head to head · open source
orm vs acl
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars, 2,538 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. acl has 3,104 stars, 951 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 1,435% (47,640 vs 3,104 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; acl is written in C under LGPL-2.1. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, acl 31%. orm 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
| orm | acl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | LGPL-2.1 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 951 |
| 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 acl if
- You want the acl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-2.1 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and acl fits your workflow better
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.
About acl
Acl (Advanced C/C++ Library, "Advanced Cross Platform C/C++ Network Communication Library and Server Framework") is a cross platform C network communication library and server framework, with coroutine, HTTP/HTTPS/WebSocket, MQTT, SMTP, Redis, Memcached and MySQL/PostgreSQL/SQLite support, built for developers writing network servers and clients on Linux, Windows, Solaris, FreeBSD, macOS, Android, iOS and HarmonyOS.
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or acl more popular?
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars and acl has 3,104. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and acl free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and acl under LGPL-2.1. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and acl?
orm is written in TypeScript and acl in C. 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 acl?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,640 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose acl if its feature set, stack or LGPL-2.1 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.