head to head · open source
orm vs Medoo
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars, 2,538 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Medoo has 4,949 stars, 1,128 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 29 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 863% (47,640 vs 4,949 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Medoo is written in PHP under MIT. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Medoo 23%. orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (database, 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 | Medoo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 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 Medoo if
- You want the Medoo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Medoo 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 Medoo
Medoo is a lightweight, MIT licensed PHP database framework, shipped as a single file Composer package, that gives developers one clean API for MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MSSQL, Oracle, Sybase and other engines over PDO — and it is built for PHP developers who want fast, readable database work without adopting a full ORM.
read the full Medoo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or Medoo more popular?
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars and Medoo has 4,949. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and Medoo free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Medoo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and Medoo?
orm is written in TypeScript and Medoo in PHP. 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 Medoo?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,640 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Medoo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.