There really isn't a non-Access option for free with minimum runtime requirements. This would have a heavy runtime dependency, so installing on a bare client could take quite the installer. Probably the best free option would be SQLite and Visual Basic 2008 or C# 2008 Express Edition. Any free alternatives to Access require you combining something like SQLite and a development language. They do not have those additional Access functions built into them. SQLite, MySQL, and FireBird are free database back ends. Some of the functionality provided by Access are: Forms, Query Building, Reports, Macros, Database Management, and some kind of language when you need to go beyond what the wizards provide. They usually don't care what database Access is using. When people ask about a replacement for Access, a lot of them only think about the database, but what they are really asking about are all of the other features in Access. The last time I'd bothered to investigate it (I don't remember when it was) I think it was a fairly expensive license for the runtime because I think they were trying to sell it to Corporate IT departments.Īnd thanks to everyone else who responded as well I was completely unaware of those other options you all pointed out. It'll probably be something fairly lightweight anyway and a small installation footprint would definitely be a I was unaware that the MS Access 2007 runtime is free thanks for pointing that out. I had considered that but I've not made any firm decisions about which way I'm going with this yet anyway. But you do raise a very good point about the installation footprint. The nice form designer, the nice reporting engine etc. See Also: Open Source Reporting kind of hit on what I'm thinking of it's not so much the DB engine as I want the other niceties that Access brings to the party. Question: What are the low cost or free database alternatives to MS Access?

MySQL + writing custom DB code in C++ or Python or whatever seems like a rather heavy-handed solution.It could be done fairly easily with MS Access but I'd like to be able to distribute it to others and I don't want to pay for a runtime license. Consider the need to develop a lightweight desktop DB application on the Microsoft platforms.

Openoffice base vs ms access