ORM Basics (Prisma/TypeORM/Sequelize) Cheat Sheet
Compares core ORM concepts—models, migrations, relations, and querying—across Prisma, TypeORM, and Sequelize for Node.js applications.
2 PagesBeginnerMar 12, 2026
Prisma Schema
Declarative model definition in schema.prisma.
prisma
// schema.prismamodel User { id Int @id @default(autoincrement()) email String @unique name String? posts Post[] createdAt DateTime @default(now())}model Post { id Int @id @default(autoincrement()) title String authorId Int author User @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])}
TypeORM Entity
Decorator-based entity classes with a relation.
typescript
import { Entity, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, Column, OneToMany, ManyToOne } from 'typeorm';@Entity()export class User { @PrimaryGeneratedColumn() id: number; @Column({ unique: true }) email: string; @OneToMany(() => Post, (post) => post.author) posts: Post[];}@Entity()export class Post { @PrimaryGeneratedColumn() id: number; @Column() title: string; @ManyToOne(() => User, (user) => user.posts) author: User;}
Sequelize Model
Defining models and associations, then eager loading.
javascript
const { DataTypes } = require('sequelize');const User = sequelize.define('User', { email: { type: DataTypes.STRING, unique: true, allowNull: false }, name: DataTypes.STRING,});const Post = sequelize.define('Post', { title: { type: DataTypes.STRING, allowNull: false },});User.hasMany(Post, { foreignKey: 'authorId' });Post.belongsTo(User, { foreignKey: 'authorId' });// Query with eager loadingconst users = await User.findAll({ include: Post });
Feature Comparison
How the three ORMs differ in approach.
- Prisma- Schema-first with a generated type-safe client; migrations via `prisma migrate`; no active-record pattern, queries go through the Prisma Client
- TypeORM- Decorator-based entity classes; supports both Active Record and Data Mapper patterns; migrations via CLI or auto-sync (dev only)
- Sequelize- JavaScript-first (with optional TypeScript typings) model definitions; mature ecosystem, migrations via `sequelize-cli`
- Migrations- All three support versioned migration files; Prisma also supports `db push` for rapid prototyping without migration history
- Type safety- Prisma generates fully typed query results from your schema automatically; TypeORM/Sequelize rely more on manually maintained types
- Raw SQL escape hatch- All three let you drop to raw SQL (`prisma.$queryRaw`, `query()` in TypeORM, `sequelize.query()`) for cases the query builder can't express
Pro Tip
Don't let an ORM hide N+1 queries — always check the generated SQL (Prisma's query logging, TypeORM's logging: true, Sequelize's logging: console.log) for any loop that triggers a query per iteration, and use eager loading (include) to fix it.
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