TablePlus

Tung and his team at TablePlus launched the database management tool from Thailand in 2017. The existing tools for browsing and editing databases — MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Redis, MongoDB — were either outdated (Sequel Pro, phpMyAdmin) or expensive (DataGrip). TablePlus was native, fast, beautiful, and had a free tier for small databases. Developers fell in love with the UI immediately — tabs like a browser, inline editing, safe mode to prevent accidental writes, and support for 20+ database types in one app. It spread virally through developer Twitter and YouTube tutorials. TablePlus charged a one-time license fee (~$99) with paid upgrades for major versions — a model that developers appreciated in an era of software subscription fatigue. The app became the default database GUI for a huge portion of the Mac developer market, downloaded millions of times. Revenue grew to $100k+/month from a small team operating from Southeast Asia. A masterclass in building a native app that developers actually want to use, competing through UX quality in a stagnant category.