The Easiest Way to Practice SQL: Connect to a Free Oracle Database—No Setup Needed!

If you’ve ever wanted to learn or practice SQL and PL/SQL but have been discouraged by the complexity of installing a database on your personal laptop or desktop, Oracle has provided an exciting and cool new solution just for you.

Above all, Oracle is providing this as a free service, as many people may not have access to a database or the most powerful computer hardware. This new offering significantly simplifies the learning process.

Welcome to the new era of FreeSQL.com

Many in the Oracle community are familiar with livesql.oracle.com. This service has existed for a long time, offering tutorials, tons of exercises, and a database where users could play around and learn SQL and PL/SQL. It was considered one of the best free services from Oracle.

Now, Oracle has taken that initiative one step further with ***freesql.com***.

What is freesql.com

The biggest advantage of freesql.com is that you do not need to install a database on your laptop or desktop. You get access to a free database that you can use to learn SQL and PL/SQL.

But the benefits don’t stop there. freesql.com allows you to connect directly from your favorite desktop applications:

• Desktop Tools: You can connect directly from tools like SQL Developer, DBeaver, or Toad
• Applications: If you are building an application, you can connect from that application (for example, a NodeJS application) to the free database.
• Latest Features: This service also lets you learn about the newest and latest features of modern Oracle databases, such as the recently announced 23ai and 26ai (which is the latest release from Oracle). The service also supports 19C.

If you browse the freesql.com portal, you will find lots of content, including tutorials, various scripts, and step-by-step guides to learn about specific topics within Oracle. Once connected, you can execute SQL queries, create your own tables, injest data and create your own views.

Setting Up Your External Connection

Let’s now see how to setup direction connection to the database from tools on your desktop. I will be using DBeaver as an example.

While you can run SQL and PL/SQL directly on the website without an account, connecting from an external desktop application requires a quick, free setup.

1. Create and Log In: To connect from external applications, you must create an account and log in to freesql.com. Account creation is free.
2. Retrieve Connection Details: Once logged in, click the "connect with NodeJS" or “Database Connection” button. This will display crucial connection information, including the host name, port, service name, and username.
3. Get the Password: When you first perform this step, you will see the password. If necessary, you can click "regenerate" to create a new schema password, which should then be copied and saved.
4. Connect via External Tool: Using a tool like DBeaver, you create a new Oracle database connection, ensuring you select the Basic connection type.
5. Input Credentials: You then copy the host, port, service name, username, and the saved password into the connection manager.
6. Test and Finish: After testing the connection, you should successfully connect, and be ready to execute your queries. For instance, a simple customary "hello world" query can be executed successfully once connected.

SELECT 'Hello World' FROM DUAL;

You can also check out the video and follow along.

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Start Practicing Today!

With freesql.com providing easy access to a full database environment, including the newest releases, those who want to learn SQL and PL/SQL have no reason to complain that they lack database access. Hopefully, this helps you set up your connection and start using Oracle directly from tools like DBeaver or potentially Visual Studio Code.