head to head · open source
orm vs Medoo
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars, 2,605 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Medoo has 4,949 stars, 1,122 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 863% (47,661 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 | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-26 |
| 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 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
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 Medoo
The lightweight PHP database framework to accelerate development. Documentation English العربية Deutsch Español Français हिन्दी Italiano 日本語 한국어 Português Русский ไทย Українська Tiếng Việt 简体中文 繁體中文 Features Lightweight A lightweight single file package that keeps dependencies to a minimum. Easy A clean, intuitive API that helps you get started quickly. Powerful Designed for complex SQL, data mapping, and prepared statements without sacrificing readability. Compatible Works smoothly with MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MSSQL, Oracle, Sybase, and more. Friendly Fits naturally into Laravel, CodeIgniter, Yii…
read the full Medoo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or Medoo more popular?
orm has 47,661 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 (47,661 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Medoo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.