If you absolutely must use SSMS—perhaps your company has specific compliance requirements or you rely on obscure SSMS plugins—you can run it on your Mac using one of two methods.
It's Windows-only. However, you can still create reports using alternatives.
docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "SA_PASSWORD=YourStrong!Password" -p 1433:1433 --name sqlserver -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest mac sql management studio
: For advanced business intelligence reports on a Mac, connect these tools to your SQL Server instance. Since the Power BI Desktop app is Windows-only, Mac users typically use the Power BI Service (Web) to build and share reports. Methods to Run SSMS on macOS
If you want an application that runs directly on your Mac without a virtual machine, these are the best choices for 2026: Microsoft SQL Management Studio for Mac If you absolutely must use SSMS—perhaps your company
Here are the steps to :
: Easily export query results to formats like CSV, XML, JSON, and PDF for manual report preparation. docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "SA_PASSWORD=YourStrong
# Run SQL Server on Mac via Docker docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
| User Type | Recommended Tool | Why? | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | Parallels Desktop + SSMS | You need 100% feature parity and Windows-specific tools. | | The Modern Developer | Azure Data Studio | It's free, built by Microsoft, runs natively on Mac, and supports Jupyter Notebooks. | | The Multi-DB Pro | DBeaver | You work with SQL Server, MySQL, and Postgres simultaneously. | | The Minimalist | TablePlus | You want speed, beauty, and simplicity over complex admin tools. |
is the "Swiss Army Knife" of database tools. It is an open-source tool that supports not just SQL Server, but MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQLite.