head to head · open source
orm vs lowdb
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars, 2,605 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lowdb has 22,582 stars, 962 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. orm leads on adoption by 111% (47,661 vs 22,582 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; lowdb is written in JavaScript under MIT. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, lowdb 4%. orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (database, javascript, nodejs), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| orm | lowdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 23K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-03-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 962 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick orm if
- You weight community size — 48K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lowdb if
- You want the lowdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and lowdb fits your workflow better
About orm
Docs Discord X Blog Post Architecture Using Prisma 7? It remains fully supported. Its source lives on the v7 branch of this repository and its docs at prisma.io/docs/orm/v7. Prisma 8 is a release candidate. 8.0.0 final is expected in the next four to eight weeks. Until then a release candidate may include breaking changes, and every release ships with an upgrade recipe that the prisma 8 skill applies for you. The candidate is a complete implementation we stand behind: we treat bugs in it as urgent, and the risk you take on is a feature that is not built yet rather than churn. The feature scoreboard names every…
About lowdb
lowdb Simple to use type safe local JSON database 🦉 If you know JavaScript, you know how to use lowdb. Read or create db.json Use plain JavaScript to change data In the same spirit, query using native Array functions: It's that simple. db.data is just a JavaScript object, no magic. Sponsors Become a sponsor and have your company logo here 👉 GitHub Sponsors Features Lightweight Minimalist TypeScript Plain JavaScript Safe atomic writes Hackable: Change storage, file format (JSON, YAML, ...) or add encryption via adapters Extend it with lodash, ramda, ... for super powers! Automatically switches to fast in memory…
read the full lowdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or lowdb more popular?
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars and lowdb has 22,582. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and lowdb free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lowdb under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and lowdb?
orm is written in TypeScript and lowdb in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, orm or lowdb?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,661 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lowdb if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.