Why Not Use the BDE

Delphi Database, Delphi Components from ComponentAce

Why Not Use the BDE

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The BDE has large number of weaknesses, so you might have a big reason to migrate from the BDE.

BDE is dead

The BDE is not supported by Borland anymore.

Deployment problems

·	BDE versions conflict. If a user has another BDE-based application which uses another version of BDE, it can conflict with your application.

·	Large size of software distribution. Deployment of the BDE leads to a multi-megabyte installation file. This is especially important when software is expected to be downloaded by customers.

·	Special installation and configuration. The BDE drivers require installation and aliases configuration before your application can use it.

·	DLLs. You may need deployment without DLLs, while the BDE requires driver DLLs.

Performance penalty

The BDE is a layer in between your application and the underlying database and performance will never be as high as with direct database access.

BLOB problems

Several of the SQL Links drivers do not work well with BLOB data types.

High cost

The Enterprise version of Delphi, which includes the BDE SQL Links, costs $3000+. Database sever used with BDE typically requires royalty fees and its support cost may also be high.

Why migrate to the Absolute Database?

Jun 16, 2025