head to head · open source
orm vs rainfrog
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars, 2,538 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. rainfrog has 5,339 stars, 95 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 792% (47,640 vs 5,339 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; rainfrog is written in Rust under MIT. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, rainfrog 2%. orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| orm | rainfrog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 95 |
| 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 rainfrog if
- You want the rainfrog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rainfrog 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 rainfrog
rainfrog is a lightweight, MIT licensed terminal database client written in Rust, built for developers and operators who want to browse schemas, run queries, and inspect tables against PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, and similar engines without leaving the shell.
read the full rainfrog overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Databases projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Databases field.
Frequently asked questions
Is orm or rainfrog more popular?
orm has 47,640 GitHub stars and rainfrog has 5,339. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and rainfrog free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rainfrog under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and rainfrog?
orm is written in TypeScript and rainfrog in Rust. 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 rainfrog?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,640 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rainfrog if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.