head to head · open source
orm vs Turso
orm has 47,614 GitHub stars, 2,537 forks, 2,627 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Turso has 17,215 stars, 530 forks, 453 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. orm leads on adoption by 177% (47,614 vs 17,215 stars). orm is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Turso is written in C under MIT. orm has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Turso 3%. 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 | Turso | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 48K | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 530 |
| 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 Turso if
- You want the Turso feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and Turso 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 Turso
libSQL is an open source, open contribution fork of SQLite created and maintained by Turso. It lives in the SQLite ecosystem and extends the embedded database model with features such as embedded replicas and remote access. The repository also distinguishes libSQL from the separate Turso database, which is a SQLite compatible implementation written from scratch in Rust and currently in beta.
read the full Turso overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is orm or Turso more popular?
orm has 47,614 GitHub stars and Turso has 17,215. orm has the larger community by that measure.
Are orm and Turso free?
Both are open source. orm is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Turso under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between orm and Turso?
orm is written in TypeScript and Turso in C. 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 Turso?
Choose orm if you want the larger community (47,614 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Turso if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.