head to head · open source
orm vs WatermelonDB
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars, 2,605 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. WatermelonDB has 11,796 stars, 663 forks, 304 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. orm leads on adoption by 304% (47,661 vs 11,796 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; WatermelonDB is written in JavaScript under MIT. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, WatermelonDB 6%. 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 | WatermelonDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 12K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 663 |
| 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 WatermelonDB if
- You want the WatermelonDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and WatermelonDB 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 WatermelonDB
A reactive database framework Build powerful React and React Native apps that scale from hundreds to tens of thousands of records and remain fast ⚡️ Why Watermelon? WatermelonDB is a new way of dealing with user data in React Native and React web apps. It's optimized for building complex applications in React Native, and the number one goal is real world performance . In simple words, your app must launch fast . For simple apps, using Redux or MobX with a persistence adapter is the easiest way to go. But when you start scaling to thousands or tens of thousands of database records, your app will now be slow to…
read the full WatermelonDB overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or WatermelonDB more popular?
orm has 47,661 GitHub stars and WatermelonDB has 11,796. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and WatermelonDB free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and WatermelonDB under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and WatermelonDB?
orm is written in TypeScript and WatermelonDB in JavaScript. 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 WatermelonDB?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,661 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose WatermelonDB if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.