Home/Database & Cache/Prisma
Database & Cache
prisma

Prisma

TypeScriptOpen-sourceORMType-safe

The most popular TypeScript ORM with end-to-end type safety. Prisma's schema-first approach generates a fully typed client, making database access safe and refactorable.

License

Apache-2.0

Language

TypeScript

88
Trust
Strong

Why Prisma?

TypeScript projects needing type-safe database access

Teams that value schema-as-source-of-truth

Complex relational data models with many relations

Signal Breakdown

What drives the Trust Score

npm downloads
5M / wk
Commits (90d)
200 commits
GitHub stars
39k ★
Stack Overflow
20k q's
Community
Very large
Weighted Trust Score88 / 100

Download Trend

Last 12 months

Tradeoffs & Caveats

Know before you commit

You want SQL-first control (use Drizzle)

Performance-critical hot paths (Prisma has overhead)

Non-relational databases

Pricing

Free tier & paid plans

Free tier

100% free, open-source (Apache-2.0)

Paid

Free & open-source

Prisma Accelerate (connection pooling) is paid

Alternative Tools

Other options worth considering

drizzle
Drizzle ORM37Limited

Lightweight TypeScript ORM with a SQL-like query builder. Drizzle is the fastest-growing ORM in the JS ecosystem — loved for its minimal overhead, SQL proximity, and serverless-first design.

Often Used Together

Complementary tools that pair well with Prisma

supabase

Supabase

Database & Cache

95Excellent
View
neon

Neon

Database & Cache

61Fair
View
nextjs

Next.js

Frontend & UI

98Excellent
View
vercel

Vercel

Hosting & Deploy

89Strong
View
stripe

Stripe

Payments

82Strong
View

Learning Resources

Docs, videos, tutorials, and courses

Get Started

Repository and installation options

View on GitHub

github.com/prisma/prisma

npmnpm install prisma @prisma/client

Quick Start

Copy and adapt to get going fast

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

const user = await prisma.user.create({
  data: { email: 'alice@example.com', name: 'Alice' },
});

const users = await prisma.user.findMany({
  where: { active: true },
  include: { posts: true },
});

Code Examples

Common usage patterns

Define schema

Prisma schema with relations

// prisma/schema.prisma
model User {
  id    Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  email String  @unique
  name  String?
  posts Post[]
}

model Post {
  id       Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
  title    String
  author   User   @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])
  authorId Int
}

Migrations

Apply schema changes to database

# Create and apply migration
npx prisma migrate dev --name add_user_role

# Apply to production
npx prisma migrate deploy

# Generate Prisma Client after schema changes
npx prisma generate

Community Notes

Real experiences from developers who've used this tool