What TypeORM does

TypeORM is an open-source, TypeScript-first Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) library for the Node.js ecosystem. The project provides a comprehensive programmatic API for defining database models via decorators, executing queries through an EntityManager/Repository API and an expressive QueryBuilder, managing schema migrations, and abstracting connections across 10+ databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQLite, MS SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, CockroachDB, SAP HANA, and Google Spanner. The library supports both DataMapper and ActiveRecord architectural patterns, runs across Node.js, Browser, Electron, React Native, NativeScript, Expo, Cordova, Ionic, and Capacitor runtimes, and ships with a CLI plus ecosystem packages (@typeorm/codemod, @typeorm/legacy-naming-strategies) and several community extensions for fixtures, UML generation, GraphQL, and schema seeding.

TypeORM was originally created by Umed Khudoiberdiev in 2016 and reached v0.3 in 2021, after which it went nearly five years without breaking changes. Following a multi-year period of reduced maintenance, Michael Bromley and David Höck — both principals at Elevantiq — assumed stewardship of the project at the end of 2024, assembled a 13-person core maintainer team, and shipped v1.0 on May 19, 2026, formally graduating the project to stable status.

The business model is non-commercial in the conventional sense: the library is distributed under the MIT license at no cost via the npm registry, where it sees nearly 2 million weekly downloads and is reported as a dependency in hundreds of thousands of projects worldwide. Revenue (to the extent any exists) is generated exclusively through voluntary corporate and individual sponsorship via OpenCollective, with a Gold-sponsor tier that bundles premium technical support from core maintainers, and a stated strategic objective of funding two full-time developers. Go-to-market is entirely community-led: adoption is driven by npm/GitHub discovery, Stack Overflow answers, Discord engagement, and word-of-mouth within the TypeScript and Node.js developer community, with no traditional sales motion. A non-profit foundation under the Dutch Commons Conservancy has been announced as the future governance vehicle.

Name

TypeORM

Legal name

TypeORM

Website

https://typeorm.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

TypeORM is a free, open-source TypeScript-first ORM library for Node.js that provides type-safe database access, migrations, and query building across 10+ databases. It is community-maintained by a 13-person core team under Elevantiq and serves hundreds of thousands of developer projects worldwide via npm.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Database/Application Data Layer Modernization (DB migration, ORM, caching) (BPAEAFAL)

Keywords

• TypeScript ORM library
• Object-relational mapping
• Node.js database toolkit
• Database migration tools
• Entity framework

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Open Source (Community): TypeORM is a free open-source project distributed under the MIT license. Revenue is generated through voluntary sponsorships and donations from individuals and companies via OpenCollective.
2. Corporate Sponsorships: Companies using TypeORM in commercial products can become sponsors through OpenCollective. Gold sponsors receive premium technical support from core contributors.
3. Enterprise Support Contracts: Planned full-time development funded by sponsorships, with the goal of employing two full-time developers. Companies can expand sponsorships for enhanced support.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

TypeORM is an open-source TypeScript-first Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) library for Node.js that lets developers define database models as decorated TypeScript classes and interact with 10+ databases via either DataMapper or ActiveRecord patterns. It provides a powerful QueryBuilder for complex SQL, an EntityManager/Repository API for CRUD, a first-class migration system, transaction and connection pooling support, query result caching, multiple data sources and read/write replication, and runs across Node.js, browsers, mobile, and desktop platforms. The library is distributed free of charge under the MIT license via the npm registry and is monetized through voluntary corporate sponsorships and donations.

Product overview

TypeORM is a unified, open-source TypeScript-first ORM library that provides a comprehensive database interaction framework. The core product is the TypeORM library itself, which offers two architectural patterns (DataMapper and ActiveRecord), a powerful QueryBuilder API, Entity Manager and Repository APIs for CRUD operations, a Migration System for schema management, and CLI tools for project scaffolding. The product portfolio includes supporting packages: @typeorm/codemod for automated v0.3-to-v1.0 migration, @typeorm/legacy-naming-strategies for backward compatibility, and multiple community-built extensions for fixtures, UML generation, GraphQL integration, and database seeding. TypeORM supports 10+ databases natively and runs across Node.js, browser, mobile, and desktop platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• TypeORM TypeScript-first Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) library for Node.js, browsers, and mobile platforms supporting both DataMapper and ActiveRecord patterns with complete type safety, working with 10+ database engines (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, SQLite, Oracle, MS SQL Server, MariaDB, CockroachDB, SAP HANA, Google Spanner).
• DataSource API Central connection and configuration manager that handles database connections, entity registration, migrations, subscribers, and query caching in TypeORM v1.0.
• QueryBuilder Elegant API for building complex SQL queries with support for joins, pagination, subqueries, query caching, and streaming raw results against multiple database dialects.
• Entity Manager and Repository API High-level APIs for performing CRUD operations on TypeORM entities, providing general EntityManager operations and entity-specific Repository data-access patterns.
• Migration System First-class database migration support with automatic generation from entity changes, transaction modes, and migration reverting capabilities for schema lifecycle management.
• CLI Tools (typeorm CLI) Command-line interface for project scaffolding (typeorm init), generating starter projects with database configuration, running migrations, and clearing caches.
• @typeorm/codemod Automated codemod tool for migrating TypeORM codebases from v0.3 to v1.0 by handling import renames, API replacements, find option syntax updates, and dependency upgrades.
• @typeorm/legacy-naming-strategies Compatibility package providing NamingStrategyV03 for projects upgrading from v0.3 to v1.0, preserving legacy naming behavior for table and column names.
• typeorm-model-generator Community-maintained extension that generates TypeORM entity models from existing database schemas.
• typeorm-fixtures-cli Community-maintained extension for loading fixture data into databases during development and testing.
• typeorm-codebase-sync Community-maintained extension that automatically updates data-source.ts configuration after generating migrations or entities.
• typeorm-relations-graphql Community-maintained extension for automatically generating entity relations based on GraphQL queries.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 2 million weekly downloads demonstrates massive adoption
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration20 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• ElevantiqflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Parent company of new maintainers Michael Bromley and David Höck. Elevantiq specializes in enterprise digital commerce solutions and uses TypeORM for Vendure (their flagship open-source project) and other solutions. They took over maintenance of TypeORM at end of 2024 to ensure the project's long-term health and growth.
• VendurecoreTechnology or IntegrationOpen-source e-commerce framework built by Elevantiq that uses TypeORM as a critical dependency. Vendure is cited as the reason Elevantiq has a vested interest in TypeORM's maintenance.
• Commons ConservancyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDutch foundation under which TypeORM plans to establish a non-profit foundation for governance. Planned as part of long-term sustainability strategy announced in October 2024.
• OSS PledgeminorGTM or Marketing PartnerOpen source sustainability initiative that TypeORM is collaborating with as part of their strategy to increase sponsorships and fund full-time development.
• Tauri ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSelf-governing open-source initiative that served as inspiration for TypeORM's organizational structure. Daniel from Tauri (via Crabnebula) collaborates with Michael Bromley through the Vendure project.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Drizzle ORM: Drizzle is a fast-growing TypeScript ORM that emphasizes SQL-like syntax and strong type inference. It targets the same TypeScript/Node.js developer persona as TypeORM and has emerged as the primary challenger for new TS-first projects.
• Sequelize: Sequelize is one of the longest-standing Node.js ORMs, supporting multiple SQL dialects via a similar ActiveRecord/DataMapper-style API. It competes directly with TypeORM in JavaScript/Node.js backend development, particularly in legacy Node.js projects.
• Knex.js: Knex.js is a flexible SQL query builder for Node.js that underpins Objection.js and overlaps with TypeORM's QueryBuilder feature set. It targets the same developer need for programmatic, migration-capable database access.
• Prisma: Prisma is the leading TypeScript-first ORM and TypeORM's most direct competitor. Both target the same Node.js/TypeScript developer market with type-safe database access, schema management, and migration tooling, and increasingly compete head-to-head in greenfield TS projects.
• MikroORM: MikroORM is a TypeScript-first ORM for Node.js using the DataMapper pattern with unit-of-work semantics. It targets the same developer audience as TypeORM and competes on type safety, performance, and SQL/NoSQL database support.
• Objection.js: Objection.js is a Node.js SQL ORM built on top of Knex.js, emphasizing the DataMapper pattern and JSON-based query DSL. It serves a similar use case to TypeORM in Node.js backends with relational databases.
• Mongoose: Mongoose is the dominant Node.js ODM for MongoDB and is explicitly supported alongside TypeORM's MongoDB integration. It competes directly with TypeORM for the MongoDB-using Node.js/TypeScript developer segment.

Emerging players

• Kysely: Kysely is a type-safe SQL query builder for TypeScript. While lower-level than TypeORM (no entity mapping/migrations), it increasingly competes for TypeScript developers who prefer SQL-first approaches and can be combined with lightweight mappers.

Broad incumbents

• Supabase: Supabase offers a hosted Postgres platform with its own TypeScript client. As an alternative architectural choice for TypeScript developers building database-backed apps, it competes indirectly with TypeORM's PostgreSQL use case via its integrated tooling and DX.
• Hasura: Hasura is a GraphQL/data API platform that auto-generates APIs over databases. While broader than TypeORM (a managed service vs. a library), it competes for the same backend developer's mindshare when deciding how to expose database-backed APIs in TypeScript projects.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/typeorm/typeorm
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/typeorm
• Xx.com/typeormjs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TypeORM