head to head · open source
orm vs sqlkit
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars, 2,605 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sqlkit has 304 stars, 14 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 15,578% (47,661 vs 304 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; sqlkit is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, sqlkit 5%. orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (cockroachdb, mariadb, 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 | sqlkit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 304 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 14 |
| 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 sqlkit if
- You want the sqlkit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and sqlkit 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 sqlkit
SqlKit Agentic cross platform SQL database GUI client — your database agent for 70+ databases. Privacy first. Your data, your keys. Open source. Download · Docs · Website · Releases English · 简体中文 SqlKit is an agentic database client — it doesn't just execute SQL, it understands your databases and acts on your behalf. Describe what you need in natural language and the agent writes queries, inspects schemas, optimizes SQL, and returns results. Built on Tauri (Rust), not Electron, it replaces heavyweight clients like DBeaver, Navicat, and DataGrip with a single native desktop app. Installation Features Agentic…
read the full sqlkit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or sqlkit more popular?
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars and sqlkit has 304. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and sqlkit free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and sqlkit under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and sqlkit?
orm is written in TypeScript and sqlkit 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 sqlkit?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,661 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose sqlkit if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.