sync database schemas automatically via webhooks, CI/CD pipelines, scheduled jobs, or manual API calls. The API allows users to update diagrams when database changes are detected without requiring database credentials. Supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, and SQLite for schema synchronization. Authentication methods and complete API reference available in documentation. Developer documentation is at docs.chartdb.io/docs/api/introduction.
What industry is ChartDB in?
ChartDB's product category is Database Schema Visualization & ER Diagram Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEABAJ, Metadata, Catalog & Semantic Layer for Data Platforms, with a secondary code of BPAMAOAK, GraphQL, gRPC & Modern API Protocols. Its NAICS code is 51821 and its SIC code is 7370.