head to head · open source
typeorm vs mikro-orm
typeorm has 36,652 GitHub stars, 6,670 forks, 646 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. mikro-orm has 9,231 stars, 673 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped today. typeorm leads on adoption by 297% (36,652 vs 9,231 stars). typeorm is written in TypeScript under MIT; mikro-orm is written in TypeScript under MIT. typeorm has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, mikro-orm 7%. mikro-orm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (database, javascript, mysql, orm), 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
| typeorm | mikro-orm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 9.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-11 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 673 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick typeorm if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mikro-orm if
- You want the mikro-orm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and mikro-orm fits your workflow better
About typeorm
TypeORM is an MIT licensed object relational mapper for TypeScript and JavaScript that runs on Node.js, in the browser, and across mobile and desktop platforms, and it is aimed at developers who want to model, query, and migrate SQL and NoSQL databases from one decorator driven codebase.
read the full typeorm overview →
About mikro-orm
MikroORM is a TypeScript ORM for Node.js built on the Data Mapper, Unit of Work and Identity Map patterns, aimed at TypeScript teams that want typed, entity based persistence across MongoDB, MySQL, MariaDB, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle and SQLite/libSQL databases.
read the full mikro-orm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is typeorm or mikro-orm more popular?
typeorm has 36,652 GitHub stars and mikro-orm has 9,231. typeorm has the larger community by that measure.
Are typeorm and mikro-orm free?
Both are open source. typeorm is licensed under MIT and mikro-orm under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between typeorm and mikro-orm?
typeorm is written in TypeScript and mikro-orm in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, typeorm or mikro-orm?
Choose typeorm if you want the larger community (36,652 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mikro-orm if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.