Doctrine Migrations vs Sqitch

Doctrine Migrations is a free, self-hosted PHP library for versioning database schemas and deploying changes in a reviewable, testable way. Built on Doctrine DBAL and ORM, it can generate migration code by comparing a database schema with ORM mapping information, with documentation covering diffing with or without the ORM. Console commands show migration status, perform dry runs, execute one or more migrations, and revert changes. Generated SQL can be written to a file with --write-sql instead of applied directly, while --no-interaction supports unattended execution. Transaction controls cover all-or-nothing behavior and running with or without transactions. Install it through Composer, which provides a doctrine-migrations console application, or download a PHAR from GitHub releases. Doctrine lists integrations for Symfony, Zend, Laravel, Silex, and Nette. Version 3.9.8 is stable; 3.8 and earlier are unmaintained.

Sqitch is a database change management application for deploying and tracking database changes. It is a standalone system, not tied to a framework, ORM, database engine, or development environment. Changes are written as scripts native to the chosen database, and can declare dependencies—including changes in other Sqitch projects—to establish execution order. A plan file and Merkle tree pattern support deployment integrity without requiring numbered change names. Sqitch can deploy and revert changes, report status and history, and run optional verification scripts. Its manual lists PostgreSQL, YugabyteDB, CockroachDB, SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, Firebird, Vertica, Exasol, Snowflake, and ClickHouse. Connecting and executing scripts requires the database's native command-line client and connector libraries. Installation options include source, Docker, Linux distribution packages, macOS Homebrew, and Windows instructions. Sqitch is free, with a license permitting use and distribution, and is available for Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted use.