I'm not familiar with Filemaker Pro and i doubt the other guys are. What I can say is:

- Access is designed as a database specifically for storing, processing and retrieving data which can be built into a program. It seems that Filemaker Pro would be the other way - primarily designed to build a program with the potential for data storage.

- Access is more universal, works with other systems (Like upscaling to SQL if required) and more likely to last in the long run. Can you guarantee FMP will be around in 10 years? You can't guarantee that with Access either, but with 30 years under its belt, i know which i would bet on. Its also part of the Micro$oft Office Suite so well integrated with other apps

- Much bigger community - easier to find answers to problems and get help (Ahem, that's why we're here right?)

- If you already have office 365, its free!

- With the course offer by Rick here, you can learn everything you need to to master Access. I'd *imagine* a much steeper learning curve on FMP

Most of those points a generic, again, i'm not familiar with FMP. You'd have to decide yourself. This compares Access and Excel but might be useful - Access v Excel

I don't think Richard has a Mac and prob hasn't used FMP, if not in many years.
What's the need for a comparison?
Are you wanting a db to work across both OSs?

Thank you for your replies.

I am just beginner and I want to know, which product is simply better, as a database application and which one should I start to learn (but it seems, it isn't so simple to compare both).

Truly said, I am little afraid of the need to learn the VBA programming language (which Access requires and FileMaker not - I've heard). Is it true?  It is a little deterring for me. If FM doesn't need a VBA skills, to build fully featured database, I would prefer it.

BTW: I don't have a Mac, so Windows is OK.

You can build powerful databases without any programming in access. Knowing little bits of VBA just introduces a ton of advanced features. For example, adding just Me.Refresh allows you to reload pages whenever you want. But i digress. Access is very accessible to beginners, even without VBA.

Just a side note, Access has something called Macros. Which is kind of like a wizard for setting up basic programming stuff without programming. Personally don't like them due to limitations but they'll allow you some automation without VBA.

Thanks a lot for you words of encouragement .

It seems, no one here really knows FileMaker Pro. Probably it is a great product, but with no or little support on the Web. This speaks for itself.

Thomasz - Adding on to the comments above.

The main reason you will not find people very knowledgeable about FMP here is that this is an Access community - not a general desktop data base community.

For a desktop database solution Access is your go to program in my opinion.  You will be hard pressed to find people that can either train you or support you in FMP.  Not so with Access.  There are trainers / users world wide that can help you out.  
Online resources are also much better for Access as well.

You can make very powerful database solutions with out knowing programming.  VBA is available to take your databases to "the next level" of professionalism should you wish to do so.

Scalability - I have not come across a better db solution that has the ability to grow with you,  if / when the need arises.  It has the ability to stay your front end while scaling up to SQL Server as your back end for instance.

I do not have a Mac. I will never buy a Mac nor any Apple product for that matter. I have never used FileMaker. So, I am not the right person to ask this question.

Let's ask my new friend, ChatGPT:

FileMaker Pro and Microsoft Access are both database management software, but they have some key differences.

FileMaker Pro is a cross-platform, relational database management system that is primarily used for creating custom apps for businesses and organizations. It is known for its user-friendly interface and its ability to create custom layouts, forms, and reports. FileMaker Pro also offers a wide range of integration options, including the ability to connect to other databases, as well as web and mobile apps.

Microsoft Access, on the other hand, is a Windows-based relational database management system that is part of the Microsoft Office Suite. It is primarily used for creating and managing small to medium-sized databases. It offers a wide range of tools for creating forms, reports, and queries, as well as the ability to connect to other data sources, such as Excel. Access also offers a visual programming language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that allows users to create custom functions and automate tasks.

In summary, FileMaker Pro is a more robust, powerful and versatile tool for creating custom business apps that can be used across multiple platforms. Microsoft Access is a more basic, but still very functional tool for creating and managing small to medium-sized databases.

Not a bad response. There you go. If your concern is multi-platform support (Mac, mobile, etc.) then FileMaker may be the better choice. Even though there are ways to use Access online and on a Mac.

Thank you guys a lot, for the few words of advice. It was very helpful for me.

At the end of our discussion, may I ask you Richard, why you never will use any Apple products.
It is very interesting to hear from a great expert like you, the real reason for this.

It's mostly just a personal bias that I've had since I was a kid. My first computer was a Tandy RadioShack TRS-80 and from there I moved into an IBM PC. And I've always been about tweaking my system and writing my own software and getting under the hood and playing with it which you can do with the PC. Apple has always treated their products like a walled garden. You get what they give you and there's not a whole lot of room for customization. So for that reason I've always stuck with PC and Android.

Aha ' ok. , I've got your point.
Thanks a lot for your quick response and for the explanation.
Have a nice evening.

I've used both Access and FMP for several years now.

Some of the main differences that I found notable are:

FMP is much much easier to use from a form design standpoint vs. Access.  Setting up forms and subforms is super simple with FMP to create some pretty cool stuff.  There is no size limitation to the size of the database like there is with Access, so no split database is necessary.  I also like FMP's method for relating tables both from an ease of use standpoint as well as giving a really nice visualization of what is related to what vs. Access.  Lastly, if I needed to create a database that was easily accessible and performed well on a phone or a tablet then FMP will do that well.  

However, Access is much easier to create and output reports with.  Ultimately, this is what has made me prefer Access over FMP for my specific situation.  It's also much easier to do things like crosstab queries in Access than in FMP.  In fact, you'll find that you'll most likely need to purchase an add-in if you do them often because they can be very labor intensive to set up.

If you choose to learn both, you'll find that there are many similarities between the two but often times the terminology for the same thing is different.  For example, a "query" in Access is the equivalent of a "find" in Filemaker.  Filemaker folks talk in terms of a "solution" rather than a database.  I mentioned subforms (Access) those are referred to as "portals" in FMP.

Now that Claris has purchased FMP and is now pushing everyone, except developers, to use their subscription based FMP Server and Claris Works it's made it much more expensive to implement vs. Access.  It can be worked around but it's clear that they are going to eventually go to a much more subscription based product as they progress.

I hope that gives you some insights and I wish you the best with your learning.  You've definitely come to the best place online for Access training.  I've tried a ton of others, and no one can come close to Richard's training.

Thanks for the compliment.

Find? Solution? Portal? Sounds like Klingon to me! :)

My biggest concern with something like FMP is its longevity. As Charles mentioned with Claris purchasing it and pushing people to other platforms etc.... you just don't know how its going to turn out in the long run. Could end up spending 5 years learning a product that never comes to fruition. The risk applies to Access, but evidence suggests Access isn't going anywhere.

Rick always says Access is the "Red Headed Stepchild" of the office family. This can be a good thing since you can preview what'll happen to it several years down the road by looking at what happens with the more popular products in office nowadays

Yeah, getting axed is always the case with any piece of software (or TV show... Firefly... sniffle) but FileMaker has actually been around longer than Access (1985 vs. 1994) and I'm sure they also have a huge, devout following like Access does. Claris would be insane to alienate all of those people.

Yeah, it's been around for many years.  It actually started as part of Apple's version of Office along with Pages, Numbers, & Keynote.  Then Apple spun it off into its own entity (company).  Was on its own until I believe 2019 when Claris bought it.  Because there are a tremendous amount of legacy Filemaker solutions out there in the world.  I think, much like Access it will always be around in some form or another.  It's just, instead of making a one-time purchase, I think it's going more to an SaS business model.  I'm not a big Apple guy but I do like their portable devices such as the iPad and the iPhone.  My main computer is a Microsoft Surface and I absolutely love it.  I also work with Unix a bit, as well as VMWare for our server.  Filemaker is fully compatible with SQL and can pretty much work as a front end for any SQL database, just like Access can.

One of the coolest things about Filemaker is that there is a native Filemaker app available for the iPad / iPhone.  Once you create a "solution" with Filemaker, you can put a copy of it onto the iPad and it will run just like it runs on a PC or Mac.  

In terms of programming Filemaker, again, they have their own "language".  With Access we have VBA, with Filemaker they refer to it as "scripting".  There is a very good book that I've found (read) on the subject called "Scriptology" if you're interested.  Two of the best resources for training are RCC Consulting (another Richard :)) and a fellow by the name of John Mark Osborne or as he calls himself JMo.  You'll find training and lessons available from both of them with a quick google search.

Again, my only real issue with Filemaker vs. Access is in the way that reports are created and outputted.  Filemaker really works well if the data you are trying to access is in the form of some sort of a visual report (kind of like a "Datasheet View" in Access) that is being used in Filemaker.  When you start doing reports that involve things like crosstabs, it gets pretty complex and cumbersome in a hurry.  So, if you're trying to write an application that the user uses without needing to output the data, it's a pretty good program.  If you're in more of a traditional business setting where you need to generate things like sales reports, or data analytics then Access is much easier to use and offers a better option.  Personally, I actually use both.  I use Access in our office to provide data analysis and reporting for our ownership and I use Filemaker to provide "portable" data to our sales team that can provide data visualization in the form factor of a portable device like a phone or an iPad.

If you're running 64-bit Access, the two actually work pretty well together.  It's pretty simple to move data between the two using an Access ODBC driver.  If you're not running 64-bit Access, then you can still make them play well together by exporting data from access to a delimited file format and then pulling the data into Filemaker from the delimited file.

Another interesting feature that Filemaker has more recently incorporated is the ability to use JSON and CSS from the scripting module in Filemaker.  It allows for some pretty cool manipulation and outputting.  But you need to know those languages to use the features.

At the end of the day, I think what Claris is trying to achieve is a low-code solution to create applications for literally any platform.  Filemaker is the development tool to create the applications and Claris Connect is the SaS cloud-based "connection" that allows multiple users to access that application.  I don't see them doing anything to get rid of Filemaker any time soon.

At any rate, I think there is merit to both applications depending on the usage.  There are several dedicated community websites for Filemaker but a large portion of the community actively uses the "Community Forum" found on the Claris(Filemaker) website.

Oh yeah Richard, I forgot to mention that my first PC was a Tandy.  It was an 8088 processor with 640k of Ram, one 3 1/2" floppy drive, no hard drive, and a Hercules monochrome monitor.  Despite its limitations, I was able to play Falcon (flight sim) on it!  I think I tore that thing apart 20 times tinkering with it and adding stuff to it.  I never did put a hard drive in it but I did upgrade the RAM.  The only HD they offered for it was a "Hard Card" which fit in a slot in the back of the computer.  I think the biggest one was just a few megabytes and it was like $300.  

Now my adding calculator on my desk probably has more computing power. :)  It's heck getting old, and I do miss Radioshack.

Ah those were the days. And everyone else reading this, realize that $300 in 1980 dollars is about $1000 today. LOL. My first real job was with Radio Shack. I was 16.

Thank you Charles for your time and effort, and in-depth explanation of the key differences between FileMaker and Access (it seems, that you are the only one here, who uses FMP).
Anyway, if I have any further questions, I'll know, who to turn to.
Thank a lot once again. Have a nice day.

You are very welcome, Tomasz.  I just try and find the best tool that fits the job and if I get to learn something new along the way it's a bonus for me. :)  

I was glad to find Richard and this site as it's proving to be very helpful for me in my own learning journey and I hope it proves the
same for you.  I wish you the best of luck and if I can be of any help please don't hesitate to ask.