🗂️ Navigation
📁 Cloud Databases
📋 Database Migration Tools
🔧 Alembic

Alembic

A database migrations tool for SQLAlchemy.

Visit Website →

Overview

Alembic is the de facto database schema migration tool for Python applications that use the SQLAlchemy Core or ORM. It provides a framework for creating, managing, and applying versioned migration scripts written in Python. A key feature is its ability to 'autogenerate' migration scripts by comparing the current database schema against the application's SQLAlchemy models.

✨ Key Features

  • Database schema versioning via Python scripts
  • Autogeneration of migration scripts from SQLAlchemy models
  • Support for branching and merging migration histories
  • Transactional DDL for atomic migrations (on supported backends)
  • Offline mode to generate SQL scripts for manual execution
  • Highly customizable and scriptable

🎯 Key Differentiators

  • Deep, native integration with the SQLAlchemy ecosystem
  • Powerful autogenerate feature saves significant development time
  • Written in Python, making it highly scriptable and extensible for Python developers

Unique Value: Provides a powerful, flexible, and programmatic way for Python developers to handle database schema changes within the familiar SQLAlchemy ecosystem.

🎯 Use Cases (3)

Managing database schema changes for Python web applications Version controlling database schemas in tandem with application code in Git Automating database schema updates in CI/CD pipelines for Python projects

✅ Best For

  • Database migrations for Flask-SQLAlchemy applications
  • Schema management for FastAPI projects using SQLAlchemy ORM

💡 Check With Vendor

Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:

  • Non-Python applications
  • Projects not using the SQLAlchemy library
  • Bulk data content migration

🏆 Alternatives

Flyway Liquibase Django Migrations

Compared to language-agnostic tools like Flyway or Liquibase, Alembic offers a much more integrated and developer-friendly experience for SQLAlchemy users, especially with its autogenerate capability.

💻 Platforms

Command-line (as a Python library)

✅ Offline Mode Available

🔌 Integrations

SQLAlchemy Python web frameworks (Flask, FastAPI, Django) Any database supported by SQLAlchemy (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, Oracle, MS SQL Server)

💰 Pricing

Contact for pricing
Free Tier Available

Free tier: Alembic is completely free and open-source (FOSS).

Visit Alembic Website →

🔄 Similar Tools in Database Migration Tools

AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)

A cloud service for migrating relational databases, data warehouses, NoSQL databases, and other data...

Contact

Google Cloud Database Migration Service

A serverless, fully managed service for minimal downtime database migrations to Google Cloud....

Contact

Azure Database Migration Service

A fully managed service designed for seamless migrations from multiple database sources to Azure dat...

Contact

Flyway

An open-source database migration tool that favors simplicity and convention over configuration....

Contact

Liquibase

An open-source tool for tracking, managing, and applying database schema changes....

Contact

Arcion

A cloud-native, CDC-based platform for real-time database replication and streaming data pipelines....

Contact