head to head · open source
typeorm vs neo4j
typeorm has 36,652 GitHub stars, 6,670 forks, 646 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. neo4j has 17,241 stars, 2,703 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. typeorm leads on adoption by 113% (36,652 vs 17,241 stars). typeorm is written in TypeScript under MIT; neo4j is written in Java under GPL-3.0. typeorm has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, neo4j 16%. typeorm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (database), 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
| typeorm | neo4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 17K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-11 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick typeorm if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick neo4j if
- You want the neo4j feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and neo4j fits your workflow better
About typeorm
TypeORM is an MIT licensed object relational mapper for TypeScript and JavaScript that runs on Node.js, in the browser, and across mobile and desktop platforms, and it is aimed at developers who want to model, query, and migrate SQL and NoSQL databases from one decorator driven codebase.
read the full typeorm overview →
About neo4j
Neo4j is a Java graph database released under GPL 3.0 that stores data as nodes and relationships and queries it with Cypher, aimed at developers, data engineers, and platform teams building connected data applications who would otherwise model those relationships as tables and joins.
read the full neo4j overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is typeorm or neo4j more popular?
typeorm has 36,652 GitHub stars and neo4j has 17,241. typeorm has the larger community by that measure.
Are typeorm and neo4j free?
Both are open source. typeorm is licensed under MIT and neo4j under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between typeorm and neo4j?
typeorm is written in TypeScript and neo4j in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, typeorm or neo4j?
Choose typeorm if you want the larger community (36,652 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose neo4j if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.