pgAdmin
The official open-source administration and development platform for PostgreSQL, focused on schema, query and server administration. The default for most teams.
Schema
Query
Backup
Ops
Software that keeps your data reachable
HORIZONIS HOLDINGS BV is a Belgian software house developing database management systems and writing practical guidance on the relational platforms teams actually run. Engineering that holds in production, documented for the Tuesday afternoon when something needs fixing.
A database house in Brussels, built for mixed estates
HORIZONIS HOLDINGS BV develops database management systems from our registered address in Brussels. The company started as a small engineering effort around relational systems, in a country where a single organisation might run SQL Server for reporting, PostgreSQL for a newer service, and MySQL under an older web application that still earns money every month. We design for that reality — a system that only understands one engine leaves the other half of the estate unmanaged.
Registration
0973773102
Avenue Louise 143
1050 Brussels, Belgium
What HORIZONIS HOLDINGS BV develops
The layer between your application and the store of records
Our development work is database-first. Schema tooling, query handling and the administrative surfaces that let a DBA see what is happening on a server without guessing. We do not treat the database as a detail bolted on after the application is finished.
Schema tooling
Migrations that can be reviewed before they run, data models that stay consistent across environments, and the checks that catch a destructive change while it is still on paper rather than when it hits production.
Query handling
Reading plans, rewriting slow statements, and understanding why the same query runs in 40 ms on one node and four seconds on another. Slow is usually architectural before it is tuning.
Administration surfaces
The views an operator opens every morning: sessions, replication lag, backup status, growth of the largest tables. Enough to see the state of a server without opening three separate clients to answer one question.
Monitoring coverage
A long-running job is not the same as a slow query, and a replica lagging by nine seconds is not the same as one lagging by nine minutes. The coverage we build distinguishes the normal from the not-yet.
Relational platforms
PostgreSQL, MySQL, Db2, SQL Server
Platform
Where it usually sits
What you gain
PostgreSQL
New application backends that need a standards-friendly dialect of SQL and room to extend.
Extensibility and a dialect that matches the standard.
MySQL
Web applications built years ago that keep running, kept alive by a wide ecosystem of clients and managed hosting.
Breadth of hosting and simplicity of operation.
IBM Db2
Regulated and legacy enterprise environments, close to large transactional systems with long lifecycles.
Continuity in environments where migrations are programmes, not sprints.
SQL Server
Belgian organisations of every size, where reporting and Microsoft tooling already live.
Mature administration tooling and integration with the Microsoft estate.
Cross-platform support is not a marketing word here. It is what happens when one engineer has to hold three engines in their head before lunch.
Where the guidance comes from
Internal notes, said out loud
The Insights section exists because we kept writing internal notes and decided they were more useful out loud. Articles cover relational platforms, cross-platform SQL tooling, open-source SQL clients and cloud-native database operations. They are written for people who have to make a decision this quarter, not for readers collecting definitions.
Nothing on this site is a sponsored placement. We work with the tools we write about, and when a tool has a limitation we say so. When an article explains why one engine fits a mixed Microsoft and open-source environment better than another, that conclusion comes from project work, not from a vendor relationship.
Browse the insightsWhat an article answers
- Which engine fits which workload
- What a client tool actually does and does not do
- When managed hosting stops being cheaper than self-hosting
- Why a slow statement is often architectural
Administration tools and clients
Every engine comes with a way to talk to it
The choice of client shapes how comfortable the daily work feels. A database client is not a database; a management tool is not a monitoring tool, even when the lines blur in practice.
MySQL Workbench
The unified visual tool for modelling, development and administration. It fits teams that prefer a vendor-supported desktop application to a community one.
SQL Server Management Studio
The full-featured graphical management tool for SQL Server, and the standard companion in Microsoft environments.
DataGrip & CloudNativePG
DataGrip is a JetBrains SQL IDE with code intelligence, for people who spend more time writing queries than clicking through properties. CloudNativePG runs PostgreSQL on Kubernetes.
Working notes
Three answers we repeat most often
The questions below come up in nearly every first conversation. Each is answered so a decision can be made this quarter, not filed for later.
- Which engine fits a mixed Microsoft and open-source estate?
- There is no single winner. SQL Server tends to stay where Microsoft tooling and reporting already live, PostgreSQL is usually the strongest fit for new open-source backends, and MySQL keeps working underneath existing web applications. The useful exercise is mapping workloads to engines instead of standardising on one.
- When is a managed cloud database better than self-hosting?
- It becomes the better option when routine operations — patching, backups, failover — are consistently slipping, and when the team's time costs more than the managed fee. Schema design, query performance and data modelling stay your responsibility either way.
- What is the difference between a DBMS, a client and a monitoring tool?
- The DBMS is the engine that stores and serves the data. A client is the interface you use to talk to it — pgAdmin, MySQL Workbench, DataGrip. A monitoring tool watches the running system over time and reports on performance and health, a different job from writing queries.
When a managed service makes sense
What moves, and what does not
Self-hosting a database is a real option, and for some teams it is the right one. It stops being obviously right when the operational burden starts to outweigh the cost of paying someone else to carry it. Backups nobody has tested, patching that slips a quarter, a failover plan that exists only in a document: these are the signs.
A managed cloud database moves the routine work elsewhere. What it does not move is your responsibility for schema design, query performance and the shape of your data. Those stay with you no matter who runs the servers. We spend a lot of time in that gap, helping teams decide which parts of database administration belong to them and which belong to a provider.
Read the engagement model
How an engagement usually starts
A written picture of the estate, not a sales proposal
Most projects begin with a technical assessment. We look at what you run now, what it costs you in attention, and what would have to change for the next year to be easier.
How we work-
01
Assessment
We look at the estate as it stands: which engines are running, where the operational hours go, and which workloads point at which platform. The output is a written picture of the estate, not a proposal.
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02
Delivery or ongoing arrangement
From there the work is either a defined delivery — a new management component, a schema redesign, a migration — or an ongoing arrangement where we stay involved in administration and monitoring.
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03
Handover and support
The how-we-work page sets out the phases, the handover expectations and how we handle personal data under GDPR. Support after handover is part of the model, not an upsell.
Working from Brussels
Small on purpose, European in expectation
Our clients are mostly in Belgium and the wider Benelux region, though the tooling we build does not care about borders. What the location changes is the conversation: European data protection expectations, Dutch and French speaking colleagues on the other side of the table, and the plain fact that a phone call during business hours is still a reasonable way to solve a problem.
We keep the company small on purpose. A database problem rarely gets better when it passes through four layers of account management, so the people who assess your estate are the people who work on it. You can reach them at +3225244847 or by email at [email protected].
What we do not do
We do not sell database licences, we do not resell cloud capacity, and we are not an affiliate for any tool we mention. If a page on this site reads like a recommendation, it is a technical judgement and nothing else.
We also do not promise that a migration will be painless or that performance work will fix every slow query. Some problems are architectural and take longer than a sprint. Saying that upfront is more useful than discovering it in month three.
Hours
Mon–Fri, 9:00–18:00
Registered
Avenue Louise 143
1050 Brussels
Frequently asked
The rest of the questions we hear
Which tools are best for PostgreSQL administration in 2026?
pgAdmin is the official open-source administration platform and the default for most teams. CloudNativePG covers PostgreSQL running on Kubernetes, where the operational questions are different. DataGrip suits developers who want an IDE rather than an admin console.
How do teams compare SQL Server, PostgreSQL and MySQL for new projects?
Look at the SQL dialect your application actually needs, the availability of people who know the engine, and the operational model you can sustain. PostgreSQL wins on extensibility and standards-friendly SQL, MySQL on breadth of hosting and simplicity, SQL Server on integration with the Microsoft estate.
What database tools support both relational and NoSQL systems?
Several general-purpose clients reach beyond relational engines, and DataGrip in particular is built to work across multiple database systems. Our own focus on this site stays with relational platforms, since that is where our development work sits.
Start where your problem is
Bring the question about the platform you actually run
If your question is about a specific platform, the platforms and tools page is the fastest route. If it is about what we would build for you, the services page lists the concrete work. And if you already know you need a conversation, the contact page takes a description of your project and a phone number or email to reply to.
Reach a person
HORIZONIS HOLDINGS BV
Avenue Louise 143
1050 Brussels, Belgium
Mon–Fri, 9:00–18:00 CET