head to head · open source
orm vs neo4j
orm has 47,614 GitHub stars, 2,537 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped yesterday. neo4j has 17,241 stars, 2,703 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 176% (47,614 vs 17,241 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; neo4j is written in Java under GPL-3.0. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, neo4j 16%. 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 | neo4j | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| 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 neo4j if
- You want the neo4j feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and neo4j 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 neo4j
Neo4j is a Java graph database released under GPL 3.0 that stores data as nodes and relationships and queries it with Cypher, aimed at developers, data engineers, and platform teams building connected data applications who would otherwise model those relationships as tables and joins.
read the full neo4j overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or neo4j more popular?
orm has 47,614 GitHub stars and neo4j has 17,241. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and neo4j free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and neo4j under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and neo4j?
orm is written in TypeScript and neo4j in Java. 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 neo4j?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,614 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose neo4j if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.