The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2014–2026
SQLite Online: one developer's 11-year browser-SQL bet behind 11K daily users
A solo developer kept a free in-browser SQL IDE alive for 11 years and 11K daily users; the 2025 Show HN drew 465 points.
SQLite Online
What the business is
SQLite Online (sqliteonline.com) is a free in-browser SQL IDE: import or create a database, run queries with autocomplete, live error checks and charting, and connect to SQLite, DuckDB, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MySQL and MS SQL Server without installing anything.
How it started
Built and run by one developer, Kirill N. (the site footer credits 'Kirill N.', z@sqliteonline.com). The October 2025 Show HN headline says 11 years of solo development — pointing back to roughly 2014 — while the visible changelog of the current product line begins with an April 2018 'First version' and runs, near-monthly, through September 2026. No origin essay survives on the page; the tool speaks through its release log, and the need it answers — SQL in a tab, no setup — is the whole pitch.
What happened
The changelog traces a decade of incremental product bets: visual table editing and CSV/SQL import-export in 2018–2020; connections to MariaDB, PostgreSQL and MS SQL Server plus team modes in 2019–2022; a share-link server and Docker images; 2023 clipboard-to-SQL and share-connect links; a 2024 rewrite that moved SQLite execution from sql.js to sqlite.org's official WASM build and removed the old 4 MB query limit; and 2025–2026 additions of DuckDB, PGLite, federated virtual tables across data sources, an AI-help feature, real-time error highlighting, XLSX export and a 'microkernel' server architecture. A 'Test Premium' line appeared in early 2019, but in the 2025 thread the author answered a question about revenue with 'unfortunately, almost zero' and said he was still weighing monetization approaches.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
SQLite Online is a free, in-browser SQL IDE built and maintained by a single developer for over a decade. It runs SQLite in the browser — using the official sqlite.org WASM build since 2024 — and connects to DuckDB, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MySQL and MS SQL Server; users import or create a database, query it with autocomplete, real-time error highlighting and charting, and share or collaborate through links.
The bet behind it is quiet and stubborn: developers and learners want SQL in a browser tab with zero installation, and one solo developer can keep such a tool alive and improving for years. The changelog shows near-monthly releases from an April 2018 'First version' through September 2026, adding visual editing, imports and exports, charts, server connections, Docker images, share links, WebRTC collaboration, DuckDB and PGLite, and AI help along the way.
The project surfaced publicly in October 2025 with a Show HN whose title summarized the whole arc — '11 years of solo development, 11K daily users' — drawing 465 points and 142 comments. The thread split between 'just use sqlite3' replies and defenders pointing at students, iPads and shared databases, while the author answered a question about revenue with 'almost zero.' The site is still live and updated as of September 2026.
What has to be true
- Zero install is a real wedge for a real audience: HN commenters immediately named the users CLI answers miss — students on Chromebooks and iPads who just want to learn and run SQL.
- Shipping near-monthly for years turned a toy into an IDE: charts, multi-database connections, Docker images, share links and WebRTC collaboration kept the tool compounding instead of standing still.
- Staying free and quiet for a decade built durable goodwill and word of mouth, which is why an 11-year-old site could still draw 465 HN points from a single post.
- The gap between users and revenue is the caution: 11K daily users and 'almost zero' monetization show that love alone does not pay a solo developer, and the premium experiment stayed a test for years.
What can be applied
An audience does not make a business: after 11 years and 11K daily users, monetization was 'almost zero' — a durable free tool still needs a paid wedge to convert attention into income.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-05 SQLite Online is live at version 32.5.2 with changelog entries through September 2026 (SQL-parser and schema-dump updates, AI-run checks), still free and still credited to its single author, with no funding, acquisition or team visible in the material. In the 2025 Show HN thread the author said he was still considering monetization ideas he hoped would be 'engaging, in demand, and easy to pay for.'
Sources
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card