head to head · open source
mall vs orm
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars, 29,826 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. orm has 47,614 stars, 2,537 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mall leads on adoption by 78% (84,789 vs 47,614 stars). mall is written in Java under Apache-2.0; orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. mall has attracted 35% as many forks as stars, orm 5%. orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (mongodb, mysql), 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
| mall | orm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 85K | ★ 48K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 30K | ⑂ 2.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick mall if
- You weight community size — 85K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick orm if
- You want the orm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and orm fits your workflow better
About mall
mall is a complete e commerce system built on Spring Boot and MyBatis, distributed as a Java project under the Apache 2.0 license. It ships two applications in one repository: a storefront system for shoppers and an administrative back office for operators. The storefront covers the home portal, product recommendation, product search, product display, shopping cart, order flow, member center, customer service, and help center. The back office covers product management, order management, member management, promotion management, operations management, content management, statistics reports, finance management, perm…
About orm
Prisma ORM is a next generation TypeScript ORM for Node.js and TypeScript applications, supporting PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, SQLite, MongoDB, and CockroachDB, and it is aimed at developers and teams building data backed applications in that ecosystem.
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Frequently asked questions
Is mall or orm more popular?
mall has 84,789 GitHub stars and orm has 47,614. mall has the larger community by that measure.
Are mall and orm free?
Both are open source. mall is licensed under Apache-2.0 and orm under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between mall and orm?
mall is written in Java and orm in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, mall or orm?
Choose mall if you want the larger community (84,789 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose orm if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.