head to head · open source
orm vs pglite
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars, 2,538 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pglite has 16,049 stars, 444 forks, 166 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 197% (47,640 vs 16,049 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; pglite is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, pglite 3%. orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (database, postgres), 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 | pglite | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 444 |
| 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 pglite if
- You want the pglite feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and pglite 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 pglite
PGlite is a WASM build of Postgres from Electric, packaged as a TypeScript client library, that runs a real Postgres database inside the browser, Node.js, Bun or Deno with no other dependencies installed.
read the full pglite overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or pglite more popular?
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars and pglite has 16,049. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and pglite free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pglite under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and pglite?
orm is written in TypeScript and pglite 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 pglite?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,640 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pglite if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.