MySQL EXPLAIN visualizer

Paste what MySQL says about your query and get a readable plan, the problems in plain English, and the index that would fix them. Nothing leaves your browser.

EXPLAIN output

Examples:

What to paste

EXPLAIN FORMAT=JSON SELECT … gives the most detail, including the filter conditions used for index suggestions (MySQL 5.7+).
EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT … adds real timings and row counts (MySQL 8.0.18+). It actually runs the query, so try it on a copy of production data, not production.
A plain EXPLAIN SELECT … table works too, from the mysql client (with or without \G) or copied from a GUI tool.

Findings

Plan Read from the deepest step up. In a nested loop, the first table drives the join.