head to head · open source
typeorm vs sqlx
typeorm has 36,656 GitHub stars, 6,673 forks, 646 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. sqlx has 17,486 stars, 1,699 forks, 754 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. typeorm leads on adoption by 110% (36,656 vs 17,486 stars). typeorm is written in TypeScript under MIT; sqlx is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. typeorm has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, sqlx 10%. typeorm was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (mariadb, mysql, postgresql, sqlite), 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 | sqlx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 17K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 sqlx if
- You want the sqlx 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 sqlx 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 sqlx
SQLx is an async, pure Rust SQL crate that provides compile time checked queries without a domain specific language, aimed at Rust developers building applications against PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, or SQLite.
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Frequently asked questions
Is typeorm or sqlx more popular?
typeorm has 36,656 GitHub stars and sqlx has 17,486. typeorm has the larger community by that measure.
Are typeorm and sqlx free?
Both are open source. typeorm is licensed under MIT and sqlx under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between typeorm and sqlx?
typeorm is written in TypeScript and sqlx 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, typeorm or sqlx?
Choose typeorm if you want the larger community (36,656 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose sqlx if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.