head to head · open source
orm vs GRDB.swift
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars, 2,605 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GRDB.swift has 8,723 stars, 1,099 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 446% (47,661 vs 8,723 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; GRDB.swift is written in Swift under MIT. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, GRDB.swift 13%. 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 | GRDB.swift | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 GRDB.swift if
- You want the GRDB.swift feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and GRDB.swift fits your workflow better
About orm
Docs Discord X Blog Post Architecture Using Prisma 7? It remains fully supported. Its source lives on the v7 branch of this repository and its docs at prisma.io/docs/orm/v7. Prisma 8 is a release candidate. 8.0.0 final is expected in the next four to eight weeks. Until then a release candidate may include breaking changes, and every release ships with an upgrade recipe that the prisma 8 skill applies for you. The candidate is a complete implementation we stand behind: we treat bugs in it as urgent, and the risk you take on is a feature that is not built yet rather than churn. The feature scoreboard names every…
About GRDB.swift
A toolkit for SQLite databases, with a focus on application development Proudly serving the community since 2015 Latest release : June 18, 2026 • version 7.11.1 • CHANGELOG • Migrating From GRDB 6 to GRDB 7 Requirements : iOS 13.0+ / macOS 10.15+ / tvOS 13.0+ / watchOS 7.0+ • SQLite 3.20.0+ • Swift 6.1+ / Xcode 16.3+ Contact : Release announcements and usage tips: follow @groue@hachyderm.io on Mastodon. Report bugs in a Github issue. Make sure you check the existing issues first. A question? Looking for advice? Do you wonder how to contribute? Fancy a chat? Go to the GitHub discussions, or the GRDB…
read the full GRDB.swift overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or GRDB.swift more popular?
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars and GRDB.swift has 8,723. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and GRDB.swift free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and GRDB.swift under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and GRDB.swift?
orm is written in TypeScript and GRDB.swift in Swift. 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 GRDB.swift?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,661 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose GRDB.swift if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.