head to head · open source
orm vs chartdb
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars, 2,538 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. chartdb has 22,931 stars, 1,487 forks, 170 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 108% (47,640 vs 22,931 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; chartdb is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, chartdb 6%. orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (database, mariadb, mssql, 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
| orm | chartdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 23K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 chartdb if
- You want the chartdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and chartdb 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 chartdb
ChartDB is an open source, web based database diagram editor that visualizes and designs a database schema from a single SQL query, and it is built for developers, DBAs, and data teams who need entity relationship diagrams without installing a desktop client or handing database credentials to a third party service.
read the full chartdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or chartdb more popular?
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars and chartdb has 22,931. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and chartdb free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and chartdb under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and chartdb?
orm is written in TypeScript and chartdb 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, orm or chartdb?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,640 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose chartdb if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.