head to head · open source
orm vs usql
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars, 2,605 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. usql has 10,162 stars, 409 forks, 63 open issues and last shipped yesterday. orm leads on adoption by 369% (47,661 vs 10,162 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; usql is written in Go under MIT. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, usql 4%. usql was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (database, mariadb, mysql, 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 | usql | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 10K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 409 |
| 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 usql if
- You want the usql feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and usql 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 usql
Installing Building Database Support Using Features and Compatibility Releases Contributing usql is a universal command line interface for PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle Database, SQLite3, Microsoft SQL Server, [and many other databases][databases] including NoSQL and non relational databases! usql works with [SQL and NoSQL databases][databases] from a command line modelled on PostgreSQL's psql . usql supports most of the core psql features, such as [variables][variables], [backticks][backticks], [backslash commands][commands] and has additional features that psql does not, such as [multiple database…
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or usql more popular?
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars and usql has 10,162. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and usql free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and usql under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and usql?
orm is written in TypeScript and usql in Go. 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 usql?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,661 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose usql if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.