DbUp vs FluentMigrator
DbUp
dbup.github.ioFluentMigrator
fluentmigrator.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | DbUp | FluentMigrator |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Database Migration Tools | 7.6 (#18) | 8.2 (#10) |
| Database support | The project lists providers for SQL Server, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, Firebird, Oracle, and Amazon Redshift, among others. | The documentation lists providers including SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, Oracle, Firebird, IBM DB2, SAP HANA, Snowflake, and Redshift. |
| Purpose | DbUp is a .NET library that deploys database changes by tracking executed SQL scripts and running those needed to update a database. | FluentMigrator is a .NET framework for managing database schema changes through version-controlled C# migrations. |
| Support | The project points users to a Google Groups discussion group for questions and its GitHub issues page for bug reports. | The project points users to GitHub Discussions, bug reports and feature requests, and the fluent-migrator Stack Overflow tag. |
Plans
In their own words
FluentMigrator
FluentMigrator is a free .NET framework for managing database schema changes with version-controlled C# migrations. Its fluent C# API defines Up and Down methods for applying changes and rolling them back. The project lists providers for SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, and Oracle, among others; provider packages are selected separately. Migrations can run inside an application, with the Migrate.exe console tool, or through dotnet-fm, which integrates with the cross-platform .NET CLI. By default, FluentMigrator creates a VersionInfo table to record completed migrations. Command-line runners can preview generated SQL without executing it, and the CLI can validate migrations before execution. The project documents .NET dependency injection integration and CI/CD examples for GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, and Jenkins. The Quick Start calls for .NET 8.0 or later, a supported database, and basic C# and database knowledge. FluentMigrator is released under the Apache-2.0 License, with releases distributed through NuGet.