drizzle-orm vs prisma
drizzle-orm and prisma have comparable adoption (39,472,031 vs 50,109,989 downloads per month). Both projects are actively maintained.
| Metric | drizzle-orm | prisma |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly downloads | 9,868,411 | 11,736,834✓ |
| Monthly downloads | 39,472,031 | 50,109,989✓ |
| GitHub stars | 34,626 | 46,043✓ |
| Minified size | 27.3 kB | — |
| Minified + gzipped | 8.4 kB | — |
| Dependencies | 0 | — |
| Open issues | 1,818✓ | 2,624 |
| Last commit | 2026-06-01 | 2026-06-01✓ |
| Latest version | 0.45.2 | 7.8.0 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
When to choose which
drizzle-orm
Type-safe, SQL-like ORM with a tiny runtime.
Choose it when: Type-safe SQL with minimal abstraction and no codegen — great for serverless/edge where bundle size and cold starts matter.
- + Fully type-safe, no codegen
- + SQL-like & tiny
- + Edge/serverless friendly
- - Younger ecosystem
- - You work closer to raw SQL
prisma
Type-safe database access with an auto-generated client.
Choose it when: New TypeScript projects that want the best DX: a schema file, generated types, and a polished migration workflow.
- + Fully generated types
- + Great migrations & studio
- + Excellent docs
- - Extra schema file + generate step
- - Less raw-SQL flexibility
Feature comparison
| Feature | drizzle-orm | prisma |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | ORM / query builder | ORM |
| Type safety | Inferred (no codegen) | Generated client |
| Built-in migrations | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Databases | PostgreSQL / MySQL / SQLite | SQL + MongoDB |
| Pattern | SQL-like functional | Schema-first DSL |
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[](https://devcompare.dev/compare/drizzle-orm-vs-prisma)Data from npm, Bundlephobia and GitHub. Last updated 2026-06-02.