head to head · open source
NocoDB vs sea-orm
NocoDB has 65,002 GitHub stars, 5,055 forks, 710 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sea-orm has 9,899 stars, 734 forks, 234 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. NocoDB leads on adoption by 557% (65,002 vs 9,899 stars). NocoDB is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence; sea-orm is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. NocoDB has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, sea-orm 7%. NocoDB was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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.
← all 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| NocoDB | sea-orm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 65K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.1K | ⑂ 734 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick NocoDB if
- You weight community size — 65K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick sea-orm if
- You want the sea-orm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and sea-orm fits your workflow better
About NocoDB
NocoDB is a free and self hostable open source Airtable alternative that turns an existing relational database into an intuitive spreadsheet interface, built for teams who want no code data management without moving their data into a hosted SaaS product.
read the full NocoDB overview →
About sea-orm
SeaORM is an Apache 2.0 relational ORM for the Rust ecosystem that maps relational databases onto typed Rust entities, and it is built for Rust developers creating web services and APIs that want structured, type checked database access instead of hand written query strings.
read the full sea-orm overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Databases projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Databases field.
Frequently asked questions
Is NocoDB or sea-orm more popular?
NocoDB has 65,002 GitHub stars and sea-orm has 9,899. NocoDB has the larger community by that measure.
Are NocoDB and sea-orm free?
Both are open source. NocoDB has no licence declared in this registry, and sea-orm is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between NocoDB and sea-orm?
NocoDB is written in TypeScript and sea-orm in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, NocoDB or sea-orm?
Choose NocoDB if you want the larger community (65,002 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose sea-orm if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.