David Fitzjarrell lays out a comparison:
Depending upon which tool is used query plans can change. There are two provided by Oracle, SQL*Plus and SQL Developer, and how they treat bind variables can alter execution plans. Let’s look into that and see what may be the cause.
SQL*Plus has been around for quite a while and is a very mature product. SQL Developer also has a long history, not quire as long as SQL*Plus but is well beyond the early phases of development. Both are excellent tools, returning reliable and repeatable results, but SQL Developer may take some liberties SQL*Plus doesn’t, especially where bind variables are involved. SQL*Plus and PL/SQL allow the developer to define data types for bind variables, and will pass those values through unchanged. SQL Developer, however, appears to pass such values using a character data type regardless whether the value is a string or numeric, allowing Oracle to ‘decide’ how to optimize the query. This can produce sometimes ‘unexplained’ results with estimates and execution plans.
Read on for an example in which the choice of tool can add a considerable percentage to the expected length of the query. The tricky part here is that this doesn’t mean the query actually takes longer, but that expectations will differ.